Hello everyone,
Last Friday night (25th September) Jon and I attended the first of this year's Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland.
We had previously attended Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland four years ago, and due to lots of other travelling commitments, have only just now managed to make it back again for the party!
I was anxious because it was the first one of the season, and obviously things can change from year to year. So although I had some idea from looking at details from last year, I didn't really know what to expect this night.
Around 4pm on Friday we went to collect our wristbands, candy bags and maps. The lines to collect these at both the main entrance and in Frontierland were long.
The party merchandise had been put out, and so we ended up buying some of the pins. We later discovered that since the parties have now started, they keep the party merchandise out all the time. When we asked the cast members, when we were paying for our pins, if they wanted to see our party ticket, they said there was no need. I suppose anyone is now allowed to buy the party stuff?
Main Street also started to show signs of transformation for the party at this point, with giant pumpkin balloons and ghosts.
The past couple of years Toontown has hosted a pre-party for party guests, which starts an hour before the party, and runs for two hours. In the past couple of years Mickey and friends have been seen there in awesome outfits, plus Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar and Roger Rabbit. On Friday the pre-party started at 6pm since the actual party started at 7pm. We got there right after we had collected our wristbands and bought the pins, and there were already lots of people waiting. They didn't let us into the queue area until just before 6pm, and when the queue did open, it was a bit of a mob scene. Oddly enough, the sign at the entrance to Toontown had a different closing time on it from the one on Main Street.
After waiting in the line for a few minutes, the cast members finally invited us into Toontown and we looked around to see what was going on. Most people immediately headed for the trick or treat stations. A moment later, characters started appearing in the Town Square area of Toontown, so of course we ran to line up. Donald and Daisy immediately got a huge line, but Goofy and Pluto was relatively short for the duration of their set. The annoying part is that they all switched with other characters, at the same spots - and the cast members didn't cut the lines. Luckily we had gotten back in the Donald and Daisy line, anticipating this would happen. Mickey and Minnie came out and replaced Donald and Daisy. It took us the entire time Mickey and Minnie were there to get to them, and we ended up being their last family that set! If we had been one family behind, we would have missed them and got Donald and Daisy, again! Goofy switched with Chip 'n' Dale, and their line was a lot longer than Goofy's was, and Pluto simply took a quick break and came back (sadly no Clarice, Max, or anyone else replaced Pluto). Sadly this year there was no Clarabelle, Horace or Roger Rabbit.
After we had managed to get all eight characters in their amazing costumes, we ran to Town Square on Main Street USA to try to meet the villains. I was really excited to try to meet Hades, as my photo with him in the past was not a good one and I felt it had been a rushed experience - so I wanted to rectify that now. We also wanted to meet Maleficent since she decided to have a change of style recently, and we hadn't met her since before that.
When we got there the line was a little long, and the male villains were out. I was informed by a host though that at my point in line, I would be getting the female villains, as they were soon to be switching. I have to say, I was really impressed with the way the villains made their entrance! All of a sudden thunder and lightning flashed all around the square, the train station shot flames out of it (yes really!), and Maleficent herself made an announcement of her arrival, along with the other female villains. To cap it all, they came riding in on a ghoulish looking horse and carriage! Amazing!
You get to meet each of the three one at a time, with enough time to get a photo of them and with them. The hosts, while trying not to rush you, do encourage you to be quick, and no autographs are allowed. The lines for the villains get so long that I think this was a fair policy. When the villains come out, the Queen of Hearts and the three Tremaines also come out and roam around Town Square. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we did not get photos of them.
After the villains we headed back to the Big Thunder Ranch area where Mickey and Minnie had changed costumes and were greeting. Sadly the line, as we expected, was really long - probably at least 45 minutes. Luckily we had seen them in these same outfits four years ago. I'll post a photo below of them in these outfits from our previous greeting with them, for reference. Like I said, the outfits are the same still.
Also up by the ranch were the Toy Story characters. Woody, Jessie - and I believe for the first time this year - Bullseye! Seeing Bullseye made me really happy! Woody and Jessie switch off and on, but Bullseye only takes a quick break, so he is there all night, just who you get him with depends on the timing. We got Woody with Bullseye, and the line was really short. We didn't wait more than ten minutes.
In various locations around the park, there were scarecrows up on poles. I know, it sounds strange, but they were actually really funny. They'd tell jokes, make (light hearted) fun of people and generally be entertaining.
Intermittently throughout the night, the Cadaver Dans would float across the Rivers of America. The fog and lighting effects really made it look spooky! The Cadaver Dans were of course very talented, too.
After meeting Woody and Bullseye, and seeing the scarecrows and Cadaver Dans, we went back to Town Square to try to get the male villains. The Paint the Night Parade had already started at this point, and so the street was very crowded. Our feet were aching, so we stopped and sat until the parade finished passing by before joining the villains line. We had zero intention of watching the parade, and had it not been for the timing of us arriving in Town Square when it was passing through, then we would not have bothered. It's really sad that at a ticketed event which costs $70 per person Disneyland decided to get rid of the fun Costume Cavalcade that they had before.
So we joined the villains line, and while in line the fireworks started, too. Again, we had seen these before, and while they are really neat, the villains were our priority and the line was already around an hour long. Just for reference, I'll throw in some photos below of when we saw the fireworks four years ago, as they are still the same.
Timing getting the male villains when they switch was going to be tricky. Luckily with two of us we were able to stand in two places in line, and when it looked like we were getting too close to the lady villains, one of us headed to the back of the line again. It was quite a process, but by the time the female villains had finished at 10.30pm and the guys came out, we were just a couple of families from the front, which was great. As with the ladies, the gents (plus the Queen of Hearts, again) arrived in style.
As with four years ago, the Peter Pan characters, Jack Sparrow, the Aladdin characters, Jack and Sally, and the Pooh friends were all appearing. However, since they hadn't changed costumes or locations since we were at the party last time, time was limited and we chose not to meet them. However, for your reference, since they are the same this year still, I shall put some photos below from four years ago. When I say the setups were the same, they really were, too. I believe the only difference this year is that Winnie is not wearing the Halloween outfit, for some odd reason (Tigger and Eeyore never had outfits, though).
Before I continue with what else we accomplished, I want to make mention of some of the things that have been cut from this year's party, besides the parade/cavalcade. There are also no Stormtroopers, Duffy, Phineas, Ferb or Agent P. This year Captain America and the regular princesses were appearing, but we didn't get photos with them during the party as they are regular daytime characters and it would have been a waste of time.
We had a spare few minutes in our plan for the evening, and it was getting close to party close anyway, so we decided to run through a couple of the trick or treat trails on the way to Tomorrowland (where we wanted to see the Monsters U Dance Party). There was a special annual passholder trail set up in the opera house, and so we ducked in there as soon as we had finished with the male villains. I won't spoil the surprise of what you get, but they tried to make an effort with the theming, by covering the furniture with sheets and adding some spooky props.
We then went up the right hand side behind Main Street, where the new access corridor is (a fast lane exit that they set up for guest use backstage for peak days), which had a trail.
Finally we arrived in Tomorrowland, and we stood to take some photos of the Monsters U Dance Party. Originally Disneyland had announced that this would be a superheroes dance party, but obviously that changed at the last minute for some reason.
From Tomorrowland we walked across Central Plaza to Frontierland, where the line for the trail (which was called Piratepalooza) inside Rancho del Zocalo had thinned out. We had wanted to do this one because characters dressed as pirates were inside, but the line earlier in the evening was very long. Candy plus characters makes for a super slow combination! It was close to midnight at this point though, and there were very few people there. We managed to see Chip, Dale, Donald and Pluto. From our experience four years ago Goofy should have been there too, but for some reason he wasn't on Friday. I'll put the photos below of Friday's greeting, and after a photo of Goofy from 2011, just for your reference. As well as the characters there were pirate performers who were entertaining guests.
Goofy from 2011's party:
Back across Central Plaza, we stopped for a couple of photos of the neat Castle projections, and headed down to Town Square for the villains finale, which happens at 11.50pm, just before the party closes at midnight.
We made it just in time, and although I couldn't get to the front, I managed to grab a few photos of the performance, which is on the train station. Luckily the elevation made it easy to get photos from further back. I think this was a great finish to the night.
And that's a wrap, folks! We definitely had a blast. We met a lot of really cool characters, some of which had some awesome outfits. We would loved for the Costume Cavalcade to still be running, but ultimately it gave us more time for characters by not having to wait an hour to watch it.
If you have any questions, you can hit the blue "discuss this blog entry" bar, below, to go to our friendly forum, where I'll try to answer any questions you have.
Have a great week everyone,
Dan.
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