Halloween Time at Disneyland is especially magical this year. In three days, Cinderella’s mice transformed the park from the blue and silver of the Diamond Celebration into a palette of fall colors for Halloween time.

Halloween Time

Let’s kick this update off with the tram ride to Downtown Disney. This is your first glimpse at Halloween and your first sign that things are changing at the Resort.

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They are doing their best to spin the Tower closure into something positive and make the final months of the attraction extra exciting for guests.

 

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As your round the bend at the tram loading area, you’ll see the first Halloween Display.

 

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Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

 

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Disneyland’s adorable Halloween decorations are up and are, for the most part, the same as the last few years.

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The bunting throughout the Main Street area has been switched out to Halloween colors. Farewell blue, orange is the new power color.

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If you look up on Main Street you are sure to spot pumpkin decorations upon many of the ledges.

 

What would Halloween be without pumpkins? Disneyland has a cornucopia of pumpkins all over Main Street . . . including a huge one with a familiar face carved in it.

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Howdy mickey.

 

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Pumpkins surround the Walt and Mickey statue in Disneyland’s central hub. One pumpkin for each land.

 

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In Frontierland, Dia de los Muertos has risen in Zocalo Park.

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At the Main Street Clock Shop, ravens have taken up residence. This is one of our favorite Halloween displays.

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And replacing Hyperspace Mountain, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy is now scaring guests.

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So, which version of the ride is your favorite: Classic Space Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain, or Ghost Galaxy?

Halloween Merchandise

And with any Disneyland event comes a bounty of new merchandise. Here’s a quick look at some of the Halloween Time inspired merchandise.

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This one glows in the dark.

 

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And let’s not forget the Halloween snacks!

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Cake Pops

 

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Rice Crispy Treats.

 

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The apples are really creative this year.

 

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That Evil Queen apple on the right is really awesome.

 

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Dia De Los Apples

 

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This Is Halloween…

What is this? Haunted Mansion Holiday was welcomed back on Friday morning as the rope drop crowd lined up all the way down to the Pirates of the Caribbean to be one of the first to see Jack. The sweet smell of gingerbread is once again filling the air of the ballroom as you pass the new gingerbread house sculpture. And this year, an animatronic Sally has joined Jack in the graveyard. Also, in the courtyard near the exit to Pirates Pirates of the Caribbean, a Jack and Sally character meet has been set up.

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We are really loving the look of the new hillside graveyard.

 

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Big thanks to Anthony Hays for photos of Sally from the Haunted Mansion.

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And here’s some video from Dusty Sage of the New Sally:

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Meanwhile, in New Orleans Square, there’s a Jack and Sally meet and greet near the exit to Pirates.

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Tower Of Terror

As the signs in Downtown Disney alerted you, it’s final checkout time for the Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror before it closes in January to become the warehouse/powerplant/museum for the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Outside, a new photo op has been set up.

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Inside, last chance merchandise is flying off the shelves and there are continuous lines for people ordering photos of the ride.

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After dark, a special “Late Check Out” version of the ride has been added. Lines were two hours long on opening night. Basically, the sound has been left on, but the lights have (mostly) been turned off, making the entire ride very dark (except for when the doors open at the top of the ride to take the picture you can buy in the gift shop). Here’s a detailed photo of what it looks like inside the attraction:

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Mickey’s Costume Update

Mickey and Minnie in the park got an update this week. Looks like they’re getting a little more sleep and doing Pilates, because their eyes are taller and they’re looking a little thinner.  Here’s Mickey Last week:

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Just kidding. Here’s a photo from the News Boys in California Adventure last month.

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And here is the new Mickey. What do you think?

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AP Days Are Back

Through October 2, AP Days will be held in California Adventure. If you visit the old Hollywood and Dine building in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, you can get a free bottle of water, color, get a free pin, and take a photo with a Disney character. They’ve also been doing some cooking classes (much like they would during Food and Wine Festival).

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Outside of Stage 12 in Hollywood Land, Annual Passholders will receive a complimentary button with a new one each Monday. Inside of Stage 12 there is a character photo op and complimentary water.

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Beware, the line can get very long.

 

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Most of the activities are on the patio. Only the meet and greet is indoors.

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Free buttons.
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Once you’ve waited in line to get into AP Days, you can get in a 2nd line to wait for the characters.

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There are minimal, but cute, Halloween decorations in the area.

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And Photopass is on hand to take photos of you.

At the nearby Studio Store and Seaside Souvenirs, a specifically designed AP Days t-shirt and water bottle.

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At the Paradise Garden Grill Gazebo, there is a red carpet photo op as well as a scavenger hunt.

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Refurbishment Round Up

With the busy summer season over, there’s a lot of work going on in the park. Here’s a quick look.

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The fence and hedge between the walkway and tramway has been removed.

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Tom Sawyer’s Island and Columbia

Both of these attractions are getting serious overhauls while the area is closed for Star Wars Land construction. When they reopen next summer, they will host an updated Fantasmic with the Columbia rumored to become part of a Pirates Of The Caribbean sequence.

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Disneyland Railroad

Also closed for Star Wars land construction and getting a revised route is the Disneyland Railroad. The stations are getting some love.

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 Peter Pan

Peter Pan’s flight is behind scrims for an exterior touch up. The ride remains open to guests.

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Downtown Disney

The sides of bridge over Disneyland Drive are behind walls this week.

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The Starbucks that just opened in West Downtown Disney might be getting a new neighbor.

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Leftover Diamonds

While park staff did an incredible job changing over from the Diamond Celebration, there are a couple things still to come. Sleeping Beauty Castle is one. While the dangling diamonds, the crest over the entry tunnel, and all the banners for the 60th are gone, there are still straps and blue glitter on the spires. We should see this give way to snow covered towers as we get closer to the holidays.

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And at the Disneyland Hotel, a large tribute to the 60th Anniversary still adorns the Sorcerer Mickey hat at the entry to the Disneyland Hotel from the Downtown Disney walkway.

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Star Wars Land Construction

And last, but not least, here is our weekly look at the progress of Star Wars Land. Located predominantly in what used to be the backstage area of the park, this new land will have entrances from Critter Country, Frontierland and Fantasyland. Here’s what the area looked like before, and what we expect the layout to look like when complete.

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Work started in January to prepare the site and demolition soon followed. In June, once the area was cleared, a satellite photo showed what the blank slate looked like.

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I’ll refer to the areas in the photos by the geographic location in the aerial photo and the future development in the interactive graphic. We’ll start in the north and go clockwise through the development.

In the north part of the site is a giant mound of dirt that I’ve nicknamed the dirt star.  This is closest to the N on the photo and the future site of the Millennium Falcon attraction.

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Just east of that, where the Disneyland Railroad is being routed, a large retaining wall is being constructed. This is where the DLRR will make the turn into the Toontown Station.

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The wall is just behind the Fantasyland Theater.

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Nearby, an arch has been built where guests will enter the new land from Fantasyland. The DLRR will cross overhead.

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The next set of photos is approximately in the middle of the aerial photo. This is also where the new Fantasmic backstage is being built. This maze of walls will come off the Rivers of American to an area where the show boats can be stored and serviced.

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This is also the new northern turn for the River. We can see the tip of Tom Sawyer’s Island and the walls starting to form.

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Moving around Tom Sawyer’s Island, we are now seeing the walls come up on the other side and leading toward the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country.

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New construction walls have been erected near Hungry Bear. They will eventually lead to a walkway from Critter Country between the Hungry Bear Restaurant and the river. The path will then lead into the far West side of Star Wars Land.

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The road traversing through the middle of the site lined with green fence is what remains of the old backstage access road. Part of the development is constructing a new backstage access road that will run along the perimeter of the west fence. Utilities have been run underground along this route and should be filling in soon.

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Also in the area west of the old access road is the beginning of the show building for the Battle Escape Attraction in the graphic. Excavation began recently and this week steel beams were laid over one end of the hole in the ground.

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That’s our tour of SWL as it looks this week. Check back for updates every Friday on Star Wars News.

Upcoming MiceChat Events

October 1st – MiceChat Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt Event (close to sold out, get your tickets now)

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Join us in the fog for a night of spooky treats and VIP experiences. For one low price, you’ll get an all you can eat BOO-ffet dinner, early entry into the event, tours, meet and greets with Knott’s creatives, front of line for the mazes, VIP seating for shows, Skeleton Key access and a night of fun with your mice pals at the haunt which started it all. We have a VERY limited number of tickets available this year, SIGN UP NOW – HERE

October 10th – Mickey’s Halloween Party @ Disneyland

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Join the MiceChatters for a not so scary Halloween event on Monday October 10th. Please buy your own tickets directly from Disney for the October 10th Halloween Party. Then sign up for MiceChat’s event list HERE to be notified about event meeting times and locations. It promises to be a night filled with candy, friendship, headless horsemen, scary parades and fireworks!

November 3rd and 4th – New York Meet-ups and events

The MiceChatters invade NYC in November before their New York to Puerto Rico cruise. We’ll be seeing Aladdin and Cirque Du Soleil Paramour as well as taking a city tour. If you are interested in any or all of these activities, please contact [email protected] for more information.

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See Ya Real Soon

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All of us on the Disneyland Photo Update crew would like to thank you for joining us today. Each week we’ll feature different photographers and commentators (often more than one). Today’s MiceChat Disneyland Update was shot and assembled by Darth Daver.

Are you a member of the MiceChat Sunday Meet-up Facebook group? If you are interested in meeting up with fellow theme park lovers in the parks, please be sure to follow this group: MiceChat Sundays in the Park. And please follow the MiceChat Facebook Page for news and updates from the Disneyland Resort and beyond:

That’s it for this week’s Update. Are you a photographer? Do you love the parks? Would you like to contribute to the Disneyland Update or other MiceChat columns? Contact Dusty Sage: [email protected]