Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2014/10/21/halloween-parties-disneyland-vs-magic-kingdom/" target="_blank"><b>10/21/14: Halloween Parties: Disneyland Vs. Magic Kingdom</b></a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Great comparison! Although there's a lot of information out there about both parties, I don't think I've ever seen a head-to-head comparison before. It's even better that you were able to do both so close together I've never done MK's party, but based on my experiences at the DCA and DL parties I've always assumed that it would win. Not that the DLR events weren't enjoyable, but they just felt like a poor man's version of something; they were trying to create a lot of excitement around something that just wasn't there. I know that WDW's party has gotten a lot of changes and cuts in recent years, so it's interesting to hear that it's still the better event. I suspect that having a real parade helps push it over the edge, since DL's cavalcade is just kind of sad
Originally Posted By KyleBurbank Thanks! Yeah I'd say the parade was the biggest thing for me — Boo to You is just awesome. I never got to go to the DCA parties but I imagine the DL ones are now closer to MK's. At least the fireworks are on par now. Hopefully you'll make it out to WDW for one some time.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt With all the hoopla around the ever growing Halloween "season" at DLR it is peculiar that they've never developed a fully produced Halloween parade for either park in Anaheim.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think they've sort of painted themselves into a corner when it comes to a Halloween parade. If they created one, it would almost certainly need to be just for the parties due to the huge crowds that would cause problems if they tried to do it for the general public (like what happened for the fireworks). But why invest a bunch of money in a new parade when the parties sell out every night that they're held? I think it would be nice if they put the hypothetical Halloween parade in DCA, since there's absolutely nothing Halloween-related there now. It would help balance the crowds between the 2 parks, and would make for a nice consolation prize for guests who just happen to show up on a party night. But it wouldn't make much sense to make a big splashy new parade, and not include it in the upcharge party, so we're back where we started... When the parties were in DCA, the cavalcade seemed about right. It was a pretty low-key event with a low-key cavalcade to match it, and it was reflected by the ticket price (around $20-30, if I'm not mistaken). When they moved to DL, the whole event became a much bigger hoopla (with a higher capacity), but they kept the silly cavalcade from before, making it seem really out of place One thing I really like about the cavalcade is how it's made from recycled bits of old parades through the years. It's like they went through DL's metaphorical attic looking for things to play dress-up with (making it fun to try and guess where things came from). It's a cute event; it's just out of place with the spotlight it's been given
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "If they created one, it would almost certainly need to be just for the parties due to the huge crowds that would cause problems if they tried to do it for the general public (like what happened for the fireworks)." I don't see how it would be any different than Christmas. They could have an afternoon and an evening parade that ran for the month of October.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Except that far more APs are blocked out on weekends leading up to Christmas, but I suppose that's easy enough to fix. I suppose they'd be dealing with disgruntled APers either way I could be mistaken, but I believe that Christmas also runs longer than Halloween, so they have more time to distribute the crowds evenly. As it stands now, stuff starts getting Halloween-ey before Labor Day and Christmas begins to move in before October 31, so I'm not sure if they could realistically extend it any
Originally Posted By TP2000 I wonder how this review would have stacked up had it not rained in Orlando (shocker!) and bigger crowds had showed up for the Magic Kingdom version. The edge to MK seems to be based mostly on the lack of crowds on the rainy night the reviewer attended the event.
Originally Posted By KyleBurbank Unless the crowds were hugely different to the point where it was unbearable I still would have given it to MK because of Boo to You
Originally Posted By KyleBurbank And it only rained for the first 30-60 of the party. I'm not sure how many more people would have attended otherwise. It probably has more to do with the fact that I went in September and not Halloween.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Ferret, DL's Holiday season officially begins November 12 and runs through the first week of January. So, yes, it's longer, but not by much.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Ferret, DL's Holiday season officially begins November 12 and runs through the first week of January. So, yes, it's longer, but not by much.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I don't think the rain had much to do with it. You EXPECT rain in Florida unless you go in January. I think it has more to do with the totally different markets. Most Disneyland guests have been there many times before, so the special events are a really big deal. For many guests at WDW it is a once or twice-in-a-lifetime experience and just being there is a really big deal. I think they are more reluctant to spend $60 for a hard-ticket event on top of $100 to get in the park, especially when you have already spent thousands on airfare and are likely spending anywhere from $200-$500+ per night to stay on site. We were there in September and never really considered going. If it had been just Ann and I we might have considered it... our lodging is paid by DVC so our out of pocket expenses are reduced. But we had Ann's adult niece with us and she could not afford to go. We would not have wanted to go ourselves and leave her out of it.
Originally Posted By KyleBurbank Great points. That was kind of my logic too. I know they do get more popular around Halloween itself and then it might be a bit of a different story, but (unless it's changed dramatically since I went in late Oct. in 2009) the attendance cap was pretty low so i still wasn't nearly as bad as a fairly regular MK day.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think that part of the problem with DL's party is similar to the problem faced by WDW's recent Villains Unleashed event. The majority of the people who attended both events are park regulars, so they don't feel a huge need to experience the normal attractions during the event. As a result, the special event-only entertainment has to carry an uneven burden of the crowd, which is only made worse by the ultra-low capacity of meet & greets (which are fairly high-profile at both events). When everybody wants to do the same low-capacity things, those lines get out of control quickly, while other places in the park are relatively sparsely populated. Similarly, this issue has recently been highlighted by FP+, and its constant use on meet & greets in WDW. By their very nature, M&Gs have very low capacity (~100 groups an hour, if that), yet the FP+ designation pushes them into the spotlight which only makes them more popular. Additionally, considering their extremely low capacity, they require a ton of manpower to operate (characters, photographers, greeters) which shifts resources away from other things that more guests are able to experience. Considering how Walt originally tried to create experiences that could easily be repeated for large numbers of guests, it's kind of funny to think that the emphasis today is on the exact opposite
Originally Posted By tashajilek For a out of towner the DL Halloween party is excellent. I waited less than ten minutes for Ghost Galaxy and was able to do more attractions in the night than on a typical full day. I waited until later to do the trick or treat stations which by then had no wait and managed to find a spot on mainstreet just as the fireworks began. It really isnt all that busy.
Originally Posted By tashajilek Oh, I also think the Halloween party is a great deal if you are not a annual pass holder. I think I paid $64 which included free parking, no additional admission needed and you can enter as early as 3pm.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance The Halloween party seemed to go by so quickly when we were there. We stayed the entire time, and it went by in a flash. We had zero wait for Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours which was cool. We got a really good space to watch fireworks only 30 minutes before they started too. Kids LOVED the trick or treating. They couldn't get over all the free candy they were getting. We got four gallon sized freezer bags full of candy, and we only did half of the trick or treat stations because we ran out of time. The only thing that was a bit dissapointing was how long the character lines were. Kids wanted to get autographs/pics with Stormtrooopers and Jack Skellington, but that never happened because of how long the lines for them were.
Originally Posted By tashajilek I think a lot of people stock up on candy to give away lol. Yea Hans, I was almost in shock when the parking was free! Next year I am thinking about going to two Halloween parties and only get a two day park hopper.