Halloween Party Report for 9/21! Hopefully this helps if you're interested in treat trails or characters
This was our first Halloween party ever! We started in toontown, where people were lining up around 4:30 -5. We were already tired, so we sat by It's a Small World and got in line about 5:40. They let people into Toontown in stages, starting about 5 minutes until 6. We were maybe 6 groups back. By the time they started letting people in, there was a HUGE crowd behind us. Again, we had never been to a party and didn't know what to expect. We wanted mostly to meet characters, but there were none out at first and we were ushered into a treat trail. By the time we got out, the characters had insanely long lines, and it was no longer worth it to us. We did the rest of the treat trails in Toontown, and headed out around 6:45. At this point, we noticed that the Fantasyland Theater had a treat trail open. We went through it and found Chip and Dale with almost no line at the end. Their photo op also had a really cute back drop! After meeting Chip & Dale, we headed to Frontierland by way of big thunder treat trail, with the intentions of seeing the Cadaver Dans. We noticed that Peter Pan had a short line, so we waited in that and got to meet Peter and Wendy around 7:10 on the Mark Twain dock. Captain Hook and Smee weren't out yet, but Captain Jack showed up while we were in line, and they let us meet both while staying in the same line. Photopass was with both characters, but FYI it was SUPER dark over there, and the characters couldn't see to sign autographs.
By this time we had missed the Cadaver Dans, and knew we wanted to see the next showing. We stopped by Rancho de Zocalo to see what the wait time for Mickey and Minnie was, but the cast member said it was about 45 minutes around 7:15. We decided to skip it and go to Adventureland to meet Baloo and King Louie! We were expecting a huge line, but there were only 3 people in front of us. There was no photopass, and the lighting was terrible. They are meeting in the Tropical Imports stroller area. Baloo signs autographs and King Louie does not. They were AMAZING!!! They switched out with Jane and Turk (Jane wasn't listed on the app (every 30 minutes). We stopped by a few times to see if we could get Jane and Turk, and the line was never very long.
Next we went to French Market to see Constance and/or Sally. The line was maybe 15 minutes and there was a photopass photographer. Constance was AMAZING and took her time with each person. My husband, who had no idea who she was at first, said it was one of his favorite meet and greets of the trip. It was awesome. I didn't ask if she signed autographs. By the time we were done, Cadaver Dans started again, so we watched them. They were amazing! We did the treat trail by Rivers of America, and then headed to Tomorrowland. We got our AP gifts, did the treat trails there, and took a sit break (we were so tired) to watch the Pixar dance party. It was so fun, and I had forgotten it was even going on! We headed back to Adventureland to see if Jane/Turk was out (they were just wrapping up their set), and caught the tail end of the parade. Next, we headed down main street for the fireworks. It was during the fireworks that I finally noticed a lack of crowds. Normally it's packed like sardines while people are watching the fireworks, but there was plenty of room!!! We had a great view! We loved the fireworks and thought they were our favorite ever. We could still see Jack's head from the middle of main street.
After the fireworks, we hauled it down to town square, intending to get a great view of the second parade. We noticed Maleficent walking out with NO LINE. We followed her and were maybe like 4 people back. Hades came out too! We met her, and still had time to meet Governor Ratcliffe, Jafar, and Cruella before the parade. Evil Queen, Gaston, Stepsisters and Lady Tremaine, and Dr. Facillier were all out roaming around in Town Square, as well as Super Hero Goofy and Pirate Dale. It was AWESOME, and there was hardly anyone there. They stayed out for about 20 minutes, and then went back inside. We grabbed seats for the parade in front of the train station. There was SO MUCH room. Hardly anyone was watching it where we were! AS soon as the parade went by (awesome, but too short and super weird to have Vampirina end it), we hopped in line for what we hoped would be Hades, and we were right! He and Maleficent came back as soon as the parade was over, as did all the characters I previously mentioned. Maleficent was out for a solid hour. After Hades, we interacted with the Step Sisters (they were fantastic), and met Cruella and Dr. Facillier. All the roaming characters went backstage, and Hades/Maleficent switched out for Jafar/Cruella. Around 11:30, the rest of the characters did their little dance, which was awesome but was literally the same verse repeated over and over and over for 5+ minutes. Chip/Dale/Super Goof and Mr./Mrs. Incredible came out with them as well. Cruella and Jafar continued their meet and greets, and Cruella danced a lot. We left at 11:45 due to pure exhaustion. The Villains did not appear to have their line cut when we left.
All in all, it was AMAZING! I will say that I was WAY over ambitious thinking of all the things I would get done, but I am so glad we got to meet so many characters, and we had fun trick or treating! We didn't ride a single ride because we have
DAS and aren't as interested in rides. Wait times appeared to be pretty low.
Regarding treat trails: They were pretty much all the same. If you are allergy and/or no sugar, only the first station at each trail had something for you. The sugar free offering were tootsie roll looking things and hard candy, and the allergy offering was lollipops or gummy bears. When we asked for these things, the CMs didn't know where they were located at first. Cast Members were clearly trained to give out a certain amount of items, and for any non-candy item it was always 1 each. Even for carrots and apples (which was a bummer for me because I could literally only eat the Pirate's booty and carrots). We got lots of pirates booty, original flavored sun chips, keebler grahams, goldfish grahams, goldfish pretzels, freeze dried apples, carrots, and tons of candy. We did the main street trails around 11 pm, and there was literally nobody there, except one person who kept going through them over and over. The CMs were so happy to see us because they were bored.
Side note- We saw a couple of FULL ON cosplayers (Mary/Bert and Aurora). I honestly wish that weren't allowed, because I completely confused them with the characters. I also saw them interacting with kids and taking pictures with them.
PS: All the decorations and details they had just for the party were amazing! We loved the castle projections.
PPS: People were camped out in front of the castle for fireworks when we walked by around 8:15.
As you are leaving the park CMs are basically throwing candy at you.
