Halloween Time is Coming to Disneyland Resort!

On September 7th, Disneyland Resort is changing over to Halloween time – one of our favorite times of year. If you’ve never experienced the Disneyland Resort during this special season, we HIGHLY recommend it. And just to entice you further, here’s what to expect from Halloween Time this year:

1.     Decorations

Main Street USA will be lined with carved jack-o-lanterns and themed buntings. A giant Mickey lantern will sit by the flag pole for photos. Everywhere you look there will be spooky touches, especially in Cars Land (where they really go all-out), New Orleans Square (more on that later), and Buena Vista Street. Also keep an eye out for your favorite Disney characters in their Halloween costumes!

2.     FOOD

If you thought Disneyland had a huge array of snacks and treats before, just wait until Halloweentime. Special flavors will be offered for churros, pumpkin beignets from New Orleans Square, new ice cream offerings, and all kinds of new treats at the Jolly Holiday café and Buena Vista street. We’re especially excited about the new pumpkin shake coming to Flo’s V8 Café.

3.     Haunted Mansion Holiday

Starting in the Halloween season and running through the Holidays, the Haunted Mansion is transformed into Jack Skellington’s Halloweentown, and the difference between this new ride overlay and the original Haunted Mansion is pretty staggering. You’ll definitely have to enjoy this attraction more than once to take in the whole thing.

4.     Cars Land

Cars Land decorated for Halloween for the first time last year and no expense was spared. There are themed jack-o-lanterns everywhere you turn, a giant spider tractor, and even Mater’s Tow Truck Jamboree and Luigi’s Festival of the Dance get a Halloween-themed overlay.

5.      Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy

Space Mountain is an already great ride, but when Halloween Time comes around, they add in an overlay that is legitimately kindof scary that makes the ride that much more fun. Definitely don’t miss this one.

6.     Mickey’s Halloween Party

Mickey’s Halloween Party is a separately-ticketed event that you’ll need to reserve tickets for (and good luck if you haven’t yet, because those go FAST). The up side is there are fun activities that Disneyland only has on these select nights, but the down side is that the parks close early for regular visitors, and you have to deal with the Halloween Party crowds.

If you couldn’t tell, we’re super excited for Halloween Time to get here as fast as possible, and we highly recommend everyone visiting the parks during this great time of year!

Things We'll Miss about A Bug's Land

A Bug’s Land is closing forever very soon (September 4th in fact), and with that closing, we’d like to take a moment to remember all of the things we loved about this underrated little land.

1.     Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train

Heimlich’s Chew Chew was such a stupid ride that it became legendary (we’re going to miss it so much that we made a shirt to remember it forever). It hardly ever had a line (because it lasted approximately 2 seconds), but was a delightful train ride aboard everyone’s favorite caterpillar through the scents and aromas of quickly-designed giant food props. The smell of the animal crackers will be in our hearts forever!

2.     The Talking Bathrooms

The first time we used the restroom and randomly heard Heimlich and Flik talking over the soundsystem, we were surprised. It was such a miniscule Disney touch that made a huge difference (even though those bathrooms were always a hot mess).

3.     It’s Tough to Be a Bug

We sing ‘We’re Pollinators’ at least once a week, and the Bug’s Life Theater was a great way to beat the heat on a hot summer day – a long show in a dark theater with plenty of air conditioning and fun visual effects? Yes please. Not having this show around is going to force us to seriously re-evaluate our summer day DCA break options.

4.     Shade

Speaking of hot summer days,  one of the things that made Bug’s Land great was the fact that it had plenty of shade! Those giant clover leaves made the whole land feel less hot than the rest of the park – especially CarsLand, cause wow, that land is SWELTERING. Shade is always a bit tough to come by in DCA, so it was great that Bug’s Land had so much of it.

5.     The Theming

The little bugs that lit up at night, the old popsicle stick benches, the lights that looked like little smiling worms, the exit through an old cereal box – Bug’s Land was a great example of the theming that Disneyland Resort is known for.

So so long, Bug’s Land! We’ll miss you! 

A Better Trip with the Disneyland App

I’m sure there was a time in my Disneyland trip history where I would only pull out my phone to snap a few pictures then put it away and forget about it.

Ah, how far we’ve come.

When Disneyland first launched their parks app, it wasn’t too impressive. They might have had wait times, but honestly MouseWait was a better crowd sourced option. Disneyland recently completely overhauled their app, and now I can’t imagine going to a Disney park without it.

And while I don't advocate having your phone out at all times, using the app strategically can help give you a leg up on accomplishing all your Disneyland goals. 

I’ll be giving you the whole rundown from downloading and installing to utilizing all the different features so you’re having the best possible trip. Let’s get into it!

You can download the Disneyland Mobile app on both the Apple app store, and the Google Play store. And I’m happy to report it has thousands of nearly five-star reviews on both sites, meaning they didn’t skimp on Android, which can tend to happen.

Current tickets/ buy tickets

You know how I’m always harping on you to buy your ticket ahead of time? Good news! You can buy park tickets and annual passes right from the app. On our last trip, Stephen renewed his annual pass on the tram from the parking lot to the park. It was super easy and way faster and more convenient than waiting in the ticket line which is NO JOKE PEOPLE.

You can also add the tickets of everyone in your group and create a “party” in case you have a forgetful person who’s prone to losing things, or if you don’t want to dig around for everyone’s tickets every time you want a fastpass or switch parks.

When you’re added to a party, anyone who has the Disneyland app installed on their phone can see all the tickets in the party and any reservations made. Which is super helpful if you’ve been in charge of dealing with the tickets all day and want to pass off the responsibility to someone else.

To add other tickets, open the app and go to “My Tickets”.You’ll see your pass and everyone else in your party.

Maxpass

Are you sick of me talking about Maxpass. Y’all- seriously. For ten bucks extra you can elevate your entire trip. You don’t have to go tracking down fastpasses that typically run out fast (Radiator Springs Racer fastpass kiosks have lines no joke, skip that nonsense).

Plus with Maxpass you get photopass included, meaning you can have the professional photographers all around Disneyland take your picture and download them for free. You also get free downloads of all the ride pictures. Just do it.

I wrote an entire post all about using maxpass, I recommend giving it a read! 

Photopass

Speaking of photopass, you can access your photopass photos right from the app.

 

Reservations

You can check out all the restaurants menus in the park regardless of whether or not they take reservations but you can also book all your dining reservations right from the app. Which is so much easier than when you used to have to call.

Map with wait times

The paper Disneyland maps make great free souvineers and they’re super cute, but for quick access to check out what’s around you or where you want to go, there’s a map built right into the app.

Mobile Order

I tried out mobile order for the first time on my last trip and it’s a life-saver (post on that coming up soon). On a hot day that ice cream line can get intense and now you don’t have to wait. You can mobile order and have your food and drinks and treats ready for you from some of your favorite places in the parks.

Times Guide

When you enter the park, right next to the maps are another little pamphlet you’ve probably ignored (unless you go with Stephen who always gets one). The times guide!

Seems kinda boring but it legit gives you a rundown of allllll the different shows and character meet and greets in the entire park. We can’t survive a trip without one, and now you don’t have to remember to grab one. All of that day’s show times and character meet and greet times are in the app, ready for you.

Hours (calendar, with blockout dates)

Super handy to have at a glance. If you’re an annual passholder you can see any blockout dates, and if you’re there for a few days you can check open and close times. There’s nothing worse than getting to the park at 8am and realizing you could have slept in for another hour.

See? The app is so helpful. I’m sure Disneyland without the app can be done, because for a while it was the only choice. But if there’s a new tool to help make your trip more magical and less frustrating, you might as well give it a try. And once you’re in line for that ride you maxpassed, check out the Disneyland Play App, for fun games and trivia.

Best Ride Order of Toontown

Welcome to the next post in the series where I give you the rundown of a pretty perfect ride order of each Land. Check out parts one, two, three, and four for complete Land domination tips and tricks plus the reasoning behind every decision so you can make informed choices should anything happen.

And here we are! The last in the series tackling Disneyland proper: Toontown.

Oh, Toontown. You really are...something.

I’ll start off by being very honest, I don’t care much for Toontown. When Disney first introduced the concept of Galaxy’s Edge, I was hoping they’d raze Toontown to the ground and start anew, which, perhaps, is an unpopular opinion.

Alas, people lose their damn minds for Toontown. And I suppose this series wouldn’t be complete without a rundown of the washed out, useless stretch of land others so lovingly flock to.

I’ll stop being cynical now.

Like Critter Country, Toontown is a dead end, and it only has two rides. It does however host a bunch of other experiences, and the entire land is more interactive than any other at the resort. I’ll give you some sweet tips so you can enjoy and explore the land as a whole. Let’s get to it!

***PSA: This order works best if you’re at Toontown when it first opens.***

RIde Order

Toontown doesn’t operate like every other land in the park. It’s at the very northern tip of the park, just past Small World. It opens late, usually an hour or two after regular park open, so you can tackle another land first thing in the morning and still get to Toontown at its open. On the flip side, Toontown also closes early for fireworks, usually around 8:30 pm, since they launch the majority of the fireworks from there.

1. Beeline for Gadget’s Go Coaster, fastpass Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin on the way or maxpass in line.

Since Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin is at the opening of Toontown, it’s just as easy to grab a fastpass on your way to Gadget’s, which is at the very furthest edge of Toontown.

Depending on Gadget’s return time, explore. There’s lots to see!

2. Ride Roger, maxpass your next ride.

Duh, always maxpass your next ride. 

Annnnnd you did it! Whether or not you got to explore in between rides, there’s probably a lot more to see. One charming aspect to Toontown is the ability to tour the houses of the classic Disney characters.

Minnie and Mickey’s houses can stack up the wait since they’re a walkthrough and a character meet and greet. So if the wait is long, you can still explore the houses (recommended, they’re pretty cool), and then check the times guide to see when Mickey and Minnie appear for photo opportunities throughout the park (which is frequently).

Chip and Dale, Donald Duck, and Goofy also all have their own houses you can play in and explore, however they don’t offer character meet and greets.

Toontown is also super interactive. When exploring make sure to push every button, step on every bit of ground that looks different, and pull every lever. It’s a fun place to explore and create some magical moments without having to wait in lines.

If you’re in the mood for a sweet treat, Toontown is the only place in the entire Disneyland Resort that offers frozen yogurt, so be sure to check out Clarabelle’s.

Also! Right outside Toontown is the Fantasyland Theater. Make sure to catch a showing of Mickey and the Magical Map; we generally view on the tipsy side and I have to say I recommend a few drinks beforehand. The Fantasyland Theater also has some of our favorite snacks in the park (hellllllo bratwurst), so it’s definitely worth a visit.

Right next to the Fantasyland Theater you’ll find the Disneyland Railroad station, so duh now’s the time to hop on for a full circle tour.

And that’s it! We’ve covered the best ride orders for EVERY land in Disneyland. I’m so excited by this series, it’s been a really fun puzzle to piece together. I’ve got lots of ideas for more series but let me know if you’d want a guide series for California Adventure.

Happy riding!