Hello Dear Readers! We’re going to take a little departure this week so I can give you a review of a couple of events I think are worth your time and money. Our first topic, an event that started last Friday, is the much-discussed (on the internet, anyway) Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland. And the second topic, opening Friday, is Disney Studio’s newest film, Secretariat. 

Trick or Treat?

Let’s get right into Mickey’s Halloween Party and the heart of the matter (no not Halloween Screams, we’re not going to discuss that one, much anyway), the price increase, is it worth it? After attending last Friday, I have to say, yes, absolutely yes.

I’ve been going to these Halloween things at the Disneyland Resort since way back in the mid-1990s when there was no resort, it was just Disneyland, and the first Mickey’s Halloween Treat debuted there. Those Halloween parties were really pretty spectacular and I was super disappointed when, after two years, Disneyland discontinued them.

Fast forward to a few years ago when Disney announced Halloween parties would once again happen but this time at Disney California Adventure. I was one excited gal. You see, I’m not a fan of the Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt-type of events. Mind you, I don’t have anything against that sort of thing, but me personally? I don’t like scary, gory stuff at all. I went once and will never go again. So to have a family-type Halloween event back and at a Disney park, well ... it was thrilling.

I got my costume all ready, suited up and headed to DCA for some Halloween fun. The problem for me though was that I had the original 1995 Mickey’s Halloween Treat stuck in my memory ... pumpkin carving, hayrides, a pumpkin man roaming Main Street, scarecrows, vines growing up over Sleeping Beauty Castle, a witch flying down from the Matterhorn, live pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean, “live” ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, fantastic trick-or-treat goodies, and on and on. Comparisons were inevitable and inescapable.

While I did have and always have had fun at the DCA version of Mickey’s Halloween Treat, it’s probably fair to say those events never could, for me anyway, live up to the Disneyland version. Let’s face it, DCA on its best day does not have the atmosphere that Disneyland does. It wasn’t built that way (and thankfully they’re working on that). It was built more like a mall with some shops and restaurants and a few rides than a theme park. Disneyland, on the other hand, is like walking onto a movie set where the illusion of that world is complete down to the smallest detail. It was designed that way so there’s a big, big difference in settings between the two parks.

The events at DCA became for me, a fun night where I could get dressed up in a costume, hang out with my BFFs, and trick or treat like a kid again. Absolutely fun, but devoid of the atmosphere and the “stage” setting that Disneyland provided for the same event. I would go from treat station to treat station, get a photo with Mickey & Minnie, check out the festivities at the Wharf area, watch the itty bitty but cute parade, and then get bored and want to leave. The candy was sometimes good and sometimes pretty bad and riding rides was never a draw because I can do that any time I want. I think you can guess where I’m going with this ... Mickey’s Halloween Treat at DCA didn’t cut it compared to the Disneyland version. Still, though, like I said, it was fun and I was glad to have something Disney to go to for Halloween.

That brings us to last Friday night. No, wait a minute, let’s back up to the time when it was announced that Mickey’s Halloween Treat would change its name to Mickey’s Halloween Party and move back to Disneyland. Can I tell you how thrilled I was with this news? Ecstatic, pretty much describes it. I made plans to go with my friends and family. I didn’t give it much though other than that I was tickled pink to have the Halloween party back where it belonged at Disneyland.

The tickets were purchased and then sticker shock set in. “What have I done???” I asked myself. I couldn’t believe how much money I spent on party tickets (and I’m not even gonna tell you how many actual tickets I bought or what the bill came to, but it was a lot). I began to question my sanity. The Disneyland of today is not the Disneyland of the 1990s when it comes to parties and entertainment, would I get value for the bucks I shelled out or would I feel ripped off? I then began to justify the expense by telling myself that most of the time, I go to Disneyland every week anyway so it may as well be for the Halloween party, and who cares, it’s only money, I’ll cut back somewhere else. You only live once and Halloween is my favorite time of year and also, I’m not a person who thinks that because I have an annual pass paying extra for a Disneyland party is tantamount to Disney greed. I don’t look at it that way. My pass takes care of regular operating hours and anything extra, I don’t mind paying for if it’s something I want to do.

I headed to Disneyland last Friday to meet up with my friends, daughter, and grandson, costume in hand (pretty sure I wouldn’t suit up), thinking Mickey’s Halloween Party would be better than at DCA but probably wouldn’t be as good as the 1995-Disneyland party. I was also curious how Disneyland would handle getting day guests to leave, and hoped it would be handled well, but not ignored after the high prices Disney charged folks to go to the party. Oh heck, I’ll just say it out right, I had a tiny bit of a negative attitude even though I was so happy that Disneyland was once again hosting the Halloween party. I didn’t want to wear my costume and I resented having shelled out close to $50 to be there only to learn that if you were in the park, you might get to stay and do everything I had paid a premium for.

So, that was the frame of mind I was in at 5PM Friday.

It changed immediately. Drastically, I should add.

Party-goers were directed to enter the right-side entry gates where they were greeted by cast members who handed out treat bags and a wrist band. There were giant ghost Mickey balloons, all around, holiday music was playing, and it was just generally festive. I started to have fun right then and there and I hovered around Main Street watching party-goers enter just so I could see everyone’s costumes. And let me tell you, there are some darned creative folks out there, it was great fun just getting to see the costumes and I hadn’t even done anything yet

Around 6 PM an announcement was made that Disneyland would end its normal operating day in one hour for Mickey’s Halloween Party and that if you didn’t have a ticket and wanted to remain, tickets for the party could be purchased at Plaza Pavilion. The announcement seemed well done and not at all nasty or off-putting. Another announcement was made at 7 PM that Disneyland had ended its normal operating day and those without tickets for the Halloween party could remain on Main Street where the shops would stay open for an hour.

I headed into Frontierland and at that point there were so many people coming and going it probably would have been easy to get past the cast members stationed at the entrance to each land, checking for wristbands, and sneak into the party but personally, I couldn’t do something like that. It would make me feel like I was stealing.

For the first night of Halloween parties, I felt the issue of guests with wristbands and those without was well handled. But ... what about the party itself, was it worth the extra bucks?

Well, as I said above, Disneyland is loaded with atmosphere that suits a Halloween party well. The sight of the Rivers of America shrouded in fog alone was worth the extra ticket, if you ask me. The Columbia docked in that fog served as a backdrop for a photo-op with Disney pirates (Capt. Jack & Capt. Hook) and if you didn’t want to wait you could pose with the pirate’s treasure heaped near the photo-op and still go away with a dandy photo.

It seemed to me that the photo-ops were more plentiful than at DCA, Aladdin at Aladdin’s Oasis (so much better than at DCA – atmosphere again), Jack & Sally at French Market, Pooh & his gang at Splash Mountain, Woody & Jessie and Mickey & Minnie out at Big Thunder Ranch, the Princesses at Princess Fantasy Faire, Villains near Small World, and the Fairies at Pixie Hollow. Atmosphere. Have I mentioned that word enough? Disneyland oozes it, DCA does not. Captain Jack standing next to the good ship Columbia which is sitting in fog-covered river is better than Captain Jack standing in front of the bakery at DCA’s Wharf. Atmosphere.

Trick-or-treating was plentiful too, in fact there were so many treat stations (all illuminated with a nifty Mickey sign making them easy to spot) that it was easy to go home with tons of candy. And not the garbage candy that was handed out last year at DCA (I threw most of it away – wouldn’t even give it out to the tricksters that hit me up on Halloween), but Milky Way, Snickers, Kit Kat, M&Ms, Reese's, Skittles, Nestle’s Crunch Bars, Almond Joy, Ghirardelli, Tootsie Rolls and freeze-dried apples (and the occasional box of raisins). The cast members seemed to be generous too with handfuls of goodies rather than putting one treat in each guest’s bags as I’ve seen them do at the DCA version of the event.

Okay, so let’s talk atmosphere some more, shall we? Main Street’s buildings had ghosts and cats and spiders crawling on them (via lighting effects) and every so often fog would creep out from the tops of the buildings and slither into the street. A witch could be spotted flying across Sleeping Beauty Castle (again via lighting effects), giant spiders spun webs over the castle and then scurried up toward the turrets. The purple-hued words Mickey’s Halloween Treat emblazoned the peaks of the Matterhorn. You could dance with Buzz and Green Army Men at Buzz Lightyear’s Intergalactic Space Jam in a spaced-out Tomorrowland or bop down the black & white striped carpet at Club Skellington at the French Market. And did I mention the fog covering Rivers of America? Oh yeah, I did. Beyond cool.

Then there were the fireworks. Yeah, part of me agrees with a lot of you that it’s rather nasty on Disney’s behalf to offer Halloween Screams to everyone last year only to snatch it away this year and give it just to party guests. That was rather bad form, I have to agree. But at the same time,  the other part of me remembers how completely packed and miserable Disneyland was last year with everyone crowding in nightly to see Halloween Screams. And that part of me thinks Disneyland was smart to offer it only to party-goers. Keep the crowds down. Keep the show special.

And lastly, Mickey’s Costume Party Cavalcade ... Can I tell you how cute this was? Several floats (yes, some of them are repurposed, but so what?) all tricked out for Halloween, lots of characters, some of whom we rarely get to see (like the Country Bears and Clara Cluck), cute little Mickey-head “floats” before each section of characters and the “Best-Costumed” guests riding the parade route. Mickey’s Costume Party Cavalcade was easily double the size of the DCA version of the Halloween cavalcade, more like a real parade, actually. Only thing that could have made it better in my opinion was to add some Disney Villains (no Villains in a Disney Halloween parade? What?) and have a longer (and better) music loop.

I know I’m leaving things out but really Dear Readers, the evening was so jam packed with Halloween fun and fabulousness that I didn’t get to see everything before I ran out of time and the evening ended. I went home a very tired and very happy camper who felt her money had been very well spent. I can’t wait to go back again so I can see what’s happening in Critter Country, all the Princesses and the Fairies, and I want to dance with Jack at Club Skellington, and ride the train all the way round (any spookiness along the train route? I don’t know!). I never even looked at the pumpkin carving (which is always fantastic), I hardly hit any of the treat stations (and still went home with lots and lots of candy). My money spent on all those Mickey’s Halloween Party tickets I bought, was well spent, indeed.

The only question now is ... what costume will I wear the next time I go to Mickey’s Halloween Party?

Horsing Around

I was never one of those little girls who loved horses and wanted a pony and when I grew up, horseracing (well, most sports actually) was one of the last things I had any interest in. So when I went to see Disney’s newest film, Secretariat I thought I might end up a little bored. But Secretariat isn’t so much a film about horses as it is a film about determination and strong will. Determination of an amazing woman who didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to be able to do something, she just went ahead and did it, and the will of perhaps the greatest racehorse ever to run a racetrack.

Considering it’s about horse racing though, the film gets off to a pretty slow start establishing Penny Chenery’s (well played by Diane Lane) life as a '60s/'70s housewife. She doesn’t do much more than take care of her family and that’s just the way her boorish husband (played by Dylan Walsh) and selfish kids like it.

When Penny gets the phone call telling her that her mother has died, she leaves her home in Colorado and flies to her father’s farm in Virginia. From then on her life changes drastically. Penny’s dad is ill and making horrible business decisions so she takes charge of the farm and starts whipping things into shape. This is a pretty big deal, mind you. Back in those days, for the most part, women kept clean homes and took care of their families. They didn’t run famous horse farms. As such, Penny has to battle all kinds of obstacles, not the least of which are her husband (who continually wants to know when she’s coming home and gives her almost no support, moral or otherwise) and her brother (who just wants to sell the farm for whatever they can get and be done with it).

The film takes you through Penny’s transforming journey from her time as “the little housewife” into her life as the determined, headstrong owner of the most amazing horse ever to win the Triple Crown (Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes on June 9th, 1973, by 31 lengths). She whips her dad’s farm into shape, persuades retired trainer, Lucien Lauren (played by John Malkovich) to work for her (he wasn’t very good at retirement anyway), overcomes her husband’s objections, her brother’s determination to get rid of the farm and the horses (to pay the huge estate tax when their father dies), the prejudice of sports writers and other horse owners (who all refer to her as a housewife – as if that’s a derogatory word), and becomes a virtual horse whisperer to Big Red, the name she calls Secretariat.

Don’t expect the story to be completely factual, much of what takes place in the film has been changed around for dramatic effect. In real life Penny Chenery was not present when Secretariat was born, she and her husband divorced, and there’s hardly a mention of her sister (who like her brother wanted to sell the farm too). None of that really matters though when you come down to it. You can get the facts elsewhere. What you can expect from the film is an action-packed thriller (once Penny leaves Colorado) that even though you know the outcome, will have you on the edge of your seat cheering that horse on, hoping against hope that he can make it and be the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown.

I just have to mention a couple more things about Secretariat and then we’ll say good-bye for this week ... You may not recognize the name Margo Martindale but you’ll probably recognize her face. If not, pay attention, she all but steals the film as Miss Ham, a darned funny wisecracking (and wise) woman who was Penny Chenery’s secretary. I absolutely loved her. And when you watch the film, make sure you look at the crowd behind Diane Lane in the final scenes as Secretariat races to win the Belmont Stakes. That older lady in the background is the actual Penny Chenery, still growing strong, still cheering on Big Red.

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With thoughts of all hallow's eve coming round the corner, I’ll leave you and say goodbye until next week when we meet again to discuss more...

© 2010 Sue Kruse