Laura's Disney Lines

For the third year in a row, Disney is presenting the Mickey's Halloween Treat party at Disney's California Adventure on selected evenings during the month of October. It's a fun event for both kids and adults where everyone can dress in costume (normally no one over the age of 9 can enter the park in costume) and trick or treat around the park. Lee and I went to the party on Friday night, and here are a few observations.

In addition to the formal Meet and Greet spots, there are LOTS of characters just walking around, I think even more than last year. The lines are pretty long at the Meet and Greets - I think it's more fun to just run into the characters where generally there is no line! Characters are also dancing with guests at the various party/music spots. We saw Stitch and Flik getting down at Candy Corn Acres, some piratical partying from Chip and Dale at Pirate's Wharf, and Frozone, Merlin, and Sulley had the boogie fever at the Bat Lot Bash.

There are even more treat stops this year - there is a new "Treat Trail" in the Animation Building. There are more alternatives to candy available - every treat stop has a "healthy" option in addition to the candy. Last year there were only sliced apples, but this year there were boxes of raisins, packets of fruit leather and small bags of baby carrots as well.

I was disappointed in the candy selection - there was not much chocolate, and it was mostly things like Now and Laters, Laffy Taffy, Smarties and Lemon Heads. I got a couple of Butterfingers, Nestle Crunch bars and one Snickers and one Clark bar - not much chocolate as far as this chocoholic is concerned! There were several treat stations that were giving out 2 oz bags of Kissables, though, so that was a nice treat!

There are many more activities in the wharf area this year, which has been set up with (what else?) a pirate theme. The characters in the area are all wearing pirate attire and the craft area is decorated with lots of pirate figures. There's even pirate-themed games - Lee got to fire a cannon at a target and won a pirate bookmark and some (temporary) tattoos).

The decorations are much the same as last year - Halloween projections on the sidewalks, Mickey pumpkin and Mickey ghost lights, and spider webs projected on Grizzly Peak, the Orange Stinger, and the Hyperion Theater.

New this year is the Mickey's Trick or Treat on the Street character cavalcade. I don't know that I'd call it a parade - there's one central float that's accompanied by some sign floats and a couple of large moving jack-o-lanterns. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald are are the central float, and a bunch of characters and cast members in costume follow it on its route. It follows the normal parade route, with stops in front of Golden Screams and Candy Corn Acres (Sunshine Plaza). There the characters perform a couple of songs and invite audience members (kids, generally!) to come out and dance with them - the kids get a Mickey's Halloween Treat button for participating. It was kind of fun and the new Trick or Treat on the Street song is catchy.

A fair number of people dressed in costume (like last year there were lots and lots of pirates!), but a lot of people didn't dress up. Lee and I were from very different worlds - he was a Jedi Knight (Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi) and I was Belle. Lee's costume was popular with the ladies. :-)