Ghosts and ghouls of every age, would you like to see something strange? Stick with me and you will see . . . Disneyland at Halloween.
This was the week that both Halloween AND crowds returned to Disneyland. But it’s not exactly as Disney might have hoped. We’ll explain below and show you all the tricks and treats of the season. Plus, construction in Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Marvel land, and the parking structure. There’s more to see here than you might have time for, so we’d better get this show rolling!
Your MiceChat Halloween Deals from Get Away Today have arrived:
This is Halloween!
Yes, we hear you, it’s still summer. In fact, it was over 90 degrees in Anaheim almost all week long. Hot! But Halloween is big business these days and Disney has found that they can start selling pumpkin-flavored treats and orange clothing earlier and earlier. Let’s take a look at the holiday decor, fireworks, treats, and activities.
Welcome to the Disneyland Resort
If you arrive via Downtown Disney, you’ll see all sorts of new banners and colorful decorations. It’s not spooky here, just kooky.
The gardens of Downtown Disney have new decor this year. Colorful pumpkins are piled up throughout the area.
Main Street Decorations
Headed into Disneyland, the tops of the turnstiles have been pumpkin-fied again.
The Main Street Pumpkin Festival returns again this year. The entire street is filled with goofy-faced pumpkins.
The giant Mickey pumpkin may be a more popular photo spot than the castle at this time of year.
The fancy fellows below adorn the Mad Hatter in Town Square.
Even Tilly is dressed in her Halloween finest at the Main Street Cinema.
The Flower Market on Center Street is showcasing fall foliage.
And the characters are dressed for Trick or Treat.
Día De Los Muertos in Zocalo Park
At Disneyland, Frontierland also gets into the act with a pair of offerings. First up is Zocalo Park’s Dia De Los Muertos decorations. This would be a great spot for a Coco meet and greet or performers. There’s a little stage here that is rarely ever used.
Nearby is the Halloween Tree. One of our favorite touches of the Halloween season and an homage to famed writer Ray Bradbury, friend of Walt Disney.
Haunted Mansion Holiday
For many, the highlight of the season is the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. As we speculated last week, the gingerbread house in the ballroom is indeed Haunted Mansion 50th anniversary-themed.
This year’s gingerbread house celebrates the Mansion’s big anniversary.
What’s this? It’s the Hitchhiking Ghosts and the Bride doing meet and greets with guests just outside the Pieces of Eight shop in New Orleans Square (21 Royal Street)! You won’t generally find them together, we just happened upon them as the gentlemen were leaving and merry murderess of the Mansion was arriving.
Not Returning – Ghost Galaxy
Although it’s promoted on banners in the Esplanade, Ghost Galaxy won’t be returning to Space Mountain this season. Will you miss it? And why are they advertising it if it’s not a returning attraction? A Halloween trick for sure.
But don’t be too sad, there is something returning to guests after many years of being locked away behind Mickey’s Halloween Party paywall. . .
Halloween Screams Fireworks
When we first saw Halloween Screams at Disneyland in 2009 we instantly fell in love. However, the very next season it became exclusive to Mickey’s Halloween Party. With Mickey’s party now replaced by Oogie Boogie’s Halloween Bash at Disney California Adventure, Halloween Screams is once again available to non-party guests. But there is a catch, the show is only presented with fireworks on the weekends, with projections-only during the week.
And the MiceChat YouTube team brings you this amazing video of the show:
Buena Vista Street
Oogie Boogie has become the host of the Halloween season for Disney California Adventure. The park takes on a beautifully eerie tone, particularly at night, which appeals to a wider age range than the not-so-scary pumpkins at Disneyland.
Don’t forget your “Food Guide,” which you can pick up at the main gate or info board near Carthay Circle. You’ll need it to navigate the holiday treats and special foods.
If Carthay is looking a little bare, it’s because the bats are no longer flying from the belfry. We believe they’ll be digital mapping the facade during the Halloween parties and likely wanted a cleaner surface. But we really miss those bats!
The Headless Horseman is beautifully realized at the end of Buena Vista Steet, across from Carthay Circle.
And at night the entire area glows with purple lights . . .
Cars Land – Haul-O-Ween
One of the most clever displays is in Cars Land. Disney has rolled out their high octane Halloween overlay.
This is what it would look like if Cars held their own Halloween party.
The zombie car!
A giant web of chains hangs outside of Flo’s. And that’s an old Mr. Toad vehicle which has been transformed into a spider.
Oogie Boogie Bash
The new Oogie Boogie Bash after-hours Halloween parties start on the 17th of this month. At the time of writing this article, there are only tickets available for two nights; all the other nights have sold out.
For more about the Oogie Boogie parties, check out our article:
Oogie Boogie’s Villainous Halloween Bash at the Disneyland Resort
Around DCA we have seen a few signs of Oogie Boogie Bash as they prepare the park to host its first Halloween party since the days of Mickey’s Trick or Treat parties and Candy Corn Acres in 2005-2010.
Special lights have been installed in various places to dramatically light the park at night.
The stage is being prepared for the DescenDANCE show in the Hollywood backlot.
If you have tickets for opening night, come join the MiceChatters for an Oogie Boogie Party meet-up! INFO HERE
Miguel AP photo op
Last week Annual Passholders were treated to an exclusive character meet and greet while we waited for Halloween to descend upon the Resort. From September 3-5, guests with a valid Annual Pass could meet and pose with the puppet of Miguel from Pixar’s Coco. On Friday he moved to his home in Paradise Gardens, where he meets guests between his show sets.
Miguel now meets guests here in Paradise Gardens.
Mariachi groups perform on the nearby stage. 
The Tree of Life allows guests to leave a remembrance of a loved one. A touching tribute.
And this is also an area where kids can do crafts.
A Musical Celebration of Coco Show
Just outside of Paradise Gardens, on the parade route toward Pixar Pier, is a wonderful little show which also features the Miguel puppet.
Our Video Overview of Disneyland Halloween Time
Trevor from the MiceChat YouTube team has compiled a video of the Halloween sights and freights for your viewing pleasure. This is a quick view of the season, please like and share if you can:
Halloween Shopping
The shops throughout the resort feature Halloween merchandise, but it’s the shops that heavily decorate which are worth the extra attention.
Fortuosity shop on Main Street is once again overrun with crows.
The candy shop also decorates with vintage decor.
Grand Californian Lobby Treats and Display
A giant candy Oogie Boogie takes center stage in the Grand Californian lobby.
SoCal Select Passes Unblocked
It’s no secret that Disneyland had its most uncrowded summer in recent memory. In an effort to keep the park from being overrun by guests wanting to see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, prices went up and most annual passes were blocked for the summer. The net result was a resort that was nearly empty at times and overall uncrowded on most days.
But conventional wisdom had it that the big crowds would return as soon as annual passes were unblocked. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Then, folks said that the crowds would return for the first day of Halloween. And that didn’t really happen either. Yes, the park was absolutely slammed for Halloween Screams Fireworks on Friday, but the vast majority of the day was quite uncrowded. When we shot these photos on Friday at noon, Hyperspace Mountain had a 5 to 10-minute wait.
10 minute waits for Indy. Daytime conditions remain quite enjoyable.
DCA was also uncrowded for the start of Halloween.
We also caught this at one point on the app during the week.
Will fall be any different? We do expect the parks to get busier as Halloween approaches and the weather moderates. But NOW is really a great time to see the Halloween decorations, watch the fireworks, and enjoy low attraction waits during the day.
Construction
That was a lot of Halloween, and we have more to bring you in the coming days. But for now, on to the big projects on the way . . .
Tomorrowland Stardust
A vast green wall enshrouds half of the Tomorrowland entry as the curb is lowered and the rocks are removed. This project will expand a bit this week as concrete is laid.
Star Tours Exterior
Nearby, the Star Tours facade is under wraps.
As has become the custom, the large scrim on the Star Tours building has been printed with an image of the building facade. Though, note all the red in the image. Previously, the wall was silver.
Space Mountain
There’s also work being done around Space Mountain. Part of the planter next to Path of the Jedi is behind walls.
The exit to the theater remains open.
Interestingly, there are some walls up in the Space Mountain outdoor queue as well. It would be great if an escalator is slated to return here.
At the exit of the Mountain, new ceiling mounts have been installed. We assume that signage is on the way.
Adventureland Sign Enhancement
We are much more excited about this item than we should be . . . but we are so happy that the new Adventureland sign will be enhanced with a hut on the right-hand side. It should look a lot like the previous sign when complete.
Avengers Campus
Out of nowhere, Marvel Land has been completely framed up. It wasn’t that long ago that the side of the land closest to Guardians of the Galaxy was a dirt lot. And by next summer, this phase of Marvel land will be open to the public. That’s a very rapid pace for Disney.
Overlooking the new land, we can see a rooftop level has been added to the PYM Test Kitchen building.
That’s the Spider-Man attraction in front of the building with the blue and green (the old Tough to be a Bug mural).
Red Car Trolley
Work continues on the installation of a charging pad for the Red Car Trolley.
Parking Structure
And over at the parking structures, the parking plaza and pedestrian bridge construction are wrapping up.
This looks so much better than the 1.0 version of the parking plaza. The trees make a huge difference.
Also this week we have seen more construction walls come down and replaced with simple temporary fences. We are expecting the majority, if not, all of it of the Tram Plaza to fully open in the next week or two.
The Mickey and Friends elevator addition is also moving fast.
Pedestrian Bridge
And the bridge and pathway leading from Pixar Pals parking structure toward the West end of Downtown Disney is also nearing completion. It is scheduled to open this month. Landscaping is now in progress.
This week we also saw the removal of the Downtown Disney sign from the corner of Disneyland Drive and Magic Way.
Entertainment Cuts Continues
Frozen Cut Back
This week we learned that beginning October 1st Disney will be only showing Frozen Live at the Hyperion Sundays through Thursdays, removing the show from the roster on Fridays and Saturdays, the busiest days at the resort.
Mickey and Friends Band-Tastic Cavalcade Returns
With the Main Street Electrical Parade ending its run on September 30th, Disney has decided to start running Mickey’s Band-Tastic Cavalcade again. This budget shortfall parade will likely run until November 7th when on the 8th, thankfully, A Christmas Fantasy Parade returns.
This and That
DCA Parade Route Light Upgrade
Over in Paradise Gardens, where the Coco Show performs, the parade lights have been updated to LEDs. 
Pop-up Disney Closed
Did you get a chance to experience this photo op exhibition? It seems like it just opened and already closed.
And . . . don’t forget your travel deals
Halloween Ticket and Travel offer to Disneyland, and Kids Free in San Diego!
Here are some links that you can use to promote our current Halloween Time specials and Kids Free Month for San Diego:
Well folks . . . that was a lot of info and photos. Are you sad that Ghost Galaxy won’t be returning? Looking forward to seeing Halloween Screams? And what do you make of the continuing lack of crowds during the day, even though the nights are insane? Happy Halloween in September everyone. We have a lot more to scare up for you very soon!
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