This is Halloween! This is Halloween! This is Halloween at Disneyland! Kirby and I just returned from an amazing trip to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and we had the best time. It may have looked like fall at the parks with all of the pumpkins, leaves and other Halloween decor, but it felt like summer again with over 35 degree Celsius weather!
I love Disneyland and I have been many times. I really think that my love for imagination, creativity and ultimately, marketing, came from my first trip to Disneyland when I was nine. It really is a magical place.
Kirby and I were in California for his sister’s wedding and we knew we had to see Halloween in Disneyland for ourselves, so we spent three days in the two parks.
It was such a memorable trip and I thought that some of you may want to hear my tips for visiting Disneyland at Halloween, so that you can plan your own trip in the future! I’ve also included a video further down of our trip ?
Disneyland Tickets
So this isn’t specifically ‘Halloween’ related, but rather relevant to any time you want to visit Disneyland.
I have been to Disneyland eight times now, and I’ve always done the Park Hopper pass, which allows you to ‘hop’ between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park in the same day. This trip, Kirby and I wanted to save a bit of money, so we chose the 1 Park Per Day tickets – and we LOVED this!
The Park Hopper ticket is great, but we found that we accomplished so much more each day with the 1 Park Per Day tickets this time around. With the Park Hopper, we find that we spend a lot of time walking between the parks to whichever thrill rides had the shortest wait times, but this time we spent the entire day in one park and instead of walking back and forth, we filled the time we were waiting to ride the roller coasters with some of the less thrilling, but still fun rides and food items we wanted to try.
Fast Passes were our best friends on this trip! We were able to do nearly all of the thrill rides in each park before 1pm each day because we strategically used Fast Passes, which allow you to bypass the standby line during a certain time frame. The afternoons and evenings were EXTREMELY busy while we were there, so being able to get through all of the rides that were on our ‘must-do’ list before 1pm was awesome! Fast Passes don’t cost anything extra, but you can only have one at a time (excluding World of Color and Fantasmic!), unless your Fast Pass specifies that you can get another before your return time.
Trick or Treat? TREAT! TREAT! TREAT!
My family teases me about only going to Disneyland for the food, but like seriously, it’s a major factor in my vacation destination decision.
Some of my favourite eats from this Disneyland trip were:
Smoked Kaadu Ribs from Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo (These were amazing! We went back for them a second time.)
Phattro from Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo (This is kind of like an Arnold Palmer. Iced tea, lemonade and desert pear ??)
Felucian Garden Spread from Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo
Sunshine in a Cup Memory Refresher from Bing Bong’s Sweet Stuff
Monte Cristo Sandwich from Cafe Orleans
Frozen Cherry Lemonade from Churros & Lemonade stand in Critter Country
Mickey-Shaped Waffle from Carnation Cafe
Stuffed French Toast from Red Rose Taverne
It’s Lemon! Non-Dairy Ice Cream from Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats
Pretzel Bites from Cozy Cone Motel
Cookie Num Num from Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums
Zocalo Nachos from Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante
They also had a special Halloween Food Guide with specialty items at most dining options in the parks. Some of my favourites from this guide were:
Churro Sundae from the Golden Horseshoe (Kirby’s favourite! The caramel was amazing.)
S’mores Churro from the Churros stand near Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (My favourite! Best. Churro. Ever. It’s covered in chocolate sauce, chocolate chunks, marshmallow sauce and graham cracker crumbs…)
Pumpkin Spice Beignets & Blackberry Midnight Julep from Mint Julep Bar
Green Apple Spell Lemonade from Smokejumpers Grill
We were not disappointed in ANY of the food or drinks that we had in the Disney parks. It was all delicious and I wish that I could mobile order it straight to my house!
Spooktacular Rides & Attractions
As much as I love the food at Disneyland, of course the rides are where it’s at. My favourite rides are Hyperspace Mountain, Grizzly River Run (especially when it’s HOT), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Incredicoaster. I also love some of the less “thrilling” rides, like Jungle Cruise, Soarin Around the World, and Toy Story Midway Mania.
I also have a tradition, which I mentioned in this post, with the Enchanted Tiki Room!
On this trip, I took Kirby on some of the slow rides since he hadn’t been on them before, and although he didn’t get the thrill of the roller coasters, he loved the creativity in the line queues and rides. His favourites were Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
During Halloween time at Disneyland, some of the rides and attractions get a little spooky touch to them.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark – Between 3pm and 5pm during Halloween time at Disneyland, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission BREAKOUT! transforms into the Monsters After Dark scenario, in which Rocket races to rescue Groot. This is a special scenario for this thrilling drop ride!
Cars Land – Haul-O-Ween takes over Cars Land with “spoke-y” decor. There is SO MUCH to look at walking through Cars Land, even the Cars characters dress up in costumes!
Haunted Mansion Holiday – An attraction that has an eerie feel throughout the rest of the year, Haunted Mansion gets a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe for Halloween. The estate gets decked out to wish you “Season’s Screamings”, complete with visits from Jack Skellington, Sally, Zero and Oogie Boogie.
Costumes & Characters
Halloween is the only time of year that guests over the age of 14 are allowed to wear costumes at Disneyland, and only if those guests have tickets to the Oogie Boogie Bash and follow some specific rules. We saw LOTS of people dressed for the occasion!
Quite a few guests dressed as Jack Skellington and Sally, Maleficent, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, but the standout costume that I saw was a family ensemble – Dad as Mike Wazowski, Mom as Celia and the kids as Sulley and Boo from Monsters, Inc.! So freaking cute.
You can also see some cool costumes on Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck as they mill about on Main Street and Buena Vista Street. Jack Skellington, Sally, Gaston, Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts, Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, Dr. Facillier and other characters also make special appearances at this time of the year!
Out Of This World Entertainment
Disneyland gets a spooky lineup of entertainment for Halloween! The regular shows, including World of Color in Disney California Adventure and Fantasmic! at Disneyland, still run during Halloween, but there are additional entertainment specials available as well.
Halloween Screams Fireworks Spectacular
Kirby and I almost missed this show because we’re lame and we get tired and ready for bed at 8pm – haha! But we made it to the show and it was worth staying up for! Halloween Screams is a fireworks and projections show that can be viewed from Main Street in Disneyland. The buildings light up with incredible projections while fireworks soar above Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and Zero flies through the air. If you want a peak at what this show is like, watch until the end of the video below ??
Oogie Boogie Bash
We so wished we could have attended Oogie Boogie Bash, but tickets were pricey! Oogie Boogie Bash is a special event that took over Disney California Adventure Park three days a week during the Halloween celebration. The event included treat trails with infamous Disney villains, the Frightfully Fun Parade, a Villains Grove overlay on Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and a Villainous World of Color show. It looked like a blast and I’d love to go if they do it next year!
A Musical Celebration of Coco
This show wasn’t necessarily Halloween-themed, but A Musical Celebration of Coco is a cute little show at the Plaza de la Familia in Disney California Adventure full of music and dancing. We listened to it while scarfing down delicious pasta at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta one night ?.
Would I visit Disneyland at Halloween time again? WITHOUT A DOUBT. We had such a blast, tried so many tasty treats, rode thrilling rides and shared many, many laughs. We can’t wait to go back ?