A holiday tale, a tale that's quite COMPLETE!!!....Halloween 2012!

[Minnie Sue Oz]

I'm so behind....
but now i'm caught up.
read your last TR and loved it.
Love this one so far.....


KIM

Well hi there Kim and thanks so much for following along! Lots more to come and I am so glad to hear you enjoying the reports..................it makes it all worth while when you know there are people out there reading

Hi Minnie Sue! I was in the middle of moving when you updated last and missed it! I just loved your CL pics at night! You went at such a great time - not really so busy most of the time, it sounds like. I had to laugh about your ressie comment. I think most of the time at regular restaurants, you get seated at the time of your reservation. At Disney, and some of the restaurants, it's more of a "place holder" in line. (Just didn't want you to think it was really customary ) Looks like the party is gearing up to be a blast!

So glad you are still along for the ride! I am glad you enjoyed the Carsland pics and I have more to come And yes, we do love your reservation style!!! I will be making more for this year for sure!!!!

Yay for updates I'm all caught up now.

Love the party pictures I've been wanting to take a trip to DLR for Halloween or Christmas but dates never work out well with my college schedule. I will get to do it eventually maybe after graduation I really want to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday with Jack Skellington.

How exciting that you guys have another trip planned.

Looking forward to more!

Hello there Shellie May and thanks for joing us on our adventures! Halloween and Christmas really are so much fun and to see the Mansion all done up with Jack really is amazing! I love the Mansion at all times and I must say I am very much looking forward to boarding my doom buggy this year when the mansion will be in it's natural state! I has been a while since I have seen it without the holiday overlay and I am very excited to show it to DD as she has never seen it in it's original form

We do feel so lucky to be going to back again so soon. We will have a big break then of 2 years so I am going to make the most of it! And another TR of course

OK, I finally caught up on your TR. I really want to go during Halloween time this year, and my birthday is conveniently in the season. Thanks for whetting my appetite and giving me something to look forward to. Fall seems like a long time away when you have a blazing hot six-month summer in between!

PHXscuba

Glad to hear you are all caught up! I am going to try and get it all finished over the Easter break as I really want to get a PTR started for Septembers trip! I have to pinch myself as I still can't believe we get to come back so soon! More Halloween pics to come. And if you can celebrate 2 things at once it makes it even more special! I was there in 2010 for my birthday which is at Christmas and it was the best birthday I have ever had!

I was actually looking at what the weather will be like and I am hoping this September is not as hot as what you guys had last year! Phew! We are trying to get away from the Australian heat for a bit!!! I have been in September before and I do remember it was warm but not stifling hot so fingers crossed it won't be too hot!

Loving your TR!! Especially the Halloween party pics as DS (will be 9 then) and I are doing that this year~!

A very warm welcome and thanks so much for coming along and I am so glad you are enjoying the report and the pictures! More Halloween pics on the way! You will have a blast at the Halloween party as it really is so much fun!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

DAY 8 - Wednesday 31st October -HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!!!!

Oh boy, we were soooooo excited that Halloween day was finally here! We knew we would be having a huge day/night in the park so we took the opportunity to have a bit of a sleep in and then we went to do some laundry. We find the laundry facilities at the Ho Jo to be fabulous. We would place what needed washing in a rolling suitcase, take it to the laundry room and ait the 40 minutes it took to do a cycle. We then took it back to our room and used the closet for a drying cupboard! It worked just perfectly!

So, we headed down to the park at around 11.30am. First ride of the day was Star Tours which was a walk on! And of course we had our fingers crossed for the Rebel Spy, but again, no luck! We had our picture taken on the way in by the Photopass photographer.........

It was then a walk on to Buzz Lightyear for another chance for me to beat DD........again!!!! Right, off to Snow White we go and then the Carousel which was another thing off our list! It was also another high priority for DD to ride Lillian's horse with the gold tooth....................success!!!

A meet and greet was up next with Rapunzel and we joined the queue around 12.20pm. Sadly, Flynn Ryder was not with her but DD got a nice pic with Rapunzel!

Next it was a ride on Big Thunder! We the headed over to where all the pumpkins and a whole load of Halloween decorations were at the Big Thunder Round Up area. I think I will let the pictures tell the story............

And they had the cutest little goats all with their Halloween bandanas that were very friendly!

And some of the decor inside the Scare-Dy-Crow-Shack

Continued next post........

 

[zanzibar138]

Another great update! I can't believe there were walk-on rides on Halloween! I guess most people go later

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Halloween continued.................

This area really was decorated very well! They had a tent you could go inside to conjour up a villain! It was a lot of fun and we were trying to get some of the rarer characters but you never knew who you were going to get. We took our chances and stood in line for a while.

There were banners advertising who you might see.......

I think the best part was the amount of characters wandering around outside all done up in their Halloween costumes!

And the way they were palying around was hilarious!!!

We saw some of the carved pumpkins which are just so clever.

There were lots of bench seats in front of the stage area and it wasn't long before the show was about to start for Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, the Haunted version! This was just so funny and we both enjoyed it very much! They performed The Devil Went Down to Georgia and one of the Billy's was wearing devil horns and had a duel with the main Billy!

After the show we wandered over to New Orleans Square as we had an ADR at Cafe Orleans at 2pm. This was to be a meal I was very much looking forward to as I had been wanting to try a Monte Christo for ages! We sat down and ordered the Monte Christo and an order of Pomme Frittes to share.

The verdict.....................I won't have another Monte Christo. It's not really something we enjoyed. The Pommes Frittes however.........................yummo! They will be something I will most definitely be having every trip!!! Loved them!

We caught a quick ride then on my favourite! A few shots from the queue!

It was then time to leave and go back to the Ho Jo to get Snow White all ready for the party!!!!


Continued next post..............

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

THE BIG NIGHT!!!!!

We were so excited to be going to the party! We arrived back at Disneyland around 4pm. Now, I was expecting a lot of people but wow, it was just soooooo busy! We figured it was going to be and were really glad we had done the 2 parties as tonight was all about getting as many character pics as possible and also seeing the Halloween Screams fireworks from a good spot!

I must say, I got some of the best pictures I have ever taken on this trip and a few of them are coming up!

All ready to go............

On the way in

We stood and watched the flag retreat ceremony and listened to the Dapper Dans. It is quite a moving tribute and I am very glad we got to see it. I love the patriotism of the Americans...................gives me goose bumps.

We stood in line then for quite a while so we could have our pic taken with the Mickey Pumpkin.

It was then on to Snow White's grotto as I wanted to get some good pics before it started to get too busy! I remember being very emotional when DD was looking in the wishing well....................

There were lots of people who told us how nice she looked while we were in the area of her name sake! It was then off ( of course ) to ride Snow White!

She really is a tad scary isn't she!!!???

We then went off and rode Pinocchio. We decided to head over to the Big Thunder area as we knew there were lots of characters and we wanted to catch Mickey and Minnie in their party costumes!

Pumpkin Donald was out and about!

We went back into the tent after lining up for about 20 minutes and got Cruella.

Inside the tent

She really was a crack up!!!

And here's Woody!

So we went and joined the line that was forming for Mickey and Minnie! We actually waited around 40 minutes, but we didn't care. Minnie looked so pretty!

We then headed back to Main Street to get as many pics as we could. Some of the lines were longer than others. The one we absolutely had to get was with the Evil Queen. She wasn't there when we first go there so we did some others first.

Frollo

Dr Facilier

Contined next post...................

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Halloween night continued..............

There was all of sudden a loud fanfare and then a horse and carriage appeared with more villians. We were hoping there would be the one we were waiting for and we were not disappointed!!!

It was then time to get some more pics before we needed to come back for the fireworks. And a Halloween snack!

We love Phineas and Pherb

We missed Maleficent as she was swapped over while we were standing in the line. I think across the both nights, she was the only villain we missed.

We then got a spot for the parade.

And now..................Halloween Screams. I was moved to tears. This is THE best fireworks show I have ever seen. Jack Skellington appears in a big round ball off to one side of the castle and is the narrator for the show. There are also projections on the castle itself and Zero flys overhead. Simply stunning! I have actually had one of the pictures coming up made into a canvas that is hanging on the wall. It is the first of 2 from the photo's I have taken on this trip but I have more to do still!!!

And now for my 3 favourite pics ever and all will be canvassed at some point. The pink one is lready hanging on my wall

I really was just so in awe of the Halloween Screams and I have watched it many times since we got home! It was just so wonderful and so well done. Love love love it!

Continued next post...............

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

We just sort of wandered around for a while afterwards. We got a few more pics and we even met a fellow DISer who recognised me from my shirt!!!! Hello princesszelda!!!!

I thought I would finish up with some photos that I took as we wandered about as come tomorrow, all the Halloween cecorations would be down!

I aslo wanted to make sure I took a picture of the halloween tree.

And our last character of the night..................and DD's favourite!!!

We were so lucky to get the pic with Jack as there was a 30 minute wait and he was going to be swapped over before we would have made it to the front of the line. There was a lovely young guy who had been in the line earlier on to get a pic and an autograph for his sister. He had to come back as for some reason he missed on getting his pic taken. Well he must have been listening when we asked the CM about how long the wait was only to be told that Jack was leaving. DD was heartbroken. So, he called the CM over and offered his spot to us. We were so touched by this sweet gesture and so was the CM so when Jack was leaving, he stopped and got his picture with DD. We thanked Jack and then thanked the young guy and we signed his sisters book as the Aussies from down under!!!


So, that was our Halloween for 2012 folks. Did we have fun? You bet we did! Would we do it again? You bet we would!

All this fun and excitement AND we still had another week to go!!!

We wandered back to the Ho Jo quite tired but with big smiles on our faces and memories that will last a lifetime

Up next....................more Disneyland/DCA fun!

Thanks for coming along

 

[Caroline NZ]

I am loving your trip report and photos Sue. Your daughter looked beautiful dressed as Snow White .
You are making me very excited about our Sep/Oct (Oct in DL) trip this year. I am not sure that we will do a Halloween Party though, as it just sounds so busy. I was wondering though are the Scream fireworks just on the party nights, or are they on the other weekend nights in October as well?

 

[Minniemum]

Day 8 was filled with so many highlights for me and I wasn't even there!

Loved the pumpkins, flag retreat ceremony (hoping to finally see this later in the year) and the Halloween tree (I'd never heard of this so thanks for the plaque photo).

Your DD dressed up as Snow White and the amount of character photos is something to treasure.

As a reader there were so many awwww moments.

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

I am loving your trip report and photos Sue. Your daughter looked beautiful dressed as Snow White .
You are making me very excited about our Sep/Oct (Oct in DL) trip this year. I am not sure that we will do a Halloween Party though, as it just sounds so busy. I was wondering though are the Scream fireworks just on the party nights, or are they on the other weekend nights in October as well?

Why thankyou Caroline I thought she looked pretty special too! You should be excited about your trip because it really is one of the best times to go. We certainly experienced slow days and very busy days. The Halloween parties are really, really busy and that is one of the main reasons we did 2 so we could experience it all. As for the fireworks, I am sorry to say it is one of the perks of going to the party as they are not on any other times. Have a look at them on Youtube.................it may make you change your mind

Day 8 was filled with so many highlights for me and I wasn't even there!

Loved the pumpkins, flag retreat ceremony (hoping to finally see this later in the year) and the Halloween tree (I'd never heard of this so thanks for the plaque photo).

Your DD dressed up as Snow White and the amount of character photos is something to treasure.

As a reader there were so many awwww moments.

I am so glad I provided you with some awww moments and it was very nice of you to say so I have actually had a photo book made from the Photopass site with all the wonderful character pics ( there are lots more to come by the way!!!! ) and I get all weepy every time I look at it! I was just so happy with the end result and I would definitely make one again!
And I am so glad you mentioned about the plaque pic re the halloween tree! I thought I would take one and hope it turned out so people could read it to go along with the picture! It was just so pretty! And the flag retreat ceremony was wonderful too. I always try and catch it at least once!

Thanks so much for reading!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

DAY 9 - Thursday 1st November

After such a big day yesterday, we decided we needed a sleep in! We didn't leave the room until 11.30 and wandered up to the parks. We didn't really have too much of a plan today so we decided to stop in at iHOP for a late breakfast. I do quite enjoy the food here. This is what we had!

Caramel hot chocolate for DD

And she also had strawberry pancakes with the must have side of bacon!

I had the 2 x 2 x 2.

I always forget just how big the meals are in America! Neither of us finished!!! After we had paid our bill, it was across the road we went and we chatted about some of the things we still needed to cross off our list. The first thing we noticed was the halloween decorations were gone. Not one little thing was left, it was like some magical elves had come in overnight and taken them all down!!! So, first stop was the Omnibus! Our drivers name was Vern and he chatted all the way on our journey up Main Street with Disneyland trivia! Here he is!

He really was quite a character!

A couple of snaps along the way taken from upstairs!

We disembarked at the end of Main Street and noticed there were some things piled up around the partners statue and out the front of the castle. Wait, are those Christmas trees???!!!

And this was the reason why!

We actually had a chat to a cast member and he informed us that they would be taping the annual Christmas Day parade over the next 2 days. If you wore Christmas clothes and turned up on one of the 2 days, you were allowed to be part of the "Christmas day" crowd! We both decided then that we would probably steer clear of the crowds on those days!!! We headed over to Tomorrowland and caught Captain EO and ticked that off the list! We then rode Buzz just so I could prove that I really am the master................she really is a glutton for punishment

We had grabbed a fastpass for Space Mountain before Captain EO, so used that and then it was over to Toontown. We saw this lovely lady on the way over!

Another ride we had never been on ever before was Gadgets Go Coaster so we jumped in the line for that!

From the queue.

It was time to get something to eat so DD grabbed a slice of cheese pizza from Daisy's Diner around 3pm. We then went and lined up to see Mickey. He sure is popular that mouse as we waited well over half an hour! It was worth it though! I love all the little things and the details in his house!

I wonder how you "mouseskate"???!!!

After smiling with the big cheese we decided to hit up the Matterhorn. Yes, it is bumpy and squishy, but I still like it!!! We wandered around a bit more and ended up on Pirates and did some shopping. It was time for a snack and something that had been calling me for over a week now was my all time favourite sweet treat.............................Mmmmmmm funnel cake!!!!!!!!! As we were right near the Stage Door Cafe I just had to pop in! DD grabbed herself some ice cream from the Golden Horseshoe. And of course we had time to open the latest pin purchases!!!

We then headed back over to Toontown to use our fastpasses we had picked up earlier for Roger Rabbit. Another ride we were yet to do was Finding Nemo and we decided now was as good a time as any. I am not too keen of the closed in feeling, but I wasn't too bad this time and at least it was ticked off the list! It was then over to Critter Country to ride Pooh and we jumped on the Haunted Mansion on the way past! Then on to Pirates again as our last ride of the day. It was early close of 8pm for the parks today so we made our way down Main Streey doing some shopping on the way! We grabbed DD a last minute popcorn bucket on the way out. The Christmas decorations were starting to appear.

An early night tonight! Tomorrow was another special breakfast to start our day!

Thanks everyone for reading along! I really do appreciate it

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

DAY 10 - Friday 2nd November

We were up at a decent hour this morning as we had an ADR for breakfast at Ariel's grotto. We have done the lunch before but decided to give the breakfast a go. It wasn't avaialble when we were there in 2010 and we were not real keen on the lunch food, so thought breakfast would be better. We arrived earlier than our ASR time and jumped in the line for the Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses and waited around 15 minutes but we were lucky enough to get some!

Then, it was off for breakfast! First a tiered assortment.

Then this lot of goodies!

Some of the themed decor.

The princesses come out at regular intervals and are announced complete with trumpet fanfare! First it was Aurora

Then Belle

Next up was Snober............erm, I mean Cinderella!!!

And last but not least was Snow White

They are very orderly and make sure they get to every table. I asked the page if he ever got his pic taken...................he does now!!!

Umm, I think it's supposed to go the other way.................what's that, we are from Australia, you know down under

We were there for exactly one hour. So, would we do it again? The short answer is no. It is quite expensive and the food, well, it was just ok. If you had little ones and you didn't want to have to stand in line to see the princesses I think it would be worth it, but we have done it twice now so no more for us!

Ok, out into the park and we are headed over to the Tower of Terror. It was a walk on.....yay!!!

Snapped a pic with this "cool" guy on the way in! We sure were lucky with so many new characters that we had never seen before on this trip! I am so lucky that DD loves to stop and have her pic taken................no questions asked!

So past these guys we went are we inside the Hollywood Tower Hotel once more!

Oh, I forgot to mention we had to make a detour so DD could add another hat to the collection! She had seen this earlier and said she wanted to get it so get it she did! Well, I have walked around with a Wookie so why should a bear be any different!!!

Inside the hotel

We left the tower behind and had a chance meeting with some other characters on the way out......................it really was incredible

It was getting close to our return time for RSR so we were off over that way when we ran into another character we had never seen before........Flik.

We passed the red car trolley on our travels.

We joined the line for RSR with fastpasses in hand!

Some pics on the way.

Continued next post............

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Continued............

We only waited for 10 minutes and we were on our way!

The attention to detail on this ride is just amazing!

Out and about in Cars Land................

Note the wait time

We then headed over to ride California Screamin. We knew we would have to get a fastpass but 2 nice ladies gave us 2 to use right then so we grabbed FP's for later on! Around we went to the Animation Academy and we drew the Cheshire Cat. I am no artist, but at least you could make out who it was! DD's was quite good. I really enjoy the themed areas in here.

The artist

We jumped on the red car trolley and got off at the end of Beuena Vista street closest to the park entrance. Oh, that was after we had stopped at Award Weiners for you guessed it, another hot dog!!!

Inside the trolley

And our trolley!

And I missed this earlier on, but here is the ride pic.............complete with the bear hat!!!

Continued next post.................

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Continued...............

It was over to Paradise Pier next and we had a few pics on the way.....

With my favourite mouse ( note to self, no need to lean and make yourself look shorter! I noticed I did this in a couple of pics with Minnie so I have made a mental note for future trips!!! )

I love this photo and Duffy is just too cute for words. His area was all decked out for Christmas.

Had a quick ride on the Little Mermaid on our way to Toy Story. We waited 25 minutes which is pretty good for this ride. It really does need a fast pass.

Another domination he he he he he!!!!

We saw these guys and stopped to watch! They were simply amazing using all sorts of things as drums!

And after a meeting with a certain someone, look who is coming home with DD!!!

We sat and had a drink and some Dibs ice creams and watched the world go by for a bit as we wanted to ride Screamin in the dark.

The Pixar Play parade was about to come by and we had a great spot to watch it from. So much easier and loads more room than in Disneyland.

It was lots of fun and you get sprayed with water and bubbles while it goes past. We then had a quick go round on the Golden Zephyr. It was then down to Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta for some food! We shared a wood fired chicken and mushroom pizza which was divine and we picked up a chocolate brownie which was amazing! I did not take any pics as I think at that point I remember the battery in the camera going flat. That is very unlike me and I chastised myself accordingly!!!!!

It had got semi dark by then so it was off to use our fastpasses for Screamin! We both love it and it was great at night! We then wandered around and rode Monsters Inc which was a walk on and then got a fastpass for Tower of Terror. We then went over to a Bugs Land as we had a couple of things over there that we needed to cross off our list. The first was the It's Tough To Be A Bug show.

There were only about 12 people all up in the whole theatre when we got there. I must get down there again to take some pics of the very creative movie posters that are scattered around the walls.
Now before I go any further, let me give you some information. DD does like spiders....... in fact, she is terrified of them. I don't mean that she just sees one and goes "oh look a spider, I don't like spiders" I mean, any little, itty, bitty tiny spider can send her into fits of turmoil. She will not go near one and if she sees one in our house, she will just about scream for someone to come and get it. It is bordering on aracnaphobia.
So, I had read all the write ups about this show and I knew there were going to be spiders in it, but I really thought it would be ok. I told her they were in it and she said because they were on the screen and she could hide her eyes it should be ok. This could not be further from the truth.

If you have not seen the show and don't want to know about it please skip the next paragraph!

It started out all fine with Flik coming out and there were cute little bugs etc and I thought this isn't too bad. Then Hopper appeared and he was a bit scary for the littler set, so we were still good at that point. Then, it got to a point where the bugs on the screen were talking about stuff and the next thing you know the lights went out and there were load noises and some smoke effects.................ok, this is great special effects................then the lights came back on.........................OH MY LORD.................there were these HUGE big black spiders that had dropped from the ceiling and one was so close to us I really thought the poor girl was going to have a heart attack. She was absolutely terrified. She buried her head in my shoulder and was sobbing her little heart out and I could feel her whole body trembling. I wanted to leave, but she was just rigid with fear. We waited until it had finished and the lights came back up and then we slowly made our way out. A CM was concerned and asked us if she was ok. It literally took a whole hour before she stopped shaking and we got her a drink and just sat for a while.

Needless to say, we will never be going to see that again. I felt so bad for her and I felt terrible that I had made her go and see it. It really did open my eyes to just how terrified she is. We are currently looking into a course she can do at one of the wildlife parks near where we live where they teach you to at least tolerate things you are frightened of. The only trouble is she wants me to go with her to overcome my fear of snakes which is just as bad as her and her spiders! A fine pair we are!!!! So, we will be looking at doing that soon.

So, after she was ok to continue, we took a spin on Francis Ladybug Boogie which is not as tame as it looks! We still had a fastpass for the Tower of terror so we went and used that which was our last ride for the day and cheered DD up somewhat. She really does love that ride! It was another fantastic day in DCA ( apart from the spider incident! ) and we left with smiles all round!

Another character breakfast coming up tomorrow with a surprise for DD.......stay tuned and thanks for coming along!

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow what great pics from the Halloween party! And DD looked so cute in her Snow White costume.

I'm arachnophobic too - you'll have to let me know how you go with the course, I was looking into doing one a couple of years ago but it was pretty expensive. I had watched It's Tough to be a Bug on youtube before we went, and I knew to close my eyes when Hopper came out, and not open them again until DH told me it was ok.

 

[alicia1506]

sue, i love, love, love your report. it's making me nostalgic and jealous and i want to be back in disneyland, so so much!!

there are so many things that we didn't get to do on our last trip that i have a mission to see and experience as much as possible on this trip. i also need a new camera, as my p&s lumix will not be able to capture the night shots (especially at the halloween party) as i want it to... so much drama in buying a new camera. it seems the things i want in a camera and the bits i don't want in a camera make it a hard choice

i really loved hearing about your halloween party experiences, and i honestly cannot wait to go this year and experience it myself. i will happily bring you and your dd any halloween goodies that you may require

i can't wait to hear about the rest of your vacation. i only have just over 6 mths to lose my weight so that i can be as active as possible on this trip!! eek

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Nice Mega Updates!!!! I'm glad the Halloween party was such a success for you! DD looked very cute in her costume, and it was so great that Captain Jack took an extra moment for the photo with her!

I was surprised to see that you ate at Ariel's Grotto and there was no Ariel at breakfast? I'll bet some little Ariel fans get quite disappointed.

So sorry about the spiders! Too bad it ruined that attraction for her. I guess it is good to get her a little help with it, but you're right, I wouldn't want to go through the snake class, either!

 

[princesszelda]

Love the updates. It was so nice to meet you both. I wish we woukd have gotten a picture together.

 

[LizfromOz]

Thanks for the update - it really is just like reliving our last trip, I even recognise some of the CMs especially the ToT ones. My 8 year old DD was so excited when I showed her your photo of the doll in the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel - she used to look for it when we were waiting in line for the elevator.

 

[monkey30]

Loving the update! you are making me excited to go back!