As I mentioned on Sunday, we spent Friday and Saturday at Disneyland for their annual Halloween party. I covered the party for Mommy Nearest and my article is up for anyone interested! Our family loves this event, and while we’ve been lucky enough to get press passes the last few years, I would absolutely buy tickets for us if we didn’t. And, if you haven’t entered my giveaway to win four tickets, make sure you do!
Annabel picked out this year’s family costumes while we were still at last year’s party, so there has been a lot of ongoing excitement for the party.
We went as The Incredibles, with Mike and me in T-Shirts and the kids in full costume:
The kids were super into it (James was also super into the candy in his mouth).
Annabel remembered her favorite thing from years’ past, the Monsters University Dance Party, and asked if she and James could go dance:
Annabel’s dancing got her noticed by a Disney employee who invited her onstage to participate in the Scare Contest:
She walked away with a shiny ribbon:
After the party, we walked across the street to the Disneyland Hotel where we’d booked a room for the night. This was only my second time in a Disney hotel, and the magic in this place was amazing. We all went a little gaga for the headboard in our room which lit up with a fireworks display and played “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.”
The next day we had plans to meet up with Mike’s sister’s family at Disneyland to celebrate our niece’s birthday. Since we’d stayed in the Disneyland Hotel, we got to enter Disneyland an hour before the park opened to the public. We had fun walking onto all of the kids’ favorite rides:
We also met up with these cool characters from Neverland:
At around 10am, when the park started to get hot, we went back to our hotel to change into swimsuits. The hotel had three pools, plus water slides of varying heights. Annabel and James were absolutely obsessed with the kids’ sides (I couldn’t blame them).
After cooling off in the pool, it was time to meet up with our family and celebrate another year of Michaela.
I think I enjoy going to Disneyland almost as much as my kids do at this point. All of those clichés about seeing the place from your kids’ eyes are definitely true, plus now I appreciate how pricey and hard it was for my parents to take me all those years ago. Staying in a Disneyland hotel is definitely the cherry on top of the whole thing, and something Mike and I are hoping we can continue to do for the kids when we can. It’s a treat for them, but also for us – not as much driving, plus all the luxuries of staying away from home (you know I got room service)!
DefendUSA says:
Loved the photo of Annie and Peter skipping away!! How awesome!! I never got to Disney World until I was 22 and my favorite thing was the “if you had wings” ride…Eastern Airlines thing. My favorite character will always be Sleeping Beauty.
Jessie says:
It looks like you had a great time, what s fun birthday celebration. It makes me want to take my daughter for her birthday!
Katrina says:
How fun!! I love Disneyland. We live about 30 minutes from Disneyland and used to have annual passes but stopped getting them a few years ago because 1) the kids’ school and sports schedules kept us from going and 2) have you seen the prices lately for the annual passes? They’ve gone way up in the past 4 years. With a family of two adults and ten kids it’s just not affordable anymore to buy those annual passes. Anyway, it’s funny that you put this post up today because I’m taking Aiden, my two year old, to Disneyland today. And I am buying an annual pass JUST for myself. And I’m going to take him at least twice a week for the month’s of October and November. Our new baby is due December 1st, and I just want to get this “mommy” time in with my little guy before he stops being the “baby” in the family
Katrina says:
p.s. He’s never been to Disneyland but loves Mickey Mouse Club House and all that is Disney, so it should really be a fun time with him
Jaime says:
Thank for all your great tips on Mommy dearest. We are taking Sophia to Disneyland for the weekend for her birthday. We are also attending Mickey’s Halloween party which falls on her birthday. What she doesn’t know is we are staying at the Disneyland hotel while we are there. It was a splurge but she didn’t want a party this year. Your tips are going to come in handy. Looks like a great time was had by all. What tower did you stay in at the Disneyland hotel?
Heather says:
We were in the Fantasy Tower! Since I’d never been, I didn’t realize each tower had a theme until we were leaving!
Christina S says:
Okay, I have a few halloween party questions…
We’ve sat in several spots for the new fireworks so we could see different projections. My favorite is in front of the castle because of the flying friends and the projections on the Matterhorn. Are there cool projections on the matterhorn for halloween?
Is there a specific time the villains arrive in the black horse drawn carriages? Or is it just all throughout the night?
Are the Cadaver Dans only at certain times? 30-min intervals?
Do we get a performance schedule when we come into the park?
I think that’s it. I’m so excited to go! Will definitely follow your advice for the dance party. My little guy dances his diaper off – he was just shakin’ it today in the Tiki Room!
Heather says:
Hmm…I’m not sure if there are projections on the Matterhorn for this show. I am thinking no, because I feel like the PR person would have mentioned that to me for my article (she made it a point to mention the Main Street projections).
All of the things, like the Cadaver Dans, dance parties, villains, etc, happen throughout the night, but definitely ask for a schedule when you walk in. They SHOULD hand you one, along with a map to all of the trick-or-treat trails, so if they don’t give it to you, be sure to ask!
Jordan says:
Um, that picture of Annie dancing at the scare party? #HairGoals