It’s the last Sunday in October, which can only mean one thing: Halloween is upon us at the Magic Kingdom! We’ve got our usual updates from the park, including the progress of TRON Lightcycle Run and the entrance booths, but also some spooky merchandise appearing around the park. Let’s get into the spirit and head towards those parking booths.
Starting at those iconic booths on a slightly cloudy morning, not much has changed since our recent report of the gateway reaching the halfway point of its refurbishment. Crews should be back to work Monday morning to once again move the project closer to completion.
Heading towards the park, we got a quick glimpse of TRON Lightcycle Run’s show buildings, which are nearly completely sealed up.
Sticking to TRON once inside the park, a lot of progress has continued outside of the gravity building on the illuminated canopy. Pieces of the canopy structure continue to be added, while additional sections are assembled at ground level.
From a different angle, that work-in-progress canopy is taking a much more impressive shape as it covers portions of the outdoor track with its subtle curvature.
Elsewhere in Tomorrowland, the smaller project (but one that may take nearly as long as TRON Lightcycle Run’s construction) of the retheming of the PeopleMover support legs continues to take very small steps. This leg near Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin has received its first coat of white paint, while the leg behind it is hidden behind scaffolding and scrim.
At Tomorrowland Light & Power Co., there was a bounty of new (to Magic Kingdom) merchandise. First up is this youth “The Child” Spirit Jersey, which was available in three varieties online back in August — adult, youth, and pet. The adult and pet versions turned up in parks recently, and now the youth style is available for $49.99.
Spirit Jerseys weren’t the only new Baby Yoda addition, though, as this youth shirt also made an appearance at Tomorrowland Light & Power Co. The shirt sells for $24.99.
The final additions in Tomorrowland are these Passholder Halloween phone cases and magnets. Previously only available at the Annual Passholder pop-up shop in EPCOT, and then on the MaDe kiosks, the phone case and magnet are now ready for purchase at Magic Kingdom for $29.99 and $14.99, respectively.
Circling around to Fantasyland, the Evil Stepsisters can be found at what appears to now be their permanent home of Princess Fairytale Hall after their initial run on Cinderella Castle.
Gaston and LeFou, however, have been stationed outside of Gaston’s Tavern since day one.
A bit further along in Fantasyland, “it’s a small world” unsurprisingly remains hidden behind scrim, as what will probably be a lengthy exterior refurbishment takes place.
At the outskirts of Fantasyland, heading into Liberty Square, Memento Mori held a new reversible lanyard featuring some of our favorite Haunted Mansion imagery.
Another popular piece of Haunted Mansion merchandise, the Madame Leota sipper continues to generate a long line at Sleepy Hollow despite having been released over a month and a half ago.
The Haunted Mansion — yes, the actual attraction — was also generating a long line (getting as high as 60 minutes today) which continues to run through the Riverboat queue space during its refurbishment.
Draining of the Rivers of America continues to be a very, very slow process.
The Cadaver Dans, who rotate between a few different locations, made an appearance in Frontierland in the early afternoon today.
Also a popular guest draw in Frontierland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad drew a 45 minute wait in the afternoon, which surprisingly for a Sunday is not as long as it has been past weekends.
The recently re-opened expanded Casey’s Corner seating area still has a bit of lingering work, with a small section walled off and a bit of adjacent walkway covered with wood. Hopefully the completion of this area will see the return of Casey’s Corner itself.
Back on Main Street to round out our day, we were able to catch a couple of the character cavalcades, first featuring some famous Disney princesses including Ariel and Snow White.
Finally, it was time to catch The Nightmare Before Christmas cavalcade, with none other than Jack, Sally, and Oogie Boogie.
While it may not be the usual feeling of Halloween with the cancellation of all Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Parties this year, the addition of some of these seasonal cavalcades and other entertainment to normal park hours at least salvages a bit of the holiday during these unusual times.
Thanks for joining us at “The Most Magical Place on Earth” today. Are you missing the usual Halloween festivities more as October 31st approaches, or is the holiday not on your mind this year? Let us know in the comments!