Hallowed Ground...

Boo, I mean, boo...




In a few weeks the holidays will begin at the Disneyland Resort...

Soon you'll be able to walk into the "Nightmare Before Christmas" seasonal overlay of the Haunted Mansion and take part in all of the HalloweenTime parties, or just walk through all the heavily layered lands of this holiday. But then there is the excitement of seeing what will happen across the Esplanade. Remember how Buena Vista Street was themed to an old fashioned celebration of the Fourth of July? It was minimal, but showed how you can take this great new entrance and turn it into something even more special. But now, the next major holiday is right around the corner and you have to wonder what is up the sleeves of Disneyland's entertainment department?

From what I hear, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and happy. But this is the first season for the newly rebranded park, and the thought is that it will be adding layers upon layers as the years go by. So we will find areas throughout the park decked out in orange and black and other activities to go with Halloween, but it will also be a minimalistic celebration of this spooky time. This won't be as dramatic as the Christmas layover which will go all out, but unless the plans change, the areas around Disney's second gate will still be filled with enough ghosts and ghouls to delight the child in all of us. And each year, more and more theming will be added.

Now that's scary...

HalloweenTiming...

A lot of people have been writing in complaining about the lack of detail in DCA's "HalloweenTime" decorations. While Disneyland Park is getting some additions to the successful displays they had last year, many are noticing that DCA doesn't seem to be getting an equal share of the theming... even more so, some areas seem to be getting less theming than last year.

There's a simple answer to this...

The main reason that it's not getting more "HalloweenTime" decorations is purely a financial decision. Does this mean, Iger and his Suits have morphed into Einser? No, not really. It simply makes economic sense really... I happen to agree with the reasoning as well.

You see, DCA is about to undergo a dramatic transformation. One that will last at least five to six years and if that part proves successful then we can count on another four or five years more of even more dramatic changes. Now in the middle of all this, would you create a bunch of expensive decorations only to have them be obsolete and useless in a couple years? It wouldn't be smart to do this. If you're looking for an elaborate expansion of the "HalloweenTime" theming it won't be coming to DCA before the 2010/11 timeframe. By then, enough of the changes will be established so that the can use some truly creative designs that won't fit into the current layout of the Park.

Until then, you'll just have to watch DCA's older sister get all the attention as the details get lavished on it over the next couple years and the new Halloween fireworks show gets underway next year. But enough about that... if I keep talking and my next Anaheim Blue Sky Alert won't be more than a sentence long! Let's just suffice to say that DCA isn't trying to "Trick" anyone...

They're just going to be giving out those "Treats" over the next few years.