The 'It's not THAT Scary..' PTR

[zinderella]

Ok now, that we are down to less than 2 months, and it's nearly September, which means it's nearly October...
..it's time for the PTR

The cast:
Me - 39 only became a Disney convert in last 4 years...makin' up for it now!!!
DD 7 soon to be 8 - loves Hannah Montanna, POTC
DD 4 - hates scary things (hence title of PTR) loves princesses, high school musical, IASW
DM - my Mum, first time to DLP and very excited!!!!

3 night 4 day visit

We travel up to Kent from Somerset on 24th Oct, visit our friends in Rochester and stay overnight at the Premier Inn in Ashford.

25th Oct - we get aboard the Euostar and zoom to the magique!!! it's the first time we have done the train, so v excited about that. Leave our bags at the Express luggage desk...and run to the parks, stay there till closing and then check in at Sequoia Lodge once we are utterly tired out!

That's as far as the planning goes at the mo. I know I want to eat in Rest des Stars and Walts, and Agrabah. And of course knock on the door of Salon Mickey for the first time!!!!!!!!

The only slight niggle...my youngest is really not a fan of scariness. I was a bit disappointed to hear Fantasyland will also get the halloween overlay as i though that would be a safe place to go!!!

Any top tips for desensitising a 4 year old????

And the kids still know nothing...the plan had been to tell tbhem at the end of the summer holidays so they had something to look forward to. But since we won the surprise trip to DLP which they all know about ( 17-19th Dec) I didm't want to take away the excitement of that trip by announcing the halloween trip. So I really don't know when to tell them!

 

[zinderella]

Excitement is almost making me sick!

I have just found out that my bestest pal from Kent is visiting DLP the same week!!! Yay . She is the one who introduced me to all this madness!!! She'll get there before us tho' as she's getting the 6.30 Eurostar from Ebsfleet (no small kids to drag around!)

We have arranged to meet in the Redwood bar for a cocktail, and who knows, with my Mum joining us on this trip, I might get to do TOT and RRC with her!!!

BTW the last 3 phone calls from Mum have been "now, is everything booked, anything else to pay for...is it all organised?'

Don't think she can get her head around the fact she's had no organising to do...lol!!!!

 

[Mum to Belle]

Great news about your friend - it's so nice to have someone to share the excitement with!!

I've not been for Halloween before but went at the end of September when they started to decorate the park and the decorations weren't very scary. Top tip would be to show your DD the video on the DLP website as it has the great Halloween music and photos of what to expect.

Is it still a secret?????

 

[zinderella]

Is it still a secret?????

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And it's totally killing me

Every time either one of the girls looks remotely sad about anything, I want to tell them!!!

Good idea about showing them videos, I'm also going to make 'Baddies Bingo' to help Alice look forward to finding the baddies and matching them on her card! She'll get a little prize for successful completion!

 

[Mum to Belle]

Loving the idea of Baddies Bingo!!! What about printing some pictures out and sticking funny clothes on top of them so they don't look scary.

 

[Libby_Darling]

"Excitement is almost making me sick!"

Haha this really cracked me up! I know exactly how you feel, mine is in less than 3 weeks eeeeeee!

 

[zinderella]

Thanks to Kazzabelle posting about park hours, I went and had a look at the hours for our trip and....
...super woweeeeeeee....
.... I can't believe the Main park is open till 10 two of the 3 nights we are staying there!!!!!!!!! and Studio until 7!!!

I just presumed main park would shut at 7 and Studios at 6, and so in m head I had planned to eat at SL in the evening or eat at Rest des stars for a late lunch and then just grab a snack in the evening. Now it's all up in the air (in a GOOD way) and I need some help to choose an in Park dining option for our first night, and my Mum's first night in Disney!!!!

Anyone got a good idea?

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Sounds fabulous! We've visited both DLR and WDW during Halloween time and it scarey/fun ~ it's Disney afterall, very kid friendly.

 

[mommy2ash]

we have been four times and the first two ash loved everything, especially anything remotely scary. since she hit three she is afraid of everything lol. so if you find a magic way to cure them make sure to let me know.

i hope you have a wonderful time. halloween at disney isnt scary scary, more like fun scary. the decorations arent too in your face if that makes sense so you should be okay

 

[zinderella]

we have been four times and the first two ash loved everything, especially anything remotely scary. since she hit three she is afraid of everything lol. so if you find a magic way to cure them make sure to let me know.

i hope you have a wonderful time. halloween at disney isnt scary scary, more like fun scary. the decorations arent too in your face if that makes sense so you should be okay

Me and Big (DDnearly8) did Halloween as our first visit and LOVED it. Funny thing is Big is quite a shy child and not at all phased by the Villains etc, totally loved the pumkin men. Small , on the other hand is really outgoing but pretty nervous about halloween (and the witchy cackles on the Disney halloween music when big played it to her ages ago!)

I reckon she'll be OK as long as we do Small World afew times a day , lol. And my Baddies bingo is coming on a treat, just a few more baddies to get pics of, laminate it and away we go!

 

[zinderella]

Well, had to tell the girls today, as I was getting too excited and have done the whole wait until the morning we leave thing before. Needless to say, they were very excited and are now planning (where did they get that trait from??) which characters they want to see and what rides to do. I'm so glad I told them as they have time to look forward to it. Have just spoken to my friend who will be there same time as us so we can meet up on the Monday, and we were wondering about how best to plan to meet up.

Does anyone have good advice regarding using mobiles at DLP?
My friend is on orange and I'm on 3, is it best to phone her or to text? Which will be cheaper. Or would it be best to use my old orange phone whilst there? I'm clueless!

 

[hazelj27]

Sounds great . We will be arriving a couple of days before you; I've yet to tell my DD & Mum yet! I'm on orange payg and I think it's only 10p per text. Ironically that's cheaper than what it costs over here. If I run out of my free text messages, I get charged 20p per text! Phoning costs each person both ways so I would always opt for texting over phoning. Reception there is fine, although it fluctuates between orange fr, bouygtel and various other ones!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Not too long now!!

 

[zinderella]

Not too long now!!

I KNOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that I'm allowed to talk about it, I'm even more excited. This morning smallest DD told me I have to call her 'sweetie pumpkin pie' not 'sweetie pie' as I normally call her because we are nearly going to dlp. They have both asked to see their Halloween outfits tonight when we get back from school/ work / childminders. Biggest DD has drawn. Alovely picture of all the characters she wants to see (and drawn a maleficent for me) and her first words this morning were I'm so EXCITED about going to DLP for Halloween and Christmas. lovely to hear it's not being taken for granted and she realized how lucky we are.

 

[zinderella]

5 days to go till we are there!!!! eeeeeeeek
Have found mine and the girls' thermals (after reading recent TRs!!!)
Just remembered to book Disney Express so we can go straight to parks when we get off the train YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

 

[DLPdaft]

eep!!!

If your littlest DD is still worrying about any scary bits - tell her not to worry at all - the only Halloweeny bits in Fantasyland are a few cute pumpkins on the grass (no moving ones or character ones there).

Theres no scary music either (which to be honest disappointed me a bit, because I love This is Halloween) - the theme this year with music is Happy Happy Happy Happy Halloween - ie no witchy bits at all!

 

[zinderella]

And there's me preparing her for the witchy cackles that I'm sure followed me and big DD the first time we went!!!!!

We've been playing the Halloween music in the car on constant repeat....and even smallest DD loves it now......

I bet now she'll get there and go "mummy, where's all the scary stuff ????"