note: Sometimes, special events are held at The Park that we just aren't fortunate enough to be able to attend, no matter how much we would like. Last week's Villains Victory Party was one such event. Fortunately, we have a lot of friends who can often take advantage of those opportunities and are willing to help us out. One of our friends from Twitter, Lynnette (@Lynnet_te) was willing to pitch in and write today's article for us. We think she did a fabulous job and we can't wait to have her back again!
Throughout the month of October, we’ve been asked to vote for our favorite Disney villain on Disneyland’s Halloween web site. Voters could choose from Captain Hook, Ursula, Cruella DeVille, Jafar, Wicked Queen, or Maleficent and after all of the voting was tallied, the winner would be crowned the most Villainous Villain. As a frequent reader of the official Disney Parks Blog, I entered their trivia contest to be able to attend the Villains Victory Party held at Disneyland Park. I was so excited to find out that I was one of 75 readers who answered the questions correctly and got to go!
The party was scheduled for Thursday, October 28 after Disneyland closed from 8:00 until 10:00 pm. Check-in began at 3:00 and winners were given party credentials and one-day parkhoppers to use prior to the party starting.
As it got closer to 8:00, we headed to Frontierland for the party. Walking into this western themed area, we were greeted with giant Mickey Mouse pumpkin shaped luminaries, projections of spooky eyes on Bonanza Outfitters and skulls on the walkways. Cast members positioned at villain stations were giving away masks of each villain, encouraging you to choose the one whose team you wanted to be on. One mask per person, so we decided to each get a different villain. I chose Cruella DeVille.
As it got closer to 8:00, we headed to Frontierland for the party. Walking into this western themed area, we were greeted with giant Mickey Mouse pumpkin shaped luminaries, projections of spooky eyes on Bonanza Outfitters and skulls on the walkways. Cast members positioned at villain stations were giving away masks of each villain, encouraging you to choose the one whose team you wanted to be on. One mask per person, so we decided to each get a different villain. I chose Cruella DeVille.
Meandering towards the Rivers of America, we noticed the beautiful Mark Twain, re-themed for an eerie Haunted Voyage. Lit by small jack-o-lantern luminary garlands strung across the sides of the ship and piloted by a ghoulish captain, the Twain was boarding passengers for an evening tour around the rivers. As we began to pass through the turnstiles to board, a janitor named Braeden stopped us. “You don’t want to ride this boat! Reports say it’s haunted. You get on that boat, there’s no tellin’ what could happen to you! There’s Shadowmen out there. They got Dr. Facilier; they can get you too!” And with that warning fresh on our minds, we stepped through the turnstiles and boarded the riverboat.
We had a few minutes to explore the ship before it launched. The kids ran up the stairs right away, but I walked around the front of the boat. The Rivers of America had been engulfed in a thick fog and transformed the upbeat area of New Orleans Square into goosebump- inducing creepiness. To top it off, the area was filled with music from the villains’ sequence of Fantasmic. Up on the second level, the lighting of the pumpkin luminaries cast a beautiful orange glow over everything. I also found a Palm/Tarot card Reader telling passengers’ futures tucked away in the alcove between the stairwells.
As we travelled along, the captain shined a light across the pitch black waters so we could see what was out there. Then Braedon (have to say this Cast Member was awesome; I wanted to follow him around all night) appeared on the lower deck, telling stories of Shadowmen. “There they are, look look!!” he shouted and pointed (two fingered of course) to Tom Sawyer’s island. Sure enough, those Shadowmen were flitting around all over in the dark. When the light hit them, they ducked away. More hair-raising spooks appeared throughout the trip and all were pointed out by Braedon. “Oh, no Sheriff Tom!”, who popped out of the canoes. “Look out, it’s a witch!” as she cackled her way out near the settler’s cabin. “A Headless Horseman!”, where our usual Indian chief had been turned into the headless rider. The Indian village was lit in purples and greens and we saw crazy Injun’ Joe trying to scare us away. And finally, back to dock. I have to confess that I had a bit of start every time one of those guys jumped out at us. The trip in the dark was absolutely amazing and surreal. As we were coming down to disembark, we encountered The Cadaver Dans singing ‘Grim Grinning Ghosts’ on the lower deck. It was a perfect end to our Haunted Voyage.
We headed towards New Orleans Square and found Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters at a meet and greet. The line was horrendous, so we decided to come back to see them. Near the Royal Street Veranda, Witch Minnie Mouse and Sorcerer Donald were greeting guests, again with a super long line. Other attractions open during the party included Indiana Jones Adventure, Tarzan’s Treehouse, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion Holiday. We thought we’d head down to Haunted Mansion and work our way back to the rest. Passing French Market, we saw it had been converted to Club Skellington Dance Party for the night. It’s usually reserved for Halloween party goers only, so it was cool that they included it. We walked through and saw purple and green disco lights, projections of Zero (Jack’s dog) on the dance floor, rockin’ music, and kids having a ball dancing with cast members. Jack and Sally had a meet and greet set up next door to the dance party.
Haunted Mansion Holiday is always fun, but entering the elevator with only about a dozen people and being able to take your time walking through the Hall of Portraits was so nice. We were able to really look over all the changes they made for the season and board our doom-buggy at our own pace. The ride’s exit brought us to a make-shift doom-buggy scene where we posed for some pictures and pretended to be scared out of our minds. We headed back towards the main area of the party to see if we could find some more villains. Pirate Goofy and Chip and Dale came out of nowhere and passed quickly by us but we didn’t get a chance to take pictures; they were speedy-quick! The meet and greet with the Stepmother and Stepsisters had changed characters. We were a little bit disappointed because I wanted to get a picture with them, but I couldn’t believe I was seeing the old hag from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She was one of the villains I wanted to see the most! Joining her at this meet and greet were Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas, and the Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland. The hag loved the fact that we had the Wicked Queen’s mask and played a game of creepy peek-a-boo with it. She was really playful and took my son’s Mickey ears off and wore them herself. He loved it, all while the Queen of Hearts attempted to strangle my daughter. It will be an amazing memory clowning around with these villains.
At this point we only had about 20 minutes left of the scheduled party. Since we hadn’t ridden it earlier in the day, we thought we’d end this amazing night with a visit to Pirates. Walking over there, we were told by Cast Members that the “big announcement” would take place at 10. I had been wondering all night who had actually won the Villains contest, but thought I had missed hearing it! We rode Pirates, then scooted our way up to the Rivers of America railing for the official crowning getting ready to take place on Tom Sawyer’s Island.
Each of the villains was introduced (well, all but Ursula), and of course they all wanted the crowd’s support. The Official Campaign Manager of the villains, who emceed the ceremony, read a letter from Ursula explaining her absence, and apparently she had “bigger fish to fry” and couldn’t be bothered to come to such a miniscule affair. The villains all tried to “out-villain” each other and started a little song and dance number for us with a rousing “We’re evil! Beware! If we don’t get our way there’s evil in the air!” And then, it was finally time to proclaim the most villainous Villain of Them All! “The envelope please. And the winner is …Maleficent!” Cue pyro, evil laughing, and the crowd going crazy! I had voted for Maleficent and was thrilled she won! After accepting her title, the Rivers of America erupted in a flash of fire and one final overhead explosion. An absolute standing-ovation worthy ending to such an amazing party.
As the crowd made its way out of the park for the evening, we crawled along behind them not wanting the night to end. We spent some more time taking pictures of the empty park, marveled at the stores being locked down for the night on Main Street, and finally said our good-bye to Sleeping Beauty Castle before we started towards the gates. A wonderful time was had by everyone and we were smiling all the way home.
I’m thankful to Disney Parks Blog for allowing us to have this incredible experience. Disneyland is always magical, but this night I felt that there was a great big handful of pixie dust sent especially for me.
