Pre Trip Report - Halloween at DL

[disfamof4]

I will start with the cast of characters and then go into some detail about previous trips and some other stuff.

Cast of Characters
Me (30) - Grew up in So. Cal going to DL a few times a year. Moved when I was 12 and have only been to DL a handful of times since then.
DH (32) - Wasn't a huge DL fan until we had our kids and took them.
DD (3 1/2) - This will be her third trip to DL. She is a huge fan.
DS (1 1/2) - This will also be his third trip. Being a bit younger, he is not as much of a fan yet!

Our first trip to DL with the kids was in September 2006. We had a great time and a large entourage with us - my sister, my nephew, my mom, my dad's wife, DH mom. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in a suite with my DH's mom. It was nice but not as close as we would have liked. We had such an amazing time. DD was so darn cute seeing Main Street for the first time. If I ever figure out pictures, I will add a picture of her seeing the windows. She could have stayed at the window with Peter Pan and Wendy for the entire trip!

Our second trip to DL was in March 2007 for DD's 3rd birthday. We went with DH's parents and stayed at the Residence Inn Maingate. Closer and we had a 2 room suite again. It was a pretty good stay. The bad part came about 2 days into the 4 day trip when DS got a terrible stomach bug. Poor kid was sick for about 3 weeks total. Not the way we want him to remember DL.

So, that brings us to this trip we are planning. We really wanted to take the kids back to DL. We debated dates and all that, but we knew this time we wanted to stay on site (we get closer and closer to the park each time). We figured that the Halloween party would be right up our ally. DD loves Halloween for some reason, she loves the Disney Halloween DVD that we bought her last year and still watches it all the time. DS adores Mickey and Minnie is his first love. This will be the first trip that we have taken with just the 4 of us, though we would love to have family with us again. We are really looking forward to the trip and I am getting so excited looking at pictures and reading other trip reports. Less than 2 months to go.

I am determined to write a great trip report after this trip. I will post again with some of the details that I already have planned for this trip.

 

[disfamof4]

Okay, so I am finally getting back to posting more details about our trip to DL for Halloween. I think I already went over the basics, but here are more details:


Travel - Plane (from Portland, OR) and car rental
Staying - DL Hotel (our first time on property)
Priority Seating - Goofy's Breakfast on Wednesday, October 10th
Other Events - Halloween Party at DCA on Thursday, October 11th

Agenda - We don't have much of an agenda yet. DD is finally tall enough to go on some of the big rides. She is really excited for Splash Mountain. We aren't really sure what other big rides we will take her on. I have read that the child swap is pretty easy to do, but I have never had to do it before (any tips on that??). I have never seen HM with the Halloween overlay, so I am really excited to do that one. I didn't get to go on it in March because DD got too scared and wanted me to stay with her while the rest of the family went on it. It was one of my favorites as a kid, so I really want to get on it this time. We really wanted to see Fantasmic too because we have never seen it, but I have heard it doesn't show on Friday nights in the off season. I was hoping because of the Halloween and bigger crowds, we might luck out (thoughts??).

Any thoughts or tips on traveling during October or for the Halloween party are greatly appreciated.

I will post more as it gets closer. In the meantime, I will be reading more trip reports and counting down the days.

 

[disfamof4]

We were so happy to see that the DL/DCA calendar and events schedule was posted. I was so happy to see that Fantasmic was going to be showing (2 times) on Friday night. We contemplated doing PS for it, but that before I knew it was $59 per person - I considered it if it was a bit less. We aren't sure what showing to go to, with the two small kids it would make more sense to see the early show. But I have heard that the crowds are much smaller for the later show. I just don't know what to do yet. I have a tendency to over analyze these things.

The countdown is on though! Can't wait!

 

[beansf]

We really wanted to see Fantasmic too because we have never seen it, but I have heard it doesn't show on Friday nights in the off season. I was hoping because of the Halloween and bigger crowds, we might luck out (thoughts??).

I see that Fantasmic is showing at 9:00 & 10:30 on Friday nights in October. I was thrilled to see it, too, because I am taking my nephews and sister for their first visit to the park this October. I decided to try for the riverside seating, despite the enormous cost. Wish me luck!

 

[disfamof4]

Were you able to get riverside seating for either show? We decided not to do it. I just can't see paying $59 for my daughter (she is only 3). I think that we are going to try to be daring and see the later show. Our son will fall asleep in his stroller and chances are that our daughter will fall asleep too. We aren't sure yet. Does anyone know how well you can see the fireworks from the Fantasmic viewing area if we decide to do the 9PM showing??

We are down to less than a month and it will be a busy month for us too. Can't wait!

 

[beansf]

We will find out on Wednesday whether we got the tickets or not.

 

[disfamof4]

We got our Halloween costumes over the weekend. DD is going to be the most adorable snow white ever. She tried on her costume and looked beautiful. If not Snow White, she is talking about being Tinkerbell and her costume from last year still fits so that is an option too. DS is going to be Peter Pan - he refused to try on his costume, but I did manage to get the hat on him and he looked adorable. DH and I are going as pirates - how original!