HalloweenTime at DLR Info and Photo Superthread #3

[rosanab1031]

Sorry I haven't been on here since we got back from our Halloween trip - its been kinda crazy and this is the first time I have had a moment to DIS. I tried to look for everyone who was at the party but as you will read below, we were quite busy all night.

Here we are in front of the castle.




And in front of the Aurora and Phillip dancing bronze statue.



Our party on 10/23 was a complete success!!!! We had great spots for the fireworks, got some candy, and had a great time. We also got stopped for pictures 34 times by other guests!!!!!!! There were quite a few ladies who stopped us saying, "My name is Aurora, can I take a picture with you?" People were asking other CMs where we would stop to take pictures (as if we were characters). Even CMs were stopping us saying that if they weren't on duty, they would have taken pictures with us. We got stopped by a lady in the HMH line who (her and her husband) were dressed as the HM bride and groom (and they looked fantastic) who told us that as a "friend" to a former parade Aurora, we looked every bit the part and Disney should hire us.

Since I made all of our costumes (with exception of the wings and wands), I consider this the highest form of praise!!!!!

We also got stopped to take pictures with a lot of little kids and we kept getting hugged. At first we couldn't figure it out; many people kept assuming that we were from Cinderella. Then I figured it out; the little ones knew us from Sophia the First. Apparently the 3 Good Fairies are big characters in the show. I'm excited Disney is bringing characters from older films into popular shows for the next generation.

As far as the crowds went, I thought it wasn't very crowded at all. I know personal perception is everything but we to MHP last year during Gay Days weekend on Friday and thought it was incredibly crowded. This year, ROA wasn't the jam-packed mess it was last year. We waited approximately 20 min for HMH, maybe 30 min for Peter Pan (always crowded) and walked right on for SMGG and had a train all to ourselves!

We will definitely go to a middle of the week party next year and I know that I definitely won't be making new costumes!!! I was so exhausted after all of this- 45 days to make 3 custom dresses (plus 1 mock-up to make sure my ideas worked), 3 petticoats to fluff out the skirts, 3 capes, and 3 hats. We may have a Maleficent go with us next year so I think I better get started now!

SUCH GREAT COSTUMES!!! I love them!

 

[kmedina]

That lady was misinformed. I have been to 11 hard ticket parties in the MK, including MNSSHP. I think they do a very good job of checking wristbands. They have ropes set up into every land and you cannot proceed without showing your band. They do ask to see bands for rides, but also for character meets. They walk the street asking to see bands from people sitting on the curb for the parade. Just last year at the Christmas party we went up into the train station to watch the parade and two separate CMs came upstairs and asked to see everyone's wristbands (many thanks to the 2 cheaters sitting in chairs in front of us who jumped off and ran off at that point, leaving us 2 chairs to watch the parade from!). I have heard stories from others on the DIS that they sometimes even check wristbands at restroom doors during the parties. I do agree that at the MK ride lines stay short, even on a sold out party night. I have not been the MHP at DLR, but from the descriptions here it seems to me that rides and trick or treating seem to be the focus of the evening for many. At the MK, the focus is more on the parade, fireworks, shows and special character meets. I'm not sure if that's because trips to WDW are typically longer, and people get their rides in during regular park hours, or because the parade is longer and a bigger deal, but that's my impression. What an great treat for you to have gotten to do parties on both coasts. I hope you get to go again when the kids are older and you can get full value for the ticket prices.

I hope she got caught that night. I was tempted to say something, but I decided to leave it to the cast members. We arrived at the park a little before 6pm, and she bragged about her plans. Maybe, someone who paid for their tickets turned her in, lol. Even the lady she was talking to did not seem receptive to her idea of cheating the system.

Glad the cheaters held that spot for you. We usually do not watch parades, so we rode rides during the first parade when we attended MVMCP and left before the second one. For the Halloween parties, I insisted we watch the parade/cavalcade. Our WDW trips are always longer than our Dl trips, but they are also less frequent. My kids will ride the same thing over and over again if we let them. We rode Mater four times in three days last week. We hit the MK carousel three times, but the one at Dl was down.

I agree mom2rkt...while this lady got away with it, you aren't going to find that many folks at the party without the wristband. As much as it would be nice, short of completely emptying the park, there is really no way to ensure that every person who doesn't have a ticket leaves immediately after they finish their meal/last ride/etc. There have been threads over on the WDW board talking about how some folks do slip away from the CM escorting them to the front of the park after dinner and sadly that's just the way some people are. I've been there when the CMs were checking wristbands and sometimes you do see people that deliberately avoid the CM, or pretend to obey but in reality just move a little bit and then blend back into the crowd. It happens at both DL and MK. The focus of the parties do seem different, but they're both a lot of fun in their own ways! MNSSHP has a much more impressive parade and the forecourt show, MHP has more trick-or-treating (almost everything is a treat trail), and the fireworks and character meet and greets seem about even at both venues (in terms of "quality" - not that they're the same). I do think DLR's party feels more crowded, but that's also because DL is a smaller park to begin with.

I hope she did not get away with it that night even if she had in the past. The likelihood she did is good though. We only had two cast members check for our bands at MK. It is possible others checked without asking us, but we had far more people check at Dl. No one checked our bands at the parade/cavalcade or for the fireworks at either location. We had our bands checked to go on PotC and once again to enter a new land. I did have to show the actual ticket for the SotMK cards.

Disneyland does have less square footage, but it has more attractions (less wasted space) than MK. I think they probably just sell more tickets than MK, but I could be wrong. It's funny you mention the parade being better at MK. While I agree, my DH insists the one at Disneyland was better. To each his own. I liked the fireworks show better at MK, but agree that the one at Disneyland did not seem to be of lesser quality.

 

[figment_jii]

Haunted Mansion Holiday, 2013
Haunted Mansion Holiday is one of those attractions that has grown on me over the years. I'm not a big Nightmare Before Christmas fan, so I was originally disappointed that they added the overlay to the Haunted Mansion. While, I'm still not a big fan of the movie, I've come to like the overlay more and more. I'll admit that my favorite parts are always the Gingerbread House and seeing how many Zeros I can find. Many elements remain the same from year to year, while others change (often in very subtle ways).

From now until Christmas (okay, it also depends on how fast I manage to get my photos processed!), I'll be posting my pictures of the Haunted Mansion Holiday, 2013 Edition!

Outside - it was kind of gloomy one of the days I was there (okay, it drizzled and downpoured at different times), which lent itself to the atmosphere!

Some things looked creepier at night, while others things were very festive with their lights.

This year, the Parks Blog announced that there would be groups of 13 in each of the rooms of the attraction. I tried, but I couldn't figure them all out! Has anyone seen a list of groups of 13? This is what I think may have been some groups of 13...
Pet Cemetery - 13 bows
Foyer - 13 skulls decorations
Stretching Room - ???
Hallway - ???
Loading Zone Hallway - 13 candelabras
Ride Start - 13 presents (Shock is sitting on some, plus the ones on the other side of the car)
Endless Hallway - ???
Hallway - ???
Madame Leota - 13 cards (not new), 13 candles on her table
Ballroom - ???
Attic - ???
Graveyard - 13 snowflakes
Ride End - ???
Escalator Up - Sally is sitting on 13 presents
Others?

 

[pudinhd]

This year, the Parks Blog announced that there would be groups of 13 in each of the rooms of the attraction. I tried, but I couldn't figure them all out! Has anyone seen a list of groups of 13? This is what I think may have been some groups of 13...
Pet Cemetery - 13 bows
Foyer - 13 skulls decorations
Stretching Room - ???
Hallway - ???
Loading Zone Hallway - 13 candelabras
Ride Start - 13 presents (Shock is sitting on some, plus the ones on the other side of the car)
Endless Hallway - ???
Hallway - ???
Madame Leota - 13 cards (not new), 13 candles on her table
Ballroom - ???
Attic - ???
Graveyard - 13 snowflakes
Ride End - ???
Escalator Up - Sally is sitting on 13 presents
Others?

Great list! I was wondering if anyone had started one. I think Zero has 13 bones and I think there were 13 jack-o-lanterns in the ballroom.

 

[pharmama]

The bones for sure and I believe you are correct on the jack O lanterns in the ballroom.

My DD said there were 13 things on Oogie boogie's spinning wheel at the end but I didn't get a chance to verify her counting.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[figment_jii]

Great list! I was wondering if anyone had started one. I think Zero has 13 bones and I think there were 13 jack-o-lanterns in the ballroom.

In his bowl? I couldn't tell, but I did try to count the bones in the swags, but there were more than 13 (I think).

My DD said there were 13 things on Oogie boogie's spinning wheel at the end but I didn't get a chance to verify her counting.

I looked at my photo and the wheel does have 13!

 

[Sherry E]

...From now until Christmas (okay, it also depends on how fast I manage to get my photos processed!), I'll be posting my pictures of the Haunted Mansion Holiday, 2013 Edition!...

figment_jii --

Do you have a Trip Report thread in the DL TR section of the board? You should start one if you don't -- I'd bet you get a lot of followers!

Also, remember that Haunted Mansion Holiday is celebrated in the Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread too! That's the thread where I have all of the links to various blogs, press releases, etc., regarding HMH!

 

[siburdue]

Sheri -

Thank you! It took me a bit of time to do that picture so I'm glad someone noticed it!

Yes -- anyone who has Photobucket can do those effects. Here is what you need to know:

1. Look in the Stickers section of the Edit page on Photobucket. Pull up a photo to edit, then when you get to the edit page you will see a Stickers option. That is where the Halloween effects are;

2. Do it fast! Those Halloween Stickers are only supposed to be there through October...which ends in 2 days. Don't wait! Get over there ASAP!;

3. In order to get the effect of candy corn 'raining' down in my photo, I put each piece of candy corn there and turned it around myself, one by one. In other words, there was not one universal border I slapped on the photo to make it look like that. Every candy corn, every tombstone, every ghost, the spider and spider web, the bats, the falling witches' hats, the pumpkin, etc. - I put each piece in the photo one by one, and I positioned them 'just so.' I flipped things upside down, I made them teeny or larger, I did all of that. I also put the skull and crossbones on the middle tombstone after I placed the tombstones in the grass; and

4. Start with a photo that has space in it to 'play' with, either on the ground or in the sky, like I did.


I hope that helps! Be sure to come back and show me the finished product!

OK, so I played with a photo of one of the goats at the Ranch. Not too bad for a first try. Thanks for the detailed instructions - it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.

 

[figment_jii]

Do you have a Trip Report thread in the DL TR section of the board? You should start one if you don't -- I'd bet you get a lot of followers!

I never really thought about doing a trip report! I'll keep that in mind for my upcoming holiday trip!

 

[Sherry E]

OK, so I played with a photo of one of the goats at the Ranch. Not too bad for a first try. Thanks for the detailed instructions - it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.

Sheri --

You did a great job! You had a big space to use to work in the spider and spider web, which I love, and the hat on the goat is adorable! Thank you for coming back to show me the finished product, as I wasn't sure if you would get to play around with the stickers before Photobucket yanked them down. I'm glad the instructions helped.

What annoys me is that I have been regularly visiting Photobucket to either upload or search for photos since July, and yet I didn't spot the ad for the Halloween stickers until October was almost over. I do not normally edit my photos, for the most part. Or, I should say, 75% of them I don't edit or apply any kind of effect to. If I had gone into the Edit section earlier in October I would have learned about the Halloween stickers a lot sooner, I guess.

I didn't get to experiment with as many Halloween photos as I would have liked to -- and I'm always kind of thinking ahead about fun photo projects like cards, calendars, collages, etc., so I like things like seasonal borders and stickers. But, the good news is that there will most likely be some fun holiday/Christmas stickers coming up. A couple of years ago Photobucket had some great holiday borders that came and went in about 2 weeks in December (that was when they had a different photo editing platform, though - Foto Flexer). Last year there was nothing for the holidays. So I think the Halloween stickers are a good sign that there will be some new holiday stickers this year as well.

Early last year Photobucket even had a great Disney Parks section for borders and effects (with yet another photo editing platform -- Pixlr), but it was only up for about one week. I had to work fast in that one week, slapping on pixie dust and random mouse ears left and right!

 

[Kilala]

I love all of the photos. I'm sorry it's taking me a little bit to get my photos up from the 18th and the 30th. I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. There was a good hour of trick or treaters at my house. Then it was every 15 minumnets then aorund 9:15pm I called it a night. It was the first time in a long time since it was that slow. We had alot of candy left over. I took a little bit of what I liked. I have been sick since Sunday. I had to call into work sick today. I should have my pictures up by this weekend. Alot with photos of mine and my mom's little black kitten Lillie.

 

[Sherry E]

I love all of the photos. I'm sorry it's taking me a little bit to get my photos up from the 18th and the 30th. I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. There was a good hour of trick or treaters at my house. Then it was every 15 minumnets then aorund 9:15pm I called it a night. It was the first time in a long time since it was that slow. We had alot of candy left over. I took a little bit of what I liked. I have been sick since Sunday. I had to call into work sick today. I should have my pictures up by this weekend. Alot with photos of mine and my mom's little black kitten Lillie.

Kilala --

I hope you feel better soon!

My building doesn't get trick-or-treaters, but I usually see/hear a lot of them scampering around in the neighborhood on Halloween night. They tend to just hit the duplexes or apartments that don't have any kinds of gates or barriers preventing them from getting to the front doors. However, this year I didn't really see or hear any of them. I wonder why? Next year Halloween is on a Friday, so I would imagine that would be a big candy collecting and party night.

No worries. No rush on the photos! It's not a problem to let this thread get quiet for a while, if that is the natural course of things. It's not going anywhere for the time being. We'll still be here! I need time to assemble a good amount of info (like what I have on page 1 of the Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread) to start another thread with (this one will close at page 250), and that will take a while.

 

[tinkrbell1437]

A friend and I went to the Halloween Party at Disneyland on October 25 and we saw a girl dressed as Rapunzel -- she was AMAZING! Not only was her costume top notch, but her personality and mannerisms were just great. I wanted to take a picture of her but she thought I wanted a picture WITH her and she said she was warned not to take any photos with guests. We were in line for the Matterhorn, so it wasn't a great environment for a picture anyhow.

I came on the boards hoping to find that someone had gotten a picture of her (Or maybe she is on the boards!) because my friend and I were so totally blown away by her.

So, if anyone has a picture of an 18 year old or so girl dressed in an amazing Rapunzel costume (Her hair was one of the best versions of the festival braid with flowers that I had seen and she had her Flynn Rider with her as well) and would be so kind as to share, I would appreciate it!

 

[Vala]

Did anyone else get the apparently new Magic Shot with Zero?

I was in line to do my traditional pumpkin shot (the side with the train station as backgound) and was wondering why on earth the line was moving so slow.

When it was my turn the photographer started asking me what I'd do when I meet a dog and stuff like that and had me do different poses. Then he told me when I'd look at my pictures I'd have a surprise visitor maybe. We never got around to checking when we were in the parks. Now when working on my Photopass photos I discovered that I am actually petting Zero! Which of course caused a slightly freaked out boyfriend cause he's really begun to be attached to NBC.

I didn't see this advertised anywhere, so now I am curious if I was just half asleep when writing down details and that was why I missed it.

 

[Chasingmarcus]

We did! It is the reason I had to purchase the CD!

 

[dnamertz]

Did anyone else get the apparently new Magic Shot with Zero?

I was in line to do my traditional pumpkin shot (the side with the train station as backgound) and was wondering why on earth the line was moving so slow.

When it was my turn the photographer started asking me what I'd do when I meet a dog and stuff like that and had me do different poses. Then he told me when I'd look at my pictures I'd have a surprise visitor maybe. We never got around to checking when we were in the parks. Now when working on my Photopass photos I discovered that I am actually petting Zero! Which of course caused a slightly freaked out boyfriend cause he's really begun to be attached to NBC.

I didn't see this advertised anywhere, so now I am curious if I was just half asleep when writing down details and that was why I missed it.

Oh man, I am so bummed the photographer never mentioned this to us. My 6 year old DD is obsessed with dogs (she bought a baby Lady stuffed dog on our 1st day and carried it around most of our six day trip) and she really came to love Zero by the end of the trip, even though she's only seen part of Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

[Vala]

Oh man, I am so bummed the photographer never mentioned this to us. My 6 year old DD is obsessed with dogs (she bought a baby Lady stuffed dog on our 1st day and carried it around most of our six day trip) and she really came to love Zero by the end of the trip, even though she's only seen part of Nightmare Before Christmas.

That was one of my reasons for asking - I didn't see anyone mention it and the photographer didn't say anything about it either. In fact a friend of mine went about 10 days before me, had his picture taken with his girlfriend too and they didn't get the shot.

 

[Sherry E]

That was one of my reasons for asking - I didn't see anyone mention it and the photographer didn't say anything about it either. In fact a friend of mine went about 10 days before me, had his picture taken with his girlfriend too and they didn't get the shot.

This is basically what happened several years back with the "Stitch-popping-up-out-of-the-Christmas-present" magic shot offered during the holiday season. I first became aware of this enhancement/effect back in 2008 -- but only because my friend and I were chatting with a photographer who, after a while, specifically indicated that we should go over to a different photographer and ask him for the "special shot with the present." I watched other people getting their photos taken in that same location, and I saw no one else "looking shocked or surprised at the present" they were holding (which would have been a sure sign they were getting the Stitch photo). In fact, I don't even think I saw anyone else holding a present.

The photographers were definitely not readily offering up the Stitch picture to people who were posing for photos, as they would with Tinker-Bell-in-the-hand or whatever the usual magic shots would be. It was almost as if you had to secretly know about it and ask for it to get it.

After 2008, the DCA Christmas tree that served as the backdrop for the Stitch/present photo was relocated to the Paradise Pier section of that park. The Stitch/present photo disappeared from the menu of magic shots. It was completely gone in 2009. I can't recall if Stitch and the present had returned by 2010, but by 2011 they were definitely back.

I wonder why certain magic shots are not more widely suggested and talked about by the photographers. Some are suggested often, and others are kept under wraps to an extent (as it seems was the case with this year's Zero picture)?

 

[Vala]

I'm pretty sure I got that Stitch shot in 2010, but let me check my discs.

I noticed a general decline in Magic Shots this time anyway. In 2011 I was offered the Tink shot pretty much everywhere. This year I was only offered it in one place, funny enough a place where I didn't get it in 2011 - the waterfall in DCA.

Then I pretty much stunned by friends when suddenly detouring from our route to Buzz Lightyear after I spotted a Photopass guy with lightsabers - I didn't see anyone doing the Darth Vader Magic Shot in a few years. Even the girl in the store commented how lucky we were to find someone.

 

[figment_jii]

I know everyone is excited about the Holiday season starting...but it's only eleven and a half months until Halloween!

Haunted Mansion Holiday, 2013
Continuing with Haunted Mansion Holiday, 2013...the pet cemetery. Each year the tombstones for the various pets get a little holiday touches. This year, like past years, they've adorned with striped ribbons.

Miss Kitty

The Bunny

Freddie, the Bat

Old Flybait

Rosie, the piggy

Fifi

Buddy

The Eagle (or maybe a hawk?)

Squirrel

Lilac

A ribbon between the two trees...

A planter where the Oogie Boogie topiary was last year...

I've finally finished pulling together my photos from inside the ride, so those will be posted next!