Disney World At Halloween During The 50th Anniversary (Spooktacular Day 10)

BySarra Cannon

Hi, Everyone, and welcome back to Day 10 of our Spooktacular Halloween Party! As many of you know, my little family has been in the Orlando area for the past week or so, enjoying a Disney vacation here in the middle of our nomad-life adventure.

Originally, we had planned to spend a week at Disney next January for my birthday, but after we decided to leave Charleston behind and look for a new home on the road, we decided to cancel that vacation and book one while we were already in Florida, instead. Part of the reason is because my cousin Kim had a vacation planned, and I haven’t seen her in about 8 years! Definitely had to make a special trip over here just to spend some time with her, and wow was it worth it.

It’s been an amazing trip so far! I’ve never had a chance to stay at Disney for more than four or five days at a time due to work and school constraints, but this time, since we are homeschooling and more flexible with work on the road, we decided to book an 8-day ticket and stay off Disney property at a nearby AirBnB.

Our latest 3 Bedroom AirBnb

To say we’ve been having a blast would be an understatement! At the same time, if you’ve never been on a big vacation in the middle of a life-altering journey all while working full time in two business, let me just say that it’s exhausting! A fun kind of exhausting, but exhausting nonetheless.

Between this, putting together a new video for my Heart Breathings channel for this week, and our sweet Evie (our beautiful 2 year old) needing some extra mommy snuggle time, I didn’t have a chance to finish editing our Disney vlog / video. Instead, I’ll be posting pictures from the trip so far and pushing the vlog back to Sunday or sometime next week, depending on how things go.

For the same reason, I likely won’t have an original ghost story ready to go by Halloween day, either. I’ve got something else coming for you, instead, though, so stay tuned!

Thanks for staying flexible during this time! I feel like overall, I’ve done a good job staying on top of the giveaways and posts for the Spooktacular, but as I mentioned earlier this week, the extra videos, stories, and events ended up being a bit too ambitious in addition to everything else going on in our lives right now. Keep reading for the Disney Haul Giveaway, though.

Magic Kingdom

Disney Vacation Highlights

It’s neat to be at Disney during the Halloween season, because you get to see a lot of people wearing costumes beyond just the matching Disney tees most people wear. What’s even cooler, though, is getting to visit Disney World during their 50th Anniversary Celebration. There are golden statues throughout all the parks of all your favorite Disney characters, and it’s been like a fun little scavenger hunt to try to find them all. I believe there are 50, but so far we’ve found only about 20 of them.

Andrew with some Toy Story figures for the 50th.

Something else that’s new for our family now that Andrew is getting older and is really enjoying scavenger hunt style activities is that we bought a book on how to locate Hidden Mickeys throughout the parks. Did you know there are over 1,000 Hidden Mickeys throughout Disney World? We’ve been having a blast looking for them while we wait for rides or walk around the parks. Andrew is getting so good at spotting them, like this sneaky one he found on a grate in the koi pond in Japan at Epcot.

A Hidden Mickey in a Koi pond

Here’s a couple more we found at Epcot, and I hope to share more in the vlog, because we’ve found at least 100 so far!

Our day at Epcot also included grabbing the new Ratatouille Scavenger Hunt and searching the entire park for statues of Remy holding different ingredients. Here he is in the USA section with some peppers.

Remy’s Ratatouille Scavenger Hunt at Epcot

Speaking of Ratatouille, we were lucky enough to get a spot in the virtual queue for the brand new Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride at Epcot, and I think all of us agreed that it was one of the best rides we’ve ever been on in our lives! If you get a chance to go to Epcot, it’s a must-ride if you can get on.

I think so far we’ve been logging about 18,000 steps per day while we’ve been there, so we’ve been trying to take lots of breaks and eat lots of good food, including, of course, some Mickey-shaped food like this pretzel (that was delicious btw.)

Mickey-Shaped Pretzel from Epcot

We’ve had fun at every Disney park, but so far, Animal Kingdom has been Evie’s favorite. She’s really loved all the exciting sights and sounds, looking at the animals on the Safari, and seeing all the characters at Tusker House breakfast. Plus, how cute is she in these leopard print pants?

Family Photo Break at DinoLand in Animal Kingdom

Bread assortment at Tusker House for Breakfast

I don’t know that George and I have a favorite park, because there’s so much fun to be had everywhere, but I have loved hanging out at Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars area in Hollywood Studios. I got to spend about an hour just sitting by the Millennium Falcon while Evie napped and the boys rode the Smuggler’s Run ride. (I got to ride with Andrew right after using Disney’s awesome parent-swap system.) Plus, Mickey’s Runaway Railway is now one of my all-time faves, as is Tower of Terror. Hollywood Studios gets a major thumbs-up from me!

I can’t wait to share more of our trip with you in an upcoming vlog. For now, though, it’s been so much easier to type out my thoughts while holding Evie on my lap! Thanks for hanging out and checking out some of my favorite photos so far. (I do have some with George, too, so I’ll share those on the vlog!)

Enter Today’s Disney Haul Giveaway

While we wait for the Disney Vacation Vlog, I’d love for you to go ahead and answer today’s question and enter to win a $100 Disney Haul Giveaway! I’ve been collecting items I think are fun and cool while I park hop, and I’ll have a total of about $100 worth of Disney items to give away as part of the Spooktacular. Enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SCAVENGER HUNT CLUE #10

Only a handful of days remaining, so I hope you’ve been keeping track of your answers so far!

For Day 10, the book is Deceiving Darkness.

Go to Chapter 14 – Hold The Line. What is the 4th word in the 16th paragraph?

Coming up: Teleparty on Saturday

I’m looking forward to the last few days of the Spooktacular with all of you! Tomorrow, I hope to have a live coffee chat at 4PM from the Animal Kingdom. I am honestly hoping I can find a place inside the Pandora section of the park to chat, because it’s just so cool! Video and audio quality might not be as amazing, and we might keep it shorter to about 30 or 40 minutes, instead of a full hour, but I really hope you’ll be able to join us! Find a link to join on the blog tomorrow, or join us live in the Facebook group or my page!

I also wanted to go ahead and give you a heads up that Saturday’s event will be something we’ve done a couple of times before and had some really great fun with – a Netflix Teleparty!!

This is basically a group watch of a movie or TV show on Netflix through the FREE third-party extension called Teleparty. If you want to read more about it or go ahead and add this to your Chrome browser in anticipation of the party, you can read about it or sign up here. It’s totally free and easy to install.

Here’s the basics of how it works:

  • you sign up for an account at Teleparty for free
  • install the extension in your Chrome browser
  • I’ll post a link to our Teleparty here on the blog
  • You click on the link and it will open Netflix in your browser. Log in (you have to have your own subscription to participate, which is the only catch here. sorry to anyone who can’t participate because of this.)
  • Once Netflix is open, you’ll click on the red TP icon in your browser by the browser address line. This will open Teleparty chat, and we’ll all be able to chat and watch the same program together while we chat. You’ll be able to hear my voice chat, and I might occassionally pause the movie to talk about something related or give commentary on the story.

It’s really fun, and we’ll star the party at 1PM Eastern on Saturday. If anyone is up for it (including me) we might keep the party going Saturday night with an Until Dawn Part II livestream over on Discord.

I am pretty sure we’re going to watch There’s Someone Inside Your House, but I’ll be putting up an official poll in the Facebook Group, so if you want to put in your vote, be sure you’re in the Coven and vote there!

I’m so excited to hang out with you, so I’ll see you there! In the meantime, don’t forget to go back to Day One and enter to win the grand prize giveaway of 15 signed paperbacks! You have until Halloween day at Noon to enter.

57 Comments

  1. My favorite vacation was many years ago I went on a special trip that was two and a half weeks on the East Coast visiting a bunch of historical sites, big cities, battle fields, monuments and everything DC. I think Boston and Gettysburg were my favorite stops. I was suppose to go to Disney World in 2014 for my college grad trip with a few friends had my tickets bought and everything and then my mom got sick so I had to cancel, but I still hope to make it someday.

  2. I am absolutely LOVING your Disney World posts. I haven’t been to Disney World yet, but it is now definitely on my list once the world opens up and I can visit the US again!

    1. My favourite vacation is probably when I went to Germany for the first time as part of a school exchange trip. Have been madly in love with Germany since then and went on to study German at university and then live in southern Germany for a short period of time. That trip had a big impact on my life.

  4. One day I’ll make it to Disney (well when it’s not 2:30- 4:30 in the morning are parks are closed) I did a 24 road trip from Massachusetts to Florida and back so needless to say I didn’t get a chance to really enjoy Disney.

  5. My favorite vacation was about 20 years ago, my very first trip abroad with my grandparents. We went to Canada for 2 months, visiting my grandma’s sister and her family – and we also went to New York for 2 weeks, to visit my grandpa’s sister and her family. I loved every single moment of those 2 months, and I will cherish them for the rest of my life.

  6. I have been to Disney World several times. Lady year my husband and I just went to Epcot to see all the countries. It was amazing and also during the mask mandate. I would say my favorite trip was this year going to the Grand Canyon. My husband Mike and I went to the North, South, and West rims of the Canyon. I loved the colors of the North Rim but they were all amazing. It is so peaceful there. We did a small hike down into the canyon. It takes about 3 hrs to go from one rim to another by car but it was definitely worth it. It was on my bucket list. Enjoying your pictures from Disney. You have a beautiful family.

  7. I went to Disney 23yrs ago when I was 19 and it was the best 2wks eva. Would love to take my kids there before they get too old

  8. I really do hope I get chance go Disney soon, it seems like such beautiful magical trip to make. I’m glad your family is having a good time!

  9. Thanks for the wonderful Disney updates,! We were blessed as a family to go a few times and we made lifelong memories you picked up some wonderful prizes, Mickey should be proud

  11. We went to Tokyo in November 2019 and came back just before the first reports came out about COVID-19. Visiting Japan had always been on my bucket list since I was a teen, so going there as a sort of second honeymoon since the first one ended terribly, was an experience. We spend twelve days there and considered going to Disney Sea (it’s supposed to be really different from all the other Disney parks) but my health didn’t allow it, sadly. That vacation meant so much though. When I first got sick at 21 and thought I was going to die, I had three things on my bucket list: publish a book, go to Japan, and see a panda bear in real life. On the ten year painiversary, we went to the zoo and saw the panda, my bucket list complete since I had published my first book in April that year.

    I really want to go back, and visit Disney Sea 🙂

  12. I haven’t really been to too many places outside Australia. Went to Indonesia in year 10, that was an experience. But have always wanted to go to USA and Disneyland and Canada

  13. I haven’t been to Disney work in sometime, but we are hoping to get back soon.
    We live closer to Disneyland and California Adventure, which is great! But, we miss Epcot and have never been to animal kingdom, hopefully someday!

  14. I haven’t been to Disney World in years. My family and I always went to Magic Kingdom or MGM Studios (before the name changed to Hollywood Studios). So I don’t know how much it has changed except I was able to go on the Movie Ride before it closed. I have never been to Animal Kingdom, but it sounds amazing.

  15. My first Disney trip was back in 1997. It was just my Mom, sister, brother and Grandmother. We only went for a day. We were able to go to Animal Kingdom and Space Mountain. It was fun. I would love to go again and bring my 3 kids.

  16. My daughter hates roller coasters. Found out the hard way when my husband took us to Carowinds, lol! But I’ve always wanted to go to Disney World and Universal Orlando. Maybe one day.

  17. If we ever get the chance to go to the states, Disney world would be a must see for sure. It sounds really fun and lots of different things to do for everyone. Our favourite trip we have went on was to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada in Toronto. It was a fun drive from our small town and the kids had a blast.

  19. Love this! You all look so happy. I can’t wait to one day to, but one of my fav trips was to Universal! It was amazing!

  20. My favorite vacation would be the one I took this year in September. I at 42 years old finally traveled alone for the first time in my life. I was a teenage mom at 15 my husband and I have been together since I was 14 so I have really never been alone ever. My best friend lives in New Hampshire So I flew into Boston she took me all over the place in the week I was there . We went to Salem, Massachusetts to check out the Witch ‍♀️ town. We went to Maine to see the lighthouses and 2 beaches, we went to the beach in New Hampshire also. She took me so many places. Then when I flew home I ended up on the beach in Oregon too. So I actually gotta stick my feet in the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean both in one week. Man Literally best vacation ever. Ready to go again now.

    1. I was to Disney World in 1999 or 2000 . It looks like fun. I am sure you are making fun memories.

  22. I went to Disneyworld when I was 9 and my family and I are talking about going back next year (we know a vacation to the US is coming, we just don’t know when and where). Even as an adult, I very much look forward to going! And I told my husband that I still want to go to Magic Kingdom; my kids have never been and I want them to experience at least a little bit of it, even though they’ll be 18 and 14 when we go haha.
    That little Mickey in the koi pond was tiny! Good job to Andrew for spotting it!!

  23. Disney World is always one of our favorites! Before we moved to California (my husband is military so moving happens) in 2016 I told my husband we had to go to FL and do 2 weeks of fun. We did all of Disney in 5 days, Universal for 3 days (my hubby had just finished his bachelor’s degree so it was BIG surprise for him) we drove down to Clearwater and went to the Marine Aquarium to see HOPE and Winter. It was amazing! Your pictures are great!

  24. We went to Disneyland when our boys were teenagers. Great trip on our new van. Everyone was in happy mode. Wonderful memories!

  25. I went to Australia more than 20 years ago. To meet my now husband of 19 years and see if the love we found online was real 😀 We met playing a Play By Email Game of Dungeons and Dragons.
    Tasmania, Australia is amazing.

  27. I am sooo jealous! My sister has been to Disney World, but I haven’t. It’s definitely on my list to go. If my little brother doesn’t get asked to his Senior Winter Formal, my parents are planning a day trip to take him to Disneyland. (He’s very reserved so the girls never ask him to dances) I love Disney and am saving up for a trip! We live closer to Disneyland though. I really want to go to all of the parks one day!

  28. I have been loving the Spooktacular! Lost all my free time yesterday. After I read through for the scavenger hunt clue, I had to finish reading the whole book!

  29. I love your Disney pictures! Disney World is on my bucket list. My best vacation was my first trip to Europe a few years ago. I visited Edinburgh, London, Paris, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Amsterdam. My sister and her family joined my hubby and I in London, and we had fun visiting Hampton Court Palace and The Tower of London together. Paris was my dream come true. My sweet hubby surprised me with a diamond ring while we were at Versailles. It was an amazing day!

  30. my favorite vacation was in 2017 when my family and i went to Disney we also stayed at the animal kingdom lodge! we may be heading back there or to Harry Potter world in 2022

  32. My favorite holiday memory was when l was about 8 or 9, my mum, dad and my two sister’s and l went on a train over to the coast to visit family. The scenery on the way was awesome, there were water falls, tunnels, rivers and sheer drops off the side of the hills we went over. We had 2 weeks of just all day fun. Horse riding, swimming, nature walk’s, tennis in the yard and on warm nights we sat outside and had picnic dinner’s. Ahh the good time’s in life.

  33. Possibly my favourite vacation would be when my bestfriend and her family took me to Queensland with them. It was supposed to be a surprise and neither me nor her were supposed to know but we heard snippets of conversations and our parents kept trying to get rid of us so they could talk even though we weren’t paying any attention to their conversation. It didn’t take much for us to put two and two together.

  34. I would love to go to Disneyland at least once with our three kids so we can say you know what we may not have done a lot growing up but at least you have that to remember. I personally have never been but have always wanted to

  36. I have never been to Disney World but it is someplace I have always wanted to go. My favorite vacation was the year my husband and I got married. We were in Atlanta and went to the CDC museum and then we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was a lot of fun and I will always remember it.

  37. I’ve never been to Disney World, but I have been to Disneyland twice. Once when I was 8 or so, then about 6 years ago I went with my three aunts! We had so much fun! I would love to go to Disney World some day. I collect Mickey stuff. My nieces and nephews call me Aunt Mickey! I love seeing all your Disney pictures! Looks like so much fun!

  38. One of my favorite vacations was recently took with my mom, wish my dad could have been there with us. We went to Disneyland and spent the whole day there with my mom, and her best friend. We booked in advance a reservation for doing the Lightsaber Building at Savi’s Workshop.

    I’m deaf in my right ear completely so despite having one good ear to hear out of, sometimes the masks make it difficult to hear for me. Originally she had decided to stay outside and spend the time with her friend and just have me go in by myself to build my very own lightsaber. I was having difficulty hearing that night with the masks, so she changed her mind and went in with me. She was my ears and gave input when I asked if she thought the choice I made looked cool and she would give me her thought. It was a really cool bonding experience to get to do with her and I’m so grateful she was there. My anxiety rose a bit with not being able to hear and follow along as quickly as instructions were given, and it helped with having her there, she helped ground me from being so anxious.

    I’ve never been to Disney World but it’s been a dream of mine to go and experience Disney World and Epcot. Hopefully someday I’ll get a chance to go.

  39. My favorite vacation I have ever taken would have to be just any I went on with my friends. I don’t get to go on too many but anytime I go with my friends I always have a good time 🙂

  40. My favorite was going to the beach in Florida. We saw dolphins, my favorite animal, just a little ways off the shore.

  42. My favorite vacations I would have to say were the two we took to Walt Disney World. They were both great trips, even though Hurricane Irma came through during the middle of one of them.

  43. Living in Florida we have been to Disney many times. We used to go much more often but now that my kids are older we go to Universal Studios. Anyway, our favorites used to be Epcot and Hollywood Studios but after they opened up Pandora we decided that Animal Kingdom deserved a spot in the favorites spot too. So, the last time we went was in 2019, we only went to Epcot and Animal kingdom. We haven’t gone back so we are excited to go on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride. Enjoy every minute!!!

  44. I’m torn between Disney or Cancun. Both were fun for different reasons. Disney because it was a girls trip with my mom and sister. Cancun because I got to be lazy and it was beautiful.

  45. My fav family vacation was Disneyland when my kids were little. It’s such a manageable park and the weather was perfect! They were just the right age too – 6, 4 and 1! We are going to Disney World later this year, so it will be exciting to have bigger kids this time (11, 9 and 7)! Your vacay looks amazing!

  46. Disney is always my happiest place. My other favorites have been St. Thomas Island and Prague. Both because they were beautiful in person and something you could never recreate in a photo.

  48. My favorite vacation was many years ago (in the late 1970s!) when my husband and I went to Washington, D.C., and toured so many of the historic sites, the Smithsonian, etc. My second favorite was after our children were born and we vacationed in Williamsburg, Virginia, on the way from moving from Louisiana to New York in the late 1980s.

  49. WOW. I love your pictures. I have never been to Disney before. I really do hope to go in the future. The places I have visited when I was younger were Haiti and Canada.

  51. My favorite vacation was a stop in Dublin for 4 days to attend my brothers wedding and then we flew to Venice and took a cruise down the Adriatic Sea and our favorite stop was Dubrovnik – we did a Game of Thrones tour and that city is phenomenal! It just me and my hubby – we left our 4 kids at home and it was so hard but it was amazing!

  52. I have been dreaming of going to Disney World for a long time now. Love all of the photos you are posting and I am so glad that you get to spend some time there with your family after all you have been through!

  54. One of my favorite vacations was to Boston! I live in the west, and it just has so much history and it was such a fun trip!

  55. I realized after submitting that I have been to Disney Land and not Disney World … Does that still count lol.

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