I learned that because this was a Friday, the parks opened an hour earlier and even an hour before that was extra magic morning hour at California Adventure for hotel guests. We were there on Thursday at 8:30 before the park opened, and we made it just a little after 8:00 to Disneyland for the day. I brought our costumes in the car, in case we weren't going to go back to the hotel to change, but that was the goal. To get a little rest before our "Mickey's Halloween Party" started at 7:00. That was when the park closed to guests not having a party ticket. They were sold out for the evening, so we expected a crowd.
But first, I sent the boys to get a fast pass for Autopia...it is a car ride around a track, like the old time cars at Valleyfair, or the similar ones at Disney World. Gwen and I went to look at Sleeping Beauty's castle and get her picture taken in front of it. Then we went over to meet Merida (from the movie Brave). She was about to open for the day, so we were one of the first ones to get her picture. Afterwards, we went right next door to meet 3 of the princesses. Gwen saw Ariel, Belle, and Tiana. Trevor wasn't all that interested. We met back up with the boys in time to go to Toontown. I had had the kids watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit a few weeks ago so they knew what it was about. We rode Roger Rabbits ride, with Trevor complaining the whole time. He didn't like how dark and unsure of what was going to be around the corner. It wasn't exactly like a pooh ride, but I wouldn't say it was scary either. Just one of those things you could scare yourself about if you were 8. Gwen had a good time though. Outside, they had a bunch of characters....goofy, pluto, and Mickey and Minnie in their houses. They also had a bunch of gags...Trevor found the TNT lever that blew up the house only 25% of the time. The other time it made funny noises. He had a good time finding all the funny things that happen when you push buttons or pull door handles or such. It was outside, in the sun, so he didn't mind. Then he would try to gag someone else with it. There was one roller-coaster ride, and we all went on it, but Trevor wasn't even kind-of impressed. Gwen loved it. It was for younger kids. So we moved on.
We had an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for 11:30, but it was only 10:30 so I figured first thing was to eat. We found someplace where Russ could get a breakfast burrito, I got some eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes, Gwen got fruit, and Trevor got french toast. While watching the cool Jedi Training Academy, we ate, and Trevor explained, he's already a Jedi Knight, so he didn't want to essentially be demoted to Padawan again. Fine by me! After eating, we used the fastpasses for the Autopia since we were nearby and I took Gwen over to the BBB to pick out her outfit. I admit, in Florida, I picked out her hairstyle and dress since I knew I could buy it cheaper at the Disney Store and bring it with to the appointment, but I figured she had some time to think about which princess she wanted to be, and while she is going to be Merida from the movie Brave for Halloween, the dress was too warm to wear all day, so she got to pick out a new princess outfit. Of course she picked out the skimpy Jasmine outfit. I figured, she is 5, I'll let her win this one, but if she pulls it at 13, I'm hoping Russ won't allow her out the door. She also picked her hairstyle, which included black hair extensions, called "pop diva princess". Good grief...there went my cute little toddler. I asked Trevor if he wanted to do his knight makeover again, and he was all for it, because that meant getting another sword and shield to play with. A big difference between this BBB and the one in Florida is the space, the "reveal" and the photo studio. Much better than in Florida. When you are done, they have birds that pull the curtains always over the mirror while your makeover is happening. It makes it much more dramatic. Then the photo studio has fake animals, and a coach for the princesses to ride in. Pretty cool set-up. So now that that was done, Gwen was set for her Halloween costume for the evening.
We decided to make our way across the park to Pirates of the Caribbean. The way they built the ride, you sail in and around their restaurant where the smells are wonderful. I believe it was the Blue Bayou restaurant. It wasn't the same ride as Disney World and I liked the little changes. It seemed to be longer as well. Since we were right nearby, we decided to head to the Haunted Mansion. Disneyland changes this for Halloween through Christmas to put it into the theme of Nightmare Before Christmas. I borrowed the movie from Netflix because I wasn't sure what the kids would think of it. I had never seen it before. I was amazed that they loved it. I thought it was ok. I have boycotted Tim Burton films because I thought they were too dark. I had stayed away from the Disney movie Ponyo because I didn't think it would be interesting enough for the kids. I was wrong on both counts. And when I explained after watching the Nightmare Before Christmas movie, that it was how the Haunted Mansion was decorated for Halloween, both kids were excited to go on it. It wasn't perfectly harmless, in that there were a few dark and jump-out parts, but I rode with Trevor, and he remembered where they were so he "shielded" his eyes (with his shield...har har). It was significantly less scary. Both kids wanted to go on it again, but we didn't have time. We decided to take an hour break back at the hotel to get in our costumes and take a little down time before coming back to the park for the Halloween Party.
So we got checked in to the party with our magic wristbands and headed for a ride on Star Tours since we had fast passes. We were a little early since the party started at 7pm. After the Star Tours ride, we used the map that had all the treat stations out. Trevor was set on hitting as many of them as possible. I brought the gang up to where I thought we could meet the villains, but it turns out they were only there during the daytime. Oops...my facts were goofed up. So we hit some treat stations then saw that Dumbo's ride and Pinocchio's ride had almost no wait. Trevor hated Pinocchio's ride because it was too dark and scary but was ok with Dumbo. At least we got those off of the to-do list. Dumbo's ride was down when we were in Florida. The kids said they wanted to do the Haunted Mansion again, so we started making our way over there, but still hitting the treat stations as we walked. Russ made it to the meet-and-greet with Jack Skellington (main character of Nightmare Before Christmas) and called me to see if we wanted him to stand in line. The kids said a loud: YES, since they didn't get their picture with him before. We went through two treat lines before meeting up with Russ, and the line didn't move much. 45 minutes later (the longest we had to wait in line all weekend) we made it to Jack. After the kids got his autograph, suddenly, his girlfriend Sally appeared. Gwen was in HEAVEN. She LOVED Sally from the movie, and got her autograph. After a few pictures, we asked if Jack wouldn't mind moving out of the picture, to which he said that his feelings were hurt. But he did it. I cannot tell you how much that picture and meeting with Sally made Gwen's whole trip.
We only ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at the party, but it was really neat to see all the decorations, and to get a better feel for what it is like....if we ever do something like this again. Pictures of the day included: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, family picture in front of the Mickey Pumpkin with our costumes, Tianna, Belle, Ariel, Merida, Jack, and Sally. There were fireworks going on when we left, but they really aren't the kids' thing. They needed sleep, and wanted to sort their candy....They got so much that we had to say they could carry two kinds of their favorites home, but the rest had to stay in California. I have to say, after this "Halloween" at Disney, I never thought I would enjoy a Halloween celebration like I did when I was a kid. But again, Disney surprised me. I LOVE how Disney does Halloween!
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