Mickey's Halloween Party 2011 Map

[matildaburn]

loved the trip report!!! How did you like the Quality Inn and Suites? Is this the hotel on Manchester? If it is, we are scheduled to check in on November 5th and I am looking for an honest review.

 

[mysteriouspnai]

loved the trip report!!! How did you like the Quality Inn and Suites? Is this the hotel on Manchester? If it is, we are scheduled to check in on November 5th and I am looking for an honest review.

Quality Inn and Suites is great for your super basic hotel. We typically don't pay anything more than 70 per night there. Our last stay was $56 per night. As many others have said, there's not much room if you have growing boys, but I'm a college student on a budget, so Quality Inn was fine with me. The breakfast is also very basic, but I always get enough pastries and such for snacks inside the park. If you're going the cheap route, it cuts down on your snack-buying within the park. For example, DBF and I took a 5 day trip a few weeks ago and spent a total of about $900 including tickets, hotel, etc. Not too bad for getting photopass, $70 worth of art in the park, trying dole whip, tigger tail, a lunch at Cafe Orleans, lunch at Plaza Inn and dessert at RBJ's.

 

[StitchMum]

Does anybody know if Stitch is at Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland? He is my favorite character and I would love to see him when I go to the party on the 18th. Thanks.

 

[ryleeranger]

Thank you SO MUCH! We are going next Tuesday with a 4 year old and 1 year old. My 4 year olds sole purpose in life is to meet Jack and Sally. We just looked at all your pictures together and she is dancing around! She loved your Aurora costume!

 

[mommaU4]

TIP #14: If you like Craisins, raisins, dried apples, apples, carrots, or fruit snacks, always ask for the healthy snacks in addition to the candy. They'll increase your total candy weight. We collected 40 fruit snack packs alone, approximately worth $8.

Just to clarify, you can get the candy and ask for something healthy as well?

 

[tksbaskets]

What a nice trip report As a sewer I must say your costume is STUNNING Your DBF is looking good too!

I'm glad you had fun and I appreciate your taking the time to share your adventures and tips with us.

TK

 

[mysteriouspnai]

Thank you SO MUCH! We are going next Tuesday with a 4 year old and 1 year old. My 4 year olds sole purpose in life is to meet Jack and Sally. We just looked at all your pictures together and she is dancing around! She loved your Aurora costume!

Since you want to meet Jack and Sally, try heading over to around New Orleans Square before the party starts. People start lining up in advance, and we skipped out on Jack and Sally because their line was just too darn long. And I hope you guys have a wonderful time!

Just to clarify, you can get the candy and ask for something healthy as well?

Yes, ma'am! Best bet is to ask for the healthy stuff AFTER they give you the treats so they don't just give you healthy stuff... unless that's what you want, of course

What a nice trip report As a sewer I must say your costume is STUNNING Your DBF is looking good too!

I'm glad you had fun and I appreciate your taking the time to share your adventures and tips with us.

TK

It's probably just because I'm just too tired from the week, but I was like... "sewer? like the holes in the ground, like where the toilets flush to, sewer?" and then I realized the context. Yay life xD. To be honest, I cheated on the dress. I had a strapless pink dress from about 8 years ago from a friend's 18th birthday that I used as a base. But I really appreciate all of the thanks DBF was actually told by the CMs at the entrance not to take picture with guests. Can't believe they thought his costume was that amazing with minimal effort, hmph. AKA, me buying that hat for him and making the whip and gun holster. And picking out the jacket. But that's besides the point, his costume was wonderful and he deserved the attention.

Does anybody know if Stitch is at Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland? He is my favorite character and I would love to see him when I go to the party on the 18th. Thanks.

Unfortunately, I didn't see Stitch during Mickey's Halloween Party. The only time I've ever caught him was in DCA around Hollywood Backlot.

To everyone else who left comments:
I'm very glad that my TR has helped you! And all of the thanks really makes my day/week, etc. Every time I look at this thread, I want to go back. Too bad there isn't a Mickey's Christmas Party in DLR xD. When I get the time, I'll be organizing the original post for convenience sake and probably do a compilation of all the tips so people don't have to hunt through the TR to find them. I also feel honored to be considered to be added to the Halloween Superthread. Thanks again for the comments, everyone

 

[tksbaskets]

LOL it did look like I worked in waste management As a seamstress myself.....

I'll be laughing all day!

 

[ludari]

I've already attended the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at WDW a few weeks ago but I haven't attended the Halloween Party at DL but I intend to before the end of the month. I'm not sure I want to dress up because my arm is in a sling but I will consider it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[specialks]

LOL it did look like I worked in waste management As a seamstress myself.....

I'll be laughing all day!

I read it the same way. I thought you were saying something like your skills stink...

As someone who also sews ...I love it that you made your dress. I've got my DD4's cotton Rapunzel dress ready to go and I'm working on my DD7's cotton Tiana dress now. Gotta hurry it up so I can try to put together my Jessie outfit...we leave in 7 DAYS!!

 

[lachargers]

I have a question regarding families. We have annual passes and I'm not particularly interested in getting candy and taking pictures with CMs but I would love for my 4yo daughter to participate. Can we just buy a ticket for her and walk her through the stations and pictures?

 

[isisisme]

I have a question regarding families. We have annual passes and I'm not particularly interested in getting candy and taking pictures with CMs but I would love for my 4yo daughter to participate. Can we just buy a ticket for her and walk her through the stations and pictures?

You need a party ticket to start after the party starts. No one without one can stay. Even if you have a AP. Sorry.

 

[lachargers]

Thanks. I didn't realize that the park closes at 6pm and the Halloween event starts at 6pm.

How crowded is it during the party compared to during the day on a Tuesday?

 

[mysteriouspnai]

I read it the same way. I thought you were saying something like your skills stink...

As someone who also sews ...I love it that you made your dress. I've got my DD4's cotton Rapunzel dress ready to go and I'm working on my DD7's cotton Tiana dress now. Gotta hurry it up so I can try to put together my Jessie outfit...we leave in 7 DAYS!!

I just happened to be lucky that I had a strapless pink gown as a base, so I didn't do as much sewing as you think I did

I'm so excited to see pictures! My favorite princess is Tiana so I can't wait to see how your DD's daughter's dress turned out. And interestingly enough, my second favorite princess is Rapunzel, so in general I'm excited to see all your costumes! Don't worry, you'll get them done in time!!

 

[mysteriouspnai]

Thanks. I didn't realize that the park closes at 6pm and the Halloween event starts at 6pm.

How crowded is it during the party compared to during the day on a Tuesday?

From what I've been reading around on DISboards, it looks as if the day is considerably less crowded than in the afternoon when the party guests start arriving. Crowds will be fairly thin throughout the day, but starting around 3 PM, you'll definitely see a pick up in crowd level. Even for Friday Halloween Parties this seems to be the case.

During the party itself to me seemed a little under what an average peak-season day would be like. I would imagine it's definitely more crowded than an off peak season Tuesday.

 

[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!