I just got off the phone with Mary with Disney Ticketing (714-781-4400) and she confirmed that the Halloween tickets you purchase to do the Trick Or Treat Party can be used to upgrade to an AP! WooHoo!!!! I did ask when the dates will come out for Halloween party and she said late summer and to check the website daily! (I already do that
) I thought I would pass on the good news! Now, off to planning to see about making a trip possible!
Or at least dream about a trip!
Linda -
Make sure you stay tuned to the
Halloween Superthread for details as they come in. I can't recall if you've joined us there yet - I thought you had, but I know you've been on the Christmas Superthread(s) and maybe I am getting my holiday superthreads confused!
Not only will we be discussing any breaking news as it comes in, but I already have tons of info and links, etc., in the very first post of that thread and will be updating it with the specific Halloween 2011 details.
The Cast Members are often the last ones to know any details of anything as far as dates go. We (on the DIS) actually learned the dates of Mickey's Halloween Party in May of last year, not in late summer. The party tickets did not go on sale in May last year, but we knew the dates in May.
What will happen is that sometimes information trickles out (by way of some other official Disney source) way ahead of when DLR actually puts it out there to the public on its own website. Sometimes the actual
Disneyland Resort website is the last place you will see dates appear!
The other official Disney sources of info and news could include:
- The D23 website;
- The Disney Parks Blog;
- Any kind of e-mail from Disney Destinations;
- Disneyland News (that's a site specifically for official press releases); and
- Any other sort of e-mail that comes directly from Disney (like the Disney Insider).
...But, that's not to say that DLR doesn't occasionally surprise us! Shockingly, DLR posted the dates for the Halloween Time 2011 season on their website a month or two ago - which is totally unheard of. Normally, they don't put the season dates up on the DLR site until August!! We couldn't believe that they had posted them way, way, way ahead of when they normally do. (Thanks to jernysgirl for being the one to give us the scoop as soon as she saw the dates!)
The party dates will probably leak out through one of those sites mentioned above next month, or at least before Summer begins - especially if DLR adds in anything new or extra to the party. If they have a new event or highlight to the party this year, or if something is changing (i.e., last year the party moved from DCA to DL, and in 2009 the Halloween Screams fireworks debuted), they will press release it or blog about it months in advance to alert people.
It's not too hard to guess the dates of the party, though. I would think that it's a safe bet to assume that the Halloween party will
probably begin on Friday, September 30th this year, if they stick with their tradition of starting the party on a Friday. It
could start on October 7th, but that seems awfully late to me. It's possible, though. I doubt that they would make the start date a Tuesday, but the party will
probably again be held on each Tuesday (and each Friday) in October. And then there will be a party on October 31 (Monday).
So unless DLR surprises us again and totally changes the dates and days of the party around (like instead of Tuesdays and Fridays, suddenly they start having it on Wednesdays and Saturdays or something) -
or adds in extra party nights - I think we can pretty much figure out when it will be held during October, more or less. The only real mystery at this point is whether it will actually begin on 9/30 or 10/7.
As for the upgrading of the party ticket to an AP, I've never heard of that happening. I tend to agree with everyone else who posted that it sounds a little iffy. I suppose it
could happen,
if DLR views the party ticket as a 'one park/one day' ticket and handles it that way, rather than just as a 'special event' ticket. But since the AP holders don't get the party included as part of their AP perks/admission, it seems a bit odd to do it that way. Cast Members give mixed and
misinformation a lot of the time.
Maybe what they would do is let you "swap" instead of "upgrade." They could take the party ticket (
unused only) and apply the monetary value of it towards an AP. It would have to be unused, though. This wouldn't be an upgrade. They call it a swap. I've done the ticket swap thing before, handing over multiple
unused one-day/one-park tickets and applying the total monetary value towards an AP or several Hoppers, but I have not done that with party tickets.
But...chances are you wouldn't have an unused Halloween party ticket to swap and apply the value towards and AP, so there goes that idea!
)
