It'll Be Alright: Disneyland at Halloween with Friends

Saturday-

Woke up early; got virtual queue for HM; long line for security, through security at 9:00, almost an hour wait

Haunted Mansion was under construction, but it was open for the Holiday version. The only way to ride was through a virtual queue. It opened at 7:00 so we made sure to get up early to get the virtual queue. We got ours, but the Browne’s were a little later than our number.
Our plan was to get the park early, but we were a little slow leaving the hotel. We got to security a little after 8:00 and didn’t get into the park until after 9:00. We’ve never waited that long in security. It was a Saturday and I’m not sure we have been on a Saturday before.

Churro and Pinocchio- Maeve didn’t like it

We got in the park and walked toward the castle and stopped at the churro stand for a treat.
We headed to Fantasyland and found it was PACKED!! We started with Pinocchio. It’s not my favorite, but it’s a slow dark ride with a short line. It was a good start. Maeve (the Browne’s oldest, age 5), didn’t like it.

Carousel - I watched

Ryan said Fallon (the Browne’s youngest, age 3), wanted to ride the horses. They all rode the carousel and I watched. I enjoyed watching and as they were getting off, we saw Peter Pan get on the carousel.

Haunted Mansion Holiday - so good, a lot of construction. Split from group

It was time for our Haunted Mansion boarding pass, so we split up from our group. There were scrims all along the walkway of Haunted Mansion so the line was along the walls and then directly into the Mansion. It was a pretty short wait. This is my favorite. I love Haunted Mansion and the Holiday version with Jack and Sally is done SO well. This year’s gingerbread house was very impressive. It was a Frankenstein table where the head rotated and changed. It was really cool.

Park is packed!!!

After HM, we found the park was PACKED. We decided to stop and eat.

Red rose taverne - delicious pumpkin cold brew

We met our group at Red Rose Taverne. We have found this is a good breakfast stop. I got a pumpkin cheesecake cold brew with my breakfast sandwich. The coffee was good, but as it drank it was too sweet and rich.

Star Wars land and then Winnie the Pooh

We walked through Galaxy’s Edge to try and get a cold brew, but they weren’t open yet. This area was busy as well, but we showed the area to our friends. Neither of them are Star Wars people, but they throught it was still pretty cool. After Galaxy’s Edge, we stopped in Critter Country and rode Winnie the Pooh. It was great for Maeve and Fallon. It’s a cute fun ride. The line looked long, but it moved quick. We saw Santa, Pooh and Tigger meet and greats while we waited in line for the ride. They were gone by the time we were done.
We also got to see some of Splash Mountain’s remodel to Tiana. What we saw looked great. It was supposed to open around a month after we were there.

Pirates LL - Browne kids did not like it

After Winnie the Pooh, we got a Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean. We love this ride. The Browne kids were not sure. The adults enjoyed it, but the girls did not. We got a little wet though so that didn’t help.

HM for Browne’s - no bueno for kids

Then it was the Browne’s turn to ride Haunted Mansion. They had told us their girls like the Nightmare Before Christmas, but we found they did not like the ride.

Holks - shopping and Mickey bars

While the Browne’s rode Haunted Mansion, we did some shopping and had Mickey ice cream bars. We found out they use dry ice to keep them so hard.

Jungle cruise- not a great skipper, kids did great

We met up with the rest of our group and went to Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise. Ryan and I like dad jokes so this was right up our alley. I have grown to love this ride and that continued. This was not our best skipper, but not bad.

Dole whips

After Jungle Cruise, we stopped at Tropical Hideaway for a treat. I was not super hungry but I had a couple bites of Ellie’s Dole Whip. She got lumpia and baos too. They did not have souvenir cups and the special sundae was the same from the last trip.

Corn dogs and baby care stop

Alli need to go to the baby care center with Fallon so we stopped there next. The little red wagon corn dogs were next to it and Paula stopped to get corn dogs for the girls and anyone that wanted them. Fallon destroyed her corn dogs (mainly just the hot dog).

Popcorn

We got a Lightning Lane for Runaway Railway so we headed to Toon Town and on the way we stopped for popcorn. I’m not sure how anyone was still hungry, but the kids were eating constantly.

Toon Town - play area then Runaway Railway LL - great ride, everyone loved it, Maeve smiled and laughed more than any other time

The remodeled Toon Town is really cute, but it is VERY busy. Kids love this area and it’s hard to get them to go to other stuff. They had a blast at Goofy and Donald’s house play area.

Meet Mickey- another long experience; said 10 min and took over an hour; got heated because multiple groups cut

Maeve wanted to meet Mickey and the sign said it was a short wait. We hesitantly got in line because we had been burned by this line in the past. The line moved pretty smooth until we got to the room just before the theater and it stopped. Lisa and I wondered if it was a shift change, but it took a long time. While we were waiting, quite a few people walked by us to “meet the rest of their group”. We were pretty annoyed, but the people around us were very annoyed. At least one family just left. We probably should have. The line started moving again and we found there was one cast member at the front of the line directing traffic. We were the 3-4 family in line when this lady walked past us to talk to the cast member. She did not speak English so the cast member asked if someone could translate. The person in front of us translated and we never did understand what she wanted other than to complain about standing in line. When the door opened for more people to meet Mickey, she took her kid and walked in front of the families she passed to talk to the cast member. People were pissed. They started chewing out the cast member, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. We finally got to meet Mickey and it was classic Mickey outfit. We got some good pictures and the kids enjoyed it. We ended up waiting close to an hour. Do not trust this wait time.

Eat at Plaza Inn - delicious food, good break, everyone enjoyed

We wanted to eat at the Plaza Inn for dinner. We went a little early to get in easier and the allow the kids to eat and then go to sleep if they wanted. The lines were a little confusing, but the food was still delicious. Their fried chicken dinner is fantastic, especially for a cafeteria style restaurant. The kids enjoyed it too. Lisa got the chopped salad as she always does. The kids like the pasta meal. Ellie found she could get mashed potatoes as her side for the pasta. Oh my….

Shopped on Main Street

After dinner, we decided to walk down Main Street and do some shopping. We found a few things but nothing too exciting.

Fantasmic and Milenium Falcon

We stopped in New Orleans square to find a spot to watch Fantasmic, lisa, Alli and Paula stayed to save our spot and Ellie, Grady, Ryan and I rode smuggler’s run - We had a blast; Fantasmic was good but we didn’t have a great spot, They got moved back to the Haunted Mansion store in New Orleans Square, the show was good - Peter Pan instead of Pirates. Maleficent did not turn into the dragon, but she rose up high and shot fireworks; Grady made a comment that he realized they used the sailing ship Columbia for the pirate ship

Walk back to hotel - headed back to hotel, saw some of the Halloween fireworks - looking forward to seeing them Monday. Full fun day.
Don’t touch the bushes, people pee in those! - On the way out of Disneyland walking south, there are bushes on the sides of the sidewalk. We had heard a mom earlier in the day say “Don’t touch the bushes, people pee in those”. As we were walking on the sidewalk, we saw a more-than-likely homeless person walk out of some bushes and looked like he had just peed in the bushes. From then one, we continued to tell the kids to not touch the bushes because we saw someone pee on the bushes.