Halloween Time at Disney is a Guest favorite and over the last month we’ve shared stories on the Disney Parks Blog on ways the parks have been celebrating worldwide. We held a spooktacular fireworks show, transformed the Haunted Mansion at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts, and even introduced some yummy seasonal treats.

Take 5: Halloween Time Fun at Disney Parks

1. Disney’s Halloween Festival in Paris – Here are some fun photos of how we celebrated Halloween at Disneyland Paris.




2. Headless Horseman Leads the Way this Halloween at Hong Kong Disneyland – In Hong Kong Disneyland the Headless Horseman led the way in spooky fun for Disney’s Haunted Halloween celebration.




3. Dapper Dans Sing Special Spooky Songs for Halloween Time at Disneyland Park – The not-so-scary but very Dapper Dans sang a special set during Halloween Time at Disneyland park including a creepy classic created by Disney Legends X Atencio and Buddy Baker.




4. A Spooktacular in the Sky at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts – Check out some images taken from this year’s Happy HalloWishes fireworks spectacular.




5. Our Favorite Disney Sweet for National Cookie Month – We shared a recipe for baking and decorating Jack Skellington cookies from the blockbuster animated film, “Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Tagged: Disneyland Paris, DLR, Halloween, Hong Kong Disneyland, Take 5, WDW

Filed: Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney World Resort

We’re kicking off a special look at Halloween around our parks this year at Hong Kong Disneyland where the Headless Horseman is leading the way. He’s wandering the park during Disney’s Haunted Halloween celebration looking for the fiend who took his head. Oh, and there’s a “Cursed Jungle” filled with lurking creatures and ghoulish souls to experience at the park.

And when night falls, Mickey, Duffy and the gang are also out and about in their new Halloween costumes for the Trick or Treat Spooktacular in Fantasyland. The “Glow in the Park Parade” and “Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy are back by popular demand this year too. Check out some more images of the fun.

Disney’s Haunted Halloween is also featuring some augmented reality tricks this year. With “Disney’s Spooky Scope” app, guests will see ghosts and may even “lose their faces” in the park.

As you can see, there are some unique experiences at Hong Kong Disneyland this year. Let us know if you’ve been or plan on visiting. And stay tuned – our next post in this series will feature images from Disneyland Paris.

Tagged: Halloween, Hong Kong Disneyland

Filed: Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland opened its gates Sept. 12, 2005, making Disney history as the first Disney theme park to open in China.

The park, which was built on reclaimed land in Penny’s Bay, consists of four lands – a Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland.

The park features classic Disney attractions like “it’s a small world” and Jungle Cruise, as well as popular new guest favorites, such as Festival of the Lion King and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Hong Kong Disneyland also regularly incorporates Chinese customs and holidays into its event schedule, with special celebrations held for Chinese New Year (see above photo), in addition to Halloween and Christmas.

Expansion plans are already underway at the park to add a Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point, which are set to open in late 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. Toy Story Land will feature three main attractions themed after characters in the popular film franchise: the RC Racer, Slinky Dog Spin and Toy Soldier Parachute Drop.

The resort’s two hotels, Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Hollywood Hotel, also celebrate their anniversaries Sept. 12, 2005.

Tagged: Hong Kong Disneyland

Filed: Disney History, Hong Kong Disneyland

Earlier this week, I got to share updates on both Tinker Bell and Disney castles with you – which inspired me to write this post on what’s currently happening with the castle at Hong Kong Disneyland this summer. (It also gave me an excuse to run this amazing photo!).

The park is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, and in honor of this milestone, they have introduced a character that had never before appeared at the park. Although our domestic parks have featured her for years, this special celebration marked the introduction of Tinker Bell to Hong Kong Disneyland.

The park has welcomed Peter Pan’s top pixie in grand style, temporarily transforming their Sleeping Beauty Castle into Tinker Bell Castle, with the addition of gold elements that represent a sprinkling of pixie dust that glitters during the day and sparkles at night.

So, what do you think of the castle?

See what else has been happening at our resorts around the world:

• Giant Disney Sleeping Beauty Sand Castle Created in Paris
• Disney Inspires Artist Sand Sculptures – Take a Virtual Tour
• First Look: Jasmine’s Flying Carpets Makes Royal Debut at Tokyo DisneySea

Tagged: Hong Kong Disneyland

Filed: Hong Kong Disneyland

We’re continuing our celebration of the New Year at Disney Parks with Hong Kong Disneyland. Our second park just rang in the New Year and Disneyland Paris is next.

Tagged: Holidays, Hong Kong Disneyland

Filed: Hong Kong Disneyland

I love sending holiday cards with handwritten greetings for good health and holiday cheer. One thing I always need is a good pen. I recently discovered some that are the perfect “kompanions” courtesy of Kevin-Michael Lezotte, Product Developer for stationery and electronic accessories. I’m talking Kooky pens and Kevin-Michael has been leading the development of these pens for Disney Parks.

“Here, smell these,” said Kevin-Michael as he showed me the two newest limited edition Kooky Kollections created for the holidays (yes, everything has a “K,” not a “C”). “The Mickey Mouse set smells like peppermint and the Donald Duck set smells like gingerbread.”

They did smell wonderful, like Christmas morning. I proceeded to spend the next hour smelling both sets. The scents come from little Mickey Mouse icons attached to each of the pens. The three-pen sets have an edition size of 5,000 each and will be sold at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Retail is $24.95 for each set and the ink is refillable (which is great since I write a lot).

I asked Kevin-Michael for a brief history of our relationship with Kooky pens.

“We introduced these pens about two years ago as a partnership with Courage Brands, Inc. who manufactures Kooky pens,” he explained. “It has been wonderful to bring fun, engaging and creative Disney designs to these pens. Since 2008, we have released more than 80 different designs, and we have many more on the way. They are also now found in Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland will release them in December.”

The artwork for the pens is created by Cody Reynolds and Costa Alavezos from Disney Design Group using a stylized template provided by Kooky. Kevin-Michael said it takes about a year to have a pen produced.

“We work about a year in advance,” said Kevin-Michael. “When selecting the various characters, we review company strategies and key initiatives. At the same time, we like mixing high affinity characters along with characters you don’t see that often. The goal is to give our guests lots of choices.”

Similar to Disney Pins, there are limited edition and limited release pens. The limited edition pens have a finite production number, whereas the limited release pens are sold for a period of time then retired. You can identify them by looking at the back of the pen or finding the small Mickey Mouse icon attached to select pens.

I asked Kevin-Michael if he has a favorite one.

“That’s a tough choice,” he sighed. “Today’s pens are incredibly different compared to when we started. There are now better treatments, applications, art styles and features, like those scented attachments. Yet, I also like simple designs like the pen featuring Mike Wazowski.”

I better return to writing my Christmas cards as the holidays are fast approaching. Before I go, what is your favorite Kooky pen?

Tagged: DHS, Disneyland Paris, DLR, Downtown Disney, Hong Kong Disneyland, Star Wars, WDW

Filed: Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort

Hi everyone…what an exciting day over the weekend as we celebrated the 5th year Anniversary milestone of Hong Kong Disneyland. More than 2,000 families from the Hong Kong community joined over 2,000 cast members to celebrate. It was so wonderful to see all the smiling faces and to celebrate hand in hand.

Bill Ernest, President and Managing Director, Asia for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts presented a gift from the Walt Disney Company of one million Hong Kong dollars as a scholarship grant to the Vocational Training Council of Hong Kong. The grant will create one hundred scholarships for students who are in the fields of tourism and hospitality, entertainment and design. It’s great to think about the positive impact to the many students, their future dreams and consider they could be fellow cast members in future years. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Managing Director Andrew Kam, thanked the many invited guests and then together everyone congratulated in celebration of the milestone as they captured the picture for future memories (seen above).

Following the big moment we all made our way to Tomorrowland where the families enjoyed breakfast and a private party in Tomorrowland. I never tire of seeing the smiling faces of our guests as they delight in our attractions and get hugs from our characters. Watching the children from the community with their eagerness to get to Space Mountain and their smiles on Orbitron makes me proud to be part of this fantastic Company and to bring the magic to Hong Kong. Walt started an amazing legacy and it’s fantastic to be part of seeing that legacy live on in Hong Kong. It was an important milestone for the Park but we’ve only just begun as the celebration continues into 2011 with lots of fun in store for our guests.

Here are a few more images from the celebration:

Tagged: Hong Kong Disneyland

Filed: Hong Kong Disneyland