It's Halloween! A day that the Alli and Ian really look forward to, but it might not be the reason that you think. For them, they do like getting candy, but they LOVE giving away candy! Disney World gives us so many good memories, thanks in large part to the amazing cast members. Halloween is a great time for us to give back!
Earlier in the week, we put together an assembly line and filled over 350 bags with Snickers, Reeses, Twix, 100 Grand, and 3 Musketeers. That's a lot of candy!
Back in April, before we left Florida for a summer of travel, I made a reservation to the Magic Kingdom on October 31st. I know where we're going to be going when we get back!
When coming up with ideas for costumes, a group costume is always fun! We all love Nightmare Before Christmas and both kids were very happy to be Jack Skellington and Sally. Perfect for handing out candy on Halloween. Even better, Jacob is able to celebrate with us this year! He's opted to be the Mayor, Theresa is Zero, and I'm Sandy Claws Santa Claus!
The mainline monorail seems to be down, so everyone was being ferried to the park via the... ferry.
We're here! It's a beautiful day, maybe a little sunnier than we might hope, but not too bad.
It's 365 days until next Halloween, Mayor!
The kids are off! Ready to hand out candy to anyone they see with a nametag.
They've learned a little bit since their last couple times doing it.
1. Always speak face to face with someone (don't call after someone "Happy Halloween")
2. Speak clearly and plainly ("Happy Halloween! Would YOU like a treat?). Last year people weren't sure if they were asking for treats or giving treats. By holding the bags of candy out and asking that, there wasn't any confusion this year that these treats were for them!
We went everywhere we could giving out candy and wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.
There were so many surprised faces and happy smiles.
Cast Members were so delighted to see them. We heard "that's my favorite candy!" quite a few times! We did good picking them all out this year! Good job Theresa and Jacob finding some good deals on fun sized candy bars.
Time for a reload on candy already? It certainly helped take the weight out of the backpacks sooner.
Jacob was up bright and early to get us reservations for Tron! The kids gave out so much candy here, to the cast members at the front of the lines, manning the checkins, to the loaders, and even the people launching the coasters (when they weren't busy).
Theresa didn't ride, but was able to snap a photo of us when we were outside.
Squeezing into Dumbo with Jacob.
We love giving candy out to all cast members, but there's one place that the kids talk about specifically whenever they talk about giving candy out at Disney. The Crystal Palace. Our first time giving out candy on Halloween, the kids were invited to come inside and give out candy to all the workers. When we returned at Valentines to give out candy again, one of the workers excitedly remembered us and brought us back inside. So many happy people there, remembering us from before, and giving the kids lots of good attention.
When we got to the door, we asked if she was working today, but heard she was taking a Disney class today and she'd be so sad that she missed us. Her colleague made sure to get our picture to text her, and we left her a note and some candy for the next day.
Going in, we gave candy to EVERYONE, including the characters!
Tigger was just about to leave, but stopped for a few hugs. He bounced happily off stage after getting the treat.
Everyone was smiling here.
Even, dare I say, Eeyore.
Jacob's favorite character.
Eeyore saw me and led me over to a table. He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit down. Ah, I know what he's doing! Eeyore pretended to sit on my lap and boy were we all laughing hard.
Seeing more cast members who remembered us from last time. Love it!
It's Piglet!
Once again, Crystal Palace was awesome. Just guessing we gave 40 bags of candy away here.
Has the shooting range always been free? It was today. Maybe I just haven't been observant.
On Halloween, a trip to the Haunted Mansion is a must!
And the lines are looking pretty good today on a Halloween Party day. We were able to get on Theresa's favorite ride, the Mine Train.
It's been a really fun day! Sorry kids, super bright on this side of the castle.
That's better.
By 4pm we were all out of candy. 350 bags. We could have given out way more, but were limited by backpack size. Maybe next time we can recruit more people!
On the way home, we picked up some pizza for dinner.
Then watched Halloween movies and shows until it's time to go out Trick-or-Treating!
He's still small enough to sit like this. I was sitting at the table and he just climbed up into my lap like this.
Theresa - Why don't you sit on the couch? It would be more comfortable.
Ian - I'm comfortable!
Around 7pm, we headed to the main clubhouse of our campground.
Here they are doing a sort of Trunk-or-Treat! Around 40 different groups giving away candy!
Some a little scary.
Some that Alli refused to get candy from.
Within 10 minutes, some cars were already out of candy. At a campground with over 1000 sites, there's a whole lots of kids here for candy! No worries if you ran out. Who could imagine that many people coming for candy so quickly.
Coming back to our RV and seeing the pumpkins we carved. Love Ian's that is lit up.
A look at their candy haul. They have had an awesome day.
WHAT A DAY!!!!...bringing so much joy and touching so many, many Cast Members' hearts at the MK with the treats (that was A LOT of candy to haul around...good thing Jacob was able to carry some of the candy load this year), and while dressed so wonderfully as a group (loved how everyone became a character from The Nightmare Before Christmas!)...it was great that the Characters joined in the fun, too (Eeyore got to be sad/happy for just that moment :-) )...really nice that CMs remembered the family from before and warmly greeted everyone! The evening wrapped up with quite a Trunk-or-Treat event (yes, some of the costumes were pretty scary-looking)...amazing that some trunks were emptied out within 10 mins...that was an enormous crowd in such a short period of time. Enjoyed seeing the carved pumpkins again, especially Ian's lit-up one! Looks like Ian and Alli have enough candy to last quite a while ;-) Such a fun-filled day. EOM
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