Disneygeek - Geek Speaks - 8/23/24 - Halloween Time @ the Disneyland Resort

The Geek Speaks:

Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

8/23/24 - Halloween Time @ the Disneyland Resort

Hello Everyone!

Ventured down to Disneyland for the first day of Halloween Time 2024. The weather was great topping out about 80 and cooling to about 70 with a comfortable breeze most of the day. The crowds were very mild for the afternoon but as the sun set the masses arrived with parking and security lines both becoming extremely long.

Thoughts and Observations:

My arrival experience was great. I opted to go through the light at Ball vs the overpass to try and park inside. I managed to hit a green light so no delay at all. Then picked a good lane where I drove right up to the tollbooth. Was directed to the 4th floor and then drew a space right by a column even so plenty of room around the car. No wait at security or for a tram either. So not sure I could have gone much quicker.
Halloween Time 2024 officially kicked off today with most of the offerings available. A few things like the new Coco show start next week and Downtown Disney activities in a few weeks. What I saw Friday was status quo based on recent years with the exception of one show moving from the party to daytime. Same goes for the decorations. There were some minor tweaks but nothing drastically different or new. The characters at Disneyland have new costumes again this year to match the merchandise. They were ok, but I prefer the older ones where the characters dress up for the season. The hot item seemed to be the Pumpkin Mickey popcorn buckets. They were plentiful with mobile order options this year too. Lines were relatively short compared to previous releases throughout the day.
Mickey's Trick & Treat runs a number of times throughout the day in the Disney Theater in Hollywood Land. This show was part of the Oogie Boogie parties and it is interesting they moved it to be during the day for all to enjoy. I thought it was a fun show and could see my nephews really enjoying it. It is brief, about 10 minutes only and features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. Most in the audience seemed to really enjoy it and as a treat when you exit you get a bag of Lifesaver Gummies as a treat. I think it is great they added something new for day guests. Disneyland Resort Halloween offers a nice assortment of things for those who buy regular tickets and then if you want more you can buy into the party. The party is not the only way to celebrate the season, unlike the Walt Disney World model where if you want Christmas at the Magic Kingdom you have to pay or visit Christmas week.
The Mickey and Friends Halloween Cavalcade returned this year. I really enjoy these cavalcades. It is a great way to see the costumes and for everyone to see some characters they may not encounter normally. It is disappointing this is running in place of a parade. Neither park has a regular parade for the next couple of months, until Christmas.
The Dapper Dans are performing Halloween Sets again this year with an assortment of music and jokes to fit the season. The Disneyland Band set I saw included a couple songs too, but not the entire set. I did not catch any other groups this visit to see what they were doing if anything for the season.
There will be a new Coco show this year in Disney California Adventure titled "The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!" replacing the "Musical Celebration of Coco" which has been a seasonal favorite since 2017. The new show premieres Friday Aug 30th and will run through the end of the season on Nov 2nd.
Haunted Mansion Holiday returned several weeks ago and I managed to secure a Virtual Queue time that worked out on Friday for my first visit of the season. The Virtual Queue process is has some pros and cons. On the positive side I do like not having to wait a long time to visit and when things are flowing properly the return process is very smooth. I encountered this on Friday with no delays in scanning or walking into the mansion. It was about 5 minutes from entering the area until I was in the stretching room. This is how I would expect a virtual queue process to work. On the negative side is depending on several factors the experience may not be as smooth. At one point I saw the return queue backed up through New Orleans Square toward Pirates. Also I do not like not having any estimate of the return time nor current group distribution until after you join the queue. For example I was trying to time things to avoid a few times and it was really guessing, which worked out Friday. I failed on my previous attempt getting a return time that did not work in my schedule so my slot when unused.
The Mansion itself has no major visible changes. There is a new gingerbread house this year, as always. Also the finale screens are now digital vs physical props. No substantial changes jumped out to me on the ride through. There is no ETA on when the queue will be finished. You can now see walls for the queue and details are being added to them. It looks like it will still be a while.
Speaking of projects there are a number of attractions closed for renovation. These include the Disneyland Railroad, Monorail, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and Space Mountain. Plus all of Critter Country still. The walkway from New Orleans Square to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge through Critter Country has reopened since my last visit. There is new pavement but nothing else has changed. The Hungry Bear looks to be moving toward opening sooner than later. The rest of Critter Country is still a work in a progress. Tiana's Bayou Adventure is scheduled to open November 15th.
Stopped by to see the final Story Time with Deadpool of the afternoon. The show is still drawing a large crowd. The performances seem to have a fair amount of latitude and each show I a have been too seems to have some variation in the jokes, which I think its great.
Stopped by the Grand Californian to see the work in progress Halloween culinary display in the lobby. It is always fun to see what the team comes up with for each season.
Walked through Downtown Disney which is mostly decorated for Halloween. The planters are done and a number of pumpkins are out already. The pumpkin hunt does not start for a few weeks as well as other festivities for the season.
The fountain near Splitsville has been removed and the area is now a wide open concrete area. Wonder if they will bring some entertainment to this area now that there is more space. I would say it is not likely since Splitsville has their outdoor area adjacent to the space.
Construction on the west side project keeps inching along. You can see the new security check point for the Disneyland Hotel rising above the walls. This seems to be one step above the temporary ones that had been used for years but not as permanent looking as the new one on the south side. I guess they are still keeping their options open until the areas final plans are greenlit someday. The Parkside Market is moving rather slowly, but you can see some progress on the building. Next door the building looks to be complete and ready to go. Further along you could see equipment over the fence on the far south side, so it looks like construction has started for another building there. On the north side the new Earl of Sandwich temporary location has open, the other location closest to the parks was still open.
The Alpha Rhythm Kings were performing on the Downtown Stage this evening. They drew a good crowd including a half dozen couples dancing. Unfortunately there were limited options for them to dance. They ended up being on the edge of the walkway right next to the stage. This space seemed less than ideal for them and for the walkway traffic. Some sort of dance floor space in front of the stage would be nice for groups like this. The grass is not a good solution. The other choice I guess is to go behind the band which would be awkward too.
We decided to call it a day around 8pm and headed for the parking structure from Downtown Disney the number of people trying to enter Downtown Disney and the parks looked to be back to the pre-pandemic crush. The security line at the north side was backed up stretching almost all the way through the former turn around area. At the parking structure security lines were filling most of the barricaded area in the plaza. Cars entering the parking structure were backed up as far as you could see from the structure. As I drove to the freeway I saw the end of the line was on the freeway offramp, maybe a handful of cars on it. I used the overpass so no idea how far Ball was backed up. This is the largest backup I had seen in the evening in a number of years.