Hold onto your hats folks…it’s a long one!
Today was a day we had all been really looking forward to. I mean yes, it’s only August and strictly nowhere near Halloween, but who doesn’t love a good old Disney party? The plan was to let the girls sleep as late as they wanted, have a bit of time in the pool with a nap if needed, then get ready and head into the park for around 4 when they start letting party guests in. Winnie woke first around 8.30 and as their bed is creakier than my joints, I told her to stay still and gave her my phone to play Wordle on. Polly woke next and Steve was last up, so at least we know he will be able to stay up late!! We got ready and headed to the pool for 10 when it opens. I really do wish the pools opened earlier. It definitely makes resorts with quiet pools advantageous if you are regular early risers who like an odd pool morning. Anyway, it was absolutely baking today. The first real day we’ve had with no hint of rain and very few clouds. Just after lunch time had we decided we’d cooked for long enough, so headed in for what I thought would be a nice, leisurely shower and get ready. I forgot how long playing Bibbidi Bobbidi to two girls with stupidly long hair would take! Especially when it was wet!! Still, with a bit of tag teaming where I alternated doing their hair and Winnie’s ghost face with my own hair (easy as I just had to undo yesterday’s plaits) with Steve sorting outfits and park bag, we were ready to go by just after 3.
Now, I’d made our outfits thinking about Florida heat: cool fabrics, shirt sleeves etc. However, even if we’d gone butt-naked, we’d still have been sweating buckets the minute we stepped outside today. To make it worse the bus we got on to MK was not only crowded but had no AC! By the time we’d queued for wrist bands and park entry we were in desperate need of cool air, so we headed along the initial Halloween path down the side of Main Street, saw the Halloween statues, grabbed our first trick, or treat snack and then went straight to Laughing Floor for some air-conditioned fun!
Although I’d been checking the app and crowds had been low all day, they did go up a bit during the crossover period where party guests started to arrive, and regular guests hadn’t yet left. We still rode Mine Train and Haunted Mansion though (We went to Mansion for photos only, but the queue was small so jumped in) before heading to get into line to meet Pooh just before 6. The characters don’t officially meet until the party starts at 7, but some come out early so you can get them ticked off right at the start. Jack & Sally tend to start around 4.30 so if you want to meet them, getting in the queue asap is an advantage as they often have queues of 2+ hours which would waste a lot of party time. We knew Pooh & friends would likely come out around 6.30pm after reading up on the first party, and we ended up meeting them about 7.15 which didn’t take up too much party time.
We had come up with a rough plan of our party priorities. We knew we’d likely not last until the end and that we wouldn’t fit everything in (I honestly don’t think it’s possible to do everything and see all the shows/ parades) so our list was as follows:
- Meet a character (Pooh & friends)
- Ride Haunted Mansion (live actors in the queue)
- See the Cadaver Dans
- Ride Pirates (live actors on the ride)
- Watch the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular
- Watch the Goofy & Max pre-parade
- Watch the Parade
- Watch the fireworks
- Go to the Zombie dance party
- (Go in any truck or treat stations we passed and grab snacks as and when we felt like them)
We pretty much did the list exactly as it was written. The Haunted Mansion actors were good, but the queue was so quick we didn’t see much of them. The actors on Pirates were really funny though. They were asking the girls why they were glowing and acting like they were terrified of them, and really made them laugh. Plus, who doesn’t love that smell?
We didn’t watch the whole villain show as the girls couldn’t see that well and we had decided we couldn’t face being in a crowded spot during that level of heat (it was good but if we do the party again, we’d probably use that time for something else) before getting a spot-on Main Street. Originally, we’d planned to watch the parade from Liberty Square, but realised Powerline Max was only on Main Street so changed our mind. The girls had some photos with a fabulous photographer who took them off to a side area for extra shots. I would say though that if you want good photos, go before it gets completely dark as the full flash ones are never as good (I wish we’d have got some earlier on).
The headless horseman arrived first, which is always really cool. Then the Powerline dancers came out and invited people to dance with them. The girls loved this part, and it made me glad we decided to watch from there. Finally, the parade arrived around 9.35/ 9.40. I would say if you wanted to maximise your time, watch it nearer the start of the route at 9.15 as it was 10pm by the time it finished where we were. The parade is great with lots of spooky characters, but they all still interact with the crowd. The ghost bride blew a kiss to Winnie and when the gravediggers (my favourites) thought the girls looked a bit scared one of them quickly blobbed his tongue out at them and made them giggle. It is a long parade though, and in that level of heat we were glad when it finished so we could dive into Starbucks straight afterwards just to cool down and grab a drink (we were all too hot to be hungry. The girls didn’t even want the snacks they’d been looking forward to). We decided to head to the back of Tomorrowland Terrace for fireworks. It was almost the same view as the treats and seats party and had no crowd. The fireworks were great, but we like a bit of emotion (if you can’t weep to Disney fireworks, when can you?) and the Halloween fireworks don’t really have that, but the castle projections and whole show are put together brilliantly. Near the end we walked to Cosmic Rays for the Zombie dance party as although the girls were flagging, they really wanted to do this as they love the films/ songs. We didn’t realise they took a break at that time anyway so we could have stayed out. Still, it was cool in Cosmic Ray’s do we grabbed one kids quick service to nibble on and waited. The characters were back really quickly, and the girls loved following their choreography and having a little dance. This, meeting Pooh and the Main Street pre-parade dancing were their favourite parts of the night!
Once the girls had finished, we decided it was time to head back. We’d only done 3 trick or treat stops and had only half filled our bags (not counting the one as you walk in) so I did check the girls didn’t want to do more, but they said they had plenty and it was just greedy to get more as it would probably go to waste anyway, so we said goodbye to spooky Main Street and headed for the bus. We were lucky to arrive at the bust stop just as a bus was pulling up. It was standing room only, but we didn’t care. It was cool and taking us to bed!
Make up half-heartedly removed and hair taken down and everyone was in bed by midnight (the latest the girls have ever stayed up!!) We had an absolutely amazing time although the heat was a killer. My feet ache more than any other day we’ve done, and we walked a lot less. But we would definitely do it all again in a heartbeat. And at least we didn’t get any parts cancelled, which is what happened on the first night.
If you’re heading to a party, you really are in for an absolute treat.
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 