Disneyland Halloween

Fulfilling dreams- that was the motto of this visit to Disneyland. I have never been to Disneyland during Halloween time and so I made it a priority by coming a day early before heading to Las Vegas with my sister Cynthia. Cynth has an annual pass and so we headed there on a Thursday which was super smart because we were able to ride many of our favorite rides several times. They have the whole park decorated with pumpkins- which are so cute like here at the entrance being carved into Mickey and Pluto

And these arrangements on each lamppost

We loved seeing the Giant Mickey Pumpkin, even though we had to wait in line to get out photo taken

And of course, being Disney, the opposite side of this pumpkin was carved with Mickey winking goodbye

They also had Donald Duck as a Jack-o-lantern and Goofy as a Skeleton

Our ultimate favorite ride was Ghost Galaxy which is the transformation of Space Mountain. It is the same roller coaster but they add projections of this scary skeleton head throughout the ride. The BEST is the back- it is SUPER fast and you feel like the skeleton hand is going to reach out and grab you. We went on this ride 4 times- we waited for about 30 mins the first time and then used 3 fast passes and we LOVED it each and every time.

Cynthia is big into doing crazy poses for the pictures and this was her favorite one of the day- pretending like she is talking on her cell phone with her sunglasses on while I kind of look like a ghost myself with my super pale skin and despondent look on my face :-)

We also rode twice the other special Halloween ride- the Nightmare Before Christmas- which completely replaces the Haunted Mansion. The outside decor of the mansion was so cute and whimsical with the blending of two great holidays- Halloween and Christmas.

The inside was incredible- I took one photo, without flash- of the interior while we were getting on the ride.

I have to reiterate DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS WITH FLASH inside the ride! One lady in the car behind us took flash photos throughout the WHOLE RIDE. It was so distracting and I'm sure that her photos were not very good anyways. I was glad that we went later on in the evening to see it all lit up.

I also rode on the Nemo ride for the first time since the wait was only 10 minutes. It was much better than I had expected- I remember that the old submarine ride was terrible and that this is a great improvement. I wouldn't wait in a long line for it but the short wait was fun.

Another longtime dream came true- I ate at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant overlooking Pirates of the Caribbean. It is usually so crowded and so we thought that this would be our best chance of visiting it.

The lighting was amazing as well as the food- I particularly liked the crab cakes and Cynthia loved her filet mignon.

Here Cynthia and I are after a great meal. So many people said that we looked like sisters this trip- we usually don't get that but I guess the longer hair signals that (despite the different colors)

Finally, we stayed to see the new fireworks show entitled "Halloween Screams." It featured all of Disney's classic villains like Maleficent and even the "pink elephants on parade" from Dumbo (I didn't think that they were "villains" just kind of crazy) as well as some great remixes of the classic songs. And the fireworks were great too.

All in all, it was an explosive end to a day filled with new adventures.