Thanks for posting the most excellent, stunning photos,
Bret! (They are vastly superior to the ones I posted, clearly)! Wait until everyone sees your awesome Halloween Screams fireworks pictures -- they will really be blown away!
We are going to be in DL in OCT., but not for the halloween party. i have twin girls who will turn 1 while we are there. so excited about them turning 1, but bittersweet as well.
Welcome,
mmlover74!
It sounds like it will be a great birthday trip (with a dash of Halloween thrown in)!
You are correct, and you have an excellent memory.
Yes, between the crowds and the expense, we're going to skip it. If there's one thing we won't need, that's more candy.
Since we are spending extra on staying on-property at the
Disneyland Hotel, we'll just take those days when the parks close earlier to enjoy the hotel.
I'm a lurker on these things because, often, what others are already saying is enough and does not need repeating by me. However, thanking someone is always needed.
-- especially with the great amount of work you seem to be doing.
We will be there 9/28 - 10/4. If we get some good, unique pictures, I will add them. I was mulling doing a trip report later. My husband and I are also considering doing a book of essays and photos about Disneyland in the near future. And, I will certainly post questions, if I have any.
One question I posted in a thread at some point that did not get answered (that I saw) was to ask if the Animation Academy is ever posted anywhere besides outside the building? I would love to plan around those sessions on some of our days. The Animation Academy was a highlight of our last trip for me.
If you find any of the information you need help collating or posting, just let me know. I will volunteer to help where I can.
SusanMatt --
Thank you for the kind words!
It's good to know my efforts and work are appreciated -- but more importantly, helpful to everyone who is heading out to DLR for Halloween Time!
To be honest, I know very little about the Animation Academy, so I cannot answer that question. That may be something that
Bret/mvf-m11c, figment_jii or Cheshirecatty knows.
I will look forward to the photos you take on your upcoming trip and to the possible photo/essay book about Disneyland -- I love those kinds of books!
Thank you so much for the offer to help collate or assemble info for me!
That's very sweet of you to offer. Unfortunately, I think I am the only one who can do it, as I have to literally copy and paste info into the blocked/reserved posts on page 1 -- and no one can access those posts -- and then format it in a certain way. I also have some typed-up text that needs to be added to or revised to include other tidbits I forgot.
I'm in
Will be at DLR from the 9th to the 16th of September.
I'm a bit sad that I will just catch the very beginning of Halloween time and will miss out on the party and the Happy Haunts tour. Looking forward to HM and SM overlays though and meeting Jack and Sally
Welcome,
zanzibar138!
Welcome!
You will probably miss the Halloween Party but you may not miss the Happiest Haunts Tour. I thought that the HH tour begins on or very close to the start date of Halloween Time in September, just as the holiday tour begins at the start of the holiday season in November -- but I could be wrong.
Great pictures Bret. I'm wishing we could sneak in a Halloween trip too. I'm going to depend on this thread to get my Halloween fix.
TK --
That's why I wanted you to join in here! We can't have a fun Halloween Time thread without you (nor can we have a fun holiday season thread without you either!). You missed the first bit of activity in the previous Halloween thread because you didn't realize it had been started. I didn't want you to miss a second of the Halloween fun in this thread! You need to stay up to date on the Halloween happenings!
I was hoping to plan a quick trip over to DL on my Fall Break for the Halloween party, but it looks like that might not be possible. I was looking at the schedule from last year, and they didn't start doing Monday nights till the end of the month, and they also didn't have any on weekends. My break is a Saturday-Tuesday, but I couldn't go Tuesday night because I would need to fly back to Phoenix.
Welcome,
theworldneedscolor!
Hmmm... That is definitely something to think about if the MHP was important to you. You never know, though -- there could be a party on the Monday night during your trip. There are occasionally Monday night parties. If not, you will still get to enjoy all of the Halloween Time stuff that I outlined on the previous page of this thread (I broke down the things that are exclusive the MHP, and the Halloween things that you can see every day during the season, outside of the MHP)!
My little brother does love Halloween, but he loves Disneyland more. I took him for his birthday just the two of us a few years ago (during the Celebrate! period) and he thought the entire time that everything was in honor of his birthday--the parades, light shows, everything. It was great. DH has never been to Disneyland before, and is very excited. We thought we'd just go for Halloween for fun. Little Bro is very scared of bats, so am unsure how he'll like the Haunted Mansion, but my DH is great with him and will tell him to "man up" and I'm sure he'll get over it. And, knowing Disney, nothing will be TOO scary.
I'm only really in this forum for the limited purpose of getting info on Halloween time at DLR-- so I wanted to pop in and say thanks for all the hard work! I did want to request at some point any info on what's going on at CA during this time period too. I think we'll be getting park hopper passes.
As for the 10/30 closing time, I was just assuming that, since it's a Thursday, DLR would have MHP on 10/30 AND 10/31, as I noted they did that last year (and I also saw that they charge more for those dates, boo). Oh well. I was wondering though-- we are flying in on 10/30, and I think our plane lands at LAX at around 9 am or so. While usually I'm all about Super Shuttle, I kind of want to get to DLR ASAP that morning, since it's one of our 3 days and we won't be doing MHP that day. We're staying at a good neighbor hotel. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what mode of transportation would be quickest and less expensive? There is the Greyline shuttle, but it doesn't actually go to our hotel, the Candy Cane Inn. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Thanks! Am loving all the photos and info, etc.
Torchness --
Thank you for the kind words!
Last year Halloween was on a Thursday so there had to be a party that night. There is always a party on Halloween night, but there is not always a party on a Thursday, if that makes any sense. Also, there is not always a party on the night before Halloween.
The typical Halloween Party schedule has been Tuesdays and Fridays and Halloween night, with maybe one Tuesday swapped out for a Monday or something. Last year there were 13 parties (and I am not sure if there will be 13 again this year), so there were suddenly a couple of Wednesdays thrown into the mix too.
As for California Adventure, on the previous page -- in
this post -- I outlined the things that can be enjoyed in the parks outside of the actual Halloween Party -- I mentioned that you will find very little in the way of Halloween fun in California Adventure.
And in
this post on page 1 I provided some info about the few Halloween things that take place in DCA. The reason there are only a few things listed (although I probably have just a little bit more to add to that post) is because there is almost nothing in the way of Halloween Time happening in DCA!
Have you looked up Haunted Mansion Holiday on YouTube? If you view a video of it you may get a good idea of how scary (or not) it would be for your brother, in terms of bats, etc. Haunted Mansion Holiday is very different from the regular Haunted Mansion, and there is a great gingerbread centerpiece on the ballroom table that is worth seeing. The smell of gingerbread is piped into the air as well!
I'm not sure about a cheaper mode of transportation. I use a shuttle service called Sav-On Shuttle to get to and from DLR sometimes, and I like them. You might be able to get a slightly cheaper rate from them, but I'm not sure. I know those Super Shuttle prices are crazy!
Your best bet is to cross your fingers, and hope a Party date will be among the days when you are at the Resort(hard to do, I know), but there's always a
possibility that it
might happen---until those dates are released, you never know---from year to year, there are a few days/dates which change!
Very true,
Cheshirecatty --
A random Monday party could be thrown into the mix here and there. I think it all boils down to how many party nights there are going to be. If DLR reverts to its old 11-night or 10-night schedule, the schedule will be more limited. If they decide to have 13 parties again, they can open up the schedule a bit more and allow for days of the week other than mostly Tuesdays and Fridays.
I suppose that this year would technically be considered the official 13th anniversary of Haunted Mansion Holiday (whereas last year was simply "the 13th year" that the ride/overlay had been in existence).
So, Disney may once again decide to go with 13 MHP nights to celebrate the
real anniversary! Last year I think they played up the 13th year because they were also playing up the Friday the 13th element.
I don't think the dates for the DL party are known yet, for sure.
The WDW dates are published.
I thought I had seen a DL calendar, showing it closing at 7pm on October 14th, which lead me to believe there was a Halloween party that night.
But I can no longer find that calendar.
The WDW version is NOT having a party on the 14th, but is on the 13th instead (Columbus day).
With the need to make the hotel reservation at 7 months out (for DVC), it is frustrating to not have any confirmation on the party dates.
eileenkeeney --
The WDW event dates come out way in advance and the DLR dates do not -- which is something that is an ongoing annoyance for WDW vets who need to plan their trips to DLR!
I cannot understand why DLR can't get its act together to release dates and tickets early on, but they still assume that it is going to be mostly locals who visit, I suppose. In my opinion, even if it were mainly locals visiting and very few out-of-towners, what is the harm in releasing dates early in the year?
In any case, the earliest we have ever found out the MHP dates is in May, so it won't be too much longer. Even if we don't find out until June, that's still fairly soon. But the tickets most likely will not go on sale when the dates are announced.
You might have been looking at wdwinfo.com. They have estimated hours posted for October 2014 which are based on information from previous years. I saw that they have a 7:00 pm closure time on 10/14, but at this point, it's all an estimate/guess and no one knows for sure.
Very true,
figment_jii!
Sometimes wdwinfo.com (which is in the same family of sites as DISboards and is
not an official source of Disneyland Resort information!) leaves the old dates up from the previous year, not even as an estimate. Sometimes the dates are left there and not removed until the info for the following season's info comes out. I guess it's always good to kind of look at the previous months/seasons/years to see what the current year's schedule
might be.
One of these days I will surely end up putting something about Ghost Galaxy in the Christmas thread, and something about Santa Claus in this thread!
) -- just so I can walk by their houses and admire them! I want to see more Halloween all over both parks and the hotels!
It's hard to pick a favorite from such a masterfully shot group of photos, but I think I like the last image best -- mainly because of the colors.
