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

[dolphingirl47]

Oooh where was the Genie? Would love to get a pic with him! Assume Stormtroopers were somewhere near Star Tours?

The Genie was in Adventureland in a little Arabic looking building near Jungle Cruise. The line for the Storm Troopers was around the exit of Buzz Lightyear.

Corinna

 

[Diznygrl]

I have to say that's one of the better tightrope girl costumes I've seen. Nice job! Where did you get that parasol?

 

[poohnpigletCA]

I have to say that's one of the better tightrope girl costumes I've seen. Nice job! Where did you get that parasol?

Thank you. Her Aunt made the costume the day before we left because we did not know if we were going to the party. The Parasol came from a local costume shop although I did find many of them on Amazon.

All night she got called Mary Poppins which was funny as her sister was dressed as Mary Poppins (she got called Bo Peep.)

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

We returned from DL on Wednesday night and attended Mickey's Halloween Party on Tuesday 10/11.

Highlights:
~Decorations at the park were outstanding!
~We loved our room at the Disneyland Hotel!
~Outdoor fireplace area at Disneyland Hotel was great for the parents after a long day at the park. We also got to witness the hotel security in action from this location......it was a great spot!!!
~Tons of yummy candy!
~Weather, mid 80's the entire stay.
~Space and HM with Holiday themes!

Lowlights:
~Who knew that Columbus Day weekend was going to be soooooo crowded!
~Lines were crazy. We got in line for Splash with a 70 minute wait time listed. By the time we got on, we had waited two hours
~Halloween Party was a bit of a let down. It may have been because our biggest goal was to see characters in costume but the lines were insane. It took about an hour and a half to see Mickey and Minnie! I had heard some people so excited with the amounts of candy available but really, you could go to Costco and for $10 get a massive bag of candy! I wish they could tweak it just a bit (add more characters, have several Mickey and Minnie's available like they do in WDW).

Overall it was a great trip but we will be sure to avoid Columbus Day Weekend in the future!

 

[Diznygrl]

Thank you. Her Aunt made the costume the day before we left because we did not know if we were going to the party. The Parasol came from a local costume shop although I did find many of them on Amazon.

All night she got called Mary Poppins which was funny as her sister was dressed as Mary Poppins (she got called Bo Peep.)

LOL, the same thing happened to me! I went as the tightrope girl last year and while some people recognized who I was, I also got called Mary Poppins at least once.

Also, WOW to her aunt making the costume in one day! Mine took forever and was very frustrating. Then again I am not a seamstress whatsoever. It was trial and error all the way.

 

[ToodlesRN]

Just returned from a great trip with the family!! the weather was outstanding and seeing Olivia's first reactions to moms Disney fetish was priceless.

We also went to the Halloween party on the 11th and like others it was super crowded. Friday's party had tickets available when we were entering the park, but heard later they were sold out, so it sounds like the day they sell out.

I am so excited as I was speaking to a DVC member at the park and we got on the subject of Club 33 and the father is a member!!! He said he will make us a reservation for my birthday coming up in December, we exchanged numbers and they already texted me with what dates I would like to go. This has been a goal of mine to eat at Club 33, so on that note I upgraded my 6 day park hopper to a annual pass, the downfall was that my husband and son already walked away from the line to DD and the cast member wouldn't let me upgrade there tickets and I even had his ID with me. So they gave me a pass she called it an extension pass so when we return in December he can upgrade then, as I really don't want to loose on that money I already spent on tickets.

 

[mafpi]

Hi. Just wondering. Thought this would be the place to ask. I'm going to Disneyland on October 31st, but not to the Halloween party. I will be getting there at 8 and leaving around three, when the Halloween guests can get in. Then I will be going to California adventure. My question is, what has been the crowds like before the Halloween party at Disneyland. Thanks for everything.

 

[chickyann]

Feeling a bit homesick for Disneyland right now, so I thought I would share so of my photos from last years very rainy MHP

 

[Bert Chimneysweep]

just over a week till our trip to LA begins, that includes two days at Disney, with a halloween party added on 28 Oct.
Cannot wait now especially seeing as the weather is starting to get cold here in England need a little Fall sunshine

 

[StephNJer]

Just returned from a great trip! We attended the Halloween party on 10/14. All in all, we had a great time. It was pretty busy, lines for the treats moved qickly though. The lines to meet characters were long. We waited about an hour to meet Jack and Sally, but it was totally worth it. They were so much fun and were so much in character, we loved them.

My only complaint is how crazy it was during the transition from the park "closing" at 7, to the Halloween party. For a while, you had all the guests at the park leaving in a mass exodus, and tons of Halloween party attendees coming into the park. It was crazy, and so, SO crowded. Trying to walk into the park against the sea of people leaving the park, was stressful for us. Honestly even though they were checking wristbands through the night, I don't know how they would be able to tell who actually had paid to be there, and who was just still hanging out in the parks from earlier in the day. I think our wristbands were only checked twice, the entire time we were there. It was so crowded, that I think it would be pretty easy to just have been in the park earlier that day, and just sort of lose yourself in the crowd and get to stay at the party for free, essentially. I know they try to make this transition easier by letting party attendees enter the park a few hours early, but honestly, it seemed that the bulk of the party crowd came into the park around the same time we did, which was around 6:00. So in that regard, I feel like it was pretty disorganized. Between 6 and 7, when you had both regular daytime park guests, and party attendees, it was the busiest I have ever seen the park, in all the times I have gone (but I must admit, I haven't been there during New Year's lol!).

Other than that, we had a great time. We got a ton of candy and DD and DS had a blast, so in the end, that's all that matters!

 

[poohnpigletCA]

LOL, the same thing happened to me! I went as the tightrope girl last year and while some people recognized who I was, I also got called Mary Poppins at least once.

Also, WOW to her aunt making the costume in one day! Mine took forever and was very frustrating. Then again I am not a seamstress whatsoever. It was trial and error all the way.

Random question, do you have a sister that is a CM?

 

[TahoeMom]

We attended the Halloween party on 10/3 and I wanted to add my thoughts/experiences to this thread.

We arrived at about 5:30 for the 6pm party. It was really crowded for the 30 mins. before the party "started" but it was a bit better after most of the non-party crowd emptied out. However, it was more crowded than I expected. This was our 4th party (2 at DCA and this was our 2nd at DL) and definitely the most crowded we experienced.

The ride lines were pretty short and I think we walked on (or close) to most rides we went on. We were at DLR for 5 days though so we just chose rides that had shorter lines because we had other days to ride whatever we wanted to.

The treat lines were really long at the very beginning (we started in Tomorrowland) but did get a bit better towards the middle and end. The map is not exactly an exact depiction of where the treat stations are and I have a feeling they can change party to party. For example, the OP said the treat line at her party was not near SMGG but it was during ours. There were actually 2 in Tomorrowland on 10/3 - one near SMGG and Capt. EO and the other one snaked through the Innovations entry/exit areas.
The treat trails are not hard to find though - just don't rely completely on the map since it does not show each and every treat trail separately. There were multiple trails in Fantasyland, plus one at Big Thunder Ranch, one in the Golden Horseshoe, etc. I think the only one we didn't get to was the one back by the Princess Fantasy Faire.

We alternated going on rides with going through the treat trails. We did not do any character interactions (lines were too long and we didn't want to wait) or go to any of the dance party locations. (The music was great at Rancho Zocalo though and we got to enjoy it while we waited for BTMRR - our favorite nighttime ride so we rode it a few times.) Last year, my DD and I took a picture with Mickey and Minnie at the Big Thunder Ranch but this year we never saw them - there was a long line at the photo op scene they have set out (all the time, not just the party) near the entrance to the ranch area but we never saw any characters there - I wonder if we just caught it in the transition times. (By the way, although this photo op scene is out all the time, during the non-party times it is just a photo scene that you can take a picture at - we never saw any characters or CMs there.)

We did not watch the parade - we wanted to optimize our treat trail and ride time - but we did watch the fireworks. The fireworks show was awesome and the lighting effects on the castle are so cool. However, our vantage point was not ideal. We were on the left side of the hub facing the castle and many of the fireworks are set off to the left of the castle - which meant they were behind the trees that are near the Plaza Gardens area. We started the party at Tomorrowland and were near Frontierland/NOS when we decided it was time to go wait for the fireworks to start so the left side of the hub was the most convenient for us. I think I would recommend going the other way so the right side of the hub is more convenient. We didn't want to wait for too long for fireworks so we knew we wouldn't have the absolute best spot for the fireworks but we probably could have done better, even arriving 15-20 minutes before they started. One advantage of our spot was that we were right next to the entrance of the Plaza Gardens treat trail which emptied out near the bathrooms near Rancho Zocalo so we got through that trail and out of the hub area pretty quickly.

We ended the night in Fantasyland - we rode Toad at about 10:48 and were off at 10:58 in time to get in line for Peter Pan - we were the last ones in line for the ride that night. It was probably a 15-20 minute line at that point.

My family loves the Halloween party and this year was no exception. I would love it if the crowds were a bit less for the parties though. They did increase the number of treat stations this year so that was good, although I think we brought home about the same amount of candy as last year - TONS!

Oh, one more thing, no Ghirardelli or other specialty candy stations this year. But the "regular" candy they had was pretty good - like last year, Snickers, Reese's, Milky Way, Kit Kat, etc. One thing I noticed is that the kids got a lot better candy handed to them than the adults. I got 5 Tootsie Rolls and 1 Tootsie Pop in one handful when my kids were getting multiple Reese's and Snickers at most stops. I guess I understand this but by the same token, I paid the same entry fee as my kids so probably deserve the same level of treatment, regardless if I am an adult, in costume or not, etc.
However, it is certainly possible that the trail workers change from party to party so that may have just been the case at our party. Other workers on other nights might be different.

We will definitely go again next year if possible! I hope all of you that still have parties to go to this year have a great time!

Happy Halloween!

 

[Diznygrl]

Random question, do you have a sister that is a CM?

Hmm, nope. But I kind of wish I did.

 

[merfsko]

Just got back and I have to say if it was a near perfect trip!

I went to Friday's Hallowe'en party, and had a blast! We decided to skip rides, and just do characters, treats, fireworks and parade. We came home with about 5.5 lbs of candy, and I think we did all but one trail. We got to meet up with almost all the characters (except Jack Sparrow, I kept missing him!). I actually ended up running into two friends that I worked with at WDW, just by chance, so that was a nice surprise.

I'll hopefully have some pictures to post soon!

As a side note, I have to thank the DIS for making my trip awesome. I had some major issues with my travel-mate, but ignoring that, this truly was commercial-perfect trip, and I really do have to thank all the wonderful DISers here for helping make that happen. Thanks!

 

[PittypatBR]

Thanks to all the posters who helped this first-timer figure out the ropes. I went on Oct. 11, and it was indeed VERY crowded. I thought the Tuesday party would not be as crowded, but I think all the parties must be busy this year. I went that morning (for early morning hours) and then left for a while around 4. It was super crowded with the partiers coming in and the day crowd still there. I came back around 5:40, and they were "sweeping out" the day folks. I had a fast pass for Star Tours from earlier that I wanted to use while I could! The lines for the trails were very long at the beginning, so I skipped the ones in Tomorrowland which were crazy and started farther back. I had already ridden most things I wanted to ride that day, so mainly walked around and enjoyed seeing all the costumes. I rode a couple of things, saw a little of the parade, and really enjoyed the fireworks. I find it really odd that they make you stand up for the fireworks, when you could see them much better if they let everyone stay seated. I left shortly after that, and there were treat stations before the gates giving away PILES of candy. I agree with an earlier poster that they were giving the adults more tootsie rolls, but if you asked you could get apples, carrots, raisins, plums, and apple chips along with or instead of the candy. It was a fun experience but I definitely wouldn't do it again for that price. I'm not sure my grandchildren would even enjoy it that much, because of how crowded it was.

 

[krispin41]

Can't let this drop to page 2!! I will have pics I hope in a few days, my DH and I attended the Party on 10/14. We rode a few rides, did a few trick or treat stops (probably about 5 pounds of candy between us) and watched the fireworks.

We thought it was a lot of fun just seeing everyone dressed up. I loved the decorations and the "scare crows" near the Hub.

I would definitely splurge again for the tickets! (And next time, I would probably dress up as well.)

 

[specialks]

We've begun our roadtrip to DLR! I can't wait to experience our first stay at the GCH and to report back about our time at the parks. We're hoping to switch to a 3 day pass when we arrive, but I'm not sure if it will make sense for us. We only got a 2 day pass since we are going to the party on the 25th, but I kind of want to squeeze a few more hours of our faves in on the day we head out. We'll see...

 

[krispin41]

Two quick pics!

I picked up the darling Halloween Tree while at the Park, and had it shipped home and it arrived to my Dad's house yesterday. I picked it up today, it is sooooo cute!!

And this is the Halloween lanyard and pins I picked out!! I am pin addicted and there were some darling ones available:

Kristan in NorCal

 

[Queenie122]

Great pics! I'm also a pin collector and was really disappointed at the pin selection at the 10/11 party. They only had 2 pins available, I think stitch and maybe donald? But they were expensive and not party related, just Halloweeny. We asked some CM's (3 different ones I think) and they all said that was all that was available. I came home and ordered some off ebay but that kinda makes them less special to me. This is probably the only thing I was not happy with the Halloween party.

 

[SueTGGR]

On the road in a few hours. DH has us staying at DLH tomorrow night with our DVC points and then amazingly got us reservations at my 2nd fav place, Santa Monica (where I grew up)! such a sweet heart! Such a surprise!
I will be back with pictures in a few short days!
Later,
Sue