HalloweenTime at DLR Superthread #4

[Canadian Harmony]

Candy is my youngest's 'crack'. Halloween is her favourite holiday because of candy. Then it's Easter, and THEN Christmas! Yup, she's got a mouthful of "sweet tooth". She's going to flip out when she realizes she's going trick or treating at DL. Usually what I do is offer the girls a trade: their candy for a toy of their chosing under $20. (DH usually eats the candy for me) Hopefully I can pull it off again at DL.Good thing we're bringing an 'empty' suitcase for souvenirs.

 

[khippster]

I don't think Gay Days necessarily impacts the earlier part of the week (e.g., 9/28 to 9/30). I think on Sunday (9/27) there will be crowds just because it's a Sunday and weekends always seem busy in the parks as locals and AP holders come in to see the Halloween decor and activities. There might be an uptick in crowds on Thursday (10/1) as the Gay Day crowds start to arrive. Almost certainly the weekend (Fri to Sun) will be busy.

From my experience, in 2010 that was the year when MHP was back at DL and when I went that weekend. That weekend, MHP on Friday, Halloween season and Gay Days contributed the big crowds. In my opinion I would not go that weekend but as figment mentioned that it won't be as bad.

Thank you to you both. We were planning Sun - Wed. Sunday to catch Fantasmic and the fireworks, but maybe that is not such a good idea.. Would you switch to a different week? And if so, would I switch my days to encompass Friday for Fantasmic and fireworks?

 

[figment_jii]

Candy is my youngest's 'crack'. Halloween is her favourite holiday because of candy. Then it's Easter, and THEN Christmas! Yup, she's got a mouthful of "sweet tooth".

I had a colleague that once said "candy season" is the longest season of the year. It starts with Halloween, then progresses to Christmas, then Valentines, and ends with Easter!

Thank you to you both. We were planning Sun - Wed. Sunday to catch Fantasmic and the fireworks, but maybe that is not such a good idea.. Would you switch to a different week? And if so, would I switch my days to encompass Friday for Fantasmic and fireworks?

It depends on what weekends are available for you to go...lately October has been very tough because of Gay Days, CHOC Walk/Columbus Day weekend, UEA, and various other activities that occur on the weekend. I've been tracking some of the activties and events that may impact DLR crowds in the 2015 Calendar of Events and School Breaks.

In terms of Fridays, it depends a lot on what happens with MHP this year. In past years, there has been a MHP on every Friday night from when the parties start until Halloween. If that happens, then there won't be F! or regular fireworks. If the parties move to DCA this year, this might not be an issue, but we don't know what is happening yet.

 

[khippster]

It depends on what weekends are available for you to go...lately October has been very tough because of Gay Days, CHOC Walk/Columbus Day weekend, UEA, and various other activities that occur on the weekend. I've been tracking some of the activties and events that may impact DLR crowds in the 2015 Calendar of Events and School Breaks.

In terms of Fridays, it depends a lot on what happens with MHP this year. In past years, there has been a MHP on every Friday night from when the parties start until Halloween. If that happens, then there won't be F! or regular fireworks. If the parties move to DCA this year, this might not be an issue, but we don't know what is happening yet.

Thank you so much figment. This thread has been very eye opening and your insight is extremely helpful. I will keep watching and see how things go.

 

[iKristin]

I've learned to ride the rides first and then trick or treat the last part of the party. Reason being, it's a lot of younger kids who are more interested in character meetings and trick or treating than they are in the rides so the ride lines tend to be shorter during the first half of the event Plus, during the last half the trick or treat lines aren't long at all.

 

[ACDSNY]

Well Sherry my family convinced me to set up a family Halloween trip Oct. 25 - 29th. In 2005 we had 25 of us and we're trying to top that for 2015. Do you mind if I copy one of your pics for our secret FB page?

 

[bcwife76]

I don't think Gay Days necessarily impacts the earlier part of the week (e.g., 9/28 to 9/30). I think on Sunday (9/27) there will be crowds just because it's a Sunday and weekends always seem busy in the parks as locals and AP holders come in to see the Halloween decor and activities. There might be an uptick in crowds on Thursday (10/1) as the Gay Day crowds start to arrive. Almost certainly the weekend (Fri to Sun) will be busy.

Yikes, well looks like we're in for a busy visit this time around. We will be at the parks Thurs Oct 1, Fri Oct 2 and Sat Oct 3. Oh well, the more the merrier I guess ;-) Just need to plan our ride strategies a bit better.

 

[figment_jii]

Yikes, well looks like we're in for a busy visit this time around. We will be at the parks Thurs Oct 1, Fri Oct 2 and Sat Oct 3. Oh well, the more the merrier I guess ;-) Just need to plan our ride strategies a bit better.

Closer to the dates, you might check out the Gay Days website to see if they've posted their schedule of events. I know that the have a meet-up at the Mark Twain, which is pretty awesome to see (a boat full of folks wearing red), but it might mean that line for the Mark Twain would be longer than you'd normally expect.

 

[Sherry E]

Okay, folks... I am poking my head out of the sand again!

In the first few months of every year I usually let this thread and my Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread simmer down a bit -- or, rather, I let my activity in them simmer down a bit, while everyone else is still welcomed and encouraged to continue to post and share info, questions and answers here. Around March or April I start revving up the ol' engines to begin getting into Halloween Time Superthread mode and Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread mode again (when the weather starts hitting 90 degrees I can only think ahead to the sweet relief of autumn).

And, let's face it -- signs of Halloween and fall will be appearing relatively soon, if you think about it. If you followed along with this thread last year you will recall that I was paying close attention to the increasing appearances of random fall and Halloween goodies and merchandise on store shelves (remember Pumpkin Pandemonium, Candy Corn Chaos and Caramel Apple Confusion?), beginning in July. It has not gone unnoticed by me that in a mere 4 months we will begin seeing or hearing about a new wave of autumnal things hitting the shelves!!!! And in 4 months, tickets for whatever kind of Halloween party DLR has this year should be going on sale. However, hopefully we will get party news or Halloween Time news by May or June.

Alas, when DISboards was moved over to the new platform/layout early this year, a lot of formatting and details that I had carefully crafted, typed, assembled, organized, etc. (for the posts on page 1 of this thread and of my Christmas/Holiday Superthread) were knocked out of whack. To be honest, after glancing at the wreckage once or twice I was discouraged, disheartened and daunted by the notion of having to go through and fix anything, or everything. I stopped looking at what was wrong and pretended the mess didn't exist. I couldn't even change or fix anything yet because I knew the webmasters were going to try to fix some of what went awry in the transition, and for me to correct anything might mean that my repair work would be reversed once the webmasters waved their magic wands.

I think the webmasters have done all they can do at this point to reverse some of the wonky occurrences in people's random threads, but there is still a lot that needs to be cleaned up in this one and in the Christmas/Holiday thread -- links that no longer link where they are supposed to link, punctuation that simply vanished and has to be replaced, font sizes that suddenly got very small, and who knows what else. So I feel like I am slowly, nervously, hesitantly creeping into a house after a tornado or earthquake has hit it, with my hands covering my eyes, afraid to assess the damage.

I may have to tackle each post on page 1 individually, one at a time, as I try to fix everything -- which will not happen overnight -- and I have to keep in mind that, when news of this year's Halloween Time season finally comes out I may have to change even more things if the details turn out to be vastly different. But, bear with me. This thread is still open for business to discuss all things Halloween Time, and hopefully there is still enough salvageable information in the assorted posts on page 1 that will give you an idea of what happened last year and during previous years' Halloween Time seasons, so you know what to expect this year (although the mystery surrounding the 60th anniversary's impact on seasonal events looms large). Thank you to figment_jii and everyone else who has continued to keep the thread going in some way!

On a non-Halloween Time note, I sat in as a guest on (co-mod) Mary Jo's latest "Day Six" segment for the DIS Unplugged: Disneyland Edition podcast. This installment in Mary Jo's ongoing Day Six series is about Catalina Island, so we chatted about all things Catalina as it's a great place to go for a day trip (or a weekend) when in Southern California. You can find the Day Six Adventure: Catalina segment here: http://www.disunplugged.com/2015/03/23/dis-unplugged-podcast-032215-disneyland-show/

Now I have to mosey over to my Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread and assure everyone that I have not jumped ship. That thread is a slightly bigger fish to fry, so I am walking even more slowly into that tornado-ravaged house.

 

[Oswald23]

Does anyone dare to say what the chances are that the Halloween Party really moves to DCA. So how trustworthy are the rumours?

And if So, wil the Haunted Mansion still got the overlay?

 

[Sherry E]

Does anyone dare to say what the chances are that the Halloween Party really moves to DCA. So how trustworthy are the rumours?

And if So, wil the Haunted Mansion still got the overlay?

Hi, Oswald23!

Well, first of all, I think that Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will both be back. HMH was running during the 50th anniversary so I can't imagine it would be any different now. Plus, quite frankly, HMH is essential to the roster of seasonal/Halloween Time activities at this point.

Mickey's Halloween Party, on the other hand, is something that can move if it needs to. It was held (under a different name) in DCA for 5 years in a row (starting in 2005, the 50th anniversary year). Then it moved to Disneyland in 2010, where it ran for 5 consecutive Halloween Time seasons. It seems like this year might be good, timing-wise, for the MHP to head back to DCA -- even if only for this year.

Most of the rumors come from the MiceChat mill, but I don't think that it's a stretch to conclude that the party could move back to DCA this year -- simply because the 60th anniversary is turning out to be a bigger deal than many people thought, and Disney is putting a lot of focus on the new fireworks and new parade. To stop running those new (limited edition) shows on party nights would not make sense, and to include the parade and fireworks as "party exclusives" would not make sense if they are running on all the non-party nights too. Of course, if the party were to head to DCA, then it would interfere with the new World of Color show, unless there are plans to do a Halloween-ified version of it. In any case, that's only one new event that would be impacted by a party, whereas there would be two major new shows impacted by a party in Disneyland.

These are the rumors and tidbits that have floated around so far (none of which has been confirmed):

1. Last year someone reported on MiceChat that she/he overheard Cast Members saying that the MHP would be moving back to DCA this year. She/he initially labeled the thread as "News," but the skeptical MiceChatters doubted the story and the thread label was changed to "Rumor";

2. Also on MiceChat, someone posted last year that, apparently, the Cast Members who trained for the MHP were told that there would be "big changes" coming to the Halloween party in 2015;

3. Quite a while back, in one of the Update blogs that MiceAge puts out (the kind that Al Lutz used to do), the writer said that the Disney powers-that-be were looking at expanding the number of nights for the MHP, and starting it a bit earlier in the Halloween Time season. As it stands now, the party generally begins 2 weeks after the actual Halloween Time season has begun. They could feasibly add more nights and start the party when Halloween Time starts. The last MHP ran for 14 nights. I can picture them going up to 20 nights at some point. It may not happen this year, but if any extra nights are to be added in this year, then that would be even more nights to interfere with the new parade and fireworks or the 60th; and

4. One of our DIS'ers, Dena, posted here a while back that she did a survey after her Halloween Time trip last year, and the focus of the survey seemed to be on decorations and theming (in DCA). That tells us that Disney is looking into what to do with DCA for Halloween Time. DCA used to be part of Halloween Time, long ago! There used to be a giant candy corn photo spot, candy corn hanging from trees, and theme-appropriate music. DCA became separated from Halloween Time in 2010, when the extensive work on the "reimagining" of DCA kicked in.


So, if we put on our detective hats and string all of the clues together, it seems like there is a very good possibility of the party moving back to DCA this year. To me, it just makes sense to do it that way so that there is no disruption of the 60th anniversary celebration in DL.



However, I do look at the other side of the coin as well:

1. There have been no rumors to indicate that a new "Halloween decorations package" is headed to DCA this year; and

2. There have been no rumors trickling out about new Halloween attraction overlays or events lined up for DCA this year, and it seems like that would be big enough news to where it would leak out somehow.

Supposedly TSMM was originally intended to eventually get a Halloween overlay and a Holiday season overlay (as was World of Color), but that could happen anytime, in any year. So far, we have only seen the Holiday version of World of Color, but no Halloween World of Color and no overlay on TSMM of any kind.

It is possible that some things could be announced at the Expo this coming August, but the MHP tickets would have already gone on sale in July so we'd have to know something before August.

So I think that if anything major is happening for Halloween Time or Mickey's Halloween Party, or both, this year -- such as a change of party location or a new Halloween overlay, or brand new decorations in DCA -- we would probably hear about it via the Parks Blog in May, or early June at the latest. Otherwise, if no major changes are afoot and the MHP will be business as usual this year -- with Halloween Screams fireworks and all -- then there won't be any special blogs and we will just get the regular blog announcing the MHP dates in June.

 

[Oswald23]

Thanks for the detailed response!

My feeling is that for now the chances are 50/50

 

[Kilala]

Nice to see you on the board again Sherry I will be starting painting of on of my cat costumes this weekend. My Grandma passed away last Friday morning

 

[iKristin]

I wonder though if since they're adding a "new" figure to the HM for the 60th, if they might be planning on keeping things original just for this year's Halloween time...Idk, just a thought. I know how popular HMH is, but with the time and effort they're putting into the changes to celebrate the 60th, I just don't see them shutting it down after only a couple months of experience for guests, you know what I mean?

 

[bcwife76]

Sherry you are AWESOME!! Really, really appreciate all that you have to offer in this thread and for keeping it going.

 

[keishashadow]

Does anyone dare to say what the chances are that the Halloween Party really moves to DCA. So how trustworthy are the rumours?

And if So, wil the Haunted Mansion still got the overlay?

oh, nooooooos is this rumor from a reliable source(s)?

I have finally managed to work in a trip to catch the holiday overlay at the HM & will be shocked if it's eliminated. Taking a long-standing tradition away doesn't seem very in tune with this year's big anniversary celebration imo.

Working on our schedule, trying to decide whether to brave what, from several accounts, appears to be a very big crowd for the Gay Days' Saturday Mickey Halloween party. Normally, I'd work in the first weekday one that follows it but will be up late the night before for Universal's HHN and figured it'd work best with our sleep patterns.

For those who have attended both DL & WDW's parties, can you tell me if the crowd levels are similar at both parks?. We typically do the week prior to Columbus Day @ WDW and it has gotten more crowded every year. Now that the race date has been moved, perhaps some relief will be coming.

 

[kkmcan]

Sherry I'm so glad your are back! I've just started our planning for Oct trip and stopped in to see what was going on in this thread. I'm stalking it for info on MHP of course. We did the party last year Oct 3rd and loved it but we may or may not do the party this year depending on where it ends up being and on what nights. I wanna make all of our touring plans now and can't until its been decided where the party will be. So hurry up Disneyland and give us some hints! LOL!

 

[Sherry E]

Nice to see you on the board again Sherry I will be starting painting of on of my cat costumes this weekend. My Grandma passed away last Friday morning

I'm so sorry about your Grandma, Kilala. Hopefully, when you begin to work on your costumes -- which I know you love doing -- it will help get your mind off of feeling sad for a brief time.

I wonder though if since they're adding a "new" figure to the HM for the 60th, if they might be planning on keeping things original just for this year's Halloween time...Idk, just a thought. I know how popular HMH is, but with the time and effort they're putting into the changes to celebrate the 60th, I just don't see them shutting it down after only a couple months of experience for guests, you know what I mean?

It is possible, though I tend to think that HMH will return. I considered that HMH could be affected in some way (with the probable return of the Hatbox Ghost), but I think that HMH was running during the 50th anniversary. I tend to think that it would be overkill to remove HMH from the Halloween Time and holiday season offerings, when they are already removing the Holiday fireworks, the Winter Castle Enchantment lighting and probably the Christmas Fantasy Parade too. Halloween Time (as a season) is not really 'developed' enough to be able to do without HMH. It really needs it. Plus, although the 60th anniversary is a big deal to Disneyland and to many Disneyland fans, there is still a large portion of people who will be making their trips for the purpose of Halloween Time or for the purpose of the holiday season.

Sherry you are AWESOME!! Really, really appreciate all that you have to offer in this thread and for keeping it going.

Thank you so much for the kind words! I continue to keep it going (and all of the subsequent threads too), but it was definitely a setback when I saw that the new website platform transition messed up so many things. That is a hard pill to swallow. For example, in the MHP FAQ post on page I, there is a link to a post with DIS'ers' reviews of the past 2 years of Halloween parties. Not only does that link probably not go to the post it is supposed to go to, but allllllllllllllll of those links to alllllllllllllllll of the DIS'ers reviews are probably messed up. That is just depressing.

oh, nooooooos is this rumor from a reliable source(s)?

I have finally managed to work in a trip to catch the holiday overlay at the HM & will be shocked if it's eliminated. Taking a long-standing tradition away doesn't seem very in tune with this year's big anniversary celebration imo.

Working on our schedule, trying to decide whether to brave what, from several accounts, appears to be a very big crowd for the Gay Days' Saturday Mickey Halloween party. Normally, I'd work in the first weekday one that follows it but will be up late the night before for Universal's HHN and figured it'd work best with our sleep patterns.

For those who have attended both DL & WDW's parties, can you tell me if the crowd levels are similar at both parks?. We typically do the week prior to Columbus Day @ WDW and it has gotten more crowded every year. Now that the race date has been moved, perhaps some relief will be coming.

I don't know if this will help, but if you take a peek at the MHP FAQ post, Question #2 -- http://www.disboards.com/threads/ha...ut-halloween-time-2015.3270919/#post-51326916 -- you will see that there is a link to figment_jii's comparison of MNSSHP vs. MHP, as well as a link to a comparison provided by Craig Williams of The DIS. Those posts may give you some perspective on the crowds at the MHP as they relate or compare to MNSSHP.

Sherry I'm so glad your are back! I've just started our planning for Oct trip and stopped in to see what was going on in this thread. I'm stalking it for info on MHP of course. We did the party last year Oct 3rd and loved it but we may or may not do the party this year depending on where it ends up being and on what nights. I wanna make all of our touring plans now and can't until its been decided where the party will be. So hurry up Disneyland and give us some hints! LOL!

Thank you for the kind words, kkmcan! I will never abandon my threads for too long. It's always so frustrating that we can't find out (from Disney) any official details of the Halloween Time and Holiday seasons well in advance. It could be that the MHP will be business as usual and nothing different is happening -- in which case, we probably would not get a Parks Blog about the tickets going on sale until mid or late June, but if there is major news to be told, I suspect we'd know something in a couple of months. I certainly hope they don't wait until the Expo in August to break news about Halloween Time!

Well Sherry my family convinced me to set up a family Halloween trip Oct. 25 - 29th. In 2005 we had 25 of us and we're trying to top that for 2015. Do you mind if I copy one of your pics for our secret FB page?

Angela, I totally neglected to reply to this message when I fired off my other replies! Lol. I apologize.

No, I don't mind -- thank you for asking. I appreciate being asked (having been the victim of people stealing photos of mine and claiming them as their own online)! Which photo are you using?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I can't wait to find out more information about the Halloween season and particularly about when and where the parties will be. I should hopefully be safe for at least one party as I will be there from September 22nd to October 1st, but I am hoping to get to do two. At the moment I am a little stumped as to ideas for costumes. I have one vague idea, but I am sure things will fall into place.

Corinna

 

[JenKate]

Sherry I'm so glad your are back! I've just started our planning for Oct trip and stopped in to see what was going on in this thread. I'm stalking it for info on MHP of course. We did the party last year Oct 3rd and loved it but we may or may not do the party this year depending on where it ends up being and on what nights. I wanna make all of our touring plans now and can't until its been decided where the party will be. So hurry up Disneyland and give us some hints! LOL!

No kidding! I'm in charge of planning for 31 of us. I need some info!!