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9/25/09 - My thoughts and observations about this years Halloween offerings at the Disneyland Resort
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9/25/09 - My thoughts and observations about this years Halloween offerings at the Disneyland Resort

* After you read this report you may want to check out the pictorial updates in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Hello all,

Fall arrived last week and friday marked the kickoff of the Halloween Time promotion at the Disneyland Resort. The crowds at the parks were mild for the early part of the day but by time the sun set the park was crowded (DCA they even added 2 hours to so it had a 10pm instead of 8pm closing). The lines for most attractions throughout the afternoon were mild too (under 30 minutes) except for Space and Splash Mountains.

Jason

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

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • I was in a great mood arriving at the Disneyland resort having encountered no real traffic on the way to the park (which is rare since I was driving from Downtown Los Angeles. I noticed the overpass to the parking garage was not coned off but the sign said it was closed, and there were only a few cars at the light at Ball so I figured I would obey sign and headed for Ball. Immediately I noticed something was up as there were brake lights on the other side and everyone was heading to the right (due to the curve I could not see what was going on). The light turned and I headed forward... as I rounded the bend noticed the Anaheim police had the garage entrance blocked and we were all being directed down Disneyland Drive. I thought ok, I can use the entrance by Downtown Disney. Made it to that light and there was another Anaheim PD blocking the road (along the way glanced over at the garage and it looked rather empty.. I did not see any cars above the 3rd floor from this angle and no signs of guests really) so we were directed onward. I assumed we would be in the surface lot on the other side of the Paradise Pier hotel. As I approached that driveway was directed to the left lane and forced to turn down the road that runs along the south side of DCA (heading toward the old parking lot entrance). There we were directed across Harbor and out to Garden Walk or Pumba. I opted to park in the structure at Garden Walk (way too hot to leave the car outside if there was a choice). The line was backed up to nearly the street. At this point we finally saw Disneyland parking CMs working (up until now it was all Anaheim PD from what I could tell). There were quite a few CMs and they directed me up to the third floor to park. One nice thing they were parking every other spot so we had room to get out of the car. Then I had the choice of the shuttle (which looked to be a 2-3 bus wait) or to hike.. I opted to walk. The walk seemed on par with the walk from the Mickey and Friends structure. Overall this was a major hassle and my good mood had vanished by the time I made it into the park. It took about an hour from when I exited the freeway until I was at the security checkpoint. Usually this is a 20 minute adventure only.

  • So does anyone know why the parking situation was set up that way Friday afternoon? By the evening they were parking in the garage (someone joined us around 5:30 and they were parked in the garage with no problems). I really hope this is not a sign of things to come... this would really make going to the park quite a chore to have to deal with that long to park every time I visited. Especially considering the crowds were mild (actually on the light side at the time of day).

  • Each year the Halloween Time offerings seem to be growing and shifting more toward Disneyland. The first year it seemed DCA was the center and now for the regular guest only offers a scaled back Candy Corn Acres. They still offer the after hours party where I am assuming they put on a good show still. They do not even bother to put up decorations out by Tower of Terror or the letters in front of the park anymore. Just the Esplanade and the couple things out at the Wharf.

  • Disneyland this year is offering two new adventures for the season. The first is Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, which is an overlay to everyones favorite indoor coaster. Also included are some projection and sound effects outside. Our first stop of the day was to check out Space Mountain and grab a Fastpass. They were all gone by the time we arrived so this plan failed. The line seemed to go between 60-100 minutes which was well outside our patience. I did speak with several people who went on and they all really seemed to enjoy it and they commented on how it was on the more scary side of things (also how it seemed darker to them). I heard from several people who said there were Fastpasses available but they went very quickly. They said by 11am the return time was after 6pm. (The second new offering is the fireworks show, more on that in a couple bullet points).

  • As you saw in the pictorial update the new Edelweiss Snacks location is open across from the Matterhorn I was really impressed with this new facility. Not because of the menu or anything but in the way they invested in the area to make it more pleasant for guests. This shack replaced several traditional ODV carts that used to litter the area. So instead of three or four carts there is now one central location the looks great and adds some value to the area and is not a distraction or bad show like the carts usually are. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

  • We ate dinner over in the Wharf area of DCA. Several in our group tried the new Lucky Fortune Cookie. They thought it was ok.. nothing spectacular, especially for the price, but it was not as bad as some of the reviews they had read online. The kids meal seemed rather small for the price. But it did have four pieces of chicken which is the same as the nugget meals so I guess it was on par with that. They enjoyed the Teriyaki over the Mandarin chicken.

  • The Holiday favorite, Haunted Mansion Holiday returned Friday. I did manage to get a Faspass for this but when I went back to ride in the evening the return wait for Fastpass was longer than I had time for so I had to skip it this time around. Hopefully next week (I heard there were no major changes, just the regular new cake in the dining room scene). The scene to get into the mansion was quite crazy with people everywhere and the return line extending through the front gates (the CM said it was going into the graveyard and wrapped around a bit, which is why I skipped it figuring that was a good 15 minutes min to get in assuming they were taking from the Standby and Return lines to keep them both moving).

  • Read through the new guide maps (do not ask me why... I am a disneygeek...) and noted a couple interesting things. In the Disneyland one they Disney Gallery is listed and it says New! by it.. so its opening is soon... where as Great Moments says Coming Soon! Also Ghost Galaxy is on the map with the tag line as well as the frightening for children warning. The new Edelweiss snacks is not listed or shown (thought it may be since they do list things such as the Main Street Cone Shop.

  • Looking at the entertainment times the fireworks are the only listed Halloween entertainment for either park, which was a little disappointing. The Halloween Round-up does not make the cut anymore since its just on the one side of the ranch now due to the BBQ taking over the other side. Remember the first year when they had the story telling at Tower of Terror, the show at Candy Corn Acres, and the pumpkin festival on Main Street.

  • As the sun set and the crowds shifted to Disneyland the park became crowded as usual and CMs tried their best to keep the masses moving. Not helping this is the paving project in Tomorrowland that turned Tomorrowland into a one way exit only. So if you wanted to get into Tomorrowland you had to go by the Matterhorn. I overheard several guests complaining, but overall I thought things moved fairly smoothly considering the number of people. From what I overheard I think it was mostly infrequent or first time visitors that really did not know there way around, coupled with the fact that it was dark, and they were not paying attention to the CMs instructions and that led to some frustration.

  • To cap off the evening we found a good spot to watch the Halloween Screams - A Villainous Surprise in the Skies show. In the entertainment times guide the description reads: Jack Skellington and the Disney Villains treat you to a spine-tingling fireworks spooktacular in the sky. Its the sort of wicked fun you only scream about! The buzz about the new show has been fairly strong (on both the internet and the grapevine) and the anticipation seemed great for the new show. When the lights went out on Main Street and Zero appeared the crowd erupted. Overall I thought the new show is a great addition to the line up and it works for the season. I am not a huge Nightmare Before Christmas fan and it seems a good chunk of the show revolves around it, but it worked, even for a non fan like myself. The number of shells in this show seemed less (but then again I was focused on the projection ball since it was new) and a couple articles I read said there were actually more shells.. so guess there are more at one time to achieve the effects. The show worked great on Main Street, but curious how it plays in the rest of the park? Anyone watch from Fantasmic or Small World?




  • Interesting Web Finds/Notes (and some Press Releases):
    In this section of the Geekspeaks column I will include links, notes, and rumors I find/stumble across/or have been informed of:

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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