Disneyland: Mickey's Halloween Party

It was a "Very Disney Weekend" here! We spent Friday at Disneyland, including Mickey's Halloween Party, and on Sunday we were at Disney California Adventure to compete in the MouseAdventure puzzle game/scavenger hunt .

This was our first time attending the Halloween Party, which requires a separate "hard ticket" from our annual passes.  The party includes trick or treating, a parade, and fireworks. It was a fun way to celebrate our oldest daughter's birthday!

We spent most of the day at the park, leading up to a "pre-party" in Toontown which kicked off at 6:00, followed by the parkwide party running from 7:00 to midnight.

At the pre-party we visited three "treat trails." Each trail contained several carts filled with various kinds of candy, and at each cart several pieces of candy were put in our treat bags.

Trick or treating at Minnie Mouse's house in Toontown:

There was trick or treating all over the park, plus annual passholders had a special trick or treating station in the Opera House where large cloth trick-or-treat bags were given out, much bigger and more durable than the small paper sacks distributed at check-in. There was no limit to the number of treat stations guests could visit. By the end of the evening it added up to a lot of candy. Let's just say I won't need to go shopping for Halloween trick-or-treaters this year!

We enjoyed singing by the "Cadaver Dans" and having free photos taken with various Disney characters. There was a spooky mist covering the Rivers of America, where the Cadaver Dans performed on a raft:

My favorite part of the evening was a brand-new feature of the party, the pre-parade ride of the Headless Horseman from THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD (1949) down Main Street. It was very effective!

I'm not a particular fan of villains or horror-type entertainment -- in fact, I stopped going on the Haunted Mansion ride at least 20 years ago! -- but I enjoyed the Frightfully Fun Parade.

I especially enjoyed the choreography for the dancers which accompanied the Haunted Mansion float. Besides the dancers representing the ride's ballroom scene, there were grave diggers who dragged their shovels along the asphalt street, making sparks, which was certainly a unique parade feature.

This was our first chance to see the Halloween Screams fireworks since 2009, when it was still part of the regular park entertainment. It's a wonderful show!

All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening.

We've played in MouseAdventure for a number of years now, as is evident from the game pins on my lanyard; it's not a complete set, either!

We did pretty well Sunday, coming in 31st out of around 133 teams -- although it wasn't as impressive as our 13th place ranking last spring! We're looking forward to playing again next year.

On top of all the fun, we walked 16 miles at the parks this weekend -- that's a win/win!

Previous Halloween Time Posts and Photos: September 29, 2006, September 30, 2006, October 21, 2006, September 28, 2007, October 12, 2007, October 17, 2008, October 9, 2009, October 15, 2010, the 2011 Annual Passholder Private Party (October 17, 2011); October 21, 2012, September 13, 2013, October 18, 2013, September 12, 2014, September 18, 2015, September 20, 2016, and September 23, 2016.