Halloween Time has come to Disneyland

City Life News
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The spirit of Halloween Time has come to Disneyland Resort this fall with Disney villains, Mickey Mouse and his friends in Halloween costumes, along with the seasonal transformations of Haunted Mansion into Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain into Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Halloween Time at Disneyland Resort is now open and will continue through Halloween, Monday, Oct. 31.
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The after-hours Mickey’s Halloween Party, a separate-ticket event* which has become an annual highlight of Halloween Time for trick-or-treating families, will take place in Disneyland park on 10 special Monday, Tuesday and Friday nights: Sept. 30 and Oct. 3,7,11,14,18,21, 25, 28 and 31. Tickets are available at Disneyland.com/halloween.
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Mickey’s Halloween Party invites adults and children to dress up in costume and trick-or-treat at the resort. These party participants can also “mix in” with regular Disneyland guests for three hours prior to the start of Mickey’s private bash. Highlights of Mickey’s Halloween Party include:

* Newly themed dance party: Guests can mix, mingle and dance with some of their favorite Disney characters at the new “Piratepalooza” at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. The popular “Buzz Lightyear’s Intergalactic Space Jam” returns to the Tomorrowland Terrace for more dancing fun.
* New character photo locations: Guests will meet Stormtroopers at Tomorrowland, Phineas & Ferb at Plaza Gardens Stage, and Duffy the Bear in his pumpkin attire at Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A. Eight additional photo locations feature princesses, Disney villains and more Disney and Pixar pals.
* The special opportunity to play in Disneyland for three hours before the party starts
* Trick or Treating – candy and healthy treats ­- in the ultimate Disney neighborhood
* The “Halloween Screams” fireworks spectacular, hosted by “Master of Scare-omonies” Jack Skellington (presented exclusively for guests of Mickey’s Halloween Party)
* “Mickey’s Costume Party” cavalcade, performed twice nightly
* An opportunity for everyone in the family to attend the park in costumes
* Nearly all the favorite Disneyland rides and attractions

Tickets purchased in advance for Mickey’s Halloween Party are $49 most days, while tickets purchased on the event days are $59. All tickets to Mickey’s Halloween Party on Friday, Oct. 28, and Halloween Night, Monday, Oct. 31, are $64.
(Disneyland Resort)
Favorite Disney characters, including Mickey himself, will dress up in fun, fall costumes. It’s the ideal environment to eat special holiday treats, play interactive games, listen to “spirited” music and watch a nightly character cavalcade that celebrates the season.

For Halloween fun at Disneyland, guests will enjoy Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy in Tomorrowland. The experience begins as a typical Space Mountain adventure, but suddenly launches voyagers into a haunted section of the universe. Ghosts appear out of the starry darkness and swirling galaxies of Space Mountain, reaching out as if to grab guests as they speed through space. The exhilarating drops and curves of the journey are punctuated by piercing screams, creepy sound effects and haunting music.

Jack Skellington also returns to take over the Haunted Mansion and bring back Haunted Mansion Holiday to New Orleans Square in Disneyland. Transformed to a mix of Halloween spookiness and Christmas tradition, Haunted Mansion Holiday is inspired by the classic animated film “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.” Jack’s return to the Haunted Mansion includes the traditional Halloween/Christmas gingerbread house in the Mansion Ballroom, with some special spooky surprises in this year’s design.

Halloween Time offers frightfully delightful fun for children and adults.

* For spine-tingling fun, drop in at The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure park, where a “supernatural” event happened on Halloween evening, 1939, forever haunting the building.
* Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland is transformed for the Pumpkin Festival. More than 300 pumpkins will be on display and none of them are the same!
* Visitors to Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland will find ranch animals, pumpkin carvers, Halloween décor and activities for youngsters.
* Meeting Disney characters will be easier than ever as Disney villains gather to plot Halloween mischief at “it’s a small world” Mall in Disneyland, while other characters in spooky attire greet guests in Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A.
* Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland will honor Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead with traditional skeleton figures on display Sept. 16 through Nov. 2.
* Special Halloween treats will be available in Disneyland, including menu items such as Zero’s Ghostly Ghoulash, served in a dog dish in honor of Zero.

For more information about Halloween Time at Disneyland Resort, see www.disneyland.com/halloween. This site will be updated with frightfully fun details.

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Now Playing

City Life News

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.- Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights opened today with more mazes than ever – and an all-new Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life.

This year’s six horror mazes include the return of “Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses: In 3D ZombieVision.” Rocker Alice Cooper joins the fun with “Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare.”

Director Eli Roth put together “Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season,” which features items from Roth’s personal collection of original “Hostel” movie props.

“La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas” (“The Weeping Woman: Village of Lost Souls”) is from actor and director Diego Luna, who re-imagines the legend of melancholy and murder that he was told as a child. The other mazes are “The Thing: Assimilation” and “The Wolfman: The Curse of Talbot Hall.’

The new backlot experience, “Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life,” is based on the latest installment of Wes Craven’s “Scream” film series. “Scare Zones” and “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” add to the nightmare theme.

“Halloween Horror Nights” are Sept. 23 and 24 plus Sept. 30-Oct. 1, Oct. 7-9, 14-16, 20-23 and 27-31. Tickets can be purchased at UniversalStudiosHollywood.com/hhn. Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” are available at www.halloweenhorrornights.com/ and also on Twitter and Facebook. Tickets now on sale!

Wicked returns to the Pantages Nov. 30 – Jan. 29, 2011

By Margie Anne Clark
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – WICKED, the colorful Broadway hit musical, is back by “Popular” demand. The dazzling musical will take to the stage of the Pantages Theatre, just in time for the holiday season, beginning Nov. 30 and running through Jan. 29, 2012.

After a record-breaking two-year run and called “a phenomenon that keeps growing” by The Los Angeles Times and “the defining musical of the decade” by The New York Times, WICKED’s story of two girls who meet in the land of Oz comes to life in a musical burst of energy and fun for the whole family. One girl – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and glowingly popular.

Audiences will enjoy discovering a whole new side to the Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good Witch of the North.

Don’t be green with envy, by your tickets now! Tickets may be purchased by calling 800-982-ARTS (2787) or by visiting the Broadway LA website at: http://www.broadwayla.org/production/show.info.asp?ID=1
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Photo by Joan Marcus