HalloweenTime at DLR Superthread- 9/14-10/31; Mickey's Halloween Party starts 9/28!

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More HM decorations...

 

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Just a pumpkin shot....

 

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And lastly another pumpkin shots...can you tell that I love taking pics of pumpkins??? There are over 300 pumpkins alone on Main Street, and I think that in my over zealousness that I managed to get them all. Have a great day!

 

[Sherry E]

Well, seeing that all of my Halloween photos were in the previous Halloween thread and not this one...that has to change! So here is the beginning of some photos I am going to post. More will come later today or tomorrow.

Candy Corn Acres – R.I.P. -

Haunted Mansion Holiday –

Random Halloween-ness –

Ray Bradbury Halloween Tree –

Dia de los Muertos –

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice photos Sherry and Trish.

 

[6Smiles]

Belledozer and Sherry - Your pictures are fantastic. I can honestly not wait for the fall to come and Halloween Time at Disneyland!

 

[Bungle]

Is it sad that I'm reading this thread and planning for our trip to MNSSHP for next year?

 

[Sherry E]

Very nice photos Sherry and Trish.

Thank you, Bret! I don't really like to re-post stuff that I've already posted if I can help it, even if it's in a different thread, but I hadn't posted anything in this thread except for the thumbnails in the first post! (At least not that I can remember!) So I just had to do it!

Belledozer and Sherry - Your pictures are fantastic. I can honestly not wait for the fall to come and Halloween Time at Disneyland!

Thank you, Kris! Only 4 more months to go and it's Halloween Time! We just have to sit through a long, hot summer and then out come the gingerbread cookies with mouse ears and pumpkin muffins! I am trying to get my Christmas DLR trip dates squared away, but at the same time I am itching to get back to DLR for Halloween since I had to miss it last year, which I was very sad about. I still have not been able to get any decent photos of the character pumpkins above the turnstiles at DL, so that is definitely on my to-do list, along with spending more time in the Halloween Round-Up!

Is it sad that I'm reading this thread and planning for our trip to MNSSHP for next year?

Bungle - I don't think it's sad at all! Why not? Get an early start on the planning (not that I'm enabling you or anything)!!

I have a feeling there are many people combing both this thread and the Christmas thread, planning their trips for future years.

 

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Thanks for all the kind words about the pics I've posted. Here's one that I've just uploaded onto Webshots... Have a great evening!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Thank you, Bret! I don't really like to re-post stuff that I've already posted if I can help it, even if it's in a different thread, but I hadn't posted anything in this thread except for the thumbnails in the first post! (At least not that I can remember!) So I just had to do it!

Same here Sherry. I re-post some of the Halloween pics from the first thread and onto this thread. It is always nice and refreshing to see some of the same pics that we posted on the first thread and on this thread. Can't wait to see more of your pics that were in the old thread.

 

[nunzia]

I'm sorry if this has already been posted..I didn't see it. Tickets for the Halloween party are available for purchase on the AP site.

 

[StephNJer]

So, I'm assuming that kids 3 and under don't need a ticket for the Halloween Party, right? I tried to find the info on the site but couldn't find anything. I bought our tickets for the Halloween Party already and figured I wouldn't need one for DS (1 year old). Does anyone know for sure?

 

[DizNee Luver]

So, I'm assuming that kids 3 and under don't need a ticket for the Halloween Party, right? I tried to find the info on the site but couldn't find anything. I bought our tickets for the Halloween Party already and figured I wouldn't need one for DS (1 year old). Does anyone know for sure?

Same rules apply as they do for buying PH's.......children UNDER 3 don't need a ticket/PH. A 3 yr old will need both!! So your 1 yr old is good to go!! Enjoy!!

 

[Sherry E]

Well, seeing that all of my Halloween photos were in the previous Halloween thread and not this one...that has to change! So here is the beginning of some photos I am going to post. More will come later today or tomorrow.

Candy Corn Acres – R.I.P. -

Haunted Mansion Holiday –

Random Halloween-ness –

Ray Bradbury Halloween Tree –

Dia de los Muertos –

By the way, when I posted these photos ^^ yesterday, I had intended to mention something (a disclaimer of sorts!) and then later forgot!

I mainly wanted to post this for the people new to this thread or the people who are perhaps totally new to Halloween Time at DLR and who have not had a chance to scroll through the original Halloween thread (the one prior to this one) to see photos and keep up with news.

Candy Corn Acres in DCA (shown in the first 3 photos above) is no longer part of the HalloweenTime celebration at DLR. I wanted to post those photos in memoriam, I guess you could say, but it dawned on me that people who have never experienced the Halloween season at DLR might see those and think that Candy Corn Acres was still part of it.

Candy Corn Acres was a staple of the HalloweenTime season at DLR for at least 3 years in a row (2007, 2008 & 2009). I'm not sure if it was there in 2006?? Does anyone know? In any case, just as the giant Mickey pumpkin is the main Halloween landmark at the start of Main Street in DL, Candy Corns Acres and its giant Candy Corn photo spot (with a bite taken out by Heimlich) were the main Halloween focal points in California Adventure.

Candy Corn Acres was not only made up of the giant Candy Corn, but also all kinds of 'candy corn plants' in the various flower beds, candy corn hanging from palm trees and from the Golden Gate Bridge, a sort of candy corn tower/factory thingy...and for at least one year the CALIFORNIA letters at the entrance of DCA were done up in candy corn motif (like the candy cane CALIFORNIA letters at Christmas time)!

The CALIFORNIA candy corn letters disappeared first. They were gone in 2009, for no logical reason! I don't think we ever found out why they disappeared.

At some point, the monster/Halloween-themed songs that were played in DCA around the entry area were discontinued, too.

Then Candy Corn Acres disappeared entirely last year, 2010 - the thole thing was gone. The PhotoPass photo spot was gone. The giant Candy Corn with Heimlich's bite mark was gone. The candy corn 'plants' and tower were gone. It was mostly due to a combination of three things: the ongoing construction work in DCA, ElecTRONica and the fact that the Halloween party was no longer being held in DCA. I suppose the party had to move out of DCA because of the construction and ElecTRONica, and when it did, DLR decided that California Adventure didn't need any Halloween decorations.

I think that they could have found a place for the giant Candy Corn - either move it into A Bug's Land (where the giant Christmas ornaments usually sit) or maybe even move it into ToonTown. But they didn't.

So, as anyone who went last year to DLR for HalloweenTime will tell us - there were next to no traces of Halloween season anywhere in DCA, with the exception of some Fall-ish flower beds and garlands on some facades in the Pacific Wharf area. No whimsical Halloween touches at all. Anything and everything Halloween-related was in Disneyland.

I feel like the Halloween season as a whole would seem more well-rounded and thorough if DLR decided to put something back in California Adventure to celebrate the season. There is still a lot of construction to be done in DCA over the next year and beyond, so I don't think there is much of a chance that any Halloween decorations will appear in DCA this year. ElecTRONica can't possibly last beyond this year - it was supposed to be a promotional thing for the "Tron" movie, which has now come and gone - because it will not fit at all with the new 1920's Los Angeles theme of DCA.

I talked to a CM at the Paradise Pier Hotel in December, and he said that he (and Disney) were very surprised to get so many complaints from people about Candy Corn Acres being removed from DCA. I guess they didn't really think anyone cared about having touches of Halloween in DCA, but apparently they got lots of letters and feedback to the contrary. People did care - and they do care! People want to feel like they are immersed in the season!

So I am hoping that all of the complaints last year will inspire DLR to put something else Halloween-ish in DCA this year, even if it's not giant candy corn!


In the meantime...does anyone have any photos of the CALIFORNIA candy corn letters to share? I thought that was a really, really clever idea for those letters and was very surprised to see them missing in 2009.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I think it's a shame that DCA doesn't look like it's Halloween.....even WITH all the construction going on.....in fact, it would be a good way to focus someone's eyes on something else.

I hope they have Halloween touches over there this year but won't be expecting it.........bummer!

 

[Sherry E]

I think it's a shame that DCA doesn't look like it's Halloween.....even WITH all the construction going on.....in fact, it would be a good way to focus someone's eyes on something else.

I hope they have Halloween touches over there this year but won't be expecting it.........bummer!

I agree, Laurie! The CM I spoke with at the PPH last year was saying he had a feeling that DLR would put the Halloween touches back in DCA after all the work is done - "because they do listen to feedback and they do pay attention to what people say." But that would basically mean that this year could still be Halloween-less in DCA yet again.

You're right - the more stuff they have around DCA to distract people from the construction, the better. And Disney is very creative - they could have moved the giant candy corn directly into A Bug's Land - at least some of it - and they could have put a few of the candy corn 'plants' in some of the foliage inside A Bug's Land. There is a spot where they put giant Christmas ornaments for the holidays, and that spot could have held at least one giant candy corn! Where they hang the giant Christmas bulbs/lights in A Bug's Land during the holidays - that's where they should have been hanging candy corn or other Halloween-related things!

But I think a large part of the removal of Halloween from DCA had to do with ElecTRONica taking over DCA last year, as well as the fact that they moved the Halloween party into DL. Then again...they removed the candy corn CALIFORNIA letters in 2009, and ElecTRONica was not even on the scene then, nor was the party being held in Disneyland yet. I think they also stopped playing the Halloween/monster-related songs in DCA by 2009 as well, from what I can remember. So there goes that logic!!

So really, now that I look back, DLR was already beginning to scale down the HalloweenTime celebration in 2009, with last year being really obvious due to the absence of Candy Corn Acres in DCA.

But DLR only began building up the Halloween season as a bigger deal in 2006 or 2007. To start scaling it back little by little in 2009 certainly doesn't seem like they gave it very long to become a full-fledged season. Maybe it was for economical reasons?

DLR makes its Halloween season about a month and a half long - just a few days shy of the length of the Christmas season. So I think that long of a season deserves more Halloween-ness around the Resort, but at least in DCA, too, if not in the hotels or DTD!

 

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The first couple of pics are from a family trip Feb/09. I'm posting them as these were originally in front of the entrance to Bugs land. Sadly they are no more, thanks to the Cars Land expansion. SIGH...was one of my fav places in CA.

 

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The Halloween tree at night...

 

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Halloween Screams fireworks...