IASW at Halloween & Halloween decor???

DTDkettleCORNfan

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
696
When do they close IASW for the Christmas overlay? My sister is considering going to DL around Halloween time, but would rather not miss IASW.

Also.....when does all the Halloween decor in DL and DCA come down? Is it right after 10/31? If she went the first week of November, would it still be up? OR do they start removing it immediately after Halloween?

Thanks....
 
When do they close IASW for the Christmas overlay? My sister is considering going to DL around Halloween time, but would rather not miss IASW.

Also.....when does all the Halloween decor in DL and DCA come down? Is it right after 10/31? If she went the first week of November, would it still be up? OR do they start removing it immediately after Halloween?

Thanks....

Okay, this is kind of a strange year in terms of 'events' and things sort of backing up on each other at DLR, so it is a bit of a mystery so far as to what will happen and when. Ordinarily, the official 'Halloweentime' season would probably begin on the last Friday of September and continue all the way to October 31st. Then the Halloween decorations come down pretty much right away as DLR prepares/transforms for the holiday season, an elaborate undertaking, because all the Christmas decorations and holiday festivities will have to be up and running on November 20th, including IASW Holiday. So IASW would have to shut down for its overlay pretty early in November. However, this year - and there has been no confirmation of this by any Disney personnel, only speculation - I wonder if they, indeed, WILL do the IASW Holiday overlay in 2009, because they have added the new Disney character dolls and I would think they want to focus a spotlight on those for a while before covering them up with holiday regalia for 1-1/2 months. So that is one mystery - will there or won't there be an IASW Holiday this year?

Another mystery is the fate of the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay for 2009. Because of the 40th anniversary events for the original Haunted Mansion taking place, there is a question of whether or not they will do the HMH overlay this year or sort of just focus on the original HM all year long, and if they DO install the HMH overlay, when exactly will it be installed because there are events pertaining to the 40th happening in September. Again, there has been no official word on this from any Disney Cast Members, but it is a good speculation.

The other mystery is the new Celebration Round-Up BBQ place which just opened. It would have to only be open in its current state for about 5 months before it is transformed into Woody's Halloween Round-Up, and then segue immediately into Santa's Reindeer Round-Up, unless they figured out a way to keep Celebration going while the Halloween and Christmas overlays take place. So I am not sure if there will be holiday versions of the Round-Up if they want to focus on the Celebration year and the BBQ.

The reason the Halloween decorations come down instantaneously after October 31 is because the holiday decorations are so extensive (700 Christmas trees of all sizes are scattered around all of DLR, including DTD and the hotels, all the shops, restaurants and even some display windows, not to mention all the lights, the Winter Castle, the garland everywhere, etc.). You will see touches of Christmas decorations start to pop up around the parks in the first week of November, and then as the weeks progress to November 20, everything gets more layered and detailed and intricate and shiny!!:goodvibes
 
Thanks Sherry. Interesting info. I had told my sister that I thought ISAW would have needed to close much earlier than Halloween in order to open up all Christmas-y before Thanksgiving. It seems like a lot to do. But it would be great for her if it is after Halloween. If they actually do the overlay at all!
 
Usually they close IASW around October 22nd (give or take a day) to install the holiday overlay, and it doesn't usually re-open until the start of the second week in November (like around November 8th or so).
 

Since 2003, IASW has been closing on the second-to-last-Monday in October to install the IASWH overlay.

The installation of the overlay has been taking 18 days.

IF they do that the same way this year, then IASW would be down from Monday, Oct 19, to Thursday, Nov 5, and IASWH would open on Friday, Nov 6, 2009. But those dates for 2009 are unofficial and only based on what's happened in the past.

I recommend checking the official DLR calendar to get the official dates. In 2007 the dates for IASWH were officially announced in early August. :goodvibes

Based on MousePlanet's weekly park updates, here are some previous dates that IASW was down (being refurbed) to install the IASW Holiday overlay:

2007: IASW was down from Oct 22 (Mon) to Nov 8 (Thurs), 2007 (18 days)
2006: IASW was down from Oct 23 (Mon) to Nov 9 (Thurs), 2006 (18 days)
2005: IASW was down from Oct 24 (Mon) to Nov 10 (Thurs), 2005 (18 days)
2004: IASW was down from Oct 18 (Mon) to Nov 4 (Thurs), 2004 (18 days)
2003: IASW was down from Oct 20 (Mon) to Nov 7 (Fri), 2003 (19 days)

(In 2008, IASW was down from Jan 22 to late November 2008 for a major refurb.)

HTH :earsboy:
 
In 2008, the holiday season did not officially begin until November 21, and IASW Holiday did a soft open a couple of days before that. Then, again, they may have opened it later because it was being revamped all year. In any case, this year the season will officially begin on 11/20/09; not sure how likely it is that IASW Holiday will open earlier....or if it will happen at all in 2009, as I stated in my above post. Hopefully so! I love it! But this year is a very weird year in terms of things happening and bumping into each other.
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom