For the third year in a row, Disney is presenting the Mickey’s
Halloween Treat party at Disney’s California Adventure on selected evenings
during the month of October. It’s a fun event for both kids and
adults where everyone can dress in costume (normally no one over
the age of 9 can enter the park in costume) and trick or treat
around the park. Lee and I went to the party on Friday night, and
here are a few observations.

In addition to the formal Meet and Greet spots, there are LOTS of
characters just walking around, I think even more than last year. The
lines are pretty long at the Meet and Greets – I think it’s more fun to
just run into the characters where generally there is no line!
Characters are also dancing with guests at the various party/music
spots. We saw Stitch and Flik getting down at Candy Corn Acres,
some piratical partying from Chip and Dale at Pirate’s Wharf, and
Frozone, Merlin, and Sulley had the boogie fever at the Bat Lot
Bash.

There are even more treat stops this year – there is a new “Treat Trail”
in the Animation Building. There are more alternatives to candy
available – every treat stop has a “healthy” option in addition to the
candy. Last year there were only sliced apples, but this year there
were boxes of raisins, packets of fruit leather and small bags of
baby carrots as well.

I was disappointed in the candy selection – there was not much
chocolate, and it was mostly things like Now and Laters, Laffy Taffy,
Smarties and Lemon Heads. I got a couple of Butterfingers, Nestle
Crunch bars and one Snickers and one Clark bar – not much chocolate as
far as this chocoholic is concerned! There were several treat stations
that were giving out 2 oz bags of Kissables, though, so that was a nice
treat!

There are many more activities in the wharf area this year, which has
been set up with (what else?) a pirate theme. The characters in the
area are all wearing pirate attire and the craft area is decorated with
lots of pirate figures. There’s even pirate-themed games – Lee got to
fire a cannon at a target and won a pirate bookmark and some (temporary)
tattoos).

The decorations are much the same as last year – Halloween projections
on the sidewalks, Mickey pumpkin and Mickey ghost lights, and spider
webs projected on Grizzly Peak, the Orange Stinger, and the Hyperion
Theater.

New this year is the Mickey’s Trick or Treat on the Street character
cavalcade. I don’t know that I’d call it a parade – there’s one central
float that’s accompanied by some sign floats and a couple of large moving
jack-o-lanterns. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald are are the
central float, and a bunch of characters and cast members in costume
follow it on its route. It follows the normal parade route, with stops
in front of Golden Screams and Candy Corn Acres (Sunshine Plaza). There
the characters perform a couple of songs and invite audience members
(kids, generally!) to come out and dance with them – the kids get a
Mickey’s Halloween Treat button for participating. It was kind of fun
and the new Trick or Treat on the Street song is catchy.

A fair number of people dressed in costume (like last year there were lots and
lots of pirates!), but a lot of people didn’t dress up. Lee and I were
from very different worlds – he was a Jedi Knight (Luke Skywalker from
Return of the Jedi) and I was Belle. Lee’s costume was popular with the
ladies. 🙂