Here are some of our pics from 10/3 ~ We had a great time! Loved the characters, lots of interaction with all of them. There were villains walking around, being playful and posing for pictures while people were waiting in line to see other characters. We got a TON of candy and didn't even trick-or-treat much. The dancing areas were a lot of fun and so many families had really cute themed costumes. The CM's were all in a GREAT mood, which is what really sets the tone. And last, the Character Cavalcade was really cute (but a little disappointing after being lucky enough to see the Boo to You! parade at
MNSSHP).
But ~ it felt like we did more waiting in line than anything else:
20-30 minute wait for a picture with the villains (did this twice trying to get the picture with Lady Tremaine & her girls)
45 minute-long line for Mickey & Minnie
What looked to be about a 20 minute line for the Peter Pan crew on Pirate Wharf (some people mentioned seeing Capt. Jack in this area, but we walked through there at least 5 times and we never saw him).
Many of the trick-or-treat lines were long, but they moved quickly - the good thing was that when you made it up to the front, they gave out HANDFULS of candy, but the bad news is that they kept running out! (This could've been because we were there on the first night, though). Also, the trick-or-treat trails lines were SUPER long. I accidentally got in the one behind Grizzly River Run and was in the line for about 5 minutes and had moved up about 10 feet. And not surprisingly, there was a 40 minute line for TSMM ~ which is an awesome ride and is worth the wait if you've never been on it before, but I was hoping the line would be around 25-30 min during the party.
We went to this party at CA the very first year, and were a little disappointed by how sparse everything was, and how dark the park was. Which is why this is our first time going back, even though we're locals. But as you can see from my pics below, everything was much more colorful and festive this time around, with some major improvements all around, but they really sold too many tickets for a limited-ticket even. I would be willing to pay $10-$15 more per person to have a slightly smaller crowd.
So that's my 2 cents (which was more like a quarter

) - here are the pics!
I got a shot with the Cupcake Girls, too while we were waiting for the rope drop ~ I LOVED the blue one!!
This was my FAVORITE part of the night, to have all 3 of them together...OMG!!
Cruella 'entertaining' us while in line for Mickey & Minnie
This one is dark, but another shot of one of the wandering villains