Somehow, I stumbled upon these frighteningly real-looking videos from the security cameras at our favorite park on the planet, Disneyland. Now, I have heard of people seeing ghosts at the parks and seen really bad photos of ghosts at the park, but nothing quite like these.
I work in “the industry” and know a visual effect when I see it. This is either a very well executed visual effect by an avid Disneyland fanatic with a lot of time and resources on his hands, or a very bored security officer.
The problems I have with these videos is that there are either so many ghosts at the park that shooting any security camera at any time provides one with these results, or they’re a hoax — but how?! These are so incredibly haunting, I got goosebumps while watching them at work and continued to rewind them back and play them over and over again with a very genuine “how did they do that?!” look on my face.
That last one is my absolute favorite. Not just anyone has access to these apparent security cameras. How incredible is it that the possibility of these being real evokes these emotions out of me? I am a huge skeptic but I have an open mind. I just don’t have any grounds to disprove any of this.
I found another YouTube channel debunking these videos but I just don’t find their arguments to hold water. I, too, thought that it was a reflection at first on the lens but man, that last HM video is just INCREDIBLE! I don’t know much about security monitors but I have never seen a monitor “ghost” in that way. I liked watching his one video, though, because it has some other great videos.
The “ghost” videos that prompted this post were found at this YouTube page. They, unfortunately, are the only ones this user ever uploaded and the page has laid dormant for over 2 years — but not without gaining a substantial amount of hits! What do you think is going on in these videos? Is our magical park a haven for the disembodied?
After a refurbishment that seemed to last forever, Pirates of the Caribbean has reopened at the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland! Going to Disneyland without the most beloved attraction in Disney history was tough. Pirates is the one attraction that I have to go on every time I visit the park. Maybe I’m a bit too attached to what some people might call a “simple amusement park ride”, but it is so much more than that. It is the single greatest attraction ever created and it showcases the talents of many including Walt Disney himself. So come with me as I take you on a journey to the newly reopened Pirates of the Caribbean and I will describe to you some changes I noticed.
Back from Under the Tarps!
The first thing I noticed was how fresh and clean the talking skull now looks. For the longest time, the talking skull had several spit balls on his hat. Boy would I be mad if I saw some kid spitting spit balls at him! Well, all of those balls of spit have been removed and he has been freshly repainted. He looks great.
Pre-Refurbishment. Notice the Spitballs!
Once we enter the caves after the waterfall, I noticed that the cave looks better than ever. For the last couple of years, there has been holes and wires showing and those are now all covered up and it looks great.
Inside the Caves
After the second waterfall, we come to the island full of skeletons. Here I noticed some substantial changes. First of all, the island itself has been re-sculpted on its edges. The edges look steeper and natural sand no longer goes to the water’s edge. It is now a carved surface, most likely to withstand waves of water crashing against it.
The skeletons themselves have been updated too. The first skeleton we come upon has a new hat and eyepatch, along with a Jolly Roger flag. The skeleton in the middle seems to be pretty much the same complete with his crab companion, but the skeleton with the sword through his chest has an all new skull. It is a totally different sculpt than what had been used to. The skull looks smaller and a little less lifelike. He still looks great, however. Also, this skeleton’s sword has been cut in half as if he were in an epic sword battle before his death.
Pre-Refurbishment.
Pre-Refurbishment
Pre-Refurbishment
Then we come to the Skeleton at the wheel. He now sports a huge wig that looks like a 1980s Rock Star. It’s a strange choice of hair, but his scene still looks amazing.
Pre-Refurbishment
As we came upon the mist screen, I found another substantial change. The mist screen now alternates between Davey Jones and Blackbeard.
Davey Jones Alternates With...
Blackbeard
Our boats then slowly approached the cannonball fight and Barbossa’s animation is better than ever. His body really exaggerates the words he is speaking and it’s great. Barbossa also seems to have a bigger hat with a lot more feathers.
Pre-Refurbishment
The next change came in the Auction scene. It is pretty much exactly the same, except the Auctioneer seems to have a new paint job on his face that is just remarkable. He looks so good. The only thing that was kind of weird was that his head was down the whole time. He doesn’t seem to be interacting with the pirates as much because it looks like he’s talking into his chest. I’m sure that will be fixed one of these days.
Pre-Refurbishment
The Pooped Pirate scene came up next and that tired old Pirate looks great. He has a new wig of curly hair and a thick mustache. I just wish he had his old hat with the long top.
Pre-Refurbishment
The Original Pooped Pirate - Complete with Top Hat!
In the burning city, all of the pirates looked remarkable, except I noticed that one was missing. The pirate that is leaning against a lamp post was gone and so was the lamp post! What was even stranger was that his vocals were still being played. I hope they are just refurbishing him. I would hate for him to be gone permanently. He is one of my favorites.
Where Could He Be?
I didn’t really notice any changes from then on until the final Jack Sparrow scene. He looked pretty much the same, except much cleaner with a fresh coat of paint. I’m really not impressed with that animatronic at all though. It just doesn’t fit in with the other pirates and their exaggerated features. How I miss the old Pirates…
Pre-Refurbishment
As we go up the waterfall, we get one last word of warning and the audio now alternates between Davey Jones and Blackbeard like the mist screen earlier in the attraction.
When we finally disembark, a keen eye will notice one final change. The unloading dock has been refurbished and expanded to help accommodate more handicapped people.
The Dock!
A few weeks before Pirates of the Caribbean reopened, a rumor was going around that mermaids from the fourth film would be added to the attraction. I was upset by this as I think the attraction should stay away from film references. Fortunately, it was only rumor and those mermaids never made an appearance. So overall, this long refurbishment was worthwhile. The Pirates look better than ever and the whole ride seems new and fresh. So next time you are at Disneyland, ride Pirates and see what you think. Let us know how you feel about these changes.
*A special thanks to Daveland for use of their pictures!*
We got to the park early and had lunch at Storyteller’s Cafe. We were bummed we missed breakfast (they don’t offer Sunday brunch, we discovered) but lunch is SUPER inexpensive here. Just over $20 for my wife and I. Highly recommended for those on a budget.
The smoke-stack works!
We then headed straight to the new Grand Circle Tour exhibit at the Disney Gallery. Incredible! I wanted everything on the walls in that exhibit! I loved everything from the signage out front (with the working smoke stack!) to the train going around the back gallery. A must-see!
This is an awesome Donald!
We then got to meet one of the Fab-5 in their holiday garb — Donald! He was a great character but had no wrangler! Strange but makes for good talking-to-your-neighbor-in-line time to get your picture just right!
Yodle-ay-ee-hoo!
We thought that today would be a fun time to try riding some things we never ride. Today started with the Matternhorn. After a month+ refurb, nothing has changed. Still rough and still with the old cars. Unfortunate.
What a beautiful day!
Love this scene!
He's winking!
Next was Small World Holiday! I only ride this twice a year so this was a nice treat! Looked and sounded great although one of the clowns that ride their bike on the wire was not working and one of the many suns had an eye (read: light) out. Other than that, it was perfect timing for us to get out of the heat and skip the Christmas parade madness. One day I’ll check that out.
Awkwarrrddd.
On our way to our next ride, we saw the Tangled meetup had a short line (only 20 minutes compared to the normal 45+). We met Rapunzel and Flynn but it was pretty weird. Usually meeting characters is fun because they are big smiling faces that you mime with. These were kids our age and it seemed just — weird. Not sure what that was about.
Vixen!
We also checked out the Reindeer Roundup! We are never in the park early enough and we noticed that Santa Claus is also available for photos at the roundup! Even better, the BBQ restaurant was open pretty late in the day which made me excited to come back for dinner soon! It’s my favorite restaurant at Disneyland so dinner there would be killer!
Settled 1880!
We then put on our mining hats and headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We saw the queue was pretty long but the sign said only 10 minutes. After about a 5 minute wait, we saw that the queue was only going to the stairs and straight up. What a day for Disneyland — no lines!!! We had a great ride.
Beautiful tree.
I went to take a picture of a beautifully autumn-red tree and accidentally punched myself in the eye with the camera. It was a beautiful tree! We also noticed that the collapsing mine projection looked new — although the rocks were not falling. You win some, you lose some.
DCA all Christmas-y!
Looming in the distance!
After making our way through the NOS crowds, we grabbed some HMH fastpasses and made a b-line for DCA. We met up with fellow RSP-er Robert to ride his favorite DCA attraction: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It, too, had a short line and we were also the line-time-takers (we were given this lanyard).
Fancy schmancy.
However, I was not sure who to give the lanyard to, so I gave it to the person I thought best to get it — the bellhop loading us into the elevator. Not sure how that went down but let’s be honest, that’s the gauge for how long the line is. The ride looked and sounded great but unfortunately the mirror effect was not working correctly. I wonder what goes into that effect to make it so unreliable?
Below the basement.
Robert here: I wanted to point out one other thing about our trip on Tower. Usually when you enter the library, the door closes, a flash of lightning strikes, and the TV turns on. At that precise moment, the lights go off. However, on this particular trip, the lights stayed on. They slowly started to dim and they were shut off about half way through the preshow video. I wonder if that was intentional or not. It was neat, but I think I prefer the lights to go out with the lightning strike.
*Star Tours chime*
We then headed back to Disneyland (sans Robert) to utilize some Star Tours fastpasses we got from a friend. Unfortunately, as great as the queue was, that’s all we saw. Our starspeeder was halted by a cast member so that we could sing Happy Birthday to another cast member and this seemed to break the entire spaceport. We did receive some neat re-admits that included Star Tours (they’re red) and planned on returning or utilizing for another ride. We ultimately did not.
HMH - Haunted Mansion Holiday!
Triumphant trumpets!
Wish this blew snow.
Oogie!
Merry Christmas!
Instead, we went to Haunted Mansion Holiday and lucky for us, we had fastpasses. This was the longest line of the day at 45 minutes! We sped onto the ride and everything looked, sounded, and smelled great! We even got into the lobby before the narrator began, into the stretching room as he began, and into the hallway right on time! I love when that all works out — but I also don’t think we should hope for that. It should be consistant.
I love the look -- but that's about it.
After, we went to check out Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I have to admit, this is one of the best looking rides in the park. But something is always a miss for me and I believe I found it. I don’t buy the movements of the vehicle. I get that they programmed human reactions into the ride vehicle but it takes me out of the experience. Also, all I see is a smooth track but all I feel is a bumpy ride. I spend most of the time trying to figure out what’s going on. I don’t like that I don’t enjoy the ride, but I also know I am in the minority here so I’ll ride with friends that enjoy it and think to myself that I am super flexible for my friends. Ha!
Trader Sam's!
It’s Robert again! So while, David was getting stuck on Star Tours and riding some E Ticket attractions, I was with my girlfriend and a few friends at Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel. Boy I love that place. There are so many intricate details that I notice every time I go. While we were there, we witnessed a bunch of special effects including an erupting volcano, a sinking ship in a bottle, indoor rain, and a sinking bar stool! If you haven’t been there, please go. It’s one of my favorite places to be.
My wife!
It was then time to check out the newly re-opened Pirates of the Caribbean with Robert, Inthia, and Dawn. We will cover the changes in a future post but wow, I thought there were some great changes! There were also some things missing and some things added. Fun ride all-in-all and no mermaids! Where would they put them anyway that would make any sense?
"Rawr" means "I love you" in dinosaur.
We split from Robert, Inthia, and Dawn to use our re-admit at Space Mountain while they went to ride HMH but again, the line was so short, we saved out re-admit for later! Another thrilling ride through the galaxy with a fun photo to boot. I noticed that they no longer utilize the TV screens at the top of the inside queue as no one waits up there anymore. I wish they’d update the videos/screens all together and maybe that’s next.
The Sandwich - Courtesy of Yelp.com
Robert again: So while they were on Space Mountain, Inthia, Dawn, and I got fastpasses for the Haunted Mansion Holiday. While waiting, we ate a delicious dinner at the French Market. I had a great sandwich in miniature Jack Skellington Coffin!
The Rain's Coming Down!
We then had a bad bout with attractions. We planned on trying to ride Star Tours with our group all back together but the fastpass line was 25+ minutes. We tried to ride HMH a second time but it was closed! We were, however, able to take a buzz through the Hundred Acre Woods with Winnie the Pooh. I really love that ride and am saddened every time I see the line so short. I really hope people make their way to that attraction enough!
The Decked Out Splash - Courtesy of Flickr.com
While making our way back to HMH, we noticed that Splash Mountain had a holiday layover on its facade that looked really great! I guess it’s been around for a few years but I had never seen it before. Nice touch — wish it was lit at night.
Suzi and I left to try to make it to Tortilla Joe’s at DTD before the rest of the group went on HMH. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed for the night and we went home. What I did notice throughout the whole experience: the Davy Crockett Canoes are still open! I have to get on that before they shutter up for the winter!
It will be me, Robert, for the rest of this report:
The Floating Leota Ornament
After David and Suzi left, we finally made our way to the Haunted Mansion Holiday. It was great except, Madame Leota was no longer a floating ornament. She was stationary and there was no sign to her ornament pieces. Also, her face was being projected, which they never do anymore. It’s evident that they don’t use the projection often as they were not able to perfect it. The projection was not aligned with the bust inside the crystal ball and her eyes were very small and pinched in the middle. It really looked bad. I assume that was the reason the ride was closed earlier. When David went on it earlier in the day, he said that she looked good and was a floating ornament. Oh well… I’m sure they’ll fix her up soon.
Sleeping Beauty's Castle
Inside the Castle
We headed over to Fantasyland after the Mansion, and took a bunch of photos of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle while it was all decked out for Christmas. It is really beautiful. While over there, we walked through the Castle to view the Sleeping Beauty scenes. I love that it’s back. It brings great childhood memories.
Make an Evil Wish!
After the Castle, we went on Snow White’s Scary Adventures. It was a great ride and everything looked amazing.
Original artwork for Casey Jr. on display at the Disney Gallery
A trip to Casey Jr. came next. We sat in our favorite spot, the caboose. There’s nothing like a trip on Casey Jr. at night. It is something that is so special and uniquely Disneyland.
BTMRR
We ended our night with a late night ride of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day at Disneyland.
Welcome to another Trivia Tuesday. Before we get on to our trivia question, let’s answer last week’s question, shall we? Remember the question?
“Name two of the many references to the Twilight Zone found in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.”
Some answers are: A broken stopwatch, a thimble, an invader, the fortune telling machine, a pair of broken glasses, a trumpet, an envelope with Rod Serling’s name on it, a chalk outlined door…
Congratulations to those of you who knew the answer!
And now on to today’s question:
Which attraction did Star Tours replace?
Leave your answers in the comment section below and look out for future prizes!
What’s better than Disneyland on one’s birthday? Going the day BEFORE your birthday and reaping all the perks of it being your birthday. However, since this was a Saturday, we had to be strategic.
We showed up to the parks relatively early at about 1pm and took some great pictures of the halloween decor basking in the daylight of this warm October day. Boy do those colors pop!
My wife, Suzi, headed over to City Hall to grab a birthday pin for me and to try to get us a couple seats on the Lilly Belle while I headed over to Ghost Galaxy to get a fastpass for the evening. While she had no luck with the Lilly Belle seating, I was able to snag some 10pm fastpasses as well as this neat Captain EO preferred seating pass.
I had never seen these before but I love that they do surprises like this from time to time at the fastpass queues.
We then met up at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ for a little birthday lunch. Since most of our park visits are during the evening, we never get to eat at this daytime eatery but today was my special day and I wanted to gorge. And gorge we did! But not before our 45-minute wait time for a table. So, we used our time wisely and checked out the amazing pumpkin carving and goats next door at Big Thunder Ranch Halloween Roundup. There will be a post soon with all of the great pumpkins we saw but here’s a little sneak peak!
Just before we were sat for lunch, I admired the Norman Rockwell halloween art that was set up around the restaurant. I really love his style and I think this halloween work is among my favorite of his! It really captures the imagination and wonder and most importantly the emotion of the holiday through the eyes of these almost cherub-like children. Absolutely an amazing touch!
We were soon anxiously awaiting out meals with some great cowboy-style entertainment. The trio that was performing we had seen a couple years ago when we came over to the BBQ and they had some really great halloween tunes to share with everyone. It was really well organized and paced and the food was equally as amazing! This is definitely a once-a-year type of meal but wow what a meal! I even got a flour-less chocolate cake for dessert!
After lunch, we planned on riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but unfortunately it was closed! Not sure what the problem was but we then headed over to Disney California Adventure. The construction in front is coming along nicely and the detour is becoming increasingly tolerable. The first attraction to which we headed for a fastpass was the appropriately halloween-y Tower of Terror. I am a new iPhone user so today, the MouseWait app was in full effect and super useful! Luckily it was only an hour wait so we headed into A Bug’s Land.
Suzi and I have planned for years to use the “Thank You” Chinese food box on Flick’s Flyers as our wedding gift “Thank You” cards. This is really well done for such a run-of-the-mill attraction. The details were on-point and the cast members, while chatty, really seemed to enjoy their jobs. They did some fun voices over the intercom system and even took Suzi and my photo in the Thank You box for us before take-off!
Just before we lifted off, the cast member controlling the ride made sure everyone in line and on the ride know that “today [was] a special day in A Bug’s Land because it’s David’s birthday!!!” It was really a nice touch and away we went for a circular tour of this corner of the land. It had some great views of the Tower at angles I had yet to see so I snapped a few shots off before we landed.
We then headed over to the Blue Sky Cellar to check out the new exhibits and new imagineer video. I really liked how this one was done — it was more of a forma documentary style and the filmmakers used a slider and some great voiceover for profiling each imagineer. And I am not sure if it’s new but the screen on which they show the film looked incredibly clear and vibrant! It was probably the best looking HD monitor I have ever seen.
After a tear-jerker of a cinematic experience, we wandered over to California Screamin’ when suddenly Suzi spotted Hollywood “celebutant” Ryan Philippe (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Flags of our Fathers, Cruel Intentions) who was there with his son. It was nice to see him without a plaid vested cast member — he was just out an about on his own. Screamin’ had quite the wait but we rode and it was great. Cars Land is really coming along and Screamin’ really offers some great views of it!
We then headed over to Suzi’s favorite DCA attraction, The Silly Symphony Swings. This is so fun at dusk because the sunset behind the Paradise Pier Hotel is always stunning — especially on a chilly autumn evening. The oranges and ambers really embody the Halloweentime spirit!
Before heading back to Disneyland, we redeemed our Tower of Terror fastpasses. One thing I always notice now is the ceiling of the tower and how clean it is compared to the walls and everything else. A co-worker pointed this out when she rode for her first time last year and it has stuck with me ever since. She put it this way, “… if Walt had created this attraction, he would have paid attention to every detail — including the ceiling of the Tower’s lobby scene!” I couldn’t agree more.
While riding, I saw one of the coolest things I have ever seen on the ride. Usually I hate when peiople bring on things that glow or a sword that lights up or something like that, but the girl in front of my just had one of those glowing necklaces. It didn’t blink, it wasn’t too bright, it just glowed green. When the mirror scene happened, we all disappeared into the 5th dimension, her necklace remained seemingly floating in place! It looked more like we had all become ghosts and one of the invisible ghosts was wearing a glow-y necklace! It was really neat and I would love to try it with a glow-y hat and glasses!
We then headed back over to Disneyland and went straight to redeem our Ghost Galaxy fastpasses. The fastpass line went all the way out past the Captain EO queue! It was so bazaar but after about 15 minutes, we were boarded. It was a great ride and as Robert had predicted, the hand that follows you has been put into place and follows along perfectly!
Unfortunately we were unable to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday, Indy, and even Jungle Cruise due to the crowds, but we were able to walk right into Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. How was I wrong for so many years about this incredible attraction? Unfortunately, there was no Maynard on duty for the evening but a terrific show none the less and the perfect cherry on top of our wonderful visit to the happiest place on earth!
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!
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!
In 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean closed for a long long while in order to make enhancements to the ride’s technologies as well as to incorporate several characters from the film including Captain Barbossa, Jack Sparrow, and Davy Jones.
In the queue, they added more paintings of those famed pirates. One of those paintings – Barbossa, in fact – is seen sporting just 4 fingers on his left hand. Don’t believe me? Take another look here!
Ouch!
It can be argued that he is hiding that pinky behind his coat, but I prefer to believe that he was in an intense battle and escaped with losing but a mere pinky!
