Feeling Spooky at Disneyland

Over the weekend Patrick and I spent a day enjoying the fall festivities of Disneyland, including watching the Halloween fireworks show. I love the variety of details found throughout Disneyland, but it really gets turned up a notch during the holidays. I especially love the plethora of Jack O’lanterns scattered along Main Street. So this is just a wee little post sharing some of the sights of the season.

A sign reading "Halloween Time" is surrounded by orange and yellow leaves, and a Jack O'lantern carved to look like Micky Mouse.

A massive Jack O'lantern sits in the middle of Main Street and features a carved face of Micky Mouse winking.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Exterior shot of the Disneyland Emporium. Painted a light beige color, with blue roof and white details, bunting of red, orange, and yellow hangs, and carved Jack O'lanterns sit on a blacony.

Disneyland's Dapper Days, wearing straw boaters with orange and black band, white collared shirts, black bow ties, and white and orange stripe vests and black pants sing in front of the Fire Station.

A goofy faced Jack O'lantern wears a brown hat with an arrow through the front.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, hands on my hat, standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Front of the Crystal Arcade. A teal and red building with bulb letters spelling out "Crystal Arcade" and a smaller sign below reading "Disneyland"

Two small happy faced white Jack O'Lanterns sit atop an orange, grumpy faced one.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, sitting in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Exterior shot of the upper level of the Carnation Cafe, a red and white building in the late 1800s, early 1900s style. Bunting of red, orange, and yellow hangs from eves, and several Jack O'lanterns sit on edges. A sign juts out from the building on the left reading "Carnation Cafe"

A small white balcony is home to several carved Jack O'lanterns with funny facies.

Inside a window of Main Street, a fortune teller appears to have set up shop, a spread of tarot cards sit in front of a crystal ball, and a tea pot sits just past the crystal ball with two tea cups of blue and white.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

A pumpkin appears to be shaving inside a Main Street window, with a mustache and lathered soap and razer.

Exterior shot of the upper floor of the Candy Palace, a brick building with some pink details. Two ledges near the top have several carved Jack O'lanterns. Above a striped awning is a sign reading "Candy Palace" in gold letters.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Close-up of both Goliath's face and the ring I'm wearing featuring a stone of purple and turquoise and silver filigree leaf.

Goofy stands in front of the train station wearing a skeleton costume.

An awning for the Mad Hatter Shop features various Jack O'lanterns, each wearing hats.

A small table and chair sit in the window of the ice cream parlor. On the table are two sundaes, and a cup and saucer, featuring two dancing witches.

Various Jack O'lanterns sit atop ledges of Main Street buildings.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, sitting in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Myself, wearing a black straw hat, black tee featuring Goliath, a massive gargoyle, and gothic script reading "Gargoyles" below, and jean shorts with white stars on them, standing in front of the stone walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Sleepy Beauty Castle is lit up with green and yellow lights, also projected on it are tangles of brambles with thorns. An orb sits to the left and features Jack Skelington's face, and his ghost dog, Zero, floats above.

I just realized this is my first post about Disneyland since they introduced their “Magic Keys” aka their revamped annual passholder program. So, yes, living a mile from Disneyland meant of course we were going to get them. We have two more reservations for October, and I’ll probably do two more posts that are similar, sharing some of the lovely seasonal details of other areas of the park along with my outfit. For those unfamiliar with the situation at Disneyland…Disneyland was closed for a little over a year to help curb the spread of COVID, and as a result, each and every annual pass expired, and Disneyland chose to use this time to redo the whole system. Now, to visit the park everyone, from Guests with regular tickets to Magic Keyholders, must now book a reservation. Additionally, Keyholders are limited with how many reservations they can hold at a time. It’s a system that works, but can be mildly frustrating. It just means we have to be a little more thoughtful about our visits, which I’m honestly okay with. Also, I should mention, I still feel relatively safe at Disneyland during this pandemic, I would say safer than I do going out shopping. Mask mandates are by county now in California, and while LA County has reintroduced their indoor mask mandate, Orange County has not. However, Disneyland chose to institute their own indoor mask mandate, which I’m quite thankful for. Patrick and I still frequently wear masks while outdoors, especially in the crowded spaces of the park, and avoid eating indoors. I will say I would love to see a vaccine or negative test requirement, much like what Universal Studios and even Six Flags have introduced. Dapper Day is a little over a month away, and I’ve been on the fence about what to wear. I am debating between a 70s maxi or wearing what I intended to wear for spring Dapper Day, which I wore for my first return, or perhaps redoing the bag dress and wearing it. Additionally, I am thankful that the Expo will require proof of vaccination as well as masks.

It was a warm autumn day, and since I knew we would be spending all day at the park I opted for a comfy look, plus I recently purchased not one, but three Gargoyles shirts! I was overjoyed when I spied a guy wearing this shirt in the park awhile back and found out it was a new purchase from Hot Topic! I love seeing childhood faves getting some love. Not familiar with Gargoyles? It’s currently available to stream on Disney+.

If I’m being perfectly honest, tees and shorts or jeans have been more and more of a go-to for me. After spending over a year in pretty much PJs (I actually bought three different pajama sets during the pandemic) in which I could move very freely in, I looked at my closet to only think “Gee, all of this is rather restrictive and/or delicate.” I’ve been going through a huge shift lately, with clothing and priorities, resulting in me cleaning out my closet not once, but twice in the last year. So if you started coming here for the vintage outfits, you’ll probably be disappointed more often going forward. Just a little heads up. But maybe you’ve already noticed that.

Outfit
Hat & Shorts: Buffalo Exchange
Necklace: Courtesy of Once Upon a Moon
Ring: Birthday gift from Patrick, by Desert Rose Silversmith
Bracelets: Here and there…
Gargoyles Tee: Hot Topic
Mocs: Minnetonka

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