Welcome to the last week of Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort! The pumpkins will be giving way to Christmas trees and icicles very soon…sooner than you may think, actually. On Friday we took a look at the beginnings of the holidays starting to go up and there’s been progress in the few days since.
It’s Halloween, which means lots and lots of Jack-o-Lanterns.
It also means villains! Pluto and Jafar were having an argument in Town Square when I walked by.
One of our favorite spots here at MiceChat is the Fortuosity shop; it’s been taken over by a murder of crows.
This scene might look a little different if it were at a certain theme park in Hollywood that owns the rights to Alfred Hitchcock’s films…
With all the Halloween fun we’re hav-…is it just me or is it cold? Is it snowing already?
Most of the castle’s overlay is up. Only some of the icicle lights and some roofs and toppers to go.
We can probably expect the castle to be done fairly quickly this week. There are already more decorations on it than there were on Friday so they’re moving quickly.
There are now scrims above Jolly Holiday. It looks like construction for the Tropical Hideaway behind it.
Adventureland
There isn’t much new to see around the construction in Adventureland. The wall next to the Enchanted Tiki Room is still up, as is the one around the ADA lift.
The Tropical Hideaway is supposed to be opening very soon, so we’re starting to wonder if they’re going to open on time.
Unfortunately, Disney put a tarp over some of the better cracks in the fence so there isn’t much to see besides this:
It looks like they’re doing a lot of roof work mainly. That makes sense when looking at the concept artwork, the big stuff is likely the framework to hold up that big fabric over the dining area and the point of sale walkup.
Here’s the other side of the tarps we saw over the Jolly Holiday.
Roof extensions seem to be the current project.
The metal bars on the lower left of this photo look like they’re near the point of sale.
While we’re in Adventureland, let’s climb up Tarzan’s Treehouse and see the progress on the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge rock formations.
Some of the final touches are starting to go into a few of the spires, while others have yet to be started.
I’m still in awe of the texture of these massive things, it’s obvious that they’re really putting in the effort here.
If you missed them on Friday, our friends at Nearmap posted some aerial photos of the construction.
With how much is left to finish it’s crazy to think that they’re going to get this finished by summer. Seeing the breakneck pace it’s gone so far, it’s not too farfetched.
New Orleans Square
A Mardi Gras Christmas has already moved into New Orleans. Considering we have a Halloween/Christmas hybrid here and they don’t really decorate for Halloween much besides the Mansion, it almost fits.
I’ve seen Redd out more lately, which is great. There aren’t enough characters in this area and Redd really sticks out as a fun character to interact with. Seems she’s become well accepted among all the guests as well.
Not to be upstaged, though, Jack Sparrow was trying to get everyone’s attention from Tom Sawyer’s Island Pirate’s Lair. I definitely noticed him first before bumping into Redd.
Halloween may be coming to an end, but Sandy Claws continues to wreck the halls through January. I’ve seen some distaste for not only the length of the overlay (it sticks around for four months) but having an overlay at all (it comes every year). Let us know in the comments how you feel about the Mansion Holiday overlay.
Considering Mansion is my favorite attraction, I try to ride it every time I’m here, Holiday overlay or not. Unfortunately, during this season the wait times are sometimes alarming. That goes for the FastPass line as well considering this is where it started when I went to go scan in.
Needless to say, I bailed on my FastPass.
I walked by Critter Country to see if Santa had moved in yet. Fortunately, it seems the jolly old man might wait until after Halloween.
What I did find is that you can now purchase the Country Bear Jamboree mugs at the churro cart of all places. These were brought over from Florida a while back but were exclusive to the Hungry Bear. Now, I’m still waiting for Disneyland to import more Bears merchandise from Florida since I already bought one of these (actually two. It’s hard to find merchandise with Fred on it. Fun fact: Fred’s aesthetic is based on my grandpa Fred).
Frontierland
In Frontierland, the final days of the Dia De Los Muertos celebration are coming soon. It’s great that you can now walk through Zocalo Park most of the time because the Thunder extended queue doesn’t stretch through here as often anymore since they increased the main queue’s capacity.
While walking through this area I was reminded of a Twitter conversation I saw last week between Coco director Lee Unkrich and some followers where he had to explain that Coco is a Dia De Los Muertos movie and that the holiday is not a version of Halloween. Some sort of Dia De Los Muertos show in this area, maybe similar to the Coco show in California Adventure, which tells the story of the holiday would really enhance the celebration here in Frontierland. There is a small stage in this area.
Let’s climb onto the wildest ride in the wilderness…
Every once in a while I look at this sign and I’m reminded of the details. This references the explosive final lift hill, which has red lanterns instead of normal ones. I wouldn’t have thought much of the red lanterns if I didn’t know that the different color meant something.
At the top of the second lift you can see a little more of Star Wars, but only briefly.
You can really see some of the buildings from up here. There are so many details here you won’t even see until you really walk into the land; that’ll be quite the awe-inspiring moment.
I wanted to see if I could get on the top deck of the Mark Twain to see more Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge since I saw people up there during a previous ride-by. Unfortunately, when I got on, the top deck was closed, as it was when I tried last week. Quite frustrating to say the least. I noted on Friday that this may be because a cast member isn’t on hand to man the top deck. Considering it was much busier during the weekend, removing capacity seems counterintuitive.
Instead of taking the same photos I took for Friday’s update, I decided to check the state of the river since its refurbishment last year.
Considering the animatronics and effects are still working, I’d say the effort last year was worth it.
Fantasyland
Considering there’s a Christmas shop in Fantasyland year-round, it’s not too much of a stretch to see the holidays here, but the snow coming down on the castle is a sure sign.
I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to take a trip down the icy slopes of the Matterhorn on November 16th. Coincidentally, the resort I was snowboarding while at school opens that day. Now that I’m graduated, though, I don’t think Disney would appreciate me snowboarding down the Matterhorn so I’ll settle with a bobsled for now.
Let’s take a trip on the monorail and see what’s going on behind the construction walls.
There’s plenty of work being done around the queue.
The entire area is ripped up. I’m interested to see what exactly they changed in this area, as the addition of FastPass was taking its toll on the queue and walkways around here.
The lights around It’s a Small World are just about done.
This spot nearest the queue is the only part that I noticed was still receiving holiday lights.
For those that missed it, here’s the current refurbishment calendar for the Disneyland Resort:
Disneyland:
Matterhorn: Now-November 16
It’s a Small World Holiday Install: October 22-November 9th
It’s a Small World Toy Shop: October 22-November 9th
Space Mountain: November 1st
Mark Twain: November 13th-17th
California Adventure:
World of Color: TDA
Downtown Disney:
Wetzel’s Pretzels: Now- November 11th
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Thank you for reading everyone! Let us know your final thoughts about this year’s Halloween Time in the comments below.
