Just a CHOC Walk in the Park - Days in the ParkCast Banzai #3

In this, the latest “Banzai” episode of our ParkCast, we’re talking about a very unique opportunity we recently had to participate in a charity walk for CHOC (the Children’s Hospital of Orange County) at Disneyland in early October.  As members of the Disney community, and as people who truly enjoy giving back to such an amazing community, we jumped at the chance to participate in such an amazing event!  So come on by and join us as we recount the wonderful experience we had participating in this annual event (CHOC Walk in the Park 2011), and find out how you can get involved yourselves in the future.  Pull up your chair and sit a spell; we’ll be happy you did!

Pull up a chair, sit a spell, and listen along; we’ll be happy you did!  You can listen to our ParkCast on the Days in the ParkCast website or in iTunes!

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Originally recorded: 11/26/11
Final Edits and Release: 12/21/11
Hosted by: Chad Elliott & Mark Treiger

In this episode…

Let’s have a “good cause” episode!
-It’s “CHOC”, not “Chalk”!
-Disneyland’s two charity walks per year: AIDS Walk Orange County & CHOC Walk in the Park
So tell us… what IS the “CHOC Walk in the Park”?  How does it work?
-Thanks for the donations
-Just donate and walk
Early morning? Stuck in traffic? Trying to get to a charity walk? Let’s talk suicide!
-“Early to rise, early to arrive!”
-The only complaint of the day: Traffic! Rather, the handling of traffic!
-Who needs a tram when you have feet? It is a charity “walk” after all
-We missed the opening ceremony! Picture Donald Duck throwing a tantrum… now!
-What do you get when you’re too foolish to change the radio while waiting in traffic? Suicide chat!
The “CHOC Walk in the Park” itself
-5K walk, but for the metrically impaired, 3.2 miles!
-Still irked about the traffic apparently, because here we go again!
-It’s crowded… be prepared to throw down sardine-style
-Mark talks the route; dude’s got the memory of a Dumbo
-“Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge…” Monty Python in the ParkCast! Plus, we’re backstage at DCA!
-What’s a charity walk without a little “Journey”?
-Come to the good and charitable side… we have cookies. Bring your own milk!
Need some encouragement? Show us the Character Meets!
-Cowboy-style Goofy, Chip and Dale
-Poor, poor Disney princesses; make this carousel stop!
-”Make it blue!” “Make it green!”; the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ fairies take over Sleeping Beauty Castle
-In a galaxy far, far away you get to meet Stormtroopers, Buzz Lightyear, and Buzz’s astro-babes
-Ferb and the Fireside girls, Flynn and Rapunzel, and Princess Tiana
-Twilight Zone Tower of Terror bellhops both encourage and discourage at the same time; too sweet!
Next year, the Days in the Park team!
Need more information?
-CHOC Walk in the Park: www.chocwalk.net
-AIDS Walk Orange County: www.aidswalkorangecounty.com

Contact us about the Days in the ParkCast!
-Email us at parkcast@daysinthepark.com
-or call us on Voicemail at 520-DAYS-CST (329-7278)

Review our show for us in iTunes!

Forget Christmas in July; It's Halloween in December! - Days in the ParkCast Banzai #2

Hangin' with the Pumpkin King

You’ve heard of Christmas in July?  Well, since it’s actually Christmas month now (December), we’re celebrating Halloween instead!  In this special Banzai episode of the ParkCast, we’re travelling back in time to October 21, 2011 to relive a special Day in the Park at Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland.  Come along with us as we take a walk down memory lane (or Main Street U.S.A. if you prefer) and talk about all of the wonderfully creepy and fantastic things this one-of-a-kind Halloween Party at the Happiest Place on Earth has to offer.

Pull up a chair, sit a spell, and listen along; we’ll be happy you did!  You can listen to our ParkCast on the Days in the ParkCast website or in iTunes!

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Originally recorded: 11/26/11

Final Edits and Release: 12/08/11

Hosted by: Chad & Mark

What we’re talking about in this episode!
Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year at Disneyland, and this year we attended Mickey’s Halloween Party to get in on the fun.

Just what is this shindig all about? Gimme the deets! (Mickey’s Halloween Party)
-Give us some dates, hours, and most importantly, the cost!

“We’re gonna need a bigger bag…” (MHP Trick or Treating)
-The bags are a tad small; if you’re candy-lovers, you may want to invest!

-Loads of both candy AND healthy treats to be had

-Awesome trick or treating locations and the lines fly (Village Haus Restaurant)

Halloween-themed attractions abound!

-Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy

-Haunted Mansion Holiday

-Give us “it’s a small haunted world”!

-Creepy atmosphere along the Rivers of America and the old Mine Ride Through Nature’s Wonderland

Sing along with us! “I… love a parade…” (Mickey’s Costume Party Cavalcade)
-Short, but a very specific parade designed JUST for Mickey’s Halloween Party

-Cop and Robber Chip and Dale? Sold!

-Miss Piggy invades a parade! “Kissy Kissy…”

Everybody scream! Everybody scream! It’s the Pumpkin King! (Halloween Screams fireworks/pyro)
-Special fireworks extravaganza created just for Mickey’s Halloween Party starring Jack and the gang

-Loads of Disney Villains, and the Big Bad Wolf!

-”Dark” fireworks and lighting on Sleeping Beauty Castle – definitely worth a view!

“Look Ma! It’s Maleficent!” (Character Greetings)
-We finally get to meet Jack Skellington in person! And he sounds just like Prince Humperdink!

-Marilyn Manson in Disneyland!

-Villains Character Greetings in Fantasyland; we’d love to see more! Maybe in the Princess Fantasy Faire?

-Maybe we should dress as Eddie Valiant and Judge Doom next year; Mark’ll shave his noggin!

Last Thoughts…
-Ultimately, with the extra cost, is it worth a look?

Contact us about the Days in the ParkCast!

-Email us at parkcast@daysinthepark.com

-or call us on Voicemail at 520-DAYS-CST (329-7278)

Review our show for us in iTunes!

Character Greetings at Disneyland's Mickey's Halloween Party

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When we first started blogging, just a little over a year ago at this point, it was right around Halloween Time 2010 at the Disneyland Resort.  One of the things that we tried to do was jump right in feet-first and go for the gusto so to speak.  As such, one of the earliest posts we did highlighting the season was to attend the Happiest Haunts Tour with our friends at FindingMickey.com.  It was an awful lot of fun (you can go back and read it to see for yourselves), but what we didn't say was that when we decided to do the Tour, it was a choice between that and Mickey's Halloween Party.  Each and every year, the Disneyland Resort hosts the Halloween Party, where guests are able to go into Disneyland (only if you purchase a special ticket) and watch a special Halloween fireworks show, see a special Halloween parade, see special Disney Villains and characters in some great meet and greets, and go through various trick or treat stations around The Park and get all the candy your little heart can stand (figuratively and literally).  So this year, we knew it was going to be a must for us to attend Mickey's Party; under the guise of it being an official blog assignment of course!

Mark had been to The Party a time or two in the past with his niece while it was still being held at Disney California Adventure Park, but had never attended it since they moved it inside Disneyland Park last year, and Chad had never been period, so it was a new experience of sorts for both of us!  So over the next few days, leading up to Halloween, we're going to share some of our experience (and photos!) with you, our faithful readers.

We decided to go with our friends FindingMickey.com (again!) this year and attended Mickey's Party on the 21st, which was a Friday.  Of course, being the only weekend day when The Party is held, it was crazy crowded with loads of people, but we did manage to do everything we planned on doing.  Part of the problem (if you can really call it that) with Mickey's Halloween Party is that it's only 5 hours long (7pm until midnight), and with so much to see and do, choices have to be made!  We knew we wanted candy (who doesn't?!), and we knew we wanted to see Mickey's Costume Party Cavalcade (parade) and Halloween Screams (fireworks), which left us deciding what characters we wanted to see and what attractions we wanted to ride; not to mention the amount of time it takes to navigate the crowds and move around Disneyland at night.  There was just no way to do everything, unfortunately.

So, looking over our choices we decided to make our way to two different character areas over the course of the night to try for some photos.  Everywhere else had characters that were out fairly frequently anyway, so we opted for some of the more "rarified" ones and decided to try our luck with the Phineas and Ferb Character Greeting (we love that show!), and Jack Skellington and Sally later in the evening in New Orleans Square.  We had originally wanted some pictures with some of the Disney Villains, but when we went by their area they were pretty standard ones you could see any of day of the week, so we were pretty much thwarted in that regard.  But as you can see, the ones we did want to get, we did!  And we're sharing those with you today.

Meeting Phineas and Ferb was just plain awesome.  These guys, of course, really know how to throw a party and if we've learned nothing else from them and their cartoon series, it's that summer shouldn't be wasted and childhood is for the enjoyment of it all!  Can't think of any better characters to have wanted to take our picture with, so score!  

But we got a bonus with this one! Our little calendar of events for the evening said nothing about Agent P, and yet there he was!  Awesomely cool to have our picture taken with possibly the greatest secret agent on the planet?  We think so!

Maybe the coolest (and certainly the funniest) part about the entire thing though was Mark's costume.  He decided to go to The Party as Agent P, and his costume was a hit with pretty much everyone who recognized him during the night.  Simple, yet hilarious!  The Cast Members loved it too, as is evidenced by the fact that they made both of our platypuses turn around and show off their tails.  Probably one of the funniest things we saw all night, and definitely something not everyone got to experience.  We love those special touches!

The picture we most wanted, though, and the one that Chad has coveted the most for such a long time was a shot with Jack Skellington and Sally.  Unfortunately, Sally was a no-show when we finally got over to the line around midnight on our way out of Disneyland, but the Cast Members did a really cool thing in leaving the line open a little past when The Park closed, so we were able to get our shot with Jack.  He was seriously cool to interact with, and even shook Chad's hand and told him he loved his choice of wardrobe.  Although Chad wasn't in costume, he was rocking a Jack T-Shirt, and a compliment from Jack made the whole thing worth it.  And we think that we got a great picture to boot!  It was also, we think, probably the only time we'll ever hear Marilyn Manson inside Disneyland, singing "This Is Halloween" as they spun the "Nightmare Revisited" CD for this particular Greeting.  Too cool!

So there you have it! Our Character Greetings experience from Mickey's Halloween Party.  We think we made some good choices with who we opted for, and we hope you enjoy looking just as much as we enjoyed having the pictures taken.

We'll be back with more fun from The Party over the next few days (featuring the fireworks, parades and more) so stay tuned!