ILoveRides Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Halloween Time at The Disneyland Resort is back for 2018! Both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (DCA) are filled to the brim with Halloween festiveness, and TPR was there to check it all out. Some of the World's best attraction overlays return once again: Haunted Mansion Holiday, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, and Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark. There’s amazing Halloween theming at DCA’s Cars Land Haul-O-Ween and Plaza de la Familia, and at Disneyland’s Main Street and Zocalo Park. And this year Disney pulled out all the stops with tons of impressive food and merchandise offerings at both parks. Check out our full report below to join in and see everything that the Disneyland Resort has to offer for Halloween 2018! We’re at The Disneyland Resort to check out Halloween Time at both Disneyland and DCA! First up is Disneyland! These Disney-themed pumpkin decorations greet you as you enter the park. The giant Mickey Jack-O-Lantern is the perfect photo backdrop. At Halloween Time you can meet all the Disney characters in their Halloween costumes! Halloween Time signs are up all over Main Street. Here’s one more photo of the iconic Mickey Jack-O-Lantern. Carved pumpkins circle the Partners statue in front of the Castle. Over at Haunted Mansion Holiday I met up with some special guests! In celebration of 25 years of Nightmare Before Christmas, and the 18th year of Haunted Mansion Holiday, Jack has once again decked the halls! Haunted Mansion Holiday is the best ride overlay in the world - if you haven’t seen it, you MUST see it! The Nightmare Before Christmas theming perfectly integrates with the existing Haunted Mansion spookiness. Stained glass windows shatter as the room stretches! Santa Claus Jack appears to wish everyone Happy Holidays! The blacklight art in this room really pops! The images in the portrait gallery switch between Christmas and Halloween as Zero flies by each image. Hi Jack! Spiders have built some holiday webs in front of the busts. Your sleigh awaits! The loading area is so impressive! It’s such a cool backdrop and intro to the fun to come! Once in your sleigh you encounter Zero flying through the halls. Some gifts get opened a little early. Madame Leota is having a Holiday seance. Every year there’s a brand new gingerbread house in the ballroom celebration scene. This year’s is ridiculous - maybe my favorite ever. It actually moves as a giant spider grabs onto it! So cool! Don’t forget to breathe deep and enjoy the gingerbread smell! Poor Stevie! These toys don’t look too friendly! I would buy all that gift wrap if they sold it! It’s Jack! And Sally! The singing busts are now singing Jack-O-Lanterns. Such great decorations! Oogie Boogie has been waiting for you! Next up let’s head to Frontierland to check out Zocalo Park, a tribute to Dia de los Muertos. There are lots of lovely flowers and decorations. It’s a nice, relaxing place to spend some time! Now over to Tomorrowland where things aren't relaxing at all because a ghost has taken up residence inside Space Mountain... You know what that means - It’s time to check out Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy! There’s eerie green lighting in the loading area. Here we go! As you enter the mountain the green lighting and sound effects make it clear that this isn’t a normal space flight! The ghost galaxy makes its first appearance (and attack!) when you’re on the main lift hill. You then race through space trying to stay safe from the ghost! So much fun! Let’s make the park hop over to DCA! Oogie Boogie and bats tower over the entrance. Disney had a merchandise table set up for us to see some of the awesome Halloween items available this year. Boo to you mugs! You can get a picture with the real version of this car in Cars Land, and then take home a plush version of it as a souvenir! You can even get ornament versions of the Halloween cars! I thought this Halloween 2018 shirt was really well designed. Simple, but fun! The Halloween Mickey ears are great too! But lets be real, I’m just here for the candy! Would you prefer a Jack Skellington light-up necklace or a Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark shirt? Perhaps a villain bracelet is more your style? Some costumed characters you can take home. Over to Cars Land where I was greeted by some special guests at the entrance to the land. I love Mater's Halloween costume so much! The residents of Radiator Springs love Halloween, and they’ve set up spooky car-themed Halloween decorations all over town! Hocus Spokus is a must-see film! There are so many neat decorations! I love how Disney interpreted Halloween within the Cars universe. Even Stanley gets in on the fun. We’ll be back to see Radiator Springs at night - so for now let’s go check out the most important part of the report… The food! Or more specifically, the desserts! There is SO MUCH cool stuff to eat this year. They even made a guide that’s included with the map to help you locate all the delicious Halloween food and treats, so keep an eye out for that! This Oogie Boogie popcorn bucket is improved over last year’s version. It makes a great souvenir once you’ve eaten all the popcorn inside! “Spoke-y” Cone Macaron with candy "cone" inside! The Sweet Potato Hand Pie tastes like Fall! There’s mummy themed stuff. Bat themed stuff. The coolest candy apple ever. Too many popcorn buckets to choose from! Rice crispy treats with awesome designs. The spider parfait just screams Halloween. The Mickey Mummy Macarons are possibly too cute to eat. There’s SO MUCH amazing stuff this year - way more than I can cover here. Definitely check out the food guide that comes in the map to find the Halloween yumminess that calls to you. Brittney loves the Halloween Mickey ears! Here she is showing them off in front of the Headless Horseman statue in DCA! It’s drink time! We dropped in to Carthay Circle Restaurant for some drinks and light food downstairs. Carthay is always my favorite place to eat at the resort - it’s more expensive than most restaurants there, but it’s a much more relaxed, upscale environment with some seriously amazing food and drinks. For Halloween they also have this special drink - The Poison Appletini. This drink pays homage to Snow White with a bobbing poison apple glow cube in a delicious mixture of apple whiskey, liqueur, bitters, and cranberry juice. Creepy and delicious! Nom, nom, nom. Next let’s check out Plaza de la Familia in Paradise Gardens. Here are some of the performers from “A Musical Celebration of Coco.” Brand new this year is the Miguel puppet character. I got to hold his hand in the photo! Guests can write thoughts of loved ones and attach them to the wall of memories. Brittney is tying on her card! There’s some great live Mariachi music as well. Here’s the entrance area as night falls. And now that it’s night, let's head back over to Cars Land to see how spooky everything looks! Spooky indeed! The purple and green lights on the rock-work and throughout the land accentuate the Halloween decorations perfectly! There are so many neat decorations! And lots of photo ops too! We took a photo with Stanley! Then we hopped on Radiator Springs Racers to check out the Halloween rock-work up close! After enjoying the nighttime sights in Cars Land we headed over to the Incredicoaster and took a ride! It was our first night ride on this, and the effects look even better at night! Ok, back to Halloween stuff… Our final stop is Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark! This Halloween overlay takes place right after the events of the standard ride. The generator is out, the cages are open, and the creatures are loose. But unfortunately someone left Groot in the ride! And you guessed it, Rocket is hatching a plan to save him - but he needs our help! Red lights emanate from the entrance area. Everything is going haywire now that the generator is out and the cages are open! This overlay has new lighting, new pre-show scenes, and new music and video on the ride. Rocket appears to tell us his plan. Unfortunately Groot was left behind… There are creatures roaming all throughout the building, so rocket is putting us on a gantry lift to distract them while he rescues Groot. What could possibly go wrong? Getting ready to board the lift… We’re now seated. The eerie red emergency lighting is very unnerving. Here we go! There’s Groot! Hopefully Rocket gets him before the monsters do! Does Groot get saved? Does everyone escape safely? You’ll have to ride to find out! Sadly our amazing day has come to a close, but we had such a great time checking out Halloween Time at The Disneyland Resort! There’s awesome Halloween themed attractions, entertainment, food and drinks, and so much more for guests of all ages. The spooky fun runs through October 31, 2018, so don’t miss it! Thanks to Disney for inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxedomask5432 Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 The Mickey Mummy Macaron and the Spok-ey Cone Macaron were some of my favorite treats there, so yummy. I somehow got the Spok-ey Cone Macaron at Flo's V8 Cafe instead of from Cozy Cone, when I tried to order the Candy Corn Pudding Pie. I guess the cast members misunderstood me, but it was a delicious mistake. I wish I had gotten to try the peanut butter & jelly filled mummy cronut (at Schmoozies) but alas, my tummy was so full All of the holiday overlays were spectacular and well worth visiting Disneyland during Halloween to experience. Thanks for your report to help with my Disney addiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Disneyland Resort has really upped their Halloween game over the last few years! I really need to get back out during that time of year sometime soon! Thanks for sharing another excellent report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Great report! The overlays look really cool, but beyond that, all the added decorations in the street look fantastic as well. I really need to check Disneyland out during Halloween one of these years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillerman1 Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 I LOVE this report and totally enjoyed seeing all the pics. Thanks SO much for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Very nice! Looks like so much fun. The Mickey Jackolantern t-shirt is especially great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted September 25, 2018 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Thanks for another virtual visit to Disneyland Resort Seriously, another stellar report. All the photos and notes are really appreciated! Love everything Disney is doing for this seasonal event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 We are visiting in a couple weeks on a Sunday and we can't wait to experience all the Halloween goodness. We are actually traveling without our kids this time so we finally get to experience Disneyland Resort and do all the stuff we want to...and not all the Fantasyland Ride stuff! I probably won't eat a solid meal because I'll be eating the yummy snacks and desserts throughout the entire day. YUM! Quick question...is a MaxPass worth it if you're going to be park hopping? Can you reserve a ride at DCA if you're in Disneyland but you know you'll be in DCA later that night? Jimmy "Great report and pictures as always" Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveRides Posted October 4, 2018 Author Share Posted October 4, 2018 Quick question...is a MaxPass worth it if you're going to be park hopping? Can you reserve a ride at DCA if you're in Disneyland but you know you'll be in DCA later that night? Yes, and yes! I'm a pretty big fan of MaxPass. In my opinion the included photo downloads are worth the price alone, and it makes searching for and obtaining Fast Passes so easy. You can see all the Fast Passes that are available, what the return times are, and reserve the one you want - regardless of which park you're currently in. And not having to walk to the ride to reserve a Fast Pass is a huge time saver, especially if the ride you want to reserve is in the opposite park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) We did only a few hours in the park one day and it was still worth it for us to get the MaxPass. One of the best parts is you can get your Fast Pass immediately after you scan into the park first thing in the morning. We would already have our Cars fast pass while we were waiting for the rope drop! As for the ILoveRides report, awesome report! They really do a great job for Halloween. I also love how much Disneyland has stepped up their food offerings. They really know how to squeeze every single dollar from me! Edited October 10, 2018 by jray21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Looking back at this report, I love all of the photos from Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark! I love Mission Breakout and I really appreciate that the experience was designed with a Halloween version in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Yeah, they did a great job with the ride. I think they did a really good job this year with all of the Halloween offerings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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