I took this new tour over the weekend. I really wanted to like it, and there were some elements of it that were really fun, but overall I was a bit disappointed.
The tour starts in DCA (admission to DCA is required, and not included as part of the tour) at the Tower of Terror. We rode that first, and then met our tour guide (a Guest Relations person initially met us and got us on the ToT). During the tour she told us some Halloween stories and legends, and some interesting variations of stories like Sleeping Beauty. And some made-up stories about some of the attractions that were supposed to be more spooky, I guess. We also rode Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion Holiday. Oh, and after we got off of ToT we were all given our tour "keepsake" - it's a glow necklace with an old-fashioned metal key on it, which says "Ghost Relations" on one side and "Disney's Happiest Haunts" on the other. The necklace has a switch with three different settings - fast flash, slow flash, and solid. It looked pretty neat, and since the tour was at night, it made keeping our group together easier, since we were all wearing them and could identify each other.
I was hoping for something a little spookier and scarier, or at least that told me something about Disney/Halloween that I didn't know, but this didn't really do that. To get the most enjoyment out of it I think you need to play off your guide a lot, and most people on our tour didn't do that - I don't know if they just didn't get what was going on, or just weren't into it.
Our tour was about 1:45 long - we started about 15 minutes late and ended just before 8:00.
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
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Ok, hopefully that's enough space.
Throughout the tour it's obvious that there's something a bit "different" about the guide - she wasn't quite the happy obliging Disney Cast Member that you're used to (ours glared at people who were in her path and they got out of her way - it was pretty funny! And she also gave people in our group a long-suffering sigh of annoyance when they requested a bathroom stop.), and she had a little too much admiration/sympathy for people like Maleficent, the Wicked Queen, and the Abominable Snowman. Just before the end of the tour we found out that she was one of the 999 Happy Haunts, and that they really love Disney's HalloweenTime because that's when they get the chance to come out and mingle with the mortals. Our guide left us when we went into the Haunted Mansion, but we saw her one last time...after we got off the ride and came out the exit, the Guest Relations person was waiting for us under a tree. She told us to turn around - from where we were we could see along the side of the Haunted Mansion and there behind it was our ghostly guide. She was wearing a glowing white dress and had green glowing eyes, and she was waving goodbye to us for a while, and then she disappeared. That was pretty cool. Tour was over at that point - they didn't ask us for any feedback or anything like that.
The tour starts in DCA (admission to DCA is required, and not included as part of the tour) at the Tower of Terror. We rode that first, and then met our tour guide (a Guest Relations person initially met us and got us on the ToT). During the tour she told us some Halloween stories and legends, and some interesting variations of stories like Sleeping Beauty. And some made-up stories about some of the attractions that were supposed to be more spooky, I guess. We also rode Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion Holiday. Oh, and after we got off of ToT we were all given our tour "keepsake" - it's a glow necklace with an old-fashioned metal key on it, which says "Ghost Relations" on one side and "Disney's Happiest Haunts" on the other. The necklace has a switch with three different settings - fast flash, slow flash, and solid. It looked pretty neat, and since the tour was at night, it made keeping our group together easier, since we were all wearing them and could identify each other.
I was hoping for something a little spookier and scarier, or at least that told me something about Disney/Halloween that I didn't know, but this didn't really do that. To get the most enjoyment out of it I think you need to play off your guide a lot, and most people on our tour didn't do that - I don't know if they just didn't get what was going on, or just weren't into it.
Our tour was about 1:45 long - we started about 15 minutes late and ended just before 8:00.
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
A
L
E
R
T
Ok, hopefully that's enough space.
Throughout the tour it's obvious that there's something a bit "different" about the guide - she wasn't quite the happy obliging Disney Cast Member that you're used to (ours glared at people who were in her path and they got out of her way - it was pretty funny! And she also gave people in our group a long-suffering sigh of annoyance when they requested a bathroom stop.), and she had a little too much admiration/sympathy for people like Maleficent, the Wicked Queen, and the Abominable Snowman. Just before the end of the tour we found out that she was one of the 999 Happy Haunts, and that they really love Disney's HalloweenTime because that's when they get the chance to come out and mingle with the mortals. Our guide left us when we went into the Haunted Mansion, but we saw her one last time...after we got off the ride and came out the exit, the Guest Relations person was waiting for us under a tree. She told us to turn around - from where we were we could see along the side of the Haunted Mansion and there behind it was our ghostly guide. She was wearing a glowing white dress and had green glowing eyes, and she was waving goodbye to us for a while, and then she disappeared. That was pretty cool. Tour was over at that point - they didn't ask us for any feedback or anything like that.
