Boo to you! Halloween season is upon us! Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is in full swing in the Magic Kingdom. Aside from Walt Disney World’s flagship theme park, Halloween seems to be an afterthought in other parts of the resort. With that in mind, I thought I would do some arm chair imagineering in an effort to enhance the seasonal Halloween offerings throughout the resort. Thanks to Shanghai, I’m sure none of these ideas will ever come to fruition. A Disney fan can only dream.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom:
Much like the storytellers outside the Haunted Mansion at the Halloween party, Disney can have a storyteller in the Serka Zong Bazaar outside of Expedition Everest telling the story of the Yeti. While a personalized short version of this story is told as part of the Wilderness Explorer program, with a little more theatrics Disney can produce a show similar to the ones the storytellers in Epcot put on during their Holiday’s Around the World presentation.
Over at the Conservation Station in Rafiki’s Planet Watch, children can experience and learn about a huge variety of creepy crawlers. Like the short story of the Yeti, this is also included in the Wilderness Explorer program, ;however, multiple insect stations can be set up around the attraction instead of one zoo keeper standing at a table on the Discovery Island Trails (as they appear now).
Epcot:
Even with Food and Wine Festival, this park can embrace Halloween. If they can have a cranberry bog, why can’t they have a pumpkin patch? They can put it in the gardens between Club Cool and the Imagination Pavilion which is currently occupied by both the Greenhouse Guru and CHEW Collective Marketplaces. Here, Disney can sell custom jack-o-lanterns along with pumpkins with Disney characters painted on them. A marketplace featuring various pumpkin related foods along with pumpkin beer and pumpkin spiced coffee drinks can also be placed here.
In the Odyssey Center, a small exhibit showing models of the current Disneyland Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas overlay could be featured. The craft beer marketplace currently occupying this spot can be relocated to the Festival Center over at the old Wonders of Life Pavilion. That would in turn increase foot traffic for this part of the festival.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
The behind-the-scenes movie offered in the theater at the Star War’s Launch Bay could be temporarily replaced with the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi movie currently being offered in the old Sounds Dangerous attraction. That current space could then be used to feature a presentation of the classic Mickey, Goofy, and Donald cartoon short “Lonesome Ghosts,” along with compilation that pays tribute to great Disney Halloween moments.
Aside from that, experiencing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in the pitch blackness like Disneyland is doing with its current “Late Checkout,” promotion would be epic!
Next month I will talk about how I would tweak Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and share my ideas to allow the Grand Floridian to get in on the Halloween fun.
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