Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

Disney Parks Halloween Parties Compared

By Leave a Comment

The Disney Parks Halloween Parties are very popular on both coasts. So, I thought I would do a post comparing the two options for anyone considering attending one of them.

Disney Parks Halloween Party

Disney Parks Halloween Parties

Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World hold separately ticketed Halloween events every year. I’ve attended the one at Magic Kingdom several times and the one at Disney’s California Adventure once. So, I think I am qualified to discuss the two parties and their differences so you can decide which one is right for you.

Mickey’s Not So Scary

MNSSHP is held every fall at Magic Kingdom at Disney World. Tickets usually go on sale around halfway to Halloween with resort guests getting first dibs on tickets. It starts in early August with parties being held on Tuesdays and Fridays in August. As you get closer to Halloween, they add more nights. So, September has parties on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. By October, there’s parties on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays! The party officially kicks-off at 7 PM and ends at midnight, but you can enter the park at 4 PM. The parties have a history of selling out in advance in recent years, but not immediately. If you are looking for some general Mickey’s Not So Scary Tips, check out my guide to it.

Oogie Boogie Bash

Oogie Boogie is held at DCA in the fall. It starts in mid/late August and runs until Halloween. The party begins at 6 PM and runs until 11 PM, but you can enter the park at 3 PM. The party is pretty consistently held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays for the whole season. Tickets went on sale on June 27, 2024 this year and most dates sold out quickly. However, a few dates remained over the weekend for purchase before selling out. There’s a passholder pre-sale that typically sells out very quickly. Basically, to attend this one, you need to know months in advance and keep an eye on Disneyland’s social media in June/July for ticket sales. You can read my review of the 2023 Oogie Boogie Bash for a deeper dive into what the party entails.

Ticket Differences

Thanks to pent up demand and social media, Oogie Boogie sells out quickly. So, you need to know when you plan to attend by June. Not So Scary doesn’t sell out as quickly, so you have some time to cement your plans before purchasing tickets.

Parties Entertainment Differences

Mickey’s Not So Scary has a good bit more entertainment than Oogie Boogie. Not So Scary has a parade, a stage show, and fireworks! Oogie Boogie just has the parade this year, with the removal of the party exclusive stage show and fireworks being held over in Disneyland park. Although, it also has the party exclusive Villains Grove that is super cool! Admittedly, unless additional entertainment is announced for Oogie Boogie, it appears to be lacking in the entertainment department.

Disney Character Differences

Both parties allow you to meet special characters. So, on the surface that sounds even. However, Oogie Boogie tends to rotate in a few new characters every year. Not So Scary rarely adds many new characters to the party. Additionally, a key difference here is the Treat Trails at Oogie Boogie. Both parties allow you to trick-or-treat regardless of age. However, Oogie Boogie gives you treats and allows you to interact with a villain as you walk by. It’s actually a really neat, unique experience.

Candy Differences

Mickey’s Not So Scary tends to have a good variety of candy available. However, I was surprised by the plethora of other items handed out at Oogie Boogie last year. Candy was handed out, but so were Goldfish treats, baby carrots, and Sunchips! I thought it was a nice change of pace to add some real food to the mix!

Disney Parks Halloween Parties Overall

While they both have characters, entertainment, and trick-or-treating, there are slight differences. It’s hard to say one is better than the other as it depends on what you want to experience at the party. If you want to see a variety of villains, then Oogie Boogie is better. If you like stage shows and fireworks, then Mickey’s Not So Scary is better. Also, I would wager that your distance from the parks is an important factor too.

So, which party do you prefer?

Walt Disney World vs Disneyland

By Leave a Comment

Many people assume that the US Disney parks are the same, but there are many differences between Walt Disney World vs Disneyland. So, I thought I would do a post to help anyone starting to plan a trip to one of these destinations with experience visiting the other location.

Disney World vs Disneyland

Disney World vs Disneyland

While both are theme parks owned by Disney, they operate very differently. In fact, I sometimes struggle with planning for Land because I’m so used to visiting World. So, let’s jump into some basics.

Walt Disney World is located in Orlando, Florida. It consists of four theme parks and two water parks. There are 25+ resorts on property to choose from. This is a sprawling resort covering lots of land and there are several different free modes of transportation to travel across the property including: bus, boats, and Skyliner. It’s important to understand that the vast majority of people visiting WDW are traveling from somewhere else and not locals. So, the policies here tend to favor people staying on-site.

Disneyland is located in Anaheim, California. It’s the original Disney theme park and its construction was overseen by Walt Disney himself! It’s much more compact than World. In fact, there’s just two theme parks and they are across from each other. You can simply walk across the esplanade to visit the other park! There’s also three on-site resorts, but lots of off property ones nearby (as in walking distance). An important difference to know is that unlike in Florida, there are far more locals attending this park than people traveling to visit. So, their policies tend to favor passholders instead of hotel guests.

Advance Dining Reservation Differences

Disney World has an overwhelming number of dining options. However, one perk of staying on-site here is the ability to book advance dining reservations for the length of your trip 60 days out from the first day of your stay! Clearly, this policy favors people staying on-site instead of locals.

Disneyland, on the other hand, allows everyone to book dining reservations one day at a time, 60 days in advance. So, you will have to get up early multiple days in a row to get in demand restaurants. However, it also levels the playing field since everyone can make reservations beginning at the same time. This is the reverse of Disney World and allows the locals to grab in-demand reservations just as easily as people traveling to the resort.

Word of advice for both locations: keep checking for reservations to open up. Just because you don’t get a desired reservation 60 days out doesn’t mean you won’t get it. You can set up a reservation finder to notify you when something pops up and you can continue to check yourself up until the day of.

Hotel Differences

Walt Disney World has so many different resorts on property that they have different tiers: Value Resorts, Moderate Resorts, Deluxe Resorts and DVC (Disney’s timeshare or Disney Vacation Club). There are also off site properties, but those won’t come with free park transportation and you will need to account for that in your budget. However, the resort is so spread out that very few of the resorts are walking distance to a park. Also, you will have to get familiar with the various forms of transportation available at your specific resort.

Disneyland is much smaller. There’s only three official resorts: Pixar Place Hotel, Disneyland Hotel, and Grand Californian Hotel. All three are considered Deluxe or DVC Resorts. Additionally, all three are walking distance to the parks, but so are lots of other off-site hotels. The Grand Californian and Pixar Place have their own entrances to Disney’s California Adventure. Most people stay off-site when visiting Disneyland due to the high prices and compact layout.

Skip the Line Differences

Disney has struggled with their skip the line program since the pandemic. In fact, it just recently underwent some new changes in policies and naming, again. Suffice it to say, I encourage you to look up the most up to date policies when you plan your next trip. Currently, Walt Disney World allows you to book 3 experiences a week out but Disneyland does not.

Disney World vs Disneyland Special Events

Walt Disney World has a regular rotation of special events. There’s the festivals at Epcot, Halloween and Christmas parties at Magic Kingdom, and Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios. There’s also the After Hours events. Besides Jollywood Nights, there hasn’t been a new ticketed event in several years at Disney World.

However, due to Disneyland’s reliance on locals, they tend to have new events pretty regularly. Their Disneyland After Dark events are massively popular and seem to have new themes every year. Disneyland also gets new seasonal costumes for the characters, unlike Disney World. Basically, you can expect new stuff at Disneyland pretty often.

Special Event Ticket Differences

Once again, their individual special event ticket policies favor different groups. Walt Disney World typically puts special event tickets on sale to resort guests first. Disneyland on the other hand often has passholder pre-sales that allows passholders to purchase tickets before the general public. Although, Disney World will often give a minimal (~$10) passholder discount on the special event tickets.

Disneyland vs Walt Disney World

Shew. This is a long post. I debated splitting it up into multiple posts, but I wanted an overall guide. So, what do you think? Is this helpful?

Disneyland Character Dining Guide

By Leave a Comment

Over the course of two trips last year, I was able to experience almost all of the Disneyland character dining options! So, today I’m going to provide a guide to those meals!

Disneyland Character Dining

Disneyland Character Dining

Avid Walt Disney World goers will be surprised to learn that there are only 4 character meals at Disneyland! Granted, several of those serve a couple of different meals. However, aside from different times and different food, it’s the same characters. Although that does make it easy to do a character dining guide since it’s only the four different restaurants to cover.

Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park

First up, it’s the only in-park character meal. The Minnie & Friends Breakfast in the Park is the Plaza Inn Character Breakfast that I reviewed last year at Disneyland park. It’s only available during breakfast hours as the restaurant becomes a quick service restaurant known for its fried chicken for lunch and dinner. The food here is basic breakfast items. However, it’s really a character-palooza! The only guaranteed character is Minnie Mouse. After that, it’s a random assortment of characters! It’s fun as you never know who you’re going to meet! I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys meeting characters. It’s where I met Max in the photo above. You can click to read my full review above.

Mickey’s Tales of Adventure Breakfast

DCA doesn’t currently have its own character dining experience. However, if you walk over to the Grand Californian Hotel, you can enjoy Mickey’s Tales of Adventure breakfast or brunch! I loved my Storytellers Cafe brunch in May of 2023. My mom and I had some fun at the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe in September 2023. If you get to choose, I would go with brunch as the food is much better and more interesting. However, both meals provide a fun time with the characters! Unfortunately, dinner here is just the buffet without the characters. I’ve heard good things about the meal though.

Goofy’s Kitchen

You can enjoy breakfast or dinner with characters at Goofy’s Kitchen at Disneyland Hotel. The fun breakfast started my trip off on the right foot last May. Then, my mom and I enjoyed her birthday dinner here in September! I love the variety of foods found here at both meals. Plus, who doesn’t love waving a napkin in the air as characters dance by? It’s perfect for guests staying at the hotel. It might also be worth a walk over from the parks since it’s the only character meal option for dinner.

Disney Princess Breakfast Adventures

Lastly, there’s the uber fancy and expensive Disney Princess Breakfast Adventure at Napa Rose at the Grand Californian Hotel. This is the only character meal I haven’t yet experienced at Disneyland. However, it’s also the most expensive at $135/adult! Yikes! Granted, it’s a three course meal including a tower of appetizers, a main entree, and desserts. This is marketed as being more of an event than simply a meal. You get to spend more leisurely time with the princesses instead of having them rush around the restaurant to greet guests quickly. It sounds like it would make for a lovely, memorable experience.

Disneyland Character Dining

As I stated above, there’s only four restaurants offering a character meal currently. So, it’s pretty easy to summarize the options. Most of those options are for breakfast though, with only Goofy’s Kitchen available for dinner. Also, the princess breakfast sounds amazing but comes with a not so amazing price tag.

Which one should you pick? I think you should eat at the one that is wherever you are spending the day. If you are at DCA, then head over to Storytellers Cafe. If you are at Disneyland park, hit up Plaza Inn. If you are staying at Disneyland Hotel or want dinner, then Goofy’s Kitchen is the answer. So, which of these have you dined at?

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe Disneyland Review

By Leave a Comment

When my mom and I visited Disneyland last year, we booked the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. Seeing as how we are from the east coast, I booked us the earliest timeslot available and we were able to be some of the first people in the restaurant for the day!

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe

Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe

You may recall from my Disneyland Hotel review that we stayed at the amazing Disneyland Hotel on this trip. That meant that this meal was just a quick walk over to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. We opted to start our day by exploring the other two resorts in the morning since our park ticket for this day was for Oogie Boogie Bash. Following our adventure, we headed back to our resort and took a nap! So, it was a convenient option that gave us an excuse to explore more of the resort.

The Characters

On my May trip, I booked this restaurant for the brunch and enjoyed it very much. However, when I was there in May I missed seeing Pluto. This time, I was able to see all of the characters! In fact, Pluto came over a few times! So, it kind of made up for the last time I ate here.

My mom and I had a great time with the characters at this meal. Since we had an early reservation, we got some extra time with the characters as the rest of the restaurant was empty. I even got to dance with Chip at one point! The character interactions here are top notch!

The Food

As you may recall, I gave the food at brunch here high marks. However, I don’t think I can say the same for breakfast. I tried several things from the buffet and most things were just ok. Nothing was outright bad, but I also didn’t find a single item that wowed me. My mom was also disappointed with the food here. Suffice it to say that I much prefer the brunch menu here and will probably only book it if I come back.

Is the character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe worth it?

According to Disneyland’s website, brunch and breakfast are now the same price of $52. I don’t recall if that’s what we paid for this meal or not. However, if given the choice, I would definitely go with brunch over breakfast. Breakfast wasn’t bad and I probably would have been happy if I had not experienced brunch first. So, if breakfast is your only option for eating here, then go for it. You will leave entertained and full.

Have you ever eaten here? Do you prefer breakfast or brunch?

A Look Back at 2023: Year in Review

By Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe, but another year is coming to a close! Just for fun, I thought I would do a little look back at 2023!

Look Back at 2023

Look Back at 2023

Maybe it’s just me, but the last few months have flown by! I can’t believe 2023 is almost over! The end of a year always makes me reflect on what I accomplished or what happened. It also makes me happy to look ahead to the new year. So, here’s a brief look at my 2023!

Return to Solo Travel

Prior to the pandemic, I would travel a couple of times a year by myself. However, that all stopped during the pandemic. In May of this year, I finally resumed my solo adventures! I visited Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm by myself! This felt like quite the accomplishment as I had to fly across the country and navigate things all by myself. I also wrote a post Solo Disneyland: Tips for Going Alone in case anyone else is interested in doing the same thing!

I wasn’t initially planning to visit Universal Orlando this fall. However, I ended up taking a bit of a last minute trip to see the Stranger Things house! Attending Halloween Horror Nights by myself feels like another accomplishment since their slogan is literally “Never go alone.” I also wrote Halloween Horror Nights Solo Tips for anyone considering taking the plunge to do HHN alone.

Visited Some New Places

I kicked off this year with my first visit to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. My mom and I visited the park for two days and enjoyed doing many of the Busch Gardens Tampa Animal Tours.

Then, in March my husband and I made a last minute trip to Colonial Williamsburg! It was his first time visiting and my second. Although, my first time was on a field trip in fourth grade and it’s a blur. I’m already discussing returning to Williamsburg for the food alone. You can read my Colonial Williamsburg Food Guide to see for yourself how good the food is!

In June I managed to book a weekend stay in Mt. Airy, North Carolina with my mom. You can read my Andy Griffith Homeplace Review to learn about our stay. I also wrote a Mt. Airy Food Guide for Mayberry North Carolina that has gotten several views.

Returned to Some Old Favorites

In February, I was happy to return to Universal Orlando for Mardi Gras! In fact, my mom and I did the Mardi Gras Float Ride and Dine and absolutely loved it! I was also tickled to visit my favorite festival at Epcot: Festival of the Arts! My Epcot Festival of the Arts 2023 Review details why I love it so much!

In September, my mom and I visited Disneyland for their Halloween festivities for the first time! You can read my Halloween 2023 at Disneyland Guide to see what I recommend. Suffice it to say that Oogie Boogie Bash is awesome!

Other Hobbies

In 2023, I also got into some other hobbies besides travel. I painted several door hangers and little home decor items. In addition to that, I also got better at baking. I made my first ganache for a chocolate peanut butter pie in September. In November, I made my first meringue for a pie for a family Thanksgiving get together. I realize these aren’t things most people would include in a post like this, but they are things I’m proud of.

Looking Ahead to 2024

You may have noticed a pattern in this year’s travels: I did several last minute trips. I prefer to have trips planned out in advance. However, that isn’t always possible. I’m not certain where I will end up next year, but I currently have one trip booked for 2024. I will be heading to UO for Mardi Gras and WDW for Festival of the Arts in February again! My mom and I are leaning towards canceling our UO passes and visiting some other places in 2024.

So, what was your 2023 like? Where did you go? Do you have trips planned for 2024?