Today at Disneyland: Halloween Time 2009

Our first visit to Disneyland during this year's Halloween Time season began with a bit of a parking adventure. We arrived about 3:45 to pull into the Mickey and Friends parking lot, just as we have on countless past Fridays...only to find ourselves routed into a verrrrry long parking detour.

We finally ended up in the Buzz Lightyear lot, which must be at least a mile or more from Mickey and Friends! They have shuttle buses there driven by non-cast members. Once we were there it was okay, but the detour to get there was crazy! Part of it was on Disney property and part was on city streets with Anaheim police and electronic signs showing the way.

Apparently they are way low on parking for busy days since the Timon lot has made way for Cars Land construction, and another guest told us they were "saving" at least one floor of Mickey and Friends for guests arriving later in the evening for the Halloween party at California Adventure.

They definitely need more cast members at the shuttle stop at the plaza between the parks, as there was much confusion about where to line up, and only one CM to answer questions.

Onward to Halloween Time!


The flowers at Town Square are in USC colors!


We paid our first visit to the Disney Gallery's new location in the former Bank of Main Street on Main Street U.S.A.:


Here's a peek at the Gallery's store inside the bank building:


I discovered a wonderful new book in the Gallery store, WINDOWS ON MAIN STREET by Chuck Snyder. It provides information on all the "dedication windows" on Main Street in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, including maps.


It does not include non-Main Street windows, such as Fess Parker's window in Anaheim's Frontierland, or the windows at Disneyland Paris. This colorful and very affordable book is a wonderful idea, the kind of thing that makes you wonder why no one thought of doing it sooner! Highly recommended for Disney theme park fans. I'd love to see an even more elaborate book on this topic one day in the future.

Here's an example of the detailed Halloween Time decorating, a balcony on Town Square:


The floral baskets are back at the Hub. Click to enlarge for a closer look -- they're beautiful!


The flowers at the Hub were exquisite.


Buzz is part of the decorations surrounding the statue of Walt and Mickey at the Hub. We hope to see the TOY STORY double feature in 3D tomorrow night.


Pluto and more lovely fall flowers:


Pumpkins fill a tree in Frontierland:


The Mark Twain in the late afternoon sun, while off to the left cast members prepare Tom Sawyer Island for the evening's performances of Fantasmic!


Diners in New Orleans Square enjoying a beautiful fall early evening:


The speck in the sky above New Orleans Square is the Goodyear Blimp arriving for the Angels' playoff game. The Angels beat the Red Sox in Game 2, 4-1, taking a 2-0 lead in Round 1 of the playoffs.


Zocalo Park in Frontierland:


It was a gorgeous evening! We plan to visit again next weekend to get our first look at the new Halloween Screams fireworks.

Previous Halloween Time Posts and Photos: September 29, 2006, September 30, 2006, October 21, 2006, September 28, 2007, October 12, 2007, and October 17, 2008.