September 29 I attended a really interesting event at Disneyland Resort called the Mahaloween Luau. It was held at the Disneyland Hotel outside of Trader Sam’s and the Tangaroa Terrace on the patio. There were 5 one-hour seatings with a maximum of 100 people per seating. The cost was $125 per person and it was touted as a way for a limited number of people to ” have the pleasure of this kooky seasonal party that includes beverages and eats, live music and insider info with Imagineers and Disney cast members.”
We were supposed to move from the patio after drinks and appetizers inside to meet with Disney Imagineers for informative talks and socializing. This was impossible and ultimately didn’t occur due to the fact that Trader Sam’s interior capacity wouldn’t hold 100 people at a time. I believe Disney also realized that if they shut down Trader Sam’s to regular customers (the bar is ALWAYS full), they would lose money.
We were given two drink tickets (I can’t drink alcohol so I paid it forward to other attendees) and servers walked around with trays of yummy little appetizers that included ahi poke cones, chicken bites on endive, pulled pork sliders and fried long beans. There was a lot of socializing on the patio, as many people came with groups of friends for the event. I was there alone, but I did meet a great group at my table and we chatted for almost the whole hour about anything and everything Disney!
There was a section of the patio that had storyboards of the new Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto coming soon to the Polynesian Hotel at Walt Disney World. And there were Hawaiian performers, although unless you were standing directly in front of them, the lighting and sound system made it very difficult to hear and see them.
At the end of the party, we got a bag of goodies including a Jungle River Cruise Expedition Bag that included a Trader Sam panama hat, a boxed special-edition “Mahaloween Luau” glass (with a dated stamp), a Trader Sam print on canvas, and a coupon good for 20 percent off at the adjacent Tangaroa Terrace. We were also able to purchase up to two additional second-edition Zombie souvenir glasses. The artists for the canvas print and zombie glasses, Marcus Gonzalez and Tim Wollweber, were also onhand to sign their items.
Overall, it was a fun evening that I can see becoming a yearly event with some tweaking of possibly the location, adding more seatings or limiting from 100 to a lesser number for each seating and the flow of the evening and event.
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LOVE that Zombie cup! This sounds like a really fun event!