Tuesday 16 October 2012

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party part 2

So as well as rare characters being out and photo opportunities there are of course special shows and parades for the party as well. In Frontierland and Tomorrowland there are character dance party's. The year I went, in the Diamond Horseshoe in Frontierland Woody and Pals had a dance party:
In Tomorrowland at Club 626, Stitch had a dance party with Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale:
Of course Halloween is all about witches and wizards, goblins and ghouls so the Villains have their own show called the Villains Mix and Mingle. They come out do a dance and song or two and then come down the front of the castle to meet and greet guests and take pictures:
The Halloween party has it's own fireworks show called Hallow-Wishes as well:

And of course it wouldn't be a complete party without a Halloween parade. Which is called the Boo to You Parade complete with characters in fancy dress, villains, ghouls and Haunted Mansion dancers and grave diggers. One of the highlights is the Headless Horseman comes out just before the parade starts:




Even the Balloons get Halloween'd up for MNSSHP:
Of course as I mentioned in the previous blog everyone is allowed dress up but what good is dressing up without trick or treating! All around the park in various locations are treat stations and as you enter the park they give you a bag to trick or treat with.
At night they add extra decoration to the park as well with Halloween projections:
Although it does cost extra money it is a fun night and totally worth it although you definately need to have a plan in advance as to what you want to see and do in order to get everything you want done. Happy Halloween!!!



 




Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party part 1

So since it is October I thought I'd share my pictures from my experience of Halloween in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP.) I went to MNSSHP in 2010 so it has been a while and I'm not sure how much has been updated or changed since then. I suppose the first thing to talk about is the Halloween decorations around the park. Everything is decorated with Autumn colours and pumpkins:
                            
 
So enter the park and around the Flag area just inside are several pumpkin scarecrows based off the characters of Main Street.
When I was at MNSSHP Toontown was still open and even in Toontown Mickey and Minnie's houses were decorated for Halloween:
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party is a special ticket event so the park closes at 7pm and the party begins then and runs until midnight however once you've bought a ticket for the party you can use that ticket to enter the park at 4pm. Once the park closes the special Halloween events and fun starts. At the party everyone is allowed dress up including the big kids among us and it is also a chance to see characters out that you wouldn't normally get to see, like all seven dwarves:

You need to queue early for these though because they are very popular. I queued at 6.30 and was about tenth in line and saw them about 7.10. It also means you will have the rest of the night to explore and see the shows because if you queue late for these you will end up waiting for an hour or more for a picture. Also I'm not sure if she's there every year but the year I went the Hag from Snow White was out in Fantasyland:
The fab 5 are around in Halloween Costumes as well:
     Mickey and Minnie actually rotate between Princess and Pirate costume and a Witch and Wizard/Vampire costume. Loads of characters are around the park and because there is a limit on the number of tickets that are sold it is also a chance to meet the characters with a shorter line. Other characters I spotted were the Tremains:
                                          
And Tarzan and Terk:
There was a few picture opportunities set up when I was there as well like in Fantasyland you could get your picture in front of Cinderella's coach:
In my next post I will talk about the shows and parades.


Monday 15 October 2012

Westlife Farewell for now tour!




A little over a year ago Westlife announced they were breaking up after one more tour. I still find it hard to believe that they have actually split up and I wait in hope that one day they will hold a reunion tour and Westlife will be back. But of course I went to the farewell tour... three times. The first night was Manchester and was so close to the stage. Support acts weren't anything to take note of. Glenn Cal was back on tour with them and he was probably the best support act in Manchester. The night I went to Manchester was actually their final night in Manchester. They didn't seem overly upset. There were a few moments when you could see a sadness that it was coming to an end but mostly it was the same as any Westlife concert, full of their hit songs and a high energy medley. Kian had his guitar back on stage for the medley as well.

It was one of the crew members last night on tour in Manchester as well and they brought him out and celebrated with Guiness on stage.
Nicky did his usual banner reading as well and highlight of the night HE READ MY BANNER and they had a chat about it. It was interesting to see the differences between the indoor and outdoor gigs as well in Manchester as they had a globe type structure that took them from the stage to the back of the arena and back to the stage.
   Although there was no tears in Manchester I did come close when they sang You Raise me up and asked everyone to light up their phones so they could see the arena lit up and have it as their last memory of Manchester. That arena was huge and looking around at all the tiny lights for our little Irish boys I was proud of what Westlife had achieved for themselves.
Flying without Wings on the big screen there was flashbacks to some of the past events in Westlife history but cuter still there was pictures and video clips of all the children, wives and even dogs of each of the boys.

The concert was true Westlife, brilliant and left me wanting more. Three weeks later it was farewell weekend in Croke Park and of course I was at both of the concerts.
The first night I was in the Golden Circle and it was fab so close to the stage but downside of golden circle standing for the entire night. The support acts were slightly bigger support acts than in Manchester. Glenn Cal opened it and I loved his sing song of Fields of Athenry in Croker. Was so cool. Croke Park also got Jedward, Lawson and The Wanted as support acts. Once Westlife came on you totally forgot about the standing all together. I loved how everyone squealed and got excited at the first sign of anything that resembled the lads then the confusion as these figures everyone thought was Westlife arriving went on fire:
 

                                       
Confusion quickly ended when the lads appeared at the top of the stair and it was on with the show:
The set list was the same as Manchester however speeches and banter different as always. Kian started off the tears talking about how this was the biggest moment in Westlife History. Best moment of the first night in Croke Park was Queen of my Heart. They brought all the mothers, fathers and children on stage for the song. 3 generations of Westlife together on stage and you could see how proud the lads were to be able to do that:
The second night I was standing further down the pitch, it was lashing rain all night but the concert went ahead. During the support acts alot of random celebs like Fair City actors, TV presenters, Radio presenters were wandering about at the side of the Golden Circle as well as Westlife families arriving. Nobody really seemed to notice any of them though. By the time Westlife came on it was pretty pointless even having a coat on because I was soaked through. Tears started from the lads the minute they came on stage. Shane was first, changing the words to What Makes a Man to "This is goodbye" pointing the mics to the audience who loudly scream "THIS ISN'T GOODBYE." Kian was next to start crying during his speech. Outdoors in Croke Park instead of the globe they had in Manchester they walked from the stage to a little stage at the end of the Golden Circle and even in the rain they just picked up their Umbrellas and came out to the middle of the crowd. For the last night they cut one of the songs so they could all give their farewell speeches and that was when everyone around me started crying. All the lads cried except for Mark who did get choked up but managed to hold back the tears.


After the speeches it was time to say the final farewell. They ended with Flying without Wings and there was tears and streamers.
Westlife went out in style complete with fire, fireworks, tears, streamers and all their biggest hits. All the concerts I went to were fantastic and I cannot wait until the reunion tour but for now I'll put up with watching Nicky shake his ass on Strictly come dancing and wait patiently for Shane's solo career and to see what exactly Kian and Mark will get up to:
Thank you Westlife for 14 amazing years