HalloweenTime at DLR Superthread #4

[lindyv321]

Sine the new Star Wars overlay is not on Space Mountain do you think they will change over to the Halloween overlay or leave it as it's been so popular? I wasn't overly fond of the Halloween overlay and am hoping to see the new one!

 

[Sherry E]

Sine the new Star Wars overlay is not on Space Mountain do you think they will change over to the Halloween overlay or leave it as it's been so popular? I wasn't overly fond of the Halloween overlay and am hoping to see the new one!

I wouldn't expect Hyperspace Mountain to still be up and running for Halloween Time, but... it's hard to say for sure with that kind of thing because they will want to keep all things Star Wars fresh on everyone's minds to get them revved up for the new land coming in a few years.

The thing is, the Halloween Time offerings are really thin to begin with, and removing something else -- a Halloween Time exclusive, and one of the reasons why a lot of people look forward to Halloween Time at DLR -- from the roster of seasonal activities is not a good idea unless they have something to replace it with. For example, if they decided to skip Ghost Galaxy this year, another overlay on another ride (not counting Haunted Mansion Holiday) could make up for it a bit. It would be tricky to just remove it without adding something new into the mix as well. As it is, last year Disney stuck the Paint the Night parade into Mickey's Halloween Party even though it was running on all non-party nights too (meaning that party guests were paying extra for a ticket to see a parade they could see without an extra ticket on any other night), and they have gotten rid of the Halloween Carnival (including pumpkin carvers, games, entertainment). If they remove anything else then we will really just have Haunted Mansion Holiday and Mickey's Halloween Party.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Space Mountain by that time. I wonder if they will keep Hyperspace Mountain around longer than expected.

 

[WestMom2two]

When do they close ISW for Christmas overlay? We are going for Halloween time Oct 10-15 and we have my 2 year old nephew with us who I know will love the ride. I can't recall if it was open or closed last time we did Halloween there.

 

[mom2rtk]

It was closed when we were there last year the last week of October. Not sure what the first day of the closure was though.

 

[Sherry E]

When do they close ISW for Christmas overlay? We are going for Halloween time Oct 10-15 and we have my 2 year old nephew with us who I know will love the ride. I can't recall if it was open or closed last time we did Halloween there.

Last year IASW was closed from October 19, 2015 through November 5, 2015. It soft opened on 11/6. The holiday season officially began one week later.

This year my guess is that IASW will stay open through Sunday, 10/16, and then should be closed as of Monday morning, 10/17 for the overlay installation -- IF the holiday season is going to begin on 11/10 or 11/11 (which has not been announced). If the holiday season is starting later than 11/11, IASW might close later than 10/17.

If the holidays begin on 11/11, then IASW should soft open about one week before that date, on 11/4, in which case IASW has to close around 2-1/2 weeks earlier to begin the process of the overlay.

 

[Daisybell911]

If I remember correctly, last year Haunted Mansion was closed from Monday, August 24th to Thursday, September 10th -- in other words, it was closed all through the day of September 10th and then reopened as Haunted Mansion Holiday on Friday, September 11th.

Assuming that Halloween Time is on track to begin on Fri., 9/9/16 (this has not yet been confirmed, of course), which seems likely since the Diamond Celebration is supposed to be wrapping up on 9/5, then Haunted Mansion would have to shut down by Monday, August 22nd. If Halloween Time is going to start later than 9/9, like on 9/16, then Haunted Mansion would likely close on 8/29.

In any event, I think that you should be able to catch several days (at least) of the regular Haunted Mansion in its non-holiday overlay format before your trip is over.

Gosh, I hope Halloween time starts 9/9! My BF and I are going 9/9-9/13. I told him a long time ago that I always wanted to be proposed to in front of the Haunted Mansion. We are going to DL on my birthday (9/11). He keeps saying it's going to be the best birthday ever so I'm hoping for good things and a ride on HM to celebrate! *wish*.

 

[Sherry E]

I spoke with a lovely CM at Disneyland Resort a while ago -- on the phone -- so she could get my feedback on how DLR needs to bring back the pumpkin carvers (and egg decorators!) and develop Halloween Time a bit more. They have not been given the dates for Mickey's Halloween Party just yet, of course, and they don't have any information on what is happening with the party this year. But I asked her -- in her opinion -- does she think there is a chance for MHP to move back over to California Adventure this year, while construction is going on in Disneyland? She said that, in her opinion only (not based on any kind of factual info), she does not think that MHP will move to DCA this year. She thinks it will stay in Disneyland, construction and all.

I don't know how they are going to get around the Rivers of America being down, as that is a huge area of ambiance and spooky atmosphere at the party, as is the Big Thunder Trail, but those areas will be under construction by the time of MHP. I really don't know why they wouldn't just move the party to DCA for a couple of years and then move it back to DL when the Rivers of America is up and running again. The only thing I can think of is that Disney doesn't want to have to decorate DCA and add some sort of Halloween event/attraction there to use as a selling point of MHP. It's easier for them to just keep the party in DL, despite losing a huge atmospheric component.

So we shall see what happens and how it unfolds, but this CM was pretty certain the party will stay in DL.

 

[gsrieff]

I'm just going to impatiently sit here, and wait for any bit of info on halloweentime!! I can't wait!!!

 

[justgrace]

That's interesting about the costume guidelines at WDW. Does anyone have any idea what they mean by "layered costumes"? I'm wondering if that means no big princess costumes (i.e. Cinderella). They're a little vague on what they mean.

 

[mummabear]

Sadly we have no visit to DLR or WDW this year (a first for 10 years) . We were meant to be coming through either side of Christmas (as we will be spending Christmas in Canada this year) but we couldnt work it out with the airlines to do a stop over.
So this year I will be living vicariously through this thread lol. And keeping myself focused on a Halloween 2017 trip

 

[lindyv321]

I just saw in another thread that they have not completely drained Rivers of America for the Star Wars construction. So hopefully they will still be able to do some theming in that area for the Halloween party

 

[gsrieff]

I just saw in another thread that they have not completely drained Rivers of America for the Star Wars construction. So hopefully they will still be able to do some theming in that area for the Halloween party

ive was watching that thread and thinking the same thing. fingers crossed!

 

[Sherry E]

The river is not completely drained right now. By September, I'm not sure what will be happening on it. The Cadaver Dans usually float along the river for the party, singing songs. That wouldn't be happening. The Dans will have to set up shop somewhere else. Nothing is moving on the river during construction and they can't set up anything that will interfere with construction, but they might be able to pump it full of fog or set up some eerie lighting.

 

[ISpyMickeyMouse]

Hi, everyone. I am attempting to plan for another Halloween visit (or plan as much as I can without any exact information from Disney!) I tried searching in this thread without success, but I was wondering if anyone remembers if there were Disney Resort Hotel discounts offered for the last week of September. Google showed some nice discounts until September 24thish in 2015, but I was hoping there was another round of discounts for the following week. Any comments would be appreciated. I do understand that that doesn't guarantee anything this year, but it is always good to hold out hope

PS: My first Halloween visit in 2014 I learned SO much from this thread and all of your suggestions, comments, etc. Thank you all!

 

[Sherry E]

Hi, everyone. I am attempting to plan for another Halloween visit (or plan as much as I can without any exact information from Disney!) I tried searching in this thread without success, but I was wondering if anyone remembers if there were Disney Resort Hotel discounts offered for the last week of September. Google showed some nice discounts until September 24thish in 2015, but I was hoping there was another round of discounts for the following week. Any comments would be appreciated. I do understand that that doesn't guarantee anything this year, but it is always good to hold out hope

PS: My first Halloween visit in 2014 I learned SO much from this thread and all of your suggestions, comments, etc. Thank you all!

Hello!

Well, first off I should say that I think there will probably be some sort of hotel discount this year -- because there is so much construction, and certain things are closed forever or temporarily down. Disney will want to make sure to keep the hotels booked and the parks full if they can. In a year when something major is opening, like the year that Cars Land opened, there were no general hotel discounts for 3/4 of the year (including September). There were not even any good AP discounts that year.

There are usually a couple of different discounts -- sometimes there is one for the general public; sometimes there is a discount for AP holders; sometimes there is a discount for Disney Visa card holders; sometimes there might be all 3! There should be a fall discount of a sort, announced in early or mid-September, which may or may not cover the very end of September, parts of October, November and December. The thing is, with each passing year the dates/weeks that the fall discounts cover are getting more limited, and the discounts are often less substantial. In the distant past the discounts covered a wider range of dates. Now, I notice that there are usually no discounts for any days or weeks when DLR expects to be very busy.

So you might very well get lucky and find that some of your nights fall into a discounted time frame. I would not rule it out. But if it is a fall discount (assuming a late summer discount ends before the end of September), there might not be any word of it until August or September.

You could probably -- most likely -- make a room-only reservation (not a package) at one of the hotels under the current rack rate, put down a deposit, and then call Reservations when/if a discount is announced to get your rate adjusted. That used to be allowed, and I think it still is (I hope).

 

[lindyv321]

What rides are usually open during the Halloween party? Are the wait times usually shorter because there's less people in the park?

 

[Kilala]

What rides are usually open during the Halloween party? Are the wait times usually shorter because there's less people in the park?

Yes on both questions.
Most of the rides are open. This will be different though some of the rides will be down because of SWL. Yes the wait times are shorter.

 

[scrapperkimmydee]

Is there a "usual" line up of nights that the party is on? Like, every Friday, Monday, and Wednesday, or something like that? Or is it random?

 

[Ember]

I'm not sure what to do at this point. We are in the UK and wanting to come for Halloween, specifically the Halloween Party. We lived in LA previously and it was a TON of fun! Last time I dressed up as Merida and this year I wanted to do Ariel. But the website seems to indicate that only under 14's are allowed to dress up this year. I'm gutted. Even the Disney World site says that full princess dresses won't be allowed. My favourite holiday in my favourite places seems to be no more. And I've already started working on my dress (which ain't cheap!).

Edit: I just emailed Disney directly to ask...

 

[justgrace]

I'm not sure what to do at this point. We are in the UK and wanting to come for Halloween, specifically the Halloween Party. We lived in LA previously and it was a TON of fun! Last time I dressed up as Merida and this year I wanted to do Ariel. But the website seems to indicate that only under 14's are allowed to dress up this year. I'm gutted. Even the Disney World site says that full princess dresses won't be allowed. My favourite holiday in my favourite places seems to be no more. And I've already started working on my dress (which ain't cheap!).

Edit: I just emailed Disney directly to ask...

I was curious about this as well, and asked a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure that anyone knows the answer. I made a full Cinderella costume last year and was planning on wearing it again this year to the Halloween parties. I'm going to be bummed if I can't wear a fun costume!