Mickey's Halloween Treat tonight...be sure to post!

[sammatt]

I can't wait to hear about this year's event, as it will be our first time! Please be sure to post some details for us after you recuperate from your fun evening!

 

[mdburd]

I can't wait either; we have tickets for the final night; Oct 31...

 

[ScooterL]

We're going tonight - I'm hoping that the rain in the weather forecast will hold off until after the party...though at least it's looking more like showers now.

I'm looking forward to it, hope they have some things that are different than last year, but at least we get an extra hour to enjoy it this year!

 

[mdburd]

Have a great time, Scooter--I'll be thinking "good weather" thoughts for you...

 

[Spike]

We are going tonight as well. I'll try and get some general type photos up tomorrow sometime, some that wont give any secrets away.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

We're going tonight - I'm hoping that the rain in the weather forecast will hold off until after the party...though at least it's looking more like showers now.

keeping my fingers crossed for ya scooter...have a great time and dont forget to post when you come home

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Have a spoooctacular time, everyone!!

Be sure to fill us in on the details.

 

[sammatt]

Here's sending you good luck and pixie dust to keep the rain away!

 

[TinkerbellTris]

Just spoke to my parents who have DS7 at the halloween treat tonight. They said there was a horrible downpour and thunderstorms which put a damper on the night. They were burnt out after 2 hours and headed over to DL to watch the fireworks. I asked both my mom and dad if they felt it was worth it, and both said it was worth seeing the look on my son's face, and he did get 3 bags of candy but..... they realize it was a sold out event, but they both agreed they allowed tooooooo many people to where it was uncomfotably overpacked and for that reason along with the decorations being skimpy, they felt it really wasn't worth the time. They all wished they would have known and they would have stayed in DL park all night instead. But they are there now and will be enjoying themselves till midnite!!!

 

[mom4princesses]

This will be my familys first time to be at Disney for Halloween. My girls are so excited, I hope it is better than you say. My girls are going as Theona 9, Minnie 7, Bell 6 and Minnie 6months. We are not going to the parks on Halloween only the party at DCA. We will have breakfast at Goofys Kitchen and then head over to DTD for a make over at Libby Lu. Next, its back to the hotel to get our gowns on and head back to DTD for dinner. Then off to the party. I thought it wasnt going to be as crouded as usuall but doesnt sound like it. Hope to hear that some of you enjoyed it, I know my kids are excited and oh ya so am I! My DH thinks I getting a little obsesed.


mom4princesses
9 7 6 6 months

 

[ScooterL]

We had a good time, despite the one downpour - fortunately we were in the Pacific Wharf area and able to duck under cover for most of it. The rest of the evening there was drizzle/mist off and on, but nothing bad.

It was very nice having the extra hour this year (a 4 hour event instead of 3 hours like last year) - we didn't feel rushed this time and were able to ride a few more rides. Though the lines for the characters were pretty long - so we never waited for any of that.

It seemed to me like there were more people this year, but it thinned out earlier than last year - maybe because of the rain, or maybe the extra hour, since it was getting pretty late for the smaller kids - it ended at 11:30.

Most of the decorations are actually done with lighting rather than putting up decorations, and there were some new ones this year - spider webs projected on Grizzly Peak and Sunset Blvd and the Pacific Wharf buildings, and those looked cool.

People seemed to be having a really good time dancing at the "Bat Party Bash", which they did on the stage in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. And we saw kids doing crafts and getting their faces painted. There were two other stage areas (with DJs, not live music) set up in the Bug's Land area and at the Pacific Wharf. There was a mobile stage with a live band that they had in Sunshine Plaza at the beginning of the party, and then again at the end.

There's nothing special about the treat stops this year - all they are handing out is candy and not the stickers like last year - I think that helped the lines to move a little better. They added two new "Treat Trails" this year in the Grizzly Rapids Queue and the Redwood Challenge Trail - those areas were closed off last year. There were 4-5 additional treat stops along each of the trails.

I was disappointed that there were no Golden Screams shows held during the party - seems like that would have been a good fit! They had Villains in the Meet-and-Greet area there, as well as in front of the Hyperion Theater.

Speaking of characters...Mickey and Minnie were over by Grizzly Rapids this year, and the princesses were still near Ariel's Grotto - they had to switch all of the characters around a little bit to get them out of the rain, though...they had these nice photo backdrops set up for all of them, but then ended up not really using them because they were out in the open. They had various other characters out roaming around the park, like Pluto and Daisy and Donald and even Alice and the Mad Hatter - it seemed strange to see them at DCA and not Disneyland!

The lines were weird...they were short, but because they were only running one side of Soarin' and two elevators at the Tower of Terror, we ended up waiting about 20 minutes for each, so that was disappointing. Screamin' was a very short wait, though - they were running three trains. But it had been down earlier in the day - we were in the park that afternoon and were unable to ride it then. So maybe they were trying to make up for it.

There were pirates, pirates, EVERYWHERE - that was definitely the most popular costume for males and females this year!!! Still, it seemed to me like there were fewer adults in costume than we saw last year...I'd guess maybe 25% were in costume, or even less. Actually, it seemed like a fair number of people (teenagers and young adults mostly) were not there for the Halloween festivities at all - they weren't in costume and weren't carrying treat bags.

I think they got the length of the event about right this year...but now they need to add some additional "content", like a parade or fireworks show or something like that.

We had a good time...but I'm not sure I'll be so interested in doing it next year unless they add something new.

 

[iheartdisney]

Thanks for the report- are they giving out the maps again this year?

 

[ScooterL]

Yes, there are maps at the turnstiles when you come in, and on the tables where you pick up the treat bags, and lots of costumed CMs around Sunshine Plaza who have them.

 

[TinkerbellTris]

O.k. here i go with the comparisons again. We did Mickey's not so scarry halloween party in Magic Kingdom WDW in 2002. It was fantastic. It went from 7p.m. - midnight, BUT.... included about 13 candy stops throughout Magic Kingdom, a special halloween parade with all the villians started on main street and wrapped around thru Liberty square, a special halloween party fireworks show, they drug out cinderella's carriage and parked it in fantasy land in front of the backside of the castle I have my son's picture by it, the park was all done up, they had live bands throughout the park, story telling by the castle, and they did a special halloween party picture of each individual child and mailed it to our house(it was free). It was great. And all the rides open. Funny thing was we were amazed at how UNcrowded it was. Then we ventured to Disneyland for halloween night in 2004. Wow what a disappointment. They didn't have any type of anything going on EXCEPT trick or treating in the hotels. Bummer. Then they sparked up the new Mickeys Halloween treat which kicked off for the first time last year. We skipped out last year. ANd this year my mom and dad took DS7. Well, it was again a disappointment. My parents biggest complaint what that it was not worth the cost at all. It did rain as I said above, and my parents were unfotunate to get caught in it while in the red wood trails. They said it was way overcrowded, way tooooo long of lines to see characters, and ride waits were long. Like I said they stayed 2 hours and RAN back to DIsneyland. Luckily my DS is only 7 so he stayed in his Captain Jack Sparrow Costume all night long.

 

[queenrollog]

We went Friday night and had a great time! DS2 1/2 was in costume, as was my DH. We enjoyed the music at Sunshine Plaza, DS had a blast dancing, and we all enjoyed the candy and crafts. We got some great character photos. The CM's seemed to have some Halloween spirit and were extra nice -- maybe because DS is so darn cute. It rained while we were on one of the rides, so we were lucky. DH was able to get on California Screamin' with almost no line, although I did have to wait awhile for Soaring. I was actually surprised it wasn't more crowded, based on the cars in the parking garage. This was our first year, we had nothing to compare it to, nothing to bias us, and we had a great time! We will probably go again next year.

Remember: Wherever you go, there you are!

 

[Spike]

Yep, another pirate. But that's all the boy wanted to be and since they are my sisters kids it was worth it. We had a blast! Didn't seem at all that crowded to us, very nice with lots of room to move around. In fact we just came form dinner there in California Adventure and it was WAY more crowded than last night (having an AP does have is advantages). I think the longest line we stood in was for Mickey Mouse and that was about 15 minutes. Anyways, the kids came home with 3 bags each of candy (and 1 for me hehehehe) lots of rides, and pictures with all the characters. Did some dancing at the different entertainment areas. Yes it did rain briefly and hard but then it to cleared out with just some sprinkles off and on later in the evening. While waiting in line with the neice to see Cinderella (10 minutes) we got to watch some pretty cool lightning behind Screamin. Are we glad we did it? Yes. Will we do it again next year? You betcha! This was a great thing for all the kids. It was pretty cool to see all the different costumes and everyone having a good time.

 

[dan_81877]

My family and I were also there on Friday. The rain kinda sucked but overall it was a fun event. I agree that DCA was busy on friday, we had to wait for 45 mins to get some lunch at the McDonalds. The decorations were nice though. We didn't even go into Disneyland that night but did hear the fireworks.