I love Halloween so much and one of my favorite things to do is drive around and find different houses with Halloween decorations. Well, while driving through Hollywood a couple of weeks ago, I found a house, which was decorated with a heavy Disneyland influence.
The left side of the yard had a great replica of the Skeletal helmsman scene from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Forever the Captain of his Ship
Great detail on the Skeleton.
The opposite side of the yard had a basic cemetery scene, but one tombstone looked familiar…
A Mansion Tombstone?
Right away, I knew that this tombstone was sculpted to resemble the tombstones found in the Haunted Mansion. Take a look below at the tombstone’s influence found in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion:
Photo by Daveland
People that put care and energy into the Halloween decorations displayed in their yards really make Halloween what it is. It is such a wonderful thing to find a great haunted house, especially with scenes from different Disney attractions. I will keep a whether eye open for more Disney Halloween Houses in the future.
This past Sunday, an evening trip to the Disneyland Resort was in store.
When we got to the park, night was already upon us and we were a bit hungry. So, we went to the new area on Paradise Pier in DCA to get something to eat. I had pizza and salad. It was wonderful. I’m very impressed with the food there.
Wonderful Theming and Food
Once we were full, we headed over to The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. We walked right on and experienced our enchantment under the sea. It was a great ride as always.
DCA's Newest Attraction
We wanted to go to Tower of Terror after the Mermaid, but it was already closing time for DCA. So we headed over to the original: Disneyland Park!
The Main Entrance!
Since everyone was coming over from a closed DCA, it was quite crowded on Main Street. We decided to do some shopping on Main Street to start our night at the Magic Kingdom. David bought some really neat Haunted Mansion Holiday pins.
The cavalcade of characters.
"I know you're curious to see what's inside...
...It's what happens when two holidays collide!"
We stopped in the Main Street Cinema for a few minutes and watched old Disney shorts. I like it in there. I just wish that they would change the movies that they play inside. I have seen pictures in the past where they play actual silent movies in the theatre like “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “The Phantom of the Opera”. These are public domain films and they could easily play those for Halloween time. I think that would be a wonderful little detail and a bit of nostalgia for some people.
The Cinema's Ticket Taker is in the Halloween Spirit!
How great would it be if they did this today???
The first ride we went on at Disneyland was Casey Jr.’s Circus Train. We sat in my favorite spot, the caboose. The ride was really fun. I can’t get enough of it.
The Ticket Booth
We took a stroll through Big Thunder Trail after that and looked at some of the Halloween decorations on display. They have a really neat pumpkin with a carved skeleton Mickey on it. I really love walking through Big Thunder Trail at night. It is so dark and eerie, even when it’s not Halloween!
The Skeleton Mickey Pumpkin
The Haunted Mansion Holiday was up next. It was its usual great self. I didn’t notice anything different from the previous visit. I’m wondering if anyone else ever had this issue with the Mansion… When we left the stretching room, we were in the front of the group exiting the lift. Now it seems as though people are rushing us to get to their doombuggy, but I like to enjoy the changing portraits. I like to go at a nice slow pace, but everyone else rushes to get to the “ride” and skips a great part of the attraction. To me, the ride began when we entered the Mansion in the foyer and I want to experience everything. It’s frustrating that people don’t take the time to enjoy the wonderful details.
The Haunted Mansion
The Little Oogie
We ended our night by looking through the New Orleans Square gift shops and spending some time with the Fortune Red Machine. I love that thing. The pirate inside looks so neat!
Argh! What will yer fortune be?
It was a nice and relaxing trip. Even though it was short, it was well worth the trip!
Yes, I realize that I am a few days late, but October has been a crazy month. We have been attending so many Halloween events. I love October. I don’t want it to end. Anyways, on to the trivia!
But before we get on to our trivia question, let’s answer last week’s question, shall we? Remember the question?
“In what year did the Hollywood Tower Hotel get struck by lightning?”
The answer is: 1939
Congratulations to those of you who knew the answer!
And now on to today’s question:
Where did “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” premiere?
Leave your answers in the comment section below and look out for future prizes!
Last Friday, we went to Mickey’s Halloween Party at the Disneyland Resort! It was my first time going to the event.
It's Party Time!
We got to the parks a little early, so we headed over to DCA. Walking around Buena Vista Street, we could peek behind the walls and see a bit of construction going on. The whole street is torn up and being worked on. I’m so excited!
Soon to be Buena Vista Street
Carthay Circle Theatre is coming closer to completion and it is looking great. It will be one of the best structures in the entire Resort! I also noticed that the cable car posts are now in place. All of this Buena Vista Street construction is getting me so excited. The amount of detail going into that part of the park is going to be wonderful. I can’t wait for it to be finished!
The Theatre and Cable Car Posts
The first attraction we visited was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. What a better way to start our Halloween visit? The ride was excellent. I did notice that someone wrote their name in the dust on the table in the lobby though. How dare that “Mike”!
Tower of Terror
How Dare That "Mike"!
We then made our way to Disneyland to prepare for Mickey’s Halloween Party! While it was still daylight, we decided to walk around the park and look at different Halloween decorations. We saw the many blow up Mickey Ghosts and Pumpkins and the changes of Big Thunder Trail. We wanted to go visit Big Thunder Ranch, but it was already closed. We did get to see the cast members round up the goats though! That was very fun to watch. They opened their cage and they all came racing out.
Mickey Ghost
Big Thunder Trail During the Day
And They're Off!
In Frontierland, they also had the Halloween Tree set up from Ray Bradbury’s book. That was really great. It is a big tree filled with pumpkins and orange lights. It is an excellent tribute to a great man: Ray Bradbury.
The Halloween Tree
Once the Party started, we walked around the park to take a look at everything at night. The Haunted Mansion had great lighting for the event, the Rivers of America was filled with fog, and Piratepalooza was in full effect. The Rivers of America looked so good. It was so neat to see it filled with that eerie fog.
Fog in the Rivers
And even more Fog
We decided at that point to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There was no line, so we got the very last seat. It was such a fun ride! There weren’t any changes for the Halloween event, besides some bats on the outside of the mountain in a mine shaft. That was pretty neat.
Big Thunder Mountain
Bats in the Mine
After our runaway train ride, we walked up Big Thunder Trail and everything looked so good at night. The lighting and fog was really effective. In the old Nature’s Wonderland cave, they had an eerie light and fog along with sound effects. Every once in a while, lighting would flash and thunder would sound. It was great! It was really great listening to Big Thunder Mountain in the background. It felt like the ghost train of Nature’s Wonderland was making its way toward us.
At Big Thunder Trail
At that point, we got some more candy in Big Thunder Ranch and looked around the area. They have a ton of expertly carved pumpkins in the area including a hitchhiking ghost pumpkin. That one was my favorite. Take a look below at some others:
The Hitchhiking Ghosts Pumpkin
The Crying Pumpkin
The Little Mermaid Pumpkin
Pooh, Hatter, and Nemo Pumpkins
We then walked into Fantasyland and visited Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. It was an excellent ride of my favorite Disney animated film.
The Puppet Show is About to Begin!
After we got off of Pinocchio, we saw that there wasn’t a wait for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, my favorite Fantasyland Dark Ride. I drove the motorcar, but I crashed into a train and we were sent to Hell.
Toad Hall
During Mickey’s Halloween Party, they have several stations set up to take pictures with your favorite Disney characters. We decided to walk over to the Villains section and we took pictures with Honest John from “Pinocchio”, the Queen of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland”, and the Queen from “Snow White”. The villains really stayed in character and made it fun for the waiting crowd.
With Honest John
With the Queen of Hearts
With the Queen
It was then time for the Halloween fireworks. While the fireworks themselves were some of the best I have ever seen, I’m not so crazy about the audio that goes with it. I’m not a huge fan of the updated versions of classic Disney songs, especially the pop version of “Grim Grinning Ghosts”. Also, the person doing the voice of Jack Skellington doesn’t do the best impression. Besides that, it was still fun to see those amazing fireworks and to see Zero flying over the castle. By the way, the back side of the Castle looked so neat. It kept changing colors and it had a huge spider web projected on it!
The Halloween Fireworks
The Back Side of the Castle!
After the fireworks, we went on Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy. Since the fireworks had just ended, the line was pretty short. The ride was fun and the ghost that follows your car is back. That’s my favorite part of the ride and that ghost wasn’t there when I went on it a couple weeks ago. But now he’s back!
Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy
When we were traveling through Tomorrowland, we saw that they were doing a photo op with Stormtroopers. So we got in line and took pictures them. See the result below:
With a Couple of Stromtroopers
While walking through the hub of Disneyland, on our way to Frontierland, I heard someone talking very loudly. I looked over and there was a live scarecrow talking to guests. It was really great and a good way to keep people entertained while waiting for the parade or fireworks to begin.
The Scarecrow
We stopped at Piratepalooza, which was playing “Michael Jackson’s Thriller”, and looked around. It was a neat little dance party and they had some pretty elaborate pirate skeleton set ups. One skeleton was dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow. It was a nice amount of detail for a temporary set up.
Piratepalooza!
The Captain Jack Skeleton
We were in Frontierland to get in line to take pictures with Halloween versions of Mickey and Minnie. They were dressed up in their Halloween best and welcomed us to take pictures with them. See below:
With Mickey & Minnie
After getting even more candy, it was then time for the Haunted Mansion Holiday! The ride was just as great as ever. Our doombuggy stopped in the ballroom scene, so I was able to get a good picture of the new Gingerbread house. As much as I love the Haunted Mansion Holiday, I miss the regular Mansion already. I think that the Haunted Mansion Holiday should just be there for November and December and not include the Halloween season. But, I believe I’m in the minority with that thinking.
The Haunted Mansion Holiday
Even a Gingerbread House Could Be Scary!
Since we were already in New Orleans Square, we thought it would be a perfect time to get pictures with Jack and Sally from “Nightmare Before Christmas”. Take a look at the photos below:
With Jack & Sally
With that, our Halloween trip ended. As we walked through Main Street on our way out, I noticed that City Hall had a huge spider web projected on it, much like the Castle’s web. It looked really neat. The entire event was fun, but I don’t think it’s something that I would do every year. It wasn’t different enough from a regular visit to Disneyland at night. The big selling point is that you go trick or treating and get as much candy as you want. If you love candy and want to do some early trick or treating, this event is for you!
It’s HalloweenTime at the Disneyland Resort! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite times of the year at the park. I love the cooler weather, the costumes, the decorations, the food, the changing foliage and the window displays.
I love that the window displays are constantly changing with the seasons and holidays at the Disneyland Resort. They don’t always reflect the merchandise sold in the parks. At times they are little environments that invite you in and tickle your imagination.
Currently Main Street has offerings that display classic Americana, fitting of the turn of the century theme with classic wooden figurines, felt figures, elegant baked goods and a variety of creepy critters and spooky elements. Each one encased in their own environments forcing you to step a bit closer and take a peek. You may even spy a classic Disney villain or two.
HalloweenTime at Disneyland is here until October 31st.
