Travel: 6 Reasons To Go Disneyland’s Trick or Treat Party

There’s always a good reason to go to Disneyland, but with Halloween right around the corner, there are even more really good reasons to pay a visit to the ‘happiest place on earth’. Each year Mickey Mouse throws a Trick or Treat party at Disney’s California Adventure Park which is some good old  fun for the whole family, adults included. I should confess that my family – we’re big Disneyland fans-  so this event was on par with Christmas or an important birthday.

Here are six reasons why you too should treat yourself to Disney’s family friendly tricks.
1)    Safe trick or treating
Depending on where you live, your neighborhood may not be very conducive to trick or treating. Either the residents don’t participate in the festivities -which mean no treats – or you may be a nervous Nelly and not want your child getting candy from strangers. Throughout the park there are ‘Trick or Treat’ stations where your little ones can get goodies like Ghiradelli chocolates, lollipops, and taffy as well as healthier choices like apples, carrots and raisins.

2)    A Less Populated Park
During a regular weekend day at California Adventure you’ll have to spend a good chunk of your time in lines. But at this party, they admit less people so you can literally just walk onto some of the rides. Especially if you get there right when they open. My advice would  be to start from the back of the park and work your way towards the front to avoid the crowds.

3)    Costumes for the Whole Family
The rule at Disneyland is that only kids can wear costumes to the parks. But at the Trick or Treat party, everyone can come in disguise.  And people get really into it. Whole families dress in thematic costumes like a clan dressed as characters from Toy Story, a crew of ghosts, or a whole gaggle of Tinkerbell-esque fairies.  And since this a family friendly event, you won’t see anyone dressed like Freddie Kruegger -it’s much more soft and cuddly than scary and gory.

4)    Meet the Characters.
If you’ve witnessed a character sighting, you know it can be a mob scene, with kids and parents alike trying to jockey for position to snap photos or get autographs from these cartoon superstars. But here there special meet and greets sprinkled around the park where you can wait in short lines to meet stars like Cinderella, Mickey Mouse or Woody. Plus they pull out some characters that aren’t usually in heavy rotation like Peter Pan, Wendy with Captain Hook, the stepmother and stepsisters from Cinderella, and even a swashbuckling Jack Sparrow.  The characters are everywhere, so make sure you bring a fully charged camera with you.

5)    Special Entertainment
There is a highly produced Halloween parade that includes oodles of classic characters in costumes during this ‘calvacade’ – complete with singing and dancing. So if you didn’t get to see the stars in the streets you can see them on the floats.  Plus there’s a dance party with some of the  characters in the main square…and really who doesn’t want to do the twist with Pluto.

6)    Do Disneyland Too
If you’re going to make the pilgrimage to California Adventure for the Trick or Treat party, you’ll really have to go the Magic Kingdom too..I mean you are right there! They’ve turned the Haunted Mansion into a stunning Nightmare Before Christmas experience, ghoulish ghosts taking over Space Mountain, a full scale Day of the Dead display and a stunning  Halloween Screams fireworks display. And after the amazing fireworks, you should brave the masses and go to the new incarnation of Fantasmic! It’s so worth the wait and the wading through the crowds.  But Halloween Time at Disneyland is a limited event with the spooks being scared off on November 1st.

Tickets for the weekend parties are $39 at the door or $32 if bought in advance. More details here.