My short visit to the Trick or treat party About This Page:

[tkd lisa]

As I mentioned in the planning forum, I was blessed with a business trip to California, so I decided to get a Disney Fix by visiting the Trick or treat party.

Who: Me, 44 years old, many visits to WDW, but my first visit to the California side of Disney
When: The whole trip is 21-24 October, but my initial plan was to visit the party on the 23rd.
Where: Business trip, so I'm staying at a Hampton Inn about 7 miles west of the park

Background:

When this trip first came up the meeting was scheduled for 21-22 October, so I was going to visit the part the evening of the 22nd since my return flight didn't leave until 10:40 am. But the meeting was slid one day to the right. Given all the uncertainty on the meeting I decided to wait and buy my ticket once I actually arrived in California.

I had done most of my planning from the Disneyland website. I just assumed that the party would be the same as the one at the Magic Kingdom, but in reading some other comments, I found out that they wouldn't have a big parade or Hallowishes. But I didn't pick up the most important difference between the California and Florida parties until I actually got to California.

On to the actual trip:

I was scheduled to leave Tampa at 9:00 on Tuesday morning. My family had gone to the Food & Wine Festival over the weekend before my trip, and I ended up with a bit of a stomach bug, so I stayed home from work Monday. That meant I had to go into the office before my flight to pick up my computer and all the other work stuff! So much for a relaxing morning. I left the house about 5:30, and was able to get things cleared at the office before hardly anyone got in. I made it to the airport about 7:30 so I wasn't rushed. I decided to go ahead and check my bag since I was going to have to transfer in Atlanta, and didn't want to haul it through the airport.

The flight to Atlanta was uneventful, but the one to LA was a little more exciting. I was in a completely full plane (actually every leg was sold out on all the flights), and I was in a middle seat. The man in the middle seat behind me had one spectacular cold. He was snorting and coughing for about the first hour, and it seemed like he was hanging right over the top of my head. I could just see all the germs pouring down on me! It got quiet for about 20 minutes, then I started hearing these really weird sounds. The lady in the window seat actually woke up because of them! We finally figured out it was the guy behind us who was snoring! But it was the weirdest, loudest snores I've ever heard. It almost sounded like lawn equipment. He kept it up almost the entire ride.

We landed on time around 3:20 west coast time, and I headed out to pick up my rental car. Everything in LAX is off the airport, and there was a fairly long line. I ended up heading out about 4:00, and the lady at the counter warned me I'd hit rush hour. And boy did I! It took me 90 minutes to go the 23 miles to the hotel.

Once I'd checked in, I decided to head over to Downtown Disney to pick up my ticket to the party. I checked at the front desk, and found out that the road outside my hotel (Katella) ran right down to Disney. After about 20 minutes, I was pulling into the Downtown Disney parking lot.

They have a toll booth at DTD, but you get 3 hours free (5 with a voucher showing purchase). I wasn't going to be that long, so I didn't worry about taking the parking pass in. I wandered in by the ESPN zone, and took a few pictures on the way.


I didn't know that they had different monorails than WDW. I never did ride, but I thought about it.






They had several different restaurants, and their rainforest was really different! Looks like a Mayan temple to me.


They also had more street entertainment. This guy had some pretty cool effects set up. He also had CDs for sale.

I walked by the pin trader store, but they didn't have any traders outside. I was kind of hoping to trade some of my east coast pins (I have two from the Disney Med cruise that I thought would interest west coast traders), but in general, pin trading didn't seem to be as prevalent out there. Not very many CMs had lanyards, and I didn't see as many on guests either.

I had looked at the directory searching for a "guest relations", and didn't see one listed. So I decided to head to World of Disney and ask there. So I asked a CM "Do you have a guest relations, or somewhere for me to buy a ticket to the trick or treat party?" She looked at me a little funny, and said, just go straight and you'll see the booths."

I headed out of the store, and walked straight into the entrance to DisneyLand! Boy, I knew the parks in California were smaller, but I had NO IDEA how much smaller!



As you can see, it was completely deserted at this time of evening (about 7), so I walked up to a booth and explained that I wanted a ticket for the Thursday party. The CM told me that Thursday was sold out, but she had tickets available for Wednesday. I wasn't sure what time my meeting was going to end, so I asked when you could access the park with a party ticket (not sure if you could get in early like WDW special events). She said "Well, they start clearing out California Adventure at 6:00, and the party starts at 6:30. You can go in as soon as they get the park cleared. I was confused and asked "Do they have you wait in CA and then move you over to Disneyland?" She said "No, the party is in CA this year." Well, that was the first I'd heard of that, so I had lots more questions. I had done all my planning assuming the party was in DisneyLAND! I knew what attractions I wanted to visit, and had gotten over the grumpiness that there wasn't a parade. I didn't even know what attractions were IN CA. Then the CM said "Well, I don't know what we'll have up and running. We're pretty short staffed, so they probably won't have any of the big rides open. You can call in the morning, and they'll be able to tell you what's available, and you can decide then." So I asked, "If I don't decide to come until tomorrow, how will I get the free parking since I won't have my ticket yet?" She said "Oh, parking isn't included in the ticket anyway." And she seemed positive about that. I told her that the website CLEARLY said it included parking, and she said "Well, maybe that was a special offer if you bought your ticket online." With all that confusion, I decided to go back to the hotel and do some more research on line before buying the ticket.

I logged in at the hotel, and did see that the party information said it was in California Adventures. So I just missed that. But the ticket specifically said Parking was included, and that wasn't a special section under the DVC privilege or anything. I went to bed and was able to sleep to a reasonable time (I woke up about 5:30 california time, which is pretty good for an east coast early riser). Since one of my worries about going to the party Wed was that I'd be exhausted from lack of sleep, I decided to plan on attending the party.

As I was heading to my meeting, I called the Disneyland Guest Relations number that the CM had given me, prepared to order my ticket as a "will-call". I got a recording that they didn't open until 8 PDT, so I decided to call at our first break.

When I called about 9:30, I asked the CM I spoke to if they had any tickets for Thursday, since that was still my first choice. Nope, still sold out. So I asked what rides would be running that evening and she said "Oh, all of them. We always run all the rides, the only thing we don't have are the shows since those areas have treat trails in them." I said I wanted to buy and pick up at the window. She explained that they don't do will call, and told me "The ticket will be $39." I said "But I am DVC, I want the $25 ticket." She said "That's only advance purchase. You're too late". I explained about my encounter at the ticket booth the previous evening, and told her that if the CM there had actually known what rides were open and that parking was included, I would have bought it then. She put me on hold, and came back to say "If you get here before our booths close at 5:00, we'll give you the advance purchase price." I took her name, and hung up.

At our lunch break, I headed over to get the ticket so I didn't have to go during rush hour. It took a little bit, but I was able to get the $25 price, and there wasn't even any tax, which was better than I expected. Ticket in hand, I headed back to my meeting.

Up next, the actual party.

[tkd lisa]

We finished up our meeting about 4:45, so I quickly changed at the hotel, and after a swing through Taco Bell, I headed back to Disney property. I forgot to mention that I had gone back into WoD the previous evening to get some souveniers. My mom and DD wanted Trick or Treat party pins. I asked a CM if there was a discount for Disney Visa holders, and she said if I bought $50 or more. It's only $25 in WDW, so that was another difference. I ended up buying 4 pins (one to trade back here in Florida, and one for each of us to keep), and added a t-shirt to bring it up over $50. They had several things on 40% clearance, which is what I got. I thought about wearing that shirt to the party, but when I tried it on, the medium was pretty tight. It was cut like a junior shirt, so even though it was long enough, I wanted to exchange it for a large.

So my first stop was back at WoD to exchange the shirt. I walked into WoD about 6:00, and it took about 20 minutes to make the exchange since the CM couldn't figure out how to get the register to account for the discount. At one time, it had me owing them $1.80, then them owing me a little bit. Overall, the CMs out there didn't seem to understand their information as well as the ones in Florida. They were all nice, but things just seemed harder. I did find some CMs with pins, and did a bit of trading too.

I made it into the party just after 6:30 and picked up my treat bag.


Just inside the entrance


The candy corn spells Halloween Time.

I looked at the map and decided to head over to ToT to check it out. I walked past a long line outside their animation area (which had treat trails inside), and decided to come back later. There were also character stops throughout, but I never did visit any of them.


Entrance to that area of the park


They had LOTS of neat effects set up with lights that really made it a Halloween atmosphere.


ToT was an absolute Walk-On!



The library was exactly the same, but from there, I really noticed some differences. I actually rode this again later in the evening, but I'll put all the pictures here.


Just inside the first entrance to the lobby


Their hotel desk, it's set at a different angle than WDW


Outside the right lobby. I only went on that side, but it seemed like the left lobby had you climb stairs after you left the library.

The ride itself is different. At WDW, after you see the video clip showing the lightning strike, you move up and across into the drop tower. On this ride, you just go straight into the tower, which means that the first drop is pretty short. Then you start the yo-yo effect. Different, but fun.

Once you exit the ride, this is VERY different. You really get the effect of being in the service area of an old hotel.


Sorry this isn't very clear, but it's the kitchen entrance.


Looks like employee billboards


Their ride photo area. It's set up more like a theater.


A little exhibit of old cameras that was in the photo area.

Their gift shop was just like Florida's. I left there, then headed out to discover a new ride to me. Mike & Sully to the rescue!



This ride is almost like a short version of the movie. It was lots of fun, and I especially like the waiting area. My first trip through was almost walk on, so these pictures are from both trips through.




Especially love the "Salt, fat, and sugar" item




Newspaper headline says "Scream shortage feared"



This was a fun ride, and it brought details from the movie back to me. I haven't seen it in a while.

I have to run, so I'll finish this up later.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start, Lisa!! What a fiasco with the ticket, but I'm glad you were able to get that all sorted out. Can't wait to hear more about the party

[tkd lisa]

So after I finished in this area, I went back out past the main gate with the goal of heading over to the pier area where they have Screamin over California. The "candycorn acres" area that was in the center had a DJ and party atmosphere the whole night.

As I went through, I realized that they had some characters around. I could see Goofy, and turned and almost ran into Donald.





I went past the Bug's Life area, and decided not to go that way. There was another treat trail, and character stops set up, but no rides. I did take this picture on the way though.



I kept going, and got a few good pictures as I entered the pier area.


Screamin, with the pumpkin Mickey head in the middle




About this time, I decided to put my pins away. I hadn't seen any CM's wearing them up to this point, and they were banging against my camera. As I approached Screamin' I couldn't tell if it was running or not, but just as I got up to the ride, I heard a car running overhead. I went ahead and stashed my camera as well, and walked straight onto the ride. Now I had absolutely no idea how this ride was set up. At first, it seemed like your standard wooden coaster, just longer than average. But I kept expecting a loop since they had the horse collar type harnesses. Finally we went into the loop. This was a neat ride. It was cool to be going so fast through the dark night with the wind whipping by. As we came into the station, I heard the guy behind me telling his friend "They have a ride just like this in Florida, but it's all inside." Now if this was the same ride as RnR, you couldn't prove it by me. You do get a boost at takeoff, but nothing like RnR, and the loop is MUCH later in the ride. Anyway, I thought about riding again, but I didn't want to tempt my stomach too much, so I headed on.


Shop on the pier. I thought that was a cute sign, and very in character with the theme.

After this, I moved over to Toy Story Midway Mania, which was the only line I found all night. It was posted as 20 minutes, and I probably waited just a bit longer than that. I did find a CM with pins here, and traded with her.



The wait area for this is completely different from Florida. It's entirely outside, and seems more like a standard theme park queue. They do have lots of posters up, and there's a big top type area where apparently Mr. Potato Head normally is. But that was closed all evening. Here's a picture in the line.



But the ride vehicles and everything else were the same.




My score. I was doing pretty badly until the last game. Not sure why, but the aiming seemed off to me. You could tell the guns had more use on them. The firing "cords" were looser. But it was still fun!

Again, the exit for this ride is completely different. They have a living room set up with the Midway Mania playset. That was pretty cool!






After this, I dug out my treat bag and decided to start filling it up, since I was done with the big rides. I hit a stop over past the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel was down for renovation, so I didn't ride it. Then I moved on to the Gold Rush type area. That's where they have their river ride, which was closed for the night.



They have an exploration area kind of like the Dig Site in Animal Kingdom, but it's themed off Brother Bear. All the areas were closed and they turned it into a treat trail. I really filled up there.







As I finished up here, I kept going and headed to a dark area of the park. I think this was on the back side of the Grand Californian, since there was an entrance area with a CM standing there.

The next thing I saw was SOARIN! Now that's my favorite ride in all WDW, so I was looking forward to this. I had heard that it was much less crowded in California, and I can personally agree with this. In fact, I stopped and chatted with the CM about the crowd difference. You can see there's no one there.



This is the "line"



Now they actually have themeing in the queue area of this attraction, all based on the history of Aviation. I'm a big airplane buff (I work for the Air Force now, and worked for the Navy before, all in the areas of aircraft procurement), so I took lots of pictures. Again, I'll just bore you with one.



I wasn't sure if there was any difference in the ride, and I was happy to see that the film was exactly the same. But I felt like we were MUCH closer to the screen in this version. Anyone else have an opinion?

One whole section of the flight was empty, and there were a few open seats in the other two. I just can't imagine this in Florida.

Once I finished up, I realized I was back at Candy Corn acres. I decided to go back to the first area I visited and hit the candy stops there. I re-rode ToT, then headed over to Mike & Sully's. On the way, I stopped at another dance party area and got some great pictures of the Incredibles!





After this, I rode Mike & Sullys again. There was about a 10 minute wait this time. I did get some more pictures.




Roz was at the end, and she talked to you. I'm not sure if she could see you, but it seemed like she could.

Once I finished here, I went over to the animation area and walked right into the building for that treat trail. I waited 3-4 minutes inside. When I went by earlier, the line was way back toward the archway into the area. In fact, you can see that line in my picture of the Hollywood pictures archway. The entrance was past the Playhouse Disney sign.

Here's some pictures I took inside. It looks like this is where they have several different things during the day. Animation Academy (I think this is where you draw the characters), Sorcerors Workshop (there's hands on things for the kids there, the trail went through there), Beasts Library (pictures below), and Turtle Talk with Crush (closed for the evening).


Inside the Sorceror's workshop


Pointing to the library. It was set up like a treasure map, with signs pointing the way.


Inside the library. I didn't try this, but it seemed like the kind of interactive games they have in the animation studio in Florida.


The beasts' rose. Bad picture, but I didn't want to hold up the line.


And the fireplace. The rose was on the mantle.

When I finished up here, it was 9:45 and I was wiped out. I headed out to the tram. On the way back to the parking garage, there was a couple with a little girl who had spent the day at DisneyLand. They were talking about how they hadn't known about the Trick or Treat party. I asked if there was only the one child, and when they said yes, I gave them my treat bag. I really didn't need that candy, and it wasn't worth hauling it back on the plane.

I was back in my hotel by 10:30 after a long day.

I was up and out fairly early the next morning. Unfortunately my direct 10:45 am flight ended up having mechanical problems. We had to wait on a new plane and I didn't get home until 2:00 Saturday morning!

But it was still a pretty cool trip! I really want to go back and take the family for a few days in both the parks.

Thanks for reading.

[Colexis Mom]

Great report Lisa!! Love the pictures!! Thanks for sharing them with us!!

[chezp]

Great report - looks like you had a fun time at the party... that brought back some great memories from our party experience on Tuesday night!

[Lemap760]

Great report. I love seeing all the pictures in California.

[DyanKJ130]

Great finish, Lisa! I don't recall feeling like I was closer to the screen in Soarin', but I did feel like the scents kind of blended into one another, rather than distinct smells. Sounds like you had a wonderful time at the party! for sharing your TR with us! I have enjoyed reading it and can't wait for the next one

[pamcarey]

Great report, Lisa! I wish I was taking a business trip to that area! I'd love to get back to Disneyland... I haven't been since 1990!

[MickeyWatch]

I love your report and the photos.

[Grammy Grumpy]

Thanks for this TR on your short, but well worthwhile, trip. DH and I spent a few days at DLR and CA in August and we agree, we want to return.

[clio]

DL's halloween sounds so different from DW. I like seeing the differences between the two places. Thanks for the trip report.
Liz

[PrincessSharon]

Glad you enjoyed the party. Sorry you had such an issue getting a ticket. You did manage to see a lot of the park in such a short time, though. How nice of you to give your candy to that little girl! Thanks for sharing!

[tinker_me_happy]

What a great Trip Report!! Now I REALLY REALLY want to go to Disneyland Next year!!

[Meggera]

Great TR. I'm glad you had fun and got to experience the party at DLR. We enjoyed it when we went a couple of years ago.