Let me just say that my Ralphs store (Ralphs is in the Kroger family of stores, and it seems to be exclusive to California, for those who don't know Ralphs) is apparently sleeping on the job! I went up and down every single aisle in the store today, scanning the shelves for signs of Fall/Harvest/Autumn versions of things. I don't even think they had the Fall Collection/Pumpkin Pie Diner stuff from Glade on the shelves, let alone anything else!
No Pumpkin Spice Milano Cookies. No Pumpkin Pie Spice Jif Whips. No Pumpkin Pie Pillsbury Toaster Strudel. No Halloween candy. No Halloween Oreos of any kind. Nothing.
How is it that the "pharmacy stores" such as Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS are getting their Fall stuff in, and Target and Walmart each have exclusive seasonal products, and yet at Ralphs, a grocery store -- nothing?! It was all back-to-school stuff! Madness! With this horrible lack of Fall merchandise, you'd almost think that it was still summer or something!
In any event, I read somewhere -- can't recall where -- that Twix Ghosts are now at CVS!!! 
Vala and
Amanda -- Thank you so much for posting those amazing photos! I know that, as the MHP looms large, people who have never been to it before will want to see what they can expect. Those photos help a lot!
Just bought our tickets for Oct 3. I'm also eager for park hours to come out.
We won't have standard park tickets for that day, so we plan to head into the park at the 3 hours early mark. Do long lines form at the special event turnstiles before that time? Do we have to enter them at the main gates or could we monorail in (staying at DLH)?
abminer --
Dot2Vegas explained a bit about the lines at the gates/turnstiles. You know, my first guess and instinct is to say no, you can't take the Monorail in with just an MHP ticket. But since you're going to be heading to the park 3 hours before the MHP starts, I wonder if you would be allowed?
I don't think anyone has ever asked that, or reported on doing it that way!
If you are allowed to take the Monorail in at 4 p.m., you'd have to find the wristband distribution station inside DL.
Thanks for your input! Without reserved seating I have no interest. I'm a local with an AP so rides are not an issue. our main focus will be for villains, which my 2 yo niece adores, and rare characters. We are planning on sept 30th but that may change once a friend or two finds out which parties they are working.
So, for rare characters and villains...what are all the Halloween party exclusives? I believe Wendy is one, and Jack Sparrow. For villains, we have yet to meet the Queen of Hearts, Hades, The Tremaines, Jafar...who else is there? We've got the Evil a Queen, Cruella, Hook, and Maleficent...
And for Mickey and Friends, are their outfits the same during the party as during the day at Big Thunder Ranch?
Oh, and does Darth Vader make appearances or just storm troopers?
Cassie --
I just realized now (I'm a little slow on the uptake, apparently!
) that I've seen you post on MiceChat before! I've seen your threads -- in fact, you were the one I remember who was posting about being at DL for one of the #GetHappier Mondays, and I think you had your niece with you (was that the 7 Dwarfs Monday, or am I totally imagining that detail?)! You have the ongoing trip report thread as well, which I've looked through (it's great!). Anyway, hi!
I don't post on MiceChat, obviously (I'm sure there would be some sort of conflict of interest or something, since I'm a mod on
this board
), but I do go over there and 'peek in on' what people are discussing. I think that all of the
Disneyland-related discussion boards spy on each other from time to time, just to see if anyone has any inside intel!
Vala gave you some great info above, about the characters at the MHP. I don't know if you've had a chance to look over
this MHP FAQ post from page 1 (which
laura&fam mentioned), but it may give you additional info as to what you can expect at the MHP as far as characters, etc.
I wondered about Darth Vader too so I checked on the first page of this thread in the post about MHP near the bottom there is a section on what characters were seen last year and if they are exclusive to MHP or not. Sorry, I don't know how to post a link to that particular post.
laura&fam --
It's the thought that counts!
At least you checked the MHP FAQ for the info and tried to refer Cassie to it! Thank you!
To link specific posts (just in case you ever have to do it in any thread), look for the post # in the upper right corner of any post you want to link. Click on that number, which will then open up a separate tab/window with just that post only. Copy the link as you would copy any page's link, and it should have the post # at the very end. For example, the MHP FAQ is post #3, so the link to that post looks like this -
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51326916&postcount=3.
Hope this is the right thread...I am wondering about early November.
We'll arrive mid-morning on November 2nd, which is a Sunday. I'm hoping that since Halloween falls on a (Friday) weekend night, Disney won't feel the need to begin removing decorations and the Space Mountain overlay until at least the (Monday) 3rd. Would love to get a picture in front of the big Mickey pumpkin with my family.
Any thoughts?
Dizzy4DL -
Well, I think it is highly
possible that Ghost Galaxy
could remain open through the weekend following Halloween -- because a lot of Halloween night visitors will probably stay over that weekend and it would make sense to keep a big ride like that open for them. Plus, Space Mountain doesn't have to rapidly shift gears into "holiday mode" or anything, so there isn't as much of a need to close it down on 11/1.
However, that said, it is pushing it to hope/expect/think that all of the decorations are going to remain up until "at least the 3rd." Disney has to rapidly transform Disneyland and DCA into a holiday wonderland, and the holiday season decorations are much, much, much more extensive and they require more work. For example, the Christmas parade will probably be taped on November 7th and November 8th, and
most of the Disneyland decorations have to be up and in place by that time, as do many of the holiday events. That's only one week from Halloween.
Also, the Halloween Carnival has to shut down to go into Jingle Jangle Jamboree mode.
My guess is that you may see some lingering, stray pumpkins around the Hub. You may even see a few random pumpkins left in window displays on Main Street. The Dia de los Muertos display in Frontierland is likely to stay up a couple of days past 10/31 so you should be able to see that. Of course, Haunted Mansion Holiday will be open.
As for the above-turnstile pumpkins and the giant Mickey pumpkin in Town Square... I think that there is always a chance they
could be left up a little beyond Halloween rather than the CMs trying to dismantle everything over a weekend, but again, keeping in mind that the Christmas parade will probably be taped on 11/7 and 11/8, any signs of Halloween have to come down from the areas that will be part of the filming (including Main Street).
I tend to think that, if DLR wanted to guarantee that they'd keep the Halloween Time stuff up past 10/31, they would have announced that Halloween Time was ending on 11/2 (which is what I expected they would do, and they did not do it). Instead, they very definitely stated that Halloween Time was ending on 10/31, so that means that some things -- if not all things -- will start coming down as of 11/1 to begin the transformation into holiday mode.
