Cinmon Toast & Tacos -
I think
many of us get it and know how you feel. I certainly wouldn't be moderating on this forum if I didn't have an abiding, enduring love for and connection to
Disneyland - both the old/nostalgic version and the new version of the Resort which now includes DCA! I started going to Disneyland in 1972, went yearly from that point on (often twice each year), started dreaming about the next trip after one trip had just ended, planned exactly what I wanted to ride and do while in the park, studied and memorized my Disneyland souvenir pictorial guides, word for word, and grew up with the park being a 'certain way.'
When it got to a point where I had to skip going to DL for a few years here and there (one time I didn't go for about 4-5 years; another time I didn't go for 5-6 years), which felt unnatural and sad to me, it was
very strange to return to a place that had been so familiar but was now...different. I worried that I wouldn't have that giddy butterfly-ish feeling in my stomach upon setting foot on Disney soil. I wondered if things would seem so different that I couldn't emotionally connect to this place I loved so much anymore. (And my grand return after being away for years was also during Halloween Time, I should point out,
just like yours will be! Halloween Time at DLR was totally new to me at that point.)
It turned out that many things were the same; many things were different and I felt a bit 'fish out of water'-ish. I had to reacclimate. Still, the feeling of first walking through the gates and onto Main Street never changes, as I found out! That excitement and unabashed need to skip down the street towards the Castle was still there (though I didn't skip)! And eventually...it was like no time had passed!
As for Masked Clown Mickey -
He has not been at DL since HalloweenTime 2007. However,
unlike the candy corn CALIFORNIA letters and Candy Corn Acres in DCA, Masked Mickey (or another Halloween variation of the floral Mickey) is one of those things that
could easily return at some point (again, depending on how committed DLR is to the Halloween season and if they decide to build the season up again rather than scaling it back - especially in the next year or two, as the Resort sees many changes finally come to fruition). I know that DLR received complaints last year about not having any decorations in DCA, so they
may try to compensate at some point and add more things into DL.
Candy Corn Acres cannot return to DCA because the whole area in which it was situated is gone or being redone. The candy corn CALIFORNIA letters cannot return because there are no more CALIFORNIA letters! But the floral Mickey in DL is intact and will not move, so it would be quite easy to Halloween-ify it again if DLR were to go in that direction. It doesn't mean they will do that. And if they do, it doesn't mean it would be this year, next year or even 2013. But it is a seasonal change that would be easy to accomplish/reinstate because the foundation for it is still in place.
I wouldn't worry, though - I don't think Masked Clown Mickey will be back this year, wreaking havoc on DL just yet!

