Mickey's Halloween Party

Note to Readers:  This may be a long post...be prepared! Grab some coffee or something to drink, kick back and enjoy this post! :)
As many of you may already know, I surprised JL with a trip to Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party. Originally it was supposed to be my and John going, but because of John's paramedic class, he was unable to go. My mother had already bought the plane tickets so instead of us being out $$$ I decided to take JL. Now...I have learned in the past, that if you don't want your kids to bug you every second, minute, hour of the day when you tell them you are going somewhere, you just wait until about 5 minutes before you are
leaving and then tell them. This is exactly what we did with JL.

We took him out of school early and headed up to Tucson. I packed his bags and loaded them in the car without him even knowing the night before. He had asked where we were going and we just told him we were going to Tucson to go shopping. He had no idea. We did some shopping until it was time to head the airport. I wanted so bad to tell him the whole day that we were taking him to Disneyland, but I was good and waited. I wanted John to be apart of this big surprise for JL, so I had John call JL and tell him the big news!

JL was so happy and excited! Let me just add that it was a good thing I waited to tell him where we were going because as soon as John told him, all I heard until we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel was, "Mom are we there yet?" and "Aww...it takes a long time to get to Disneyland."

We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel around 10pm that night and all of us were so excited we couldn't sleep. We went and ate a late night snack and then headed back to the hotel room. This hotel room was Ah~mazing. Everything was just so magical. From the Mickey hands that held the lamps, to the light~up musical head bored above the beds. From the shampoo bottles with Mickey ear toppers, to the Mickey Mouse printed carpet. The Disneyland hotel is definitely the place to stay.

We finally went to bed at about 1AM, and I knew we were going to have a long day ahead of us the next morning. At 6AM, JL received a wake~up call from Mickey Mouse. With less than 6 hours of sleep for all of us, we all got up with enthusiasm and started getting dressed. Since this was the day of Mickey's Halloween Party, JL got to wear his Peter Pan costume.

We got into the park an hour early (one of the perks for staying at the Disneyland Hotel) and I could not believe how un~crowded it was. It was great! JL was running down Main street and enjoying every minute of it. I kept telling him to slow down, but he was so excited that he just kept going. I have never been to Disneyland in October and I was so excited to see all the Halloween decorations. Pumpkins everywhere and everything was decorated to the extreme!

We found out last year on our Disneyland trip that JL was tall enough to go on the big rides now. Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, The Matterhorn, and Thunder Mountain Railroad. The only one he is still not tall enough for is Indiana Jones. After knowing this, I was so excited to know that I didn't have to wait 1 1/2 hours in line for Dumbo. :) We conquered them all and we didn't even wait in line for more than 15 minutes. October is definitely the time to go to Disneyland. JL loves Splash Mountain!

The day was a long one and JL passed out really early, I mean 11AM early. So my mom took him back to the hotel to get his Z's because he had Mickey's Halloween Party to attend that night in the park. This party is where you pay a special price and they don't let the normal amount of people into the park that night like they do during the day. We got a special wristband and a trick~or~treat bag too! The party started at 6PM and ALOT of people dressed up. There were some really cute costumes too! BUT no other Peter Pans. :) Disneyland lit up the night with purple, green, and orange lights. They had fog over the river and everything was spooky. Halloween music was playing and we went trick~or~treating all over Disneyland. It was so much fun and we got tons of candy!

The night ended with a Halloween parade and a spooktacular firework show right behind Sleeping Beauty's castle. After the fireworks I was ready to head back to the hotel. Not JL though. He was full of excitement and decided to stay with his Auntie Kacey and close down the park.

The next morning we got to spend half a day at Disneyland before we had to head to the airport. This trip was so much fun and everyone had a great time. We sure did miss John, but since he wasn't able to go that only means one thing..................

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we will have to go again! :) Darn, right?

And I know JL appreciated this trip and had a blast from this picture right here!

Now I know I should end here, but since you are still reading, here are a two random photos

 ENJOY!