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09/14/12 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort including this years HalloweenTime Festivities.
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09/14/12 - My thoughts and observations from Friday at the Disneyland Resort including this years HalloweenTime Festivities.

Hello all,

I headed down to the Disneyland Resort, despite the heat warnings, because I wanted to check out the HalloweenTime festivities. I knew I was going to be in for a warm one when the car thermometer read 103 degrees as I entered the Mickey and Friends garage. The crowds at the park were mild. Ghost Galaxy and Haunted Mansion Holiday had among the longest waits at Disneyland. Over at DCA the heat managed to keep the lines on the shorter side too, with the Racers even being listed at 60 minutes in the mid afternoon. Fastpass for the first World of Color were still available as the sun was beginning to set.

Jason

Trip logs and mileage reports are in the Park Miles section.

Thoughts and Observations:

  • The off season is in full swing at Disneyland with several areas behind tarps or walls. This includes Main Street - The Mad Hatter, City Hall, the Firehouse, and the Fantasy Faire. In Adventureland Indiana Jones, Fantasyland the theater area, Toontown the Mountains and Tomorrowland the Pizza Port. Small World will be going down soon for its annual Holiday Make over too. Always fun to see what is being worked on around the parks.

  • Friday marked the kickoff of HalloweenTime at the Disneyland Resort. Overall Disneyland had its normal overlay with only a couple minor tweaks. The decorations on Main Street appeared to be on par with the last couple of years. The celebration runs through October 31st. Then there is just over a week until the Christmas season kicks off.

  • Haunted Mansion Holiday opened Friday. New this year, no Fastpass option. That kept the waits under an hour most of the time and the lines moving which was nice in the heat. There is also a new gingerbread house inside and it is a work to see. With no Fastpass the lines moved much more quickly and the congestion around the Mansion in the evening seemed a little better.

  • New Orleans Square this year features the Pirates League. Here you can receive a Pirate Makeover and then pose for some pictures. I walked by and one family was just wrapping up and there were no others in the pipeline so I spent some time taking pictures and talking with the crew. They all appeared to be in good spirits and since they were not busy let me take several pictures of the area, which was great! Thank you again!

  • Continued around to the Big Thunder Ranch. The Ranch has the Halloween Round-up going on as usual, but this year they expanded out to the Jamboree area and feature a Halloween Carnival too. The pumpkin carving, arts and crafts as well as the Billies have all been relocated to the Jamboree.
    • Overall I thought this was a nice effort. Plenty of activities and options in the area. The crowds were mild, I would say more than the standard Jamboree but then again it was the first day so not sure if it is an indicator or what.
    • An award for one of the hardest to remember names has to go to the Meet and Greet for the Villains. The Astounding Cauldron of Magic - Conjuring Villains, Just for Fun! How is anyone supposed to remember that? What all the translates to is a temporary tent set up to the left when you enter the arena area. They let a handful of groups in at a time and you are introduced to a Villain then able to take pictures, etc. There is a PhotoPass photographer on hand. The tent is not air conditioned but it does have fans and was relatively cool yesterday. The tent itself is rather plain and kind of awkward out in the middle. Seems it could use something else around it or on it.. but it sort of works if the goal is a cheap carnival in town.
    • There are a couple of games on the far side of the arena. They never really seemed to draw a crowd when I was there, but they did give the characters something to interact with which was fun. And the Cast Members working the wheel seemed to be having a fun time giving people their fortunes.
    • Several times per day (7 currently) there is Mickey's Mask Parade. The concept seems to be kids can go to the coloring area and create a mask then they can parade around with the characters. The idea seems ok, but the execution of it for the one I was around to see was really poor. It appeared no one really knew what was going on. I am guessing a cast member tried to explain in the coloring area and then it started. There was not really an announcement and they were supposed to follow the Billies. All in all it could use some organization and leadership.
    • Speaking of the Billies.. they are still stuck in the Jamboree and now performing their Haunted Hillbillies show. This means songs like Ghost Riders in the Sky and Devil Goes Down to Georgia. I always enjoy the Billies so I enjoyed this portion and they had a healthy crowd.

      Here is a video of the Billies and Mask Parade:


    • The Fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto) are making appearances in their Halloween Costumes. Originally I had heard this would be the only spot to see them (outside the after hours party) but on Friday heard some rumors that they may be making other appearances. My hunch is after the ranch closes for the day they may show up on Main Street.
    • I thought some of the Halloween inspired food was a nice touch, namely the candy corn cotton candy.

  • Headed over to Disney California Adventure next. The big news on Buena Vista Street is a new issue of the Bugle is out. This is the 4th issue and the featured headline is Halloween Takes Town! Other front page news includes Frankenweenie Unleashed in Hollywood Land! and I on Food with Inglebert Irving Of Costumes and Cuisine.

  • The other big news on Buena Vista Street is the controversy of the merchandise windows along the street. As part of the Buena Vista Street launch the windows and the stories they tell has been a story the Imagineers and Disney Parks has been telling. Seems over the last couple weeks the merchandising teams at DCA decided they need to put modern merchandise in the windows to help with the sales. The current version features a mixture of items that just seems odd when you look at it to me. For example the display on the right as you enter the Five and Dime features old time baseball items and then Cars Land tee shirts. I am curious if this really helps sales that much? Seems some sort of compromise could be had that is better than this. I took a minute to look at the windows on Main Street and there are some that feature merchandise, some that have story elements, and some that are a combination. Should be interesting to see where Buena Vista Street heads. I thought the original windows were great, but then again I am not the target of them though since I already know what is inside and very rarely buy things. But will those scattered items draw the average tourist in and get them to spend their money?

  • Tim Burtons Frankenweenie has moved into Hollywood Land with a couple special offerings at Award Wieners, an Exhibition is the Animation Building Lobby, and a sneak peek in the Muppet theater.
    • I did not try the food so I cannot comment on it, but I thought the idea of signage done in a classic movie way was a great fit.
    • The Art of Frankenweenie Exhibition in the Animation Building lobby was interesting to see. It features four large display cases that house sets, props, models, and some information from the film. As you explore they play some information about the film occasionally on the big screens too. This exhibit is much smaller than the Snow White one from a few years ago but I think fans of the film will enjoy and those that are not may still find it interesting to see how it is made and the detail in the models.
    • The Sneak Peek of the film in the Muppet Theater is run very much like the Tron one. You enter and exit through the exit doors. The film was running all day Friday, not sure if this will be the case for the entire run or if it will be evenings only. There was conflicting information on that. Also note it is a 4D experience... which means you will get some water sprayed on you. I did not time it but I would say it cannot be more than a 5-7 minute clip. From when I entered the queue till I was taking pictures on the way out was 15 minutes and this included walking in, being seated, waiting for the clip, watching it, then exiting.

  • As I roamed the rest of DCA no other Halloween inspired items jumped out at me. I believe Duffy is dressed up but I did not make it out to the Wharf to see him Friday.

  • I finally went for a ride on the Red Car. They were just pulling one out by Tower (guess they had just unloaded after a News Boys show) and I walked right on. Ended up having the car all to myself from Tower through Carthay Circle, then it filled up for the last leg to the front of the park. It was a nice experience to ride through the park. The cars have no A/C so it was on the warm side with temps in the 100s.

  • I noticed what looked to be a short wait for the Racers so decided to give single rider a try. Unfortunately what was going to be an under 10 minute wait turned into me exited since the attraction went down a couple short of me getting to ride. Seems they are still having quite a few problems and the breakdowns are going in spurts. I talked to some other guests and some went on several times while others reported it was down every time they tried.

  • Due to the heat they cancelled the Pixar Play Parade (which I noted is back to once a day again). I heard the first Soundsational was just a quick character cavalcade (same thing they do for rain). The announcement they played in DCA was the inclement weather one, same as for rain too. The evening Soundsational went off as scheduled except it stepped off from Small World vs Town Square.

  • Remember Dreams Come True Fireworks returned Friday. I did not notice anything drastically different in the show, appeared to be the same as it has been.

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

Be sure to check out the picture update that goes with this Geekspeak column, it can be found in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

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