It’s been over a month since I went, but I wanted to get that USA summer trip finished off first. Obviously, I’ve done enough reports from HKDL, so this will be purely Halloween stuff from this year. I’m going again tomorrow, but probably won’t bother with pictures this time.
The entrance is predictable.
The brass band were playing songs from the Disney villains which was a nice touch.
Apparently, there’s some kind of afternoon parade, but I went after work, so never caught it.
Some theming from the central area in front of the castle. I like that they change this up every year. The mirror was cool. When it got dark it had a face in it that seemed to turn and follow you.
Fantasy Gardens, which are always used for character photos, have been given over exclusively to villains. Apparently there are about 8 of them which get switched around during the day.
There were a few other non-Disney costume characters around.
After having no walkthroughs last year, they’ve included a totally new one this time, The Nightmare Experiment. Unlike previous walkthroughs, this one was actually quite Disney-based, with parts themed to Pirates of the Caribbean, Toy Story, and Alice in Wonderland.
It’s very good in terms of sets and having some actual characters in there. In pevious walkthroughs, they’ve had a lot more performers in them, but they were quite mostly generic to the overall theme of the attractions, rather than having a specific role.
I’ve just done a quick search on YouTube to see if anyone’s filmed it; there are no pictures or videos allowed inside. This seems to be the best, though it’s very dark in places and it’s difficult to see much detail in most of it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZC2kZcDQns[/youtube]
Not Halloween, but I had to have a go on Big Grizzly Mountain and Mystic Manor.
Tomorrowland still has the Star Wars overlay. No idea how much longer for though. Hyperspace Mountain is fab though.
Other than The Nightmare Experiment, the main Halloween attraction this year is Villains’ Night Out, a mini parade followed by a projection thing on the castle. The buildings along both side of Main Street are projected on as well during, and after, the whole thing.
Paint the Night has been suspended for this, but the regular fireworks/projection show still happens later.
Basically, the evil queen from Snow White and Jafar from Aladdin, along with a bunch of dancers, make their way up Main Street and then stop in front of the castle. The queen then spouts a load of s**t, conjuring up villains who are projected onto the castle. There are generic Halloween projections on the castle before and after that.
She’s too fab.
Another video that isn’t mine. There are probably better ones, but I can’t be arsed to check.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxe91Kk7To[/youtube]
I’ll just throw in some pictures of the area to finish off, including the projections along Main Street, which were still going as I left the park.
All in all, it’s a decent event, with everything being totally new for this year. Clearly a lot of work has gone into The Nightmare Experiment and Villains’ Night Out. The sets for the former are amazing, and the time involved getting all that projection work done for the latter must be immense.
It just didn’t feel as big of an event as in previous years. Last year, they had no walkthroughs, but had a retrofitted Jungle Cruise and epic whole-land events in Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point. I can understand not bringing the Jungle Cruise thing back. While it was a nice idea, it wasn’t all that great for the most part and involved quite a bit of downtime for the ride both before and after to get everything done. The Mystic Point thing was excellent though, so hopefully they’ll bring that back out again at some point for a future event.
Despite Villains’ Night Out taking up the whole of Main Street and the castle, as an overall event, it felt a bit more contained than in previous years. I would have loved to have seen Graves Academy come back as the second walkthrough, or the space used for something else new, but it seems that the location for that just isn’t available anymore since they haven’t used it for a few years now.
I kind of found that individual elements worked well by themselves, but it lacked the overall atmosphere and cohesiveness of previous years.
The entrance is predictable.
The brass band were playing songs from the Disney villains which was a nice touch.
Apparently, there’s some kind of afternoon parade, but I went after work, so never caught it.
Some theming from the central area in front of the castle. I like that they change this up every year. The mirror was cool. When it got dark it had a face in it that seemed to turn and follow you.
Fantasy Gardens, which are always used for character photos, have been given over exclusively to villains. Apparently there are about 8 of them which get switched around during the day.
There were a few other non-Disney costume characters around.
After having no walkthroughs last year, they’ve included a totally new one this time, The Nightmare Experiment. Unlike previous walkthroughs, this one was actually quite Disney-based, with parts themed to Pirates of the Caribbean, Toy Story, and Alice in Wonderland.
It’s very good in terms of sets and having some actual characters in there. In pevious walkthroughs, they’ve had a lot more performers in them, but they were quite mostly generic to the overall theme of the attractions, rather than having a specific role.
I’ve just done a quick search on YouTube to see if anyone’s filmed it; there are no pictures or videos allowed inside. This seems to be the best, though it’s very dark in places and it’s difficult to see much detail in most of it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZC2kZcDQns[/youtube]
Not Halloween, but I had to have a go on Big Grizzly Mountain and Mystic Manor.
Tomorrowland still has the Star Wars overlay. No idea how much longer for though. Hyperspace Mountain is fab though.
Other than The Nightmare Experiment, the main Halloween attraction this year is Villains’ Night Out, a mini parade followed by a projection thing on the castle. The buildings along both side of Main Street are projected on as well during, and after, the whole thing.
Paint the Night has been suspended for this, but the regular fireworks/projection show still happens later.
Basically, the evil queen from Snow White and Jafar from Aladdin, along with a bunch of dancers, make their way up Main Street and then stop in front of the castle. The queen then spouts a load of s**t, conjuring up villains who are projected onto the castle. There are generic Halloween projections on the castle before and after that.
She’s too fab.
Another video that isn’t mine. There are probably better ones, but I can’t be arsed to check.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxe91Kk7To[/youtube]
I’ll just throw in some pictures of the area to finish off, including the projections along Main Street, which were still going as I left the park.
All in all, it’s a decent event, with everything being totally new for this year. Clearly a lot of work has gone into The Nightmare Experiment and Villains’ Night Out. The sets for the former are amazing, and the time involved getting all that projection work done for the latter must be immense.
It just didn’t feel as big of an event as in previous years. Last year, they had no walkthroughs, but had a retrofitted Jungle Cruise and epic whole-land events in Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point. I can understand not bringing the Jungle Cruise thing back. While it was a nice idea, it wasn’t all that great for the most part and involved quite a bit of downtime for the ride both before and after to get everything done. The Mystic Point thing was excellent though, so hopefully they’ll bring that back out again at some point for a future event.
Despite Villains’ Night Out taking up the whole of Main Street and the castle, as an overall event, it felt a bit more contained than in previous years. I would have loved to have seen Graves Academy come back as the second walkthrough, or the space used for something else new, but it seems that the location for that just isn’t available anymore since they haven’t used it for a few years now.
I kind of found that individual elements worked well by themselves, but it lacked the overall atmosphere and cohesiveness of previous years.
