We went to the Halloween party tonight (and I brought my Halloween porg with me) and had fun. We don't do pictures with the characters, but I do like seeing the various characters that are out. Our goals were mostly trick-or-treating, parade and World of Color: Villainous.
I found the treat trails to be a bit odd. Unlike at Disneyland where trails are mostly just in walkways, there were many trails here that were in various queue spaces. There was even one in Fillmore's in Carsland and one that went through the bread factory in the wharf area (I did love this little tidbit in that area.). I did like that in some of the treat trails, there were various villains in the middle of the trail. My favorite was the treat trail in Stage 17 in Hollywoodland because the character was fantastic in interacting with the guests.
We went through the little AP trail next to Goofy's ride on the pier and got our AP party magnet, which I really liked.
The party is listed as being sponsored by Mars Wrigley. Mars makes sense because of some of the candy we got, but I only associate Wrigley with gum, which they don't give out and don't even sell at the parks, so I don't know what else that Wrigley owns. This year, it seemed like there were many more instances of alternative snacks (goldfish crackers, apple crisps, sun chips, pirates booty) rather than just candy. There was one station that we found that gave away the Go-Go squeeze apple sauce, but when we went back later in the evening, they didn't have them anymore. Sadness. The treat trail that's listed on Buena Vista street didn't seem to be put up until after they were done sweeping the park of non-party guests. I think we noticed it there around 8pm. Overall, I came away with a lot of treats from tonight.
I'd been hearing about the villains trail (it's called Villains Grove and there are no treats there) in the Redwood Creek area. I'd also heard that the line can be extremely long, so we waited until late to go. I think we got in line around 10:15 and waited maybe 10 minutes or so. It was fine, and there were some cool effects, and if it was open during a normal day, I'd probably linger in a few areas, but I'm not entirely sure I got what the fuss was about. I certainly wouldn't have been happy if we'd had to wait 30 minutes or more.
We sort of saw the parade (there's only one showing) in that we were having dinner from Boardwalk and watched the parade from where we were sitting. It looked to be the same parade as last year, though the headless horseman pre-show seemed to go much faster this year. I was disappointed when the horseman pretty much just meandered last year.
There were two showings of Villainous. We caught the first show and since it wasn't nearly as crowded as a regular night, we got a pretty decent view. I absolutely loved the show. They did some cool effects with the water and lights and lasers and even some effects on the coaster, and we got to see characters we don't normally see in Disney shows. I also loved that there really was a coherent whole story to the show, which I don't feel any of the other World of Color shows have had. I haven't been a particular fan of World of Color, though I've come to appreciate it, and I like certain segments, but I think Villainous is my favorite overall World of Color show. If it was showing every night during Halloweentime, I'd make an effort to see it several times.
Some people have asked about Fastpass and wait times for rides. Fastpass is not in operation during the party but Fastpasses are accepted right up until the regular operating day ends at 6pm and the party starts. I didn't pay that much attention to ride times, but the two times we went through the treat trail near Soarin', the wait times were 10 minutes and 15 minutes. The wait time for Guardians after dark was quite a bit longer. Right around 6pm, the wait time was 90 minutes but that included non-party guests, as they were allowing non-party guests to enter the standby line right up until 6pm. Unless you happen to have a Fastpass for that 5pm to 6pm hour, I'd suggest doing the after dark version of the ride later in the evening. I didn't make it back there later to see what the wait time was when it was only party guests.
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