Anyone who followed this thread last year may remember our discussions about the first sightings of Halloween décor and treats popping up in stores, when we saw our first Halloween commercials of the season, etc.
That said, within the next couple of weeks customers should be seeing some Halloween things popping up in their local Costco! 
Yes, in July!
And, later in August, there should be an increase in Halloween knick knacks appearing in many other stores, as well as the first releases of the highly anticipated seasonal goodies (like the White Chocolate Candy Corn M&Ms, the Pumpkin Spice M&M's, the Caramel Apple Milky Ways, and the dreaded Candy Corn Oreos, among many others).
I have read some online comments from people who claim to have already spotted Halloween stuff (and even a few Christmas items) slowly creeping into their craft stores -- which, I guess, makes sense. If you are a crafter and make things for various holidays, you can't necessarily wait until a socially acceptable time to start crafting. You have to get an early start.
Anyway --just because I dislike heat and summer -- I am looking forward to the early signs of Halloween and fall, coming soon to a store near me! It doesn't mean I am celebrating Halloween in July or August, but it makes me think that the "fun months" of the year (mid-September through the New Year) are not too far away!
I generally agree that September 11 is probably not an ideal day to start something festive (and occasionally morbid) as Halloween. I honestly can't see them waiting to start until the end of September (like they did that last time September 11 was a Friday), but I could see them starting on September 12 (Saturday). They wouldn't really have to change the start day of the overlay installation and they could get nearly the same number of days of HalloweenTime. I do think it's funny that we're speculating about the start of HalloweenTime in 201
5 and we don't even know (officially) the start date of HalloweenTime in 201
4!
figment_jii --
True -- but it's just another thing to talk about that's Halloween Time-related in the Halloween Time at DLR Superthread! There are people who follow these threads (silently or actively participating) who are not planning to go to DLR this year but may be going next year, so they keep up with what is being discussed. That's why I mentioned 2015. If we had any news to discuss that was official and 2014-specific at this point, we'd be discussing that, of course!
Saturday, September 12, 2015 makes sense because there would also be an MHP on Saturday, October 31, 2015. So they could bookend the season with Saturday dates.
Or, what I think
could happen with the start of Halloween Time in 2015 (if they don't begin it on Saturday, 9/12) is what happens with the holiday season. DLR tries to avoid officially starting the holiday season on Veterans Day if they can help it, and it hasn't happened in many years, but the season could begin before
or after it.
I suspect that in 2015, Disney could do one of those "gradual" starts for Halloween Time. They might have all Halloween décor up and most things up and running by 9/11/15, but not "officially" declare Halloween Time to start until another date, such as Monday, 9/14/15 or Tuesday, 9/15/15. Something like that. Remember that the holiday season always used to begin on Fridays (officially), and then DLR started in with those weird Monday start dates and finally a Tuesday start date, even though the majority of holiday décor -- and even much of the entertainment -- was already in effect a week before the official season.
I think that could happen for Halloween Time in 2015 too, if DLR wants to observe 9/11 and refrain from official Halloween hoopla on that date. Everything will probably already be up and quietly running (without fanfare) by 9/11/15, but the official start date (printed in media and press) will be something after that date -- or maybe even before it.
Kilala…..I can't believe the amount of work and effort you put into your costumes----they are fantastic---
love the wig(
and the Kitty laying on the bed)!!!
Cheshirecatty --
You took the words out of my mouth. I was also thinking that
Kilala puts a tremendous amount of time, love and work into her costumes and characters every year; she goes to a few MHPs; and she really embraces and celebrates Halloween (and Halloween Time) to the fullest extent! She has truly captured the Halloween spirit.
Quite honestly, seeing
Kilala's pictures make me think I need to start doing more for Halloween!
Clearly I am not doing enough (though a lot of that can be blamed on the area I live in -- where there seems to be a lack of extravagant Halloween happenings or décor, and certainly a lack of really good pumpkin patches)! I feel like I need to start a campaign in my neighborhood to get people in full Halloween mode! I want to live in one of those fun neighborhoods, where people go all out for Halloween with décor and lights, and then they do the same thing -- or bigger -- for the holiday season as well! I am not opposed to grand neighborhood celebrations and light displays for any of the major holidays, but that's hard to find around here. Some residents do try -- and they put up fun displays on their lawns -- but nothing like you'd see in a Travel Channel special about Halloween or the holidays!
Anyway,
GREAT WORK, KILALA!!
Did you guys see on the Disneyland FB page that they posted pictures YESTERDAY of they #GetHappier Monday? They gave out WoC special seating and Glow with the Show ears. Took them long enough to post pictures lol
whoopsiedoodle --
I saw that on my Facebook news feed this morning!
Disneyland Today's Facebook page had the info posted on Monday, and that's when I began to read that some people got the Glow with the Show ears and VIP viewing (while at least a couple of others only got a button). I'm not sure why it took so long for the Disneyland page (which is different from Disneyland Today) to post about it. We're 3 days away from the next "surprise," so what happened earlier this week seems like old news for Disney at this point.
At least they posted something eventually. That's better than the weeks of nothing and wondering if they did anything at all.
laura&fam --
Disneyland Today had the info posted on Monday. It's the regular Disneyland page that didn't have it. I'm not sure why they don't just all post the same things at the same time on the various Disneyland pages -- or, not post anything on social media at all, as
figment_jii suggested, and just let people discover whatever they are going to discover in the parks without any teasers.
At this point, I think the #GetHappier surprise revelations should be all or nothing -- either put up an announcement early, every single Monday morning, and tell us that the surprise will be in the park or online, and tell us on which Disney-related Facebook page we can find the news about it at some point,
or keep the whole thing silent and don't reveal anything at all, letting the people who stumble upon the surprises be truly surprised (and lucky!).
I just don't like the kind of halfway/
'we're giving you info but not really consistently giving you info' sort of madness that wastes everyone's time as they comb various Disney pages all day on Mondays.
I will be working on my next costume for MHP this weekend.
