October/Halloween at DL?

[StephNJer]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if you guys can give me info on the Halloween festivities at DL? We just got back from a three day stay at DL a few weeks ago, but already I'm thinking about trying to make it there in October. I know they do special nights in October for special Halloween stuff, but can anyone give me more info? DD will have just turned 3 by then and I know she would absolutely love to do again.

How are the crowds in October? Anyone know of any ride closures that have been announced for during that time? Any info would be great!

 

[Sherry E]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if you guys can give me info on the Halloween festivities at DL? We just got back from a three day stay at DL a few weeks ago, but already I'm thinking about trying to make it there in October. I know they do special nights in October for special Halloween stuff, but can anyone give me more info? DD will have just turned 3 by then and I know she would absolutely love to do again.

How are the crowds in October? Anyone know of any ride closures that have been announced for during that time? Any info would be great!

It may be still too early to know about any ride closures in October, but there is, of course, major construction going on in DCA due to the big overhaul of the park that will be taking place until/through at least 2012. Mostly everything will be up and running there though. Technically, in terms of previous attendance patterns, October had been considered the 'off peak' season for DLR, Last year, however, was a different story and there were lots and lots of October visitors to the point where even the Cast Members were surprised (and ill-prepared) for it. This surge in attendance partly has to do with more people having Annual Passes and partly to do with a bigger deal being made of Halloweentime by DLR. It is a really fun time there. The giant Mickey pumpkin (eyes open on one side and winking on the other side) sits at the beginning of Main Street. Smaller jack-o-lanterns carved as Disney characters and other randoms faces can be seen in various places along Main, at the Partners Statue, at Woody's Halloween Round-Up and in DCA. Frontierland has a special Day of the Dead display and also a cool Halloween Tree. DCA also has a giant Candy Corn at the entry to Candy Corn Aces. Of course, Haunted Mansion Holiday is up and running and that is not to be missed. It is a lot of fun to be there then!

The Trick or Treat Party dates are up - someone on DIS just posted them recently and I forget which post that was in. You should be able to find them on the DLR website. The TOTP starts out on Fridays in the first part of October and then adds other days as the month progresses, ending with Halloween itself. It is fun, and you get lots and lots of candy; plus, there are special villains and other characters who come out JUST for special PhotoPass stations at the TOTP. There is dancing, exclusive TOTP merchandise, all kinds of fun stuff. There was a big Jack-o-lantern image projected into the California Screamin' coaster but you could only see it at night.

 

[StephNJer]

Thanks so much for the info! I'll try to search for that thread about the dates for the Trick or Treat party.

 

[mechurchlady]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2156789
That is my October and Halloween check in thread. I need to do some updating but that has the links and other info, if not then I will get to it. Also check the Disneyland site under planning --> special events.

 

[Sherry E]

Also here:

http://allears.net/dlr/tp/dca/mht.htm

The official Halloweentime season begins September 25 and lasts to November 1, according to the DLR website. But the TOTP dates are in Mechurchlady's link and the link I posted here.

 

[Queenof5]

We went last year in Oct, it was a Mon-Fri. We are out of towners and loved the fact that mon-thurs were beautiful days with hardly any wait. Friday was the killer, very warm and so many people. We also went to the halloween TOT. The kids had so much fun. It was busy, but doable. Lots of fun 'party stops' the kids rec'd a lot of candy, and we were able to ride rides that we missed during the day. Besides, us adults were able to dress up too!!

 

[S. S. Columbia]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if you guys can give me info on the Halloween festivities at DL? We just got back from a three day stay at DL a few weeks ago, but already I'm thinking about trying to make it there in October. I know they do special nights in October for special Halloween stuff, but can anyone give me more info? DD will have just turned 3 by then and I know she would absolutely love to do again.

How are the crowds in October? Anyone know of any ride closures that have been announced for during that time? Any info would be great!

It's A Small World usually goes down on the second-to-last Tuesday in October to install the IASW Holiday overlay.

It takes about two and a half weeks to install the overlay.

There haven't been any official announcements, but if they do it this year the same way as previous years,

then IASW would be down from Monday, Oct. 19, to Thursday, Nov. 5,

and IASWH would open on Friday, Nov. 6.

HTH

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

We're arriving on Sunday, the 18th and I was thinking that we'd miss IASW, but hopefully we'll be able to catch it on our first day if this the case!

 

[Sherry E]

Last year, IASW Holiday did a soft opening a couple of days before the 'official' start of the holiday season, but it didn't officially open until the season began, which was 11/21/08. This year the holiday season should begin on November 20th, so IASW Holiday may or may not start before that. Then again, IASW was closed for most of last year due to refurbishments, so that could be the reason why they didn't start it earlier. But there were DIS-ers who were there on the 18th of November who got to see the soft opening on the first day it happened. So in 2008 it was not open before November 18.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

Last year, IASW Holiday did a soft opening a couple of days before the 'official' start of the holiday season, but it didn't officially open until the season began, which was 11/21/08. This year the holiday season should begin on November 20th, so IASW Holiday may or may not start before that. Then again, IASW was closed for most of last year due to refurbishments, so that could be the reason why they didn't start it earlier. But there were DIS-ers who were there on the 18th of November who got to see the soft opening on the first day it happened. So in 2008 it was not open before November 18.

2008 was a one-off for IASW, since it was down for most of the year for a major refurb. It was down from January to mid-November 2008.

IASW was down to install the IASW Holiday overlay during the following dates:

Oct 20 to Nov 7, 2003

Oct 18 to Nov 4, 2004

Oct 24 to Nov 10, 2005

Oct 23 to Nov 9, 2006

Oct 22 to Nov 8, 2007

HTH

 

[Hologram Lampwick]

2008 was a one-off for IASW, since it was down for most of the year for a major refurb. It was down from January to mid-November 2008.

IASW was down to install the IASW Holiday overlay during the following dates:

Oct 20 to Nov 7, 2003

Oct 18 to Nov 4, 2004

Oct 24 to Nov 10, 2005

Oct 23 to Nov 9, 2006

Oct 22 to Nov 8, 2007

HTH

HOW do you know all those dates!?

 

[mechurchlady]

HOW do you know all those dates!?

If we told you then we would have to put ten pin lanyards on you then add a sign "free pins", muahaha or just dole whip you without mercy.

Actually it is data on the internet from old posts and news flashes for example. Some people have them bookmarked and some have good memories.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

2008 was a one-off for IASW, since it was down for most of the year for a major refurb. It was down from January to mid-November 2008.

IASW was down to install the IASW Holiday overlay during the following dates:

Oct 20 to Nov 7, 2003

Oct 18 to Nov 4, 2004

Oct 24 to Nov 10, 2005

Oct 23 to Nov 9, 2006

Oct 22 to Nov 8, 2007

HTH

HOW do you know all those dates!?

Those IASWH dates are from the MousePlanet weekly DLR updates.
Their updates go back to 2003.
http://www.mouseplanet.com/search.php?type=c&cid=dl

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Last year, IASW Holiday did a soft opening a couple of days before the 'official' start of the holiday season, but it didn't officially open until the season began, which was 11/21/08. This year the holiday season should begin on November 20th, so IASW Holiday may or may not start before that. Then again, IASW was closed for most of last year due to refurbishments, so that could be the reason why they didn't start it earlier. But there were DIS-ers who were there on the 18th of November who got to see the soft opening on the first day it happened. So in 2008 it was not open before November 18.

I'm not sure if this info. is in reference to my mentioning the 18th in my post but......I forgot to say which month I was talking about. I am hoping to catch the regular IASW before it goes into refurb for the holiday version. We will arrive on the 18th of October, so if it doesn't go down until the 19th of October, then hopefully we can see it before it does. We saw the holiday version this past December, but I haven't seen the regular one with all the updates.

 

[Sherry E]

I'm not sure if this info. is in reference to my mentioning the 18th in my post but......I forgot to say which month I was talking about. I am hoping to catch the regular IASW before it goes into refurb for the holiday version. We will arrive on the 18th of October, so if it doesn't go down until the 19th of October, then hopefully we can see it before it does. We saw the holiday version this past December, but I haven't seen the regular one with all the updates.

Oh, I see what you mean! You should be able to catch it before it goes down for the overlay installation, I would think. Actually, there has been some very mild speculation about whether or not the IASW Holiday will happen this year at all due to the fact that the new version with the updates will have not been up for very long by the time the Holiday version comes around, not to mention the fact that IASW was closed for so long last year and they may not want to close it again so soon. It is possible - and I guess we still have a few months before we know for sure - that DLR may decide to skip the holiday overlay this year just to be able to give everyone a chance to see the new character additions (the holiday stuff kind of overpowers all of that) and then bring it back next year. But it seems like the IASW Holiday is so popular (and beautiful) that I can't imagine DLR would want to skip it, and yet, I can picture something like that happening.