Halloween in Celebration without a car

[Evans77]

Hi all, we are second timers travelling to Orlando and staying in Disney this October. We would like to visit Celebration on Halloween night and have heard lots about how good it is - and also how busy it gets. We would like to hear from anyone who has been without a car - how easy is it to get in and out of the town, and do you have any tips please or recommendations on what time to get in and leave - don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam (especially in a taxi) if we can help it!
Thanks in advance!

[piglet100]

We went to celebration last Halloween, staying at Disney. We got an Uber there about 3ish which was absolutely fine, had a lovely time seeing the houses. But... Getting home was a nightmare! We waited at least an hour for a pick up, tried Uber, lyft and kept having rides accepted and cancelled. In the end a mears taxi was able to get us. We tried to leave about 6/7pm as had our 1 year old with us. Would have been fine if just adults/older kids we'd have just had a drink/walk but not with a tired out toddler. The taxi drivers said the traffic was terrible as people were walking in the road etc!

We enjoyed going but wouldn't do it again without a guaranteed way home! Sorry I wish I could say what time you should go instead, but just sharing our experience!

[piglet100]

Oh and most of the Halloween festivities seemed to start around 6 when kids started showing up in costume etc. So if you leave much before then you wouldn't see much of the Halloween fun I don't think..

[Evans77]

Thanks both for your replies - this is definitely the information I need to know about. This is what I was concerned about - we do have older children who would be able to handle being out later but don't want that feeling of being 'stuck' somewhere - particularly when we're not familiar with the area. Will have to have a good think about whether its worth it - or maybe arrange a pick up time before we go. Thank you again

[piglet100]

Originally Posted by Evans77

Thanks both for your replies - this is definitely the information I need to know about. This is what I was concerned about - we do have older children who would be able to handle being out later but don't want that feeling of being 'stuck' somewhere - particularly when we're not familiar with the area. Will have to have a good think about whether its worth it - or maybe arrange a pick up time before we go. Thank you again

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I would say we never felt unsafe or anything like that, but as you say it's not nice to feel stuck with kids!

We also should have had a few cab numbers in our phones so we weren't reliant on WiFi and ride sharing apps, we met another stuck British family who shared a number they had luckily and then eventually got a Mears! (Hi if you were dibbers!). So maybe talking to a conventional cab company in advance would have helped make it easier. We'd still have been stuck with a car I'm sure, just in the comfort of our car!

[tinkerbell15]

Can I ask did you trick or treat? Did you just start knocking on houses like we do over here?

[Weddingnyc]

We had a reservation at the Town Tavern at 2pm - a reservation wasn’t actually necessary, although it did start getting busy with families as we were leaving. The town was quiet and easy enough to drive in. We left around 9pm and the roads were crazy busy, lots of cars were double parked and large vehicles couldn’t get past, and no passing places so we were just stuck, it took around 45 minutes just to get to the main road out of Celebration. It definitely wouldn’t put us off going again though, it was a fantastic night. Like over here, we trick or treated the houses with decorations up- with the lovely weather lots of homeowners were sat on their porches or had their front doors open. At the time of leaving lots of houses had run out of candy and had little signs up but there were tailbacks of cars just coming into Celebration to start their trick or treating.

[piglet100]

Originally Posted by tinkerbell15

Can I ask did you trick or treat? Did you just start knocking on houses like we do over here?

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No we didn't just had a wander around, DS too small really. Saw loads of people tricky
or treating and the houses that want people to do it Were all lit up with trails to follow etc, and loads of people visiting each one, so it was quite obvious where to go I think. Some houses were completely dark and everyone left them alone, others just had buckets of sweets on the steps for people to take from!
The decorations on some of the houses were incredible!

[scooby99]

Originally Posted by tinkerbell15

Can I ask did you trick or treat? Did you just start knocking on houses like we do over here?

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I would suggest calling on houses that are taking part.
Some trick or treaters in our area knock on all houses irrespective of whether they’re taking part (ie, decorated, pumpkins in the window etc) & are then surprised when people ignore them or get annoyed.

[orlandonewbie]

We tried to go two years ago and the traffic was so bad that we couldn’t get to Celebration at all. We ended up doing a U turn and going home. We went at about 6. So if you’re going, get there early. I would think that even if you booked a cab they would struggle to get into Celebration to pick you up. Perhaps arrange to meet them at the Publix near the main road and walk up. DH ran around Celbration on the morning of Halloween and said it looked fabulous.