HalloweenTime at DLR Superthread #4

[Sherry E]

Just joining in! I got October 9th party tickets for DS, DD and me couple weeks ago. Alaska Airlines had an awesome frequent flyer special so I made the leap. We have never been before and I for one am super excited! They probably aren't because I haven't told them yet! Planning on doing that a couple days before. They are already itrritated I'm making them decide on costumes now. I'm loving all the info and can't wait to read more.

We will be back down for the Avenger's Half in November so I really want this trip to be all about the Fall atmosphere and Party. Thank goodness for DIS Boards and experts to help. We will be in town all day Friday. I'm looking for things to do late am 'till party time. Do any of the resorts decorate? Will there be anything to do in DTD?

At the Party I'm hoping to go on a few rides, trick or treat, see the decorations, fireworks and of course eat some goodies! Are there must dos? I'm torn about fireworks. I definitely want to see them but this being our first time I know the kids will protest if I use valuable candy collecting time to claim a spot. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Welcome! I'm glad you joined us.

You'll get to experience both Halloween Time and the holidays this year (the holiday season will start on Avengers marathon weekend) at DLR this year! (In fact, over in the Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread we are abuzz with activity, as a Parks Blog and a Press Release came out today, and we have been combing through them and analyzing the details and the omissions! )

Sadly, the hotels do not get any Halloween décor. The Halloween décor is primarily on Main Street and in Frontierland. There are some Nightmare Before Christmas touches in New Orleans Square, closer to Haunted Mansion Holiday. California Adventure has almost nothing in terms of actual Fall/Halloween décor, but you can still find Fall treats and merchandise there.

You could plan a character meal at one of the hotels if you get in early enough in the morning (before noon). Are you staying onsite or off-property? Downtown Disney has a few Disney-specific shops -- Marceline's Confectionery, D Street, Vault 28, Anna & Elsa's Boutique, World of Disney, WonderGround Gallery, etc. Also, there is an ESPN Zone, a Rainforest Café, as well as other restaurants.

The Disneyland Hotel anchors one end of Downtown Disney, so even if it doesn't have Halloween décor it is worth going to and looking around.

The party will start at 4 p.m. on that night, so you can probably kill some time from late morning until then, or until it's time to get ready for the party.

I really like Halloween Screams. I think it's one of Disney's better fireworks shows. One thing you might want to do is find a video of it on YouTube, show it to your kids and see if they might be interested in seeing it in person. If they say no, then at least you will already be prepared and can bypass the fireworks. If they say yes, then you know to include it in your plan.

Do the kids care about meeting characters? Don't forget to add in some time for that, just in case.

 

[Kilala]

Thank you Sherry. My cats are great at taking photos with me. I will be doing a photo shoot in my Demeter Cats costume sometime this week. I just saw another Food Network show that has a Halloween them Halloween baking wars It premiers on October 5th. One of the judges in Ron Ben-Isrial

 

[SeaPic]

Thanks Sherry! Totally forgot about characters. My son loves meeting characters! We are staying at the Hilton and will be there Thursday night. Heading over for one of the character meals is a great idea. Especially since DH is coming in November and he's not a big fan (of the cost that is - he actually gets into interacting with them which is always fun).

I forgot to ask if Photopass is available during the party. It's super nice to have pics with me in them.

 

[jammyjam25]

I'm seeing the October 2 HP is now sold out on Disneyland's website.

Only midweek parties left at this point!

 

[Sherry E]

I'm seeing the October 2 HP is now sold out on Disneyland's website.

Only midweek parties left at this point!

It sold out on Saturday! I was saying that it's interesting to note that all of the Fridays, the one Saturday and the one Sunday have sold out, but all of the earlier weekday parties -- including Columbus Day -- have not sold out yet. Clearly, people are gravitating towards the weekends this year!

Thanks Sherry! Totally forgot about characters. My son loves meeting characters! We are staying at the Hilton and will be there Thursday night. Heading over for one of the character meals is a great idea. Especially since DH is coming in November and he's not a big fan (of the cost that is - he actually gets into interacting with them which is always fun).

I forgot to ask if Photopass is available during the party. It's super nice to have pics with me in them.

PhotoPass is available! There should be special PhotoPass spots at the party, with and without characters, and there will be a couple of special Halloween-themed PhotoPass "magic shots" in the daytime as well (you can just put all of the PP pictures on the same account).

 

[lorijohnhill]

I was looking at the menu for BB for my birthday lunch on Oct 2. Is the Monte Cristo at BB the same as the one at Cafe Orleans? My husband and I shared the sandwich at Cafe Orleans once, and I wasn't a fan.

 

[seobaina]

Here's a super bad screen grab of the Zero shot (haven't ordered my PhotoPass+ photos yes). Sorry, we didn't get the other one, but there are pictures of both here (scroll down to Disneyland Special Events).
View attachment 123714

From the photographer I talked to, neither have to be done in front of the Mickey pumpkin, but he thought that the photographers who would be there would be more likely to be trained on them.

In addition to what Lauren mentioned, be sure to ask any and all PhotoPass photographers for whatever magic shots they can do, in addition to the Halloween-specific ones. They don't always seem to want to offer the magic shots to people on their own (some photographers are weird about that and others will tell you about them), so asking them specifically for them will help.

Thanks guys!!

 

[keishashadow]

I'm not going to presume to be knowledgeable about DL's MHP, but have been asked by friends here on other boards to do a trip report. Well, moreso, a combo pre trip report, to be followed by the actual trip report. I'm rusty haven't done one in years.

If any one cares to follow along, here's the link as to our upcoming journey.

http://disboards.com/threads/october-2015-ptr-tr-east-versus-west-coast-halloween-throwdown.3447516/

 

[jammyjam25]

It sold out on Saturday! I was saying that it's interesting to note that all of the Fridays, the one Saturday and the one Sunday have sold out, but all of the earlier weekday parties -- including Columbus Day -- have not sold out yet. Clearly, people are gravitating towards the weekends this year!

Whoops! I misread the first page of the thread and thought I had discovered a new one! haha. For selfish reasons I'm glad everyone has so far gravitated towards the weekends as I'm attending midweek.

 

[Davidg83]

So I came across this today and got a good laugh from it. What next, pumpkin spice litter? Lol

 

[Sherry E]

Whoops! I misread the first page of the thread and thought I had discovered a new one! haha. For selfish reasons I'm glad everyone has so far gravitated towards the weekends as I'm attending midweek.

By the way, for a fleeting moment I was able to see your photos in the Christmas Superthread... and then they disappeared from view again!

Yes, I have been very surprised at the sellout pattern for MHP this year. Everyone is zooming right to the weekend parties. It used to be that the second MHP night would sell out pretty fast, even though it was an early weeknight. Last year it suddenly didn't sell out at all. This year there are so many MHP nights that I wonder if more than one will remain open and never sell out?

So I came across this today and got a good laugh from it. What next, pumpkin spice litter? Lol

That may be the best one yet! I can't believe it! The pets are getting in on the seasonal action too!

That is hilarious, even more so than "Fall Antiquing."

 

[jammyjam25]

So I came across this today and got a good laugh from it. What next, pumpkin spice litter? Lol

LOLOLOL! Okay marketing folks have officially lost it!

 

[Sherry E]

I thought the marketing folks were stretching it a little with the Glade Fall Antiquing scent, and the Pumpkin Spice Water (by whatever the brand was). Fall Frolic kitty litter tops those two, I think.

 

[SeattleSuz]

I was looking at the menu for BB for my birthday lunch on Oct 2. Is the Monte Cristo at BB the same as the one at Cafe Orleans? My husband and I shared the sandwich at Cafe Orleans once, and I wasn't a fan.

DH and I have had the Monte Cristo at BB several times and it's SUPER tasty! I've got a ressie there for my birthday (early) dinner on 9.30 and plan on having the MC. I am hoping to be able to call ahead and see if they can make one GF for my DH, he would be SOOOOO stoked if they could do that.

 

[KrisRose821]

Fall Frolic kitty litter!! That's the BEST THING EVER!! hahaha

I am going the final weekend of Halloween Time and have tickets for the Thursday night MHP on the 29th (I was too late to the game to get tickets for halloween night). I had all my plans in place until the released the Mystical Spirits dinner. Husband is a HUGE BB fan and really wanted to do this, but I didn't want to waste my precious party time on thursday to go to the dinner. I just decided to take a leap of faith and called the Premium Events coordinator and she hooked me up with seats to the Mystical Spirits dinner AND MHP tickets for halloween night! I couldn't believe it! The dinner package was saying it was sold out on halloween night already online, and of course the party has been sold out for weeks now.

Husband is

 

[Sherry E]

"Dining in Disneyland: Halloween Time Poison Apple Mugs and Poison Apple Glow Cubes" -- Disney Food Blog; posted on September 15, 2015 by Heather - http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2015/...oison-apple-mugs-and-poison-apple-glow-cubes/.


The arrival of new pumpkin spice products is slowly waning, and the holiday items (with new flavors like Amaretto and Irish Cream) are moving in - http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/2015/09/15/spotted-on-shelves-9152015/.

​

 

[mom2rtk]

I was a big Star Wars fan... back in the late '70s and early '80s, when I was young and had a huge crush on Mark Hamill. I saw that trilogy through to the end and enjoyed it. I loved all of the original characters, and I loved the Ewoks. I have a stuffed Ewok that I got at Disneyland way back in the late '80s or early '90s. But... then came the second trilogy, and although I like Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ewan McGregor, etc., I realized that I just wasn't in that Star Wars frenzy anymore, as I had been when I was a kid. Plus, the movies were not that great and Jar Jar Binks was annoying.

So now we have a new set of movies, with both new and old characters. I am not over the moon excited about them -- I could easily just wait to see them when they get to DVD or cable -- but I will probably watch them at some point in time, way down the road. I keep telling myself that I will probably watch all of them in order of the timeline -- so, in other words, I would watch the second trilogy first, and the first trilogy second, and then this next group of movies last. I don't know if I will ever devote that kind of time to a Star Wars marathon, however.

As for the Star Wars Land that is coming... I'm not sure. I mean, I was not thrilled with the idea of a Cars Land because "Cars" is not my favorite Pixar movie and I am just not a car person in general. The land ended up surpassing my expectations and impressing me, even though I still could not care less about the movie. I think that Star Wars Land is an interesting choice to go in Disneyland instead of in DCA, and I'm not happy that it is displacing the Ranch, and I do not trust Disney -- especially during this current wave of transformation and getting rid of things. I feel like another big loss is coming. It may end up being Toontown. They may end up shelving It's a Small World Holiday like they have the Osborne Lights. I just feel like we will lose something else at the expense of Star Wars Land.

But, when all the dust is settled (literally), and the work is done, I think the land will be good. I think they will do a good job with it and make it very immersive and detailed. That's what I am looking forward to -- the details and immersion.

That's exactly how I feel about it Sherry. I like the first 3 (episodes 4-6) in spite of not being a big sci-fi fan. I still remember seeing the very first one in a theater in 1977 and really enjoying it. But episodes 1-3 really put me off of the series for a while. That in spite of the fact that the boys were huge Star Wars fans. These days I'm just not invested in the franchise at all.

You make a great point about Carsland. I didn't think I'd care about it either, but was blown away. But then I have a great love of red rock country, so that's part of the attraction there for me.

I'm still optimistic Disney will do a great job with it. I just sort of don't like that when it's all said and done it will pack tons more people in the parks for something I'm just sort of "meh" about.

 

[dolphingirl47]

DH and I have had the Monte Cristo at BB several times and it's SUPER tasty! I've got a ressie there for my birthday (early) dinner on 9.30 and plan on having the MC. I am hoping to be able to call ahead and see if they can make one GF for my DH, he would be SOOOOO stoked if they could do that.

If your dinner is at BB then unfortunately you are out of luck. The Monte Cristo has only been on the lunch menu since at least 2012. Cafe Orleans however does have it on the dinner menu and better still, they also do three cheese version that is even better than the classic version.

Corinna

 

[lorijohnhill]

If your dinner is at BB then unfortunately you are out of luck. The Monte Cristo has only been on the lunch menu since at least 2012. Cafe Orleans however does have it on the dinner menu and better still, they also do three cheese version that is even better than the classic version.

Corinna

She should have no problem getting the Monte Cristo on the 30th. From what I could tell, they are only serving lunch on MHP days. The dinners those days are the special Mystical dinner.

 

[tlovesdis]

I'm back from a very hot, very crowded weekend at DL!

We saw Jafar twice and Genie once in Adventureland!!!

I'm skipping September next year! My word it was nuts! We tried to shop at WOD Saturday night and you literally couldn't move! AND Monday seemed more crowded than the weekend! Saturday morning we waited 10 minutes for RSR (no earLy entry) and waiting 35 minutes during EE on Monday!! The whole resort was just packed!!!

We had so much fun though!!