And now it begins!
Last week when my husband called me at work to crow about the lovely city of Burbank trimming the trees in the neighborhood I yelled at him to run outside and grab a bunch of branches from the
maws of the woodchopper. I'm sort of hoping for a windstorm between now and Hallowe'en to pick up some more. Depending on the weather this weekend, I'll start working on some spookified trees for the yard. Love free stuff. I might also go yard sale trolling for some props as well... Let's hope it's below 90 degrees this weekend!
In other news, we took my niece to Disneyland this week for her 3rd birthday and it just so happened that Hallowe'en had already begun at the Mouse House. I have to say that while they did spook up the place and the fireworks display was pretty awesome (and inspiring) the whole thing was a bit of a let down (just in the Hallowe'en department - Disneyland itself is never a letdown!).
Here's the scoop:
The official Disneyland map featured the hag witch from Snow White and all of the light post hangers featured both the evil witch and the hag which led me to believe that the traditional Disney villains would be featured heavily in the park. It was not to be. Unfortunately, other than some really great pumpkins, most of the park Hallowe'en decorations were weighted toward the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Don't get me wrong, I like Nightmare well enough, I'm just a traditionalist. I would have liked to see a lot more Malificent, Evil Queen, etc. While kids could get the autographs of Jafar, Jack and Sally, and Cruella deVil, they were located primarily in Fantasyland and seemed to mostly scare the crap out of the kids.
One more complaint, just in case anyone's listening...MORE HAUNTED MANSION MERCHANDISE!!! I looked and the only merch available from the Haunted Mansion was pins and a classic CD. That's it.
On the upside, the fireworks show was great. Lots of fireworks, big and dramatic including a big Jack projection that was really great and Zero flying over the crowd. Loved it.
Also, Space Mountain was SPOOKY! It was a total step away from the traditional Disney and featured really creepy skeletal projections jumping out on the turns. Nice touch!
I didn't get to the Hallowe'ened Big Thunder Mountain - after all, we did have to do some 3 year old stuff which included the Tea Cups twice, It's a Small World (which BTW was redone VERY tastefully and really stuck to the original), Peter Pan and the Merry Go Round. She also got to meet Tinkerbell at Pixie's Hollow, which I think was her favorite part as she loooooves Tink. Fun!
On the whole, Mia's first trip to Disneyland was a huge success and Hallowe'en starts with a big sparkly BANG!!!
Last week when my husband called me at work to crow about the lovely city of Burbank trimming the trees in the neighborhood I yelled at him to run outside and grab a bunch of branches from the
maws of the woodchopper. I'm sort of hoping for a windstorm between now and Hallowe'en to pick up some more. Depending on the weather this weekend, I'll start working on some spookified trees for the yard. Love free stuff. I might also go yard sale trolling for some props as well... Let's hope it's below 90 degrees this weekend!In other news, we took my niece to Disneyland this week for her 3rd birthday and it just so happened that Hallowe'en had already begun at the Mouse House. I have to say that while they did spook up the place and the fireworks display was pretty awesome (and inspiring) the whole thing was a bit of a let down (just in the Hallowe'en department - Disneyland itself is never a letdown!).
Here's the scoop:
The official Disneyland map featured the hag witch from Snow White and all of the light post hangers featured both the evil witch and the hag which led me to believe that the traditional Disney villains would be featured heavily in the park. It was not to be. Unfortunately, other than some really great pumpkins, most of the park Hallowe'en decorations were weighted toward the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Don't get me wrong, I like Nightmare well enough, I'm just a traditionalist. I would have liked to see a lot more Malificent, Evil Queen, etc. While kids could get the autographs of Jafar, Jack and Sally, and Cruella deVil, they were located primarily in Fantasyland and seemed to mostly scare the crap out of the kids.
One more complaint, just in case anyone's listening...MORE HAUNTED MANSION MERCHANDISE!!! I looked and the only merch available from the Haunted Mansion was pins and a classic CD. That's it.
On the upside, the fireworks show was great. Lots of fireworks, big and dramatic including a big Jack projection that was really great and Zero flying over the crowd. Loved it.
Also, Space Mountain was SPOOKY! It was a total step away from the traditional Disney and featured really creepy skeletal projections jumping out on the turns. Nice touch!
I didn't get to the Hallowe'ened Big Thunder Mountain - after all, we did have to do some 3 year old stuff which included the Tea Cups twice, It's a Small World (which BTW was redone VERY tastefully and really stuck to the original), Peter Pan and the Merry Go Round. She also got to meet Tinkerbell at Pixie's Hollow, which I think was her favorite part as she loooooves Tink. Fun!
On the whole, Mia's first trip to Disneyland was a huge success and Hallowe'en starts with a big sparkly BANG!!!
Labels: Hallowe'en
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3 Comments:
I've been super curious what Halloween at Disney was like. Also I totally agree with the merch at the Haunted Mansion. When the wife and I went to Disney World a few years ago all we could find was a magnet (with Goofy as the Groundskeeper, and Pluto as his dog.) It's cool and all, but why not have an all out giftshop like at Pirates, or pretty much every other attraction at the park...
From my ever-dimming memory of D-land for halloween...after Nightmare b-4 xmas came out...that became the Halloween theme...I'm wondering if the Snow White Queen/Hag might have been on display/on the map to coincide with Snow White being re-released this next week? You know, a fitting coincidence?
Frankly, Disneyland does do a fine Hallowe'en. Black garlands, tons of pumpkins, orange banners on lamp posts - they do know how to do it.
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