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One of our favorite parts of Halloweentime at Disneyland are the pumpkins and pumpkin carvers back at the Big Thunder Ranch. Theresa, Jacob and I (no Ruston this time) all got off work a little early and drove out to Disneyland to see them.
I brought my favorite Disney Halloween hat. Theresa found a pumpkin there that was carved into a crown!
This year the pumpkin carvers are in the festival arena behind Big Thunder Ranch. It seems like this gives them a little less space to show off all their creations, but they still have quite a few on display.
They've got some great pumpkins this year. This giant pumpkin has Maleficent and the dragon.
Judge Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame
A cute Mike Wazowski
Yoda
Glad to see Nightmare making a presence.
These were interesting in that they carved the bottom of the pumpkins instead of along the sides. And even the nub at the bottom was incorporated into the carving.
Genie was a little difficult to make out.
Here's a few characters you don't see very often. Ichabod Crane from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow along with Johnny Appleseed.
A cute Minnie pumpkin
I think this is Remy from Ratatouille but I'm not 100%.
Belle
Pinocchio has obviously been lying.
And his Official Conscience is not too happy about it.
Cinderella seems happy with her pumpkin castle.
Though her two stepsisters seem a little worried.
The Queen of Hearts was a very imposing figure.
And there was another giant pumpkin with carvings on both sides.
This was was further away from the others and I can't tell exactly what it is. Maybe a baby Mickey?
The other great thing about being back at the festival arena are all the games and characters that are out. Of course they're dressed up for the occasion as well in their Halloween costumes.
And what I really loved about it is that the characters are interacting with everyone instead of standing at the end of a line, posing for pictures and signing autographs.
Here they're playing a beanbag tossing game. Before, Pluto was playing a ring toss game around those witch hats in the background.
Minnie is sitting at a picnic table coloring while one of her fans looks on.
Chip was coloring a halloween mask and then holding his hand up to keep this Japanese girl from cheating off his. In the end, he gave her the mask and she was really excited to see that he signed his name at the top in Japanese!
Mickey came over from playing games to do some coloring.
He grabbed a crayon and sat right down by some kids who were already coloring and they were really excited to see him!
Mickey also walked around all spooky-like and then throwing the cape back and revealing himself.
Plus he would go up and do spooky fingers at people.
Theresa and I grabbed a front row seat to watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Billy even called me out and said that "That right there. That is a hat."
As we were leaving the arena, it was time for all the animals of Big Thunder Ranch to go in for the night.
The goats got tied together and then they all ran to the back.
The sheep got left behind, so he started sprinting after them.
Next was the huge draft horse.
And the donkey followed last.
Plus the whole time, Farley was playing his fiddle as everyone went in for the night.
All in all, it was a great experience at the festival arena! But the day isn't over yet!
One of the lenses WDWFigment aka Tom Bricker(whose photos Theresa and I just love) recommends is the Rokinon 8mm fish-eye. Mine just came from Amazon, so I had to head to the park to try it out.
I was planning to head back to Toontown since I thought there would be fewer people, but as I was passing the Mad Tea Party, it was a super short line, so I went to get pictures.
Look! They removed all the tea cups!
Okay, not really. It was just a really long exposure and they weren't in any one place long enough for the camera to see them.
it's a small world is glowing under a full moon.
And then I finally made it back to Toontown. Just in front of Roger Rabbit's Toontown Spin.
Here's a picture from a normal vantage point.
Then I put my tripod up on the ledge to get a better vantage point.
Mickey's house
The park had closed, so I slowly made my way to the front. Dumbo was still running, even 15 minutes after park closing.
Mr. Toad
A look at the castle from the Sword in the Stone.
And back towards the carrousel.
Then a few shots of the castle.
As I was taking a photo of the Astro Orbitor, a security guard came to let me know that he could only let me take a couple more photos and then we would have to leave because there was a private event that night.
A quick photo of the entrance and it was time to walk to the car.
I think I'm going to like this new lens! Another fun day at Disneyland!
This year the pumpkin carvers are in the festival arena behind Big Thunder Ranch. It seems like this gives them a little less space to show off all their creations, but they still have quite a few on display.
They've got some great pumpkins this year. This giant pumpkin has Maleficent and the dragon.
Judge Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame
A cute Mike Wazowski
Yoda
Glad to see Nightmare making a presence.
These were interesting in that they carved the bottom of the pumpkins instead of along the sides. And even the nub at the bottom was incorporated into the carving.
Genie was a little difficult to make out.
Here's a few characters you don't see very often. Ichabod Crane from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow along with Johnny Appleseed.
A cute Minnie pumpkin
I think this is Remy from Ratatouille but I'm not 100%.
Belle
Pinocchio has obviously been lying.
And his Official Conscience is not too happy about it.
Cinderella seems happy with her pumpkin castle.
Though her two stepsisters seem a little worried.
The Queen of Hearts was a very imposing figure.
And there was another giant pumpkin with carvings on both sides.
This was was further away from the others and I can't tell exactly what it is. Maybe a baby Mickey?
The other great thing about being back at the festival arena are all the games and characters that are out. Of course they're dressed up for the occasion as well in their Halloween costumes.
And what I really loved about it is that the characters are interacting with everyone instead of standing at the end of a line, posing for pictures and signing autographs.
Here they're playing a beanbag tossing game. Before, Pluto was playing a ring toss game around those witch hats in the background.
Minnie is sitting at a picnic table coloring while one of her fans looks on.
Chip was coloring a halloween mask and then holding his hand up to keep this Japanese girl from cheating off his. In the end, he gave her the mask and she was really excited to see that he signed his name at the top in Japanese!
Mickey came over from playing games to do some coloring.
He grabbed a crayon and sat right down by some kids who were already coloring and they were really excited to see him!
Mickey also walked around all spooky-like and then throwing the cape back and revealing himself.
Plus he would go up and do spooky fingers at people.
Theresa and I grabbed a front row seat to watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Billy even called me out and said that "That right there. That is a hat."
As we were leaving the arena, it was time for all the animals of Big Thunder Ranch to go in for the night.
The goats got tied together and then they all ran to the back.
The sheep got left behind, so he started sprinting after them.
Next was the huge draft horse.
And the donkey followed last.
Plus the whole time, Farley was playing his fiddle as everyone went in for the night.
All in all, it was a great experience at the festival arena! But the day isn't over yet!
One of the lenses WDWFigment aka Tom Bricker(whose photos Theresa and I just love) recommends is the Rokinon 8mm fish-eye. Mine just came from Amazon, so I had to head to the park to try it out.
I was planning to head back to Toontown since I thought there would be fewer people, but as I was passing the Mad Tea Party, it was a super short line, so I went to get pictures.
Look! They removed all the tea cups!
Okay, not really. It was just a really long exposure and they weren't in any one place long enough for the camera to see them.
it's a small world is glowing under a full moon.
And then I finally made it back to Toontown. Just in front of Roger Rabbit's Toontown Spin.
Here's a picture from a normal vantage point.
Then I put my tripod up on the ledge to get a better vantage point.
Mickey's house
The park had closed, so I slowly made my way to the front. Dumbo was still running, even 15 minutes after park closing.
Mr. Toad
A look at the castle from the Sword in the Stone.
And back towards the carrousel.
Then a few shots of the castle.
As I was taking a photo of the Astro Orbitor, a security guard came to let me know that he could only let me take a couple more photos and then we would have to leave because there was a private event that night.
A quick photo of the entrance and it was time to walk to the car.
I think I'm going to like this new lens! Another fun day at Disneyland!
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