Happy Halloween everyone!!
In honor of today’s special holiday I wanted to share two fun family traveling experiences we took to commemorate this time of year. My daughter has proven to be a real fan of Halloween and as she is thoroughly thrilled by looking at pumpkins, witches, ghosts and skeletons and all the other crazy fun thrills of the season, we decided to take her to the local pumpkin patch as well as Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland where she could experience trick or treating and pumpkin picking in style. We even threw a fun Halloween party that doubled as a baby sprinkle last weekend, but I will save those images for a future post. Without further ado, here are photos from these two special occasions!!
Pumpkin Patch Fun for Halloween
This past weekend, we took our daughter to a new pumpkin patch. They are in the middle of a Harvest Festival so there was plenty of Fall activities to do for the kids including live music, pig races, corn mazes, animal shows, tractor wagon rides for the whole family, tomato and live produce picking, pumpkin picking, food such as corn on the cob, tri-tip sandwiches and kettle corn (as well as shaved ice with two refills, burgers, hot dogs, chicken strips and the like) and a kids’ play area that included a slide, swings, pumpkin structures and more. There were even plenty of live animals including sheep, goats, cows, mini horses, pony rides etc. that you could feed if you wanted as well as mini tractors to ride or tip, depending on your preference. 🙂 Some special add-ons were ticketed such as the pony rides and mini tractor rides, while food was primarily cash only, but a majority of the attractions listed here were included with general admission.
This was our first-ever trip to this pumpkin patch as we had gone to a different one the past two years, and we all absolutely loved it! My daughter loved running through the corn maze, climbing atop the large stack of hay, entering and exiting the tall pumpkin houses and picking out her own pumpkin at the end of the long afternoon.
Halloween Time at Disneyland
Because our daughter is such a big fan of Disney and Halloween, and as she is at the age where trick or treating is starting to become relevant and fun to do with her friends, this year we decided to plan a family trip to Disneyland in California so she could experience the fun that is Mickey’s Halloween Party, a special ticketed event held at the park each year. Not only does the party allow all guests to come dressed in costume, something that Disney typically does not allow unless you are a child wearing one of their princess dresses, but it also gives each ticket holder admission for up to three hours in advance (giving you a full eight hours to enjoy the park at a lower price than what you would pay for a regular full day’s park admission).
Everyone must pay the extra ticketed price for this closed party event – including annual passholders – and this year was more expensive than previous years as it was the first-time ever Disneyland decided to expand the party to include admission into both California parks (including a huge Halloween overlay in California Adventure from the Oogie Boogie spookified entrance to bats circling overhead in the main street to a festive Halloween theme over Cars Land) as well as unlimited Photopass photos during the event, meaning if you took a ton of photos from Disneyland’s staffed photographers you would be able to download EVERY single one of those photos for free without paying extra.
This also meant that, in addition to the regular fun of Halloween Time you can generally experience at Disneyland which includes some Halloween-ified rides such as a Nightmare Before Christmas version of the classic Haunted Mansion ride or a Ghost Galaxy spin on the ever-popular Space Mountain, ticketed guests for Mickey’s Halloween Party could also experience special features ONLY available during the party such as unlimited trick or treating at designated stations throughout the park, photos with Disney villains that are typically only seen year-round at this special event (think Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen etc.), spooky barber shop-style singing from the grim Cadaver Dans, a ghoulish fireworks show and Frightfully Fun Parade led by Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas fame and now also featuring a ride by the Headless Horseman of the legendary Sleepy Hollow tale who jaunts along on a black stallion to sinister music just before the start of the parade. This year’s festivities also included a spooky Headless Horseman statue in the center of California Adventure as well as a Halloween ride overlay on two Cars Land rides plus their new Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT ride and plenty of spookily fun food from mummified Mickey rice krispie treats to bat wing cookies and sundaes, mummy macarons, poison skull cake pops and candy apples and even pumpkin spice churros.
I recently uploaded a video to my accompanying YouTube channel showing all the Halloween merchandise I picked up during Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland as well as some video footage of the beginning of the parade. Check that out below if you want to watch:
In addition to the fun merchandise we took home, including cute Mickey pumpkin lights (which we doubled as a festive light-up stroller finding tool at nighttime) and some appropriate Disney Halloween-themed mugs that I ordered online (including a poison apple mug and Haunted Mansion mug, both featured in the above video), here are a few snaps we took during the event itself.
Halloween Decor at Disneyland
Halloween Treats at California Adventure
Halloween Dinner at Cafe Orleans in Disneyland
For our dinner in the park, we chose to eat for the first time at Cafe Orleans, a New Orleans-inspired eatery, and were so excited to have snagged the last dinner reservation available for the evening! Pirate Dad was a good sport but HATED their signature dish, the Monte Cristo sandwich, as he felt after two bites he was simply just done. Topped with powdered sugar, this is a deep-fried Croque Monsieur sandwich with turkey, ham and swiss cheese all battered in the fried dough while served with a berry puree. I liked it (thought it was similar to a donut) but admittedly wasn’t prepared to eat a whole plate of it, and my husband found that once you got past the overly everything-is-super-fried aspect, his sandwich simply had too much ham in it for his liking.
We were, however, crazy about the pommes frites (garlicky parmesan fries) served with their signature Cajun spice remoulade sauce — so finger-licking good! We did not leave a single fry in the basket. As part of the season, the menu also included shrimp and grits (which my daughter [ahem mom and dad] enjoyed as her meal) as well as their bourbon street chicken. Both my dishes were enjoyable and tasty. I later had one more evening snack in the form of tacos – see photos below.
More Halloween Fun at both Disneyland and California Adventure
We had such a blast taking our daughter around each park for Halloween Time, even if we did not focus much on the rides this time around. Have you ever been to the special Disney Halloween party held at either Disneyland or Disney World or had a chance to visit your local pumpkin patch this year? Let me know in the comments.
And safe trick or treating to all tonight!!
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