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

[SueTGGR]

Here are a few of the pictures. I have to say that I didn't think it was all that crowded. The only thing we waited too long for was HMH but that was a request and I didn't want to deny them. But honestly, I thought it would have been better to wait until after the party actually started. We probably waited 45+ minutes? The other rides were walk on that we went to. We didn't hit that many though. That included Star Tours. I think it took us about 5 minutes?
OH, if you want a picture with the Pumpkin, I think it comes out better during the daytime. Comparing our pictures from last year (daylight) and this year (nighttime), it looks much better in the day. But we didn't have to wait at all this year. Also, if you want a picture of Mickey and Minnie a line starts to form back by the Round-up before 7pm. We kind of stumbled on it after the HMH and maybe waited about 10 minutes before they showed up and then maybe another 5-10 minutes for the people in front of us to take pictures. TIP-have someone stay in line to hold your place and take the kids through the trick or treat station that runs through the Round-Up area. Also, the pumpkin area was not lit up so the only way I got to see the pumpkins was because my camera has a flash and I looked at them later on my computer. Even one of the cast members mentioned that they didn't know why it was dark over in that corner.
OK here we go:

This is on top of the cart that has Candy! Did they have these last year?

And the Parade Begins!

Our stash with our Coffin. not sure who likes it more DS or DH?

 

[krispin41]

Great pictures!! My DH and I only hit about two trick or treat trails, and between us, maybe 5 pounds of candy...I wish we had explored a bit more, but this was his first trip to DL and he wanted to do some of the rides. I really wanted to see the parade, however, we compromised on the fireworks. I think our longest wait was actually for candy, but we waited about 15 minutes for Space Mountain.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Got back from WDW last Wed. and I was still on the fence about going to the party tomorrow but it is SOLD OUT! Yikes! Also SO on Friday (even though it's more expensive). So it looks like we won't be going this year. Looks like I saved almost $100 and having to eat so much candy! Our trip to WDW really cut down on the days we could do the party at DLR. Tix are still available for Halloween but I don't want to go that day. Actually, I'm glad I didn't already buy my tix for tomorrow as I don't want to go on a SO day.

Next year we'll have to plan on going earlier in the month.

May go for a visit tomorrow anyway, or possibly on Thursday. We were there on the first day of the party and I noticed a huge influx of guests starting at 4 p.m. Thursday should be quieter.

 

[twopeasonepod]

Whoa, sold out??? Hopefully not for the 31st.

Packing everything, including their gigantic Clone Trooper voice-changing helmets, which each take up an entire suitcase on their own and they will end up carrying anyway (due to regulations). But hey, anything for the kids!

Sorry for not reading the whole thread, but what is the consensus on best spot for kids to watch the fireworks?

 

[Dizneydaz]

Whoa, sold out??? Hopefully not for the 31st.

Packing everything, including their gigantic Clone Trooper voice-changing helmets, which each take up an entire suitcase on their own and they will end up carrying anyway (due to regulations). But hey, anything for the kids!

Sorry for not reading the whole thread, but what is the consensus on best spot for kids to watch the fireworks?

31st still shows tickets available.

 

[twopeasonepod]

Cool, we've had our tix for awhile, since this has become a family tradition.

Love seeing all the pumpkin/costume/parade/everything photos!

 

[ToodlesRN]

Whoa, sold out??? Hopefully not for the 31st.

Packing everything, including their gigantic Clone Trooper voice-changing helmets, which each take up an entire suitcase on their own and they will end up carrying anyway (due to regulations). But hey, anything for the kids!

Sorry for not reading the whole thread, but what is the consensus on best spot for kids to watch the fireworks?

When we went on the 11th there was a sign that said tickets were available for the party, a couple hours later they had sold out signs. It was the same on the 14th Friday it looks like they sell out before the party starts.

 

[candygirlIRE]

I didn't get 15 pounds of candy...or 25. There have been a couple of folks who said they got (in the neighborhood of) 5 - 6 pounds, and that's what I think I got. That sounds about right for what was in my bag. Maybe I got 10 pounds at most, but that's being really generous. Perhaps the CM's handing out candy are more generous now than they were on 10/3??

We were there on the 3rd and we came back to the hotel with EASY 20lbs of candy - I would even say maybe 25lbs!! Seriously, we got loads!! We gave about half of it to the hotel staff as we couldn't fit it in our suitcases!! LOL

Now, there were 4 of us collecting candy, I wonder if that made a difference - they even gave the baby a bag, but we only collected the "healthy" options for her, so I am not counting it



You know those freeze dried apples they gave out! SHE FREAKIN LOVED THOSE!! I wish I had bought like 4 large bags to bring home! I thought they were pretty nasty myself


I love seeing everyone's pics!! Very cool --- still sorting through all mine - and activating the PHOTOPASS photos tomorrow! WHOOHOO!!

I miss Disneyland

 

[StyledSugar]

We leave for Vegas after just one more sleep! Any chance we'll see you at the PBR Finals? I'm sure we're the only family combining that event with Halloweentime.

You are not the only ones........we had seriously considered taking in the PBR Finals as well. Typical Albertans I guess. We decided to wait and see since the days we were looking at aren't sold out. We're going with other people so we'll see how the day plays out I guess.

Have a great time at both!!

 

[merrrydeath]

My BFF planned a VERY last minute trip to DLR for her birthday/Halloween and just invited me along. Yeah, this weekend. Let's just say her "planning" style is nothing like mine(months and months in advance). So while not knowing all the details makes me super anxious, I'm going. I think I might be a little crazy.

See, we live 6 hours away and I work until 4pm on Saturday and have to be back to work by 11am on Tuesday. It wasn't possible for me to drive with her and our other 4 friends who are going. Well, just so happens that I had a United Airlines gift certificate(from a really bad flight delay earlier this year) that I had no idea what to use on. So it's going to be intense, but I'm going to fly down this Saturday night(arrive at LAX at 8:30) and then fly back up early Tuesday to be able to get to work in time. JUST booked my flight and bought my Halloween party ticket. I have no idea where we are staying, when we will be at the parks, how we will get to the parks... etc. I'm going to try to go with the flow without too much anxiety though. I AM excited.

Quick question though, does anyone know what "sold out" means for a Halloween Party? How many tickets they sell, how crowded it will be? I've never been to one so I don't know if there are things I should do in a certain order.

 

[Sherry E]

My BFF planned a VERY last minute trip to DLR for her birthday/Halloween and just invited me along. Yeah, this weekend. Let's just say her "planning" style is nothing like mine(months and months in advance). So while not knowing all the details makes me super anxious, I'm going. I think I might be a little crazy.

See, we live 6 hours away and I work until 4pm on Saturday and have to be back to work by 11am on Tuesday. It wasn't possible for me to drive with her and our other 4 friends who are going. Well, just so happens that I had a United Airlines gift certificate(from a really bad flight delay earlier this year) that I had no idea what to use on. So it's going to be intense, but I'm going to fly down this Saturday night(arrive at LAX at 8:30) and then fly back up early Tuesday to be able to get to work in time. JUST booked my flight and bought my Halloween party ticket. I have no idea where we are staying, when we will be at the parks, how we will get to the parks... etc. I'm going to try to go with the flow without too much anxiety though. I AM excited.

Quick question though, does anyone know what "sold out" means for a Halloween Party? How many tickets they sell, how crowded it will be? I've never been to one so I don't know if there are things I should do in a certain order.

Yay! Meredith, I'm so glad you're getting in a Halloween trip! And you'll be there on Halloween night - something I've always wanted to do.

You'll be hitting both holiday seasons at DLR this year (you've still got your December GCH visit on the agenda, right?) !

One cool thing is that the snow has already appeared on the Castle, so if you stand in the right spot with the camera, you should be able to get some good 'crossover' pictures of pumpkins or other Halloween-ish stuff with the Castle/snow in the background. I love those rare "2 holidays colliding" photos that people seem to get every so often!

As far as the MHP tickets selling out, I take that to mean that the pre-order tickets sell out, but that there will still be some tickets available at the ticket booths on the day of the event (but at full price, not the discounted pre-order price, obviously). I have to assume that DLR factors in a certain number of 'last minute' MHP guests - people who are probably in the parks that day, and for whatever reason did not make MHP plans until the last minute - and keeps some tickets available for them.

I found the 10/3 party (a Monday night) to be quite crowded. I know everyone has different perceptions of what they feel is too crowded or bearable. I did not find it to be unbearable, but it was definitely way more crowded than I would have expected for a Monday night. I was actually surprised at how many people were there.

So I can only imagine that a Halloween night party will be hoppin' and very, very busy! Some folks say that the lines for rides are long. Some folks say they are short. Some folks don't bother with rides during the party at all.

I'm not sure what your priorities are, but I know that Jessica (who was at the MHP on the night I was there) prefers to do most of her character photos first, then see the Cavalcade/parade and then the Halloween fireworks. She saves the candy collecting for last. Maybe you will want to do the MHP how she does it.

I, however, wanted to get all my candy first - because I knew we (funatdisney/Liza and I) would have to leave the party one hour early and I wanted to be able to see the cavalcade/parade and fireworks. So we skipped the character photos (those tend to have very, very long lines, if you hit them mid-party rather than early on) and headed straight for all the treat trails. Some of the treat trails lines were really long but moved fast (like at the Golden Horseshoe). Some were long and moved slowly (like at POTC). Some of the trails had no people at all (like at the Halloween Round-Up - Big Thunder Ranch area).

After we got our candy (we went to every trail and stop except for the French Market), we watched the cavalcade (sort of) and then the Halloween Screams fireworks. Then we left one hour early. If we had stayed for the extra hour, I'm not sure how many character photos we could have gotten in.

I think I decided that for me, personally, I would have to do the MHP on 2 separate nights to get to all the character photos and hit all the treat stops along all the treat trails. We really only had time to conquer the candy and do the cavalcade/fireworks. There was no time for us to hit the character photo ops. If we had done all the character photos first instead, I don't think I would have had time to get any candy. I think I would really need 2 nights - OR I would just do one night and hit only some treat trails and some character photo spots to have a mix of both.

Also, you have to figure in any time you spend stopping to take your own photos (of scenery or whatever).

Others say, however, that they have gotten it all done in one night - so I guess it's different for everyone.

There are treat trails all over the place, from the far corners of DL (like the Princess Fantasy Faire) to unexpected places like queues for certain rides (POTC and something in Fantasyland - can't recall which dark ride it was), to Pixie Hollow. Innoventions has some. The Golden Horseshoe actually has some cute Halloween stuff inside the building (look up on the balconies too) so it is worthwhile to go in there for candy. Anyway, the trails are all over. In fact, half the fun for me was to ignore the so-called "map" the CM's give out and just sort of 'discover' all the trails on our own, only occasionally glancing at the map to see if we were overlooking anything major.

 

[candygirlIRE]

I found the 10/3 party (a Monday night) to be quite crowded. I know everyone has different perceptions of what they feel is too crowded or bearable. I did not find it to be unbearable, but it was definitely way more crowded than I would have expected for a Monday night. I was actually surprised at how many people were there.

Yes, I agree it was super crowded... I thought for sure that it would be not so busy being a Monday and at the START of the month... but we were way wrong But we still enjoyed ourselves and I think the longest line we saw for rides was of course Peter Pan (40mins - pretty good compared to the 60 mins we spent in line a couple of days later hahaha). Space Mtn was only 15-20 mins I think, went super fast!

 

[pudinhd]

We attended the party on Friday, 10/21. We were in line to get our wristbands talking with some people ahead of us & a child asked a cast member how many tickets had been sold that day. She said she didn't know, but when I mentioned I had read online that the guess was about 20,000 tickets, the cast member said not even close to 20,000. She said not even half that... Later that night I asked my husband about how many people he thought were currently in the park and he said about 25,000.

 

[MattsPrincess]

Just wrapped up day 2 of 4, as well as our MHP. Crowds have been very good, the best we've dealt with on any trip so far.

I was surprised yesterday to see a bit of snow on the center of the castle, and even more surprised to see that a little more had fallen by rope drop this morning!

MHP was a lot of fun! We both filled our bags about half way, but we had big bags. Character lines were the worst. We met Jack Sparrow, Hook, Wendy, Peter Pan, Storm Troopers, Pooh, Eeyore, Rabbit, Aladdin, Jasmine...I think there may have been more but can't recall who at the moment. Line for Mickey and Minnie was CRAZY, didn't even try. Rides were all basically walk on. Loved the dance parties, especially the Pirate Palooza one. A few characters came out and danced there.

But overall, good crowds, low waits, fun interactions, etc.

I'm surprised at the lack of Halloween merchandise though, I must say. When were here last November it seemed like everything was xmas themed...not so much with the Halloween stuff.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I'm back from our 1st WDW vacation. It was fabulous!! I have to report that WDW does have gingerbread mickey cookies and they taste just as magnificant as the DL ones!!! I found them at Goofy's Candy Co. I wanted to check at another bakery but never found my way to one . In hind sight, I should have taken a picture to offer proof. It was the same size, same white buttons, same chocolate dipped mickey ears, and soft cookie that I've seen (and enjoyed) in numerous bake shops in DL.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

https://www.facebook.com/index.php?...60592917&set=o.238585929509313&type=1&theater

Facebook Disneyland Halloween site has the picture of the cool ghost family people were talking about.

 

[isisisme]

we leave tomorrow morning!! I am so incredibly excited. I always get nervous about the flight (always do until the plane is in the air).
Now, on to laundry and packing.

 

[MattsPrincess]

Crowds were a little heavier today, but still manageable.

Had our Happiest Haunts tour today. I though it was cheesy, but in a cute way. A little long, maybe, but enjoyed it.

Oh, and DAISY DUCK WAS OUT TODAY!!!

 

[swx72]

We went to our first ever DL Halloween party on 10/3/11 and had great fun. I've just blogged about it for my family back in the UK to see what went on and thought I'd share the link with you.

http://johnandsigrid.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/our-week-in-california-100211-100811-mickeys-halloween-party/

 

[Saskiwi]

Did our first ever MHP on Tuesday night - crowded but lots of fun. Photos with Jack Skellington, riding HMH and getting candy were our priorities, as we are on a 14 day pass we have HEAPS of time to do rides..

We queued for ages to get that photo, but Jack was great and spent so long talking to DS9 ( who was a hitchhiking ghost) - it made his night!

We found some candy trail queues moved really slow and others were very speedy - POTC and the one through the Village Haus restaurant in FL were both fast.

We watched the first parade from beside the castle, opposite Pixie Hollow and then moved immediately to the front of the castle and waited for the fireworks, which was a great spot - super crowded, but you got to watch the full effects.

The fireworks were great - almost as good as Remember... to me.

Thanks for all the tips and help on this thread and others - we are haing a blast enjoying our first Halloween - and it is fun starting to spot little bits of Christmas creeping into the park too - snow on the castle, decorations going up...