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Halloween

A guide to celebrating Halloween at Disneyland California

October 30, 2018 / Anaheim, California, Disney Travel, Disneyland, Travel, USA / 0 comment

The spookiest time of year at the happiest place on Earth is the period between September 7 and October 31, when the Disneyland Parks receive a haunting makeover (check dates as they change annually). Celebrating Halloween at Disneyland is a must-do experience for young and old.

Visiting Disneyland at Halloween can be an incredible experience but also takes some planning and preparation. The tips in this guide will help you create a magical trip for your whole family.

A guide to celebrating Halloween at Disneyland California

Plan your dates wisely

By very careful planning, we were able to avoid the bulk of the crowds who head to Disneyland to celebrate the holiday season.

Check the following before booking your trip:

*US school holiday dates
*Australian school holiday dates (there are a lot of Australians who make the trek each year!)
*Annual Pass Blockout Dates (obviously it’s good to go when annual pass holders can’t!). Check them here.
*The busiest days according to the previous year on a calendar such as this. Weekends are always the busiest so I suggest avoiding them

Book a hotel near the park

We always book a very budget hotel that is extremely close to the park. Our previous trips we stayed at the Grand Legacy At The Park, which is across the road from Disneyland and is extremely convenient, and the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa (pictured), which has an entrance inside the Disneyland California Adventure Park. If you can afford the splurge, the Grand Californian is our number 1 pick.

A full review of the Grand Legacy At The Park can be found here.

Pack wisely

My daughter is too big for a stroller, so I took a large shoulder bag to put in water, food and small purchases and keep my hands free. I have also used a backpack in the past. Clothes-wise, mornings and evenings can be cool at this time of year while the middle can be super warm.

We were comfortable in shorts and tees during the day and added a light jumper/sweater for the mornings/evenings. Shoes are so important at Disneyland when you’re walking 22K steps a day: go for comfort! My daughter and I wore extremely comfortable sneakers ever day.

If your kid fits into a stroller then by all means take one or hire one from the parks. I saw kids who were aged seven in them being pushed around, so there’s no shame in it if it’s what you need to do to get the kids through the long days without tears.

Download the Disneyland App

It’s invaluable for planning your day – character meet-and-greet times and locations, show times, ride wait times, view and make dining reservations, see your Disney PhotoPass pics, and even buy your park tickets app. Plus it’s a must-have if you’re planning on upgrading your ticket to include a Maxpass (more on the Maxpass below).

Get more info on the Disneyland App and download it here.

Purchase Maxpass

Upgrading our passes with a Maxpass (they cost $10 per person, per day) was the best decision we made. Maxpass does two things:

1. Provides digital FASTPASS to rides (A FASTPASS lets you take a ticket with a specific time printed on it so you can return to the ride at a later time and skip the queue.)
2. Provides access to download all PhotoPass images taken by Disneyland photographers each day.

If you like to get lots of photos taken then the Maxpass is fantastic value for the photos alone. While you can still get FASTPASS without a Maxpass, it does require walking a lot more all over the park to get the paper ticket from the machine and then return again later. A Maxpass lets you book your FASTPASS selections on your phone from anywhere in the park. It was a game changer for us.

Only one member of your party needs to purchase the Maxpass if photos are your goal rather than digital FASTPASSES.

Plan your Disney days

I’m a big believer in schedules, particularly at Disneyland where timing is important. I created a spreadsheet in advance and researched the events that would be taking place each day, such as parades, fireworks, shows, character meet-and-greets, tree lightings and so forth, to slot them into the time we had at the parks.

I also booked in dining, especially character dining, 60 days in advance when the bookings opened. Spots are limited so I suggest setting a calendar alert 60 days out and booking in everything. You can always cancel it later if you change your mind.

Go early!

Not a morning person? Your experience at Disneyland will be vastly improved if you are! Mornings are the best for rides as it’s when the parks are quietest, so check the daily park opening hours (they cary day-to-day) and arrive each morning at least half an hour beforehand to be one of the first few people inside the park when it officially opens.

Being early means you will have a good few hours with basically no queues for rides as a result, and can then use the Maxpass to schedule the top rides for throughout the day to get them in several times.

Take a break for lunch in the middle of the day to early afternoon, and then enjoy the special Halloween entertainment.

Check out the Halloween decorations

Disneyland features hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins, plus a gigantic Mickey head pumpkin that’s a popular backdrop for photos. There is also a traditional Dia de los Muertos skeleton display near the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland.

Disney California Adventure Park is haunted by Oogie Boogie’s oversized shadow looming over the Main Entrance, and the Headless Horseman Statue on Buena Vista Street.

Bats swarm the Carthay Circle Bell Tower, Disney Junior star Vampirina make her debut appearance and Coco fans can visit Plaza de la Familia at Paradise Gardens Park for free crafts, mask colouring, taking photos with the special angel wing photo walls and recording family memories. Learn about Dia de los Muertos and catch the free show “A Musical Celebration of Coco”.

Take a spooky ride

In Disneyland, stroll through New Orleans Square, where you can meet Jack Skellington and Sally, on your way to the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a ride overlay that runs from Halloween till the end of the Holiday period. The Haunted Mansion is taken over by the cast Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, including Jack Skellington.

Space Mountain has been given a terrifying makeover during this period to become Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, where phantoms haunt the riders brave enough to take flight.

In Disney California Adventure Park, Cars Land has been given a fun facelift, including the characters in “car-tumes” and a Halloween-spin on Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween and Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree.

Guardians of the Galaxy has been transformed into Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark especially for the season, too.

If you get time, check out the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel, which is decorated spookily for the holidays with a pumpkin patch built out of cereal treats, 200 pounds of icing, 100 pounds of chocolate and 300 pounds of fondant. In the centre of the delicious display sits an Oogie Boogie pumpkin that is over four feet tall.

Meet the characters

We love meeting the characters anyway, but they’re that little bit extra special when dressed in Halloween garb! We brought an autograph book with us (it’s a great ice breaker) and hunted down our faves throughout the day.

We especially loved Mickey and Minnie in their festive clothes (Minnie as a Candy Corn was our fave) and meeting Jack Skellington and Sally from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. You can locate the characters using the Disneyland app on your phone.

Eat all the food!

The Disney Parks employ a wide variety of exceptional pastry chefs and confectioners, so I highly recommend trying some of their seasonal treats.

Both Disneyland parks features pumpkin spice Mickey Mouse beignets, festive candy apples, cookies, cake pops and more. Pick up a guide to the Halloween food available and where to find it when entering the park.

The popcorn is a fave of ours (for some reason, it tastes really amazing!) and we love to pick up a holiday-themed or limited-edition popcorn bucket to take home as a souvenir.

Attend Mickey’s Halloween Party

This special event requires a seperate ticket and only runs on certain days throughout the Halloween period. Mickey’s Halloween Party is a popular event and I suggest booking tickets fairly soon after they go on sale, as it does book out.

At the party guests can meet rare characters, wear costumes that they are not usually allowed to wear, enjoy special entertainment and follow trick-or-treating trails.

On the evenings of the party, the park closes early to all guests who have not purchased a ticket to the party. Party-goes may enter the park up to three hours before the party begins, which is at either 6pm or 7pm. Our party started at 6pm and we were surprised that we were able to enter even earlier than 3pm, so it’s worth trying to enter as early as possible to make the most of the ticket.

Guests can now enter either park for the duration of the party period, but we chose to stay at Disneyland as there are no special festivities at Disney California Adventure during this time period.

Included in the party ticket is all Disney PhotoPass photos taken during the event and unlimited PhotoPass downloads for party photos for up to 45 days. Ask photographers to take Halloween Magic Shots for a bit of extra fun. Once the regular park guests leave the park, ride lines tend to be shorter than usual, and if you download the Disneyland app you will be able to take advantage of Disney MaxPass in either park in the three hours before the party starts – note however that during the actual party, the FASTPASS system does not run.

Mickey’s Halloween Party 2018 Dates And Times

September 19, 21, 24, 26, 28

October 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 29, 31

For Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday dates, the party hours are 6pm to 11pm. Friday hours are 7pm to midnight.

Get more info on tickets here.

Kicking off Mickey’s Halloween Party

When lining up for park entry guests are given a coloured wristband with the date and number of the party and a treat bag. Trick-or-treating doesn’t begin until the party starts, so stash the bag for later. You may bring your own bag if you prefer.

Guests without wristbands are ushered out of the park once the regular park hours come to a close, and wristbands are checked frequently throughout the event.

Mickey’s ToonTown Pre-Party

Mickey’s Halloween Party kicks off at 5pm in ToonTown with three trick-or-treat stations and characters in costumes. I suggest lining up from 4:30pm to enter, hitting up one trick-or-treat trail if you absolutely must, then riding the rides with no lines and getting photos with the characters in special costumes.

This is where we found Minnie in her Candy Corn costume. A big mistake most people seemed to make was spending the whole pre-party lining up at the trick-or-treat stations for candy that can be bought at a supermarket. I think the value in the party is the rides with no queues, special entertainment and characters in costumes, so we didn’t worry much about the candy. Also – if you trick-or-treat too soon, you’ll have very heavy bags to carry for the rest of the night

Wearing Costumes to Mickey’s Halloween Party

Guest are allowed to wear costumes to the party that conform to their guidelines. We chose not to dress up and didn’t feel like we were in the minority, but it would have been fun to have a costume for the novelty of the occasion. Cheese decided to dress as Mulan for the party.

You can get the full list of guidelines here for wearing costumes at Disneyland.

Trick-Or-Treating

We only did one trick-or-treating trail while in Toon Town because we were so busy doing everything else, but that one trail gave us more candy than we could eat. There is a mix of healthy treats like carrots, pretzels, apples and dried fruit as well as lots and lots of sugary candy. If you really want a lot of loot, trick-or-treat last thing at night when the lines are shortest.

Characters at Mickey’s Halloween Party

Special characters come out for the Halloween party, including villains, who can be found at the Town Square. We spotted the Queen of Hearts, Cruella de Ville, Maleficent, Hades and Gaston.

Around other parts of Town Square, Adventureland, Fantasy Faire, Critter Country, Pirate Wharf and Rancho del Zocalo you’ll also find characters such as Donald Duck, Daisy, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and rare Disney princesses. Rare jungle characters come out in Adventureland and you might find pirates like Captain Jack Sparrow on the Frontierland dock.

In Tomorrowland, Pixar characters can be found at the dance party in Tomorrowland Terrace, and Star Wars characters are located in near a trick-or-treat trail.

What about the rides?

Wait times for rides are much shorter during the party and we jumped on several favourite rides a few times in a row with no queue at all. FASTPASS does not operate during the party however MaxPass works in the three hours before the party begins.

Entertainment at Mickey’s Halloween Party

The entertainment is a big part of what makes the party so special. Each party, the entertainment includes the Headless Horseman Rides Again Pre-Parade (10 mins before the parade starts), the Frightfully Fun Parade at 9pm and 10:35pm and Halloween Screams – A Villainous Surprise in the Skies Fireworks at 9:35pm. Each of these is only shown during the special Mickey’s Halloween Party event.

We also loved the Cadaver Dans who sing Halloween-themed songs while floating on the ghostly river on party nights, and there is a Pixar Pals Halloween Dance Party on during the party, too.

We watched the first parade from near the Partner Statue. In order to get a decent spot to see the parade we had to secure a spot and stay there from about 7:30pm. The first parade runs from It’s a Small World to the park entrance, then reverses the route for the second parade.

Those who were planning to see the second parade set themselves up directly in front of the castle for the best fireworks views and projections on the castle – however from this position it’s difficult to see the parade.

Since we had a little one with us, seeing the second parade wasn’t an option so we had to find a spot where we could see both parade and fireworks. We chose a prime spot for the parade and then moved a few steps down to in front of the partner statue on the street, directly in front of the castle.

Both the parade and fireworks are incredible and well worth staying up late for!

We received Disneyland Park tickets courtesy of Disney. All opinions our own. We are life-long lovers of Disney.

Swamp Monsters: Halloween in Centennial Park, Sydney

October 31, 2016 / Outdoor Play, Seasonal Fun, Sydney, Sydney Life / 2 Comments

Halloween has been taking off slowly over the years in Sydney, with more and more families like ours wanting to mark the occassion with fun activities. This year Cheese was finally old enough to try the Swamp Monsters program at Centennial Park.

Swamp Monsters is a Halloween trail through Centennial Park, starting at the Eduation Centre. The event often sells out far in advance so buying tickets before the event is highly recommended. The day is broken up into time slots to start the activities. Arrive any time during your time slot, sign in at the desk and pick up your trail map, then take as long as you like.

The trail has five activity stations for kids to complete, with each spot spookyily themed and requiring kids to complete a task. The kids loved the (fake) spiders and cobwebs, and screamed with delighted terror at the “zombies” as they darted through a course that included navigating their way thorough a giant spider web, feeding a giant venus fly trap, guessing the ghoulish item in the mystery boxes, shooting zombies with nerf guns and bolting through a swamp infested with creatures from the dead.

After completing the five activities, the last stop is the completion tent where kids get their maps stamped and can choose a treat. While that marks the end of the trail, they are welcome to repeat any part of the course that they like.

At the start and end of the trail, back at the education centre, a pumpkin patch is set up for kids to make their own scarecrows. Our kids didn’t care so much about making the scarecrows – they were more enthused about pretending they were ponies munching on the hay. Great imaginations.

We chose the 11:30 time slot and found a tree to sit under for a picnic lunch at 12:30, thinking we would take a break and then do one of the activities after our lunch break, not realising that the whole course stopped for a lunch break between 12:30 and 2pm. I would highly recommend if you’re planning to do the activities again that you choose an earilier time slow or the one after lunch break.

While the day is recommended for kids aged 5-12 there were definintely some younger kids there. The littlies enjoyed several of the stations but were also scared of a few, so it all depends on the kid.

More info:
Age: 5-12 years
Times: Start times are available every 15 minutes between 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4:30pm
Meeting Point/Venue: Start at The Learning Centre in the Education Precinct, off Dickens Drive, Centennial Park
Price: $17 per child
Online

Special Notes
Show your online ticket on the day to receive your Trail Map. Tickets can be shown on mobile devices or printed out.
Event will go ahead in all weather. No refunds will be given.
Children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults do not require a ticket
One Trail Map per ticket and all participating children require their own trail map.
Coffee, ice cream and small snacks will be available for purchase from food vans.There is plenty of free parking usually available in Centennial Park, or you can take public transport.

Halloween in Sydney 2015

October 31, 2015 / Cheese, Outdoor Play, Sydney, Sydney Life / 4 Comments

Yay, Halloween! I didn’t get into it until we moved to the US, and now we’re all hooked, little Cheese in particular.

This year, we were invited to spend Halloween afternoon with our dear Canadian friends who also love the day. They went all out as you can see from the photos below.

After the wonderful party, we head on our for trick or treating. This year, Cheese decided she wanted to go as Elsa, and wanted me to be Ana, so I obliged. We tried to find a Kristoff costume for Alec, but sadly we couldn’t get one.

Halloween didn’t used to be a big deal at all in Australia until a few years ago, I believe. I’ve really enjoyed the past two years now, heading out in different neighborhoods to trick or treat and seeing the houses all decorated and the locals really getting into the spirit of the day.

Something I did definitely notice was that most people were dressed goulishly. It makes total sense, but I was a bit surprised to see even little kids dressed as vampires and ghosts, with living dead-style make up. I remember out Halloweens in the US with the kids as being a bit more cutesy, like animals suits and creative costumes like a family dressed as the Impossibles rather than just witches etc. Cheese was the only Elsa that we saw – and one of only two princesses (the other was a toddler Aurora). So princesses were definitely not in style! That said, Cheese brought a smile to many a face in her cute dress – and my Ana dress was a hit with the preschool set too.

We visited a neighbourhood in Sydney called Bronte, where the locals are known to go all out. A few houses made a “tunnel of terror” like a haunted house-type thing, or filled their front or back yards with gory things. A few families set up barbecues on the street and had a party for themselves and their friends.

This entertaining house had a DJ spinning some creepy tunes out the front.

Barbecue in progress!

Halloween in Sydney was awesome! Can’t wait till next year to do it all again. Now to get rid of all that candy the Cheese collected …

Halloween in Sydney

November 1, 2014 / Family, Kids, Outdoor Play, Sydney, Sydney Life / 4 Comments

The past three Halloweens we’ve been in New York, so this was our first Halloween experience in Sydney with little missy E. While we’d been away, the Halloween tradition really spread with a vengeance. A dear friend invited us to spend Halloween with her family, so we eagerly drove up to the leafy North Shore area to trick or treat with friends.

The big question is always who or what to dress up as. E is hugely into Disney princesses and changed into Cinderella and Anna outfits before settling on Tinkerbell.

The day before Halloween, a flyer was placed in mailboxes with a black balloon, letting residents know that trick or treating would be happening the following afternoon. Anyone who wanted to participate was asked to tie the blown up balloon to their mailbox. The kids very excitedly ran up and down the streets on the look out for the next balloon.

On Halloween day in Sydney, the weather was a sweaty 30 plus degrees, making for some hot and thirsty work. With daylight savings already having started, the afternoon was super bright even after 6pm, when we decided to call it quits and take our sugar-high kids on home.

How was your Halloween? Did you go trick or treating?

Halloween in New York 2013

November 8, 2013 / Cheese, Family, Kids, New York Life / 0 comment

This year was the first year that Cheese was old enough to kind of “get” Halloween. She didn’t understand dressing up as someone or something, so I was still able to choose her outfit (yay!). A friend knew that Cheese was into Mickey and Minnie Mouse and passed on a Minnie Mouse dress that they didn’t need for their toddler.

It fit Cheese PERFECTLY. I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as a costume idea myself (I’m more into a bit of a DIY/thrown-together-kinda-thing), so it was great for Cheese to try something really new. She’s not a “girlie” girl and happiest when unencumbered to run and climb, so it was so my great surprise that she LOVED the frilly Minnie Mouse dress.

She wore it for three days straight (with me washing it in between because she got it filthy every time she wore it), and every time she put the dress on she turned into a different kid. One who twirled and fluffed out her taffeta skirt. It. was. adorable. And, she’s been asking to wear dresses ever since.

It’s always tough to decide what to do for Halloween in Brooklyn as there are so many options. I decided on the DUMBO Under The Archway event because it looked to be a bit less crazy than some of the other options considering I was taking a little toddler. We stroller on down to DUMBO, stopping to collect candy from the stores on the way (kinda of a lazy-ass version of trick-or-treating …) and ended up under the Archway to join the festivities.

My personal fave was the Boothify photo booth. Cheese enjoyed running through it, photobombing everyone else. They also had music playing and a little fake Brooklyn bridge set up that the toddlers enjoyed dancing and running all over, and a free art station with Creatively Wild. We ran into some friends and Alec came home early to join us, making it a super fun afternoon for the toddlers AND for us.

Cheese had the best afternoon possibly of her life, without even eating any candy (oh, alright, she did get in a few licks of a lollypop). Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Where To Score The Tastiest Halloween Treats: Kid-Friendly Cafes, New York

October 28, 2013 / Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Bites, DUMBO, Manhattan Munchies, New York, New York Food / 0 comment

As an Australian transplant, I’d never properly celebrated Halloween before moving to New York. My only Halloween experiences in Sydney consisted of one Halloween party (hosted by a Scottish friend) and yearly office celebrations when I worked at Google. Thus, I’m doing my best to catch up for lost time by eating as many Halloween-themed treats as possible. Here are a few of my fave spooky treats that are on current offer all around the city.

Georgetown Cupcake
Georgetown Cupcakes makes amazing cupcakes any time of year. Drop by this week for a spooky cupcake from their Halloween collection: Chocolate² cupcakes (with white ghost fondant decorations), vanilla cupcakes with orange-tinted vanilla buttercream frosting and black bat fondant decorations, Chocolate Spider Web cupcakes (baked with toffee) and vanilla cupcakes (baked with M&M’s with orange-tinted vanilla buttercream frosting and black bat fondants). $2.75 each.
Georgetown Cupcake: 111 Mercer Street (between Spring and Prince)

Jacques Torres
The makers of exquisitely fine chocolates, Jacques Torres, do “seasonal” so well. This time of year is a great time to drop by for a molten Wicked hot chocolate and a Jacques “O” Lantern (made from dark or milk chocolate and hand decorated with white chocolate, $12). You can also pick up a delicious chocolate Haunted House, or spooky cat and chocolate-covered marshmallow peep pops.
Find your nearest Jacques Torres

Betty Bakery
Betty is known for their uh-mazing cakes. At Halloween, not only can you pick up a scary cake, like the Splattered Frankenstein Cake ($65); you can also treat yourself to Magical Cupcakes ($2.95 each); cookies decorated with the likes of pumpkins, cats, and ghosts (small cookies, $20/lb), Halloween Petit Fours Glacé ($2.50 each) and Marzipan Witches ($8).
Betty Bakery: 448 Atlantic Ave (between Bond St and Nevins St), Brooklyn

Crumbs Bakery
Crumbs are well-known for their decadent and (massive!) cupcakes. Get your scare on this week with their Halloween Collection, which includes Candy Corn, Jack O’Lantern, Orange Squiggle,”Boo”kies & Cream, Monster Mash Up and Ghastly Ghost (vanilla cake filled with chocolate fudge and topped with van. cream cheese frosting). 6 cupcakes for $27 (they’re also available individually).
Find your nearest Crumbs.

Monteleone’s Bakery
This little Carroll Gardens bakery has some crazy Halloween cakes for sale. Freak out friends, family and co-workers by breaking out a monster cake after dinner this week. Pick up some old school Italian treats inside, any time of year.
Monteleone’s Bakery: 355 Court St, Brooklyn

Nunu Chocolate
This little shop in Boerum Hill is a haven for people seeking fine chocolate. During Halloween you can score a Jack-O’-Lollie for $2, in addition to their daily superb range of treats.
Nunu Chocolate: 529 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn

Such Is Life in New York City

December 12, 2012 / Family, Kids, New York Life / 0 comment

I don’t blog as much as I should about the amazing things I get to do living in New York. Here are a few fun things I’ve been up to recently.

Seeing the world premiere of Les Miserables with Beck, followed by a Q&A with the cast, including Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried.

Christmas decorations are up! Loving this beautiful tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eloise also loved the museum – she has reached an age where she notices everything around her and is so curious about everything she sees.

Saw the NYC ballet perform the Nutcracker with my friend Alexis at the Lincoln Center.

Hanging out with a special visitor! It was wonderful to see Beverly after almost three years, and meet Hunter and Carter.

Eloise’s first time in snow!

Had a wonderful time at the So You Think You Can Dance live tour with Dan and Sue.

Watched the US Olympic gymnastics team perform live in a showcase at the new Barclay Center in Brooklyn.

Lived through Hurricane Sandy.

And managed to celebrate Halloween straight afterwards.

Had great adventures with Grandma!

Eloise’s First Halloween

November 1, 2011 / Family, Kids / 0 comment

Halloween in Brooklyn was insane. Parades all weekend and on Monday the 31st. Stoop decorations. Trick or treating! Sadly E was too young, but maybe next year. In New York kids go trick or treating by visiting the local merchants for candy. Makes much more sense in a city of apartments.

We went all out and had three outfits for the little lady for her first Halloween.

Pumpkin hat from Etsy.com

With Carrie and Beckett from my mother’s group. Gourds gotta stick together.

Polar bear outfit from Baby Gap.

Loving it. Kind of.

Owl at mother’s group. Hat from Etsy.com, outfit from Baby Gap.

With Clementine the zebra. Clementine was born on the exact same day.

A Google Halloween – 2010

November 4, 2010 / friends / 0 comment

Even though we don’t traditionally celebrate Halloween, I love that Google makes a big deal out of the day purely because it’s a bit of extra fun in the week. Here are a few pics from Googl’ween!