It was only a matter of time before one of our many adventures to Disney would, well, come up lacking Disney magic. Our latest trip to Disney was last Friday, September 13th. A tip from one of our viewers and a friend, let us know that we could not possibly miss the Friday the 13th event. Of course, we became instantly interested and did a little research into the event. It seems Disney threw together quickly a Friday the 13th event celebrating the Villains of Disney called Unleash the Villains. The event was to start at sundown when the villains would be unleashed by Hades at Disney's Hollywood Studios. All of us made a big effort to get there as early as possible by leaving work early and meeting up for Neil to drive us over.
Upon arrival (we were early for the event), we took some time to check out stores for vinylmations and some food until the event began. We soon figured out how busy the park was based on the Villain Vogue store being absolutely packed.
In fact, the store closed off the vinylmation section because so many people were there for the exclusive villain merchandise, which featured special Mickey ears featuring poisoned apples, Maleficent themed horns, and a Queen of hearts theme. Making our way around the park we stopped in at the Animation store for vinylmations. As a note, I (Ashleigh) have started my vinylmation collection with the release of the Little Mermaid themed items. I was happily surprised to get Prince Eric and his butler this time, but still in search of Ariel (all I want is Ariel and Eric lol!). Anna was disappointed to not find any Beauty in the Beast themed vinylmations anymore (we fear it's been discontinued). We trekked on stopping to watch the Muppets show and search out some autograph books. We finally choose the traditional autograph books and a pen from a store back by the Muppets show and stopped in at Pizza Planet for a quick bite before Hade's Unleash the Villains Party. Not much to our surprise, everyone else had the same idea and we waited in a long line for pizza.
Stuffing our faces with different pizzas, salads and some soda we made our way back to Mickey's hat where the stage was set for Hades. We were told the show was to start at sundown or 8 pm. This is when our evening started going downhill. The show was delayed to start and to my disappointment we couldn't get a good spot to see the show. Struggling to see, despite the extra screens we watched as Hades announced each of the 13 featured villains on stage, including some favorites like Maleficent, Ratcliffe, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Queen (referring to Snow White). All costumes were pretty awesome and unique. After the show, the DJ remained playing awesome music for a dance party. We, of course, made our way to get in line to take photos with the Villains and get autographs.
Now this is when chaos seemed to be unleashed (maybe part of Hades plan?). Rumors had spread that parking was full with many Disney goers having to park in Epcot and come over so you can imagine how packed the park was. We walked all around the areas with the "lines", talked with 3 different workers (the only 3 to be found anywhere), and discovered that the only distinguished line out of 3 supposedly formed lines went around the whole big circle across from American Idol. It seems that there were 3 lines supposedly (we could only find the one). Each line was suppose to lead to one of the three areas where a character was. If the lines weren't bad enough, we found out that the three areas were not three specific villains but constantly changing out so you were not guaranteed to get a picture with any villain you wanted. And worst of all, no autographs were being given. After all this chaos and many complaints amongst ourselves and others, we got out of line and decided to go back to Villain Vogue again and then leave the park. At Villain Vogue we bought other Vinylmations and waited in a line to check out and trade some Vinylmations. Upon check out we discovered the trades were moved across the street. Shannon and Anna made some trades then and we left Hollywood Studios to go to Downtown Disney.
At Downtown Disney, we checked out the D-store to trade again (not succeeding much for Shannon and Anna) and then finally going home very disappointed. It's with great displeasure for me to give Disney two thumbs down for this event. Overall, it was very disorganized with no defined lines for characters, little to no workers available or with knowledge, and lacking much of the Disney magic we typically feel. I would suggest for the next event, consider following how Star Wars weekend is set up to keep lines organized for the character spots. In addition, open up more than one bar with special drinks (forget to mention that disappointment). Perhaps make the event all day (considering Friday the 13th is all day not just 8 pm to 1 am) so people have more time with characters and enjoy the show, etc. I do hope the event happens again just better put together for enjoyment. Despite all this, we'll still keep visiting Disney (I don't know if anything could stop that) haha!
Upon arrival (we were early for the event), we took some time to check out stores for vinylmations and some food until the event began. We soon figured out how busy the park was based on the Villain Vogue store being absolutely packed.
In fact, the store closed off the vinylmation section because so many people were there for the exclusive villain merchandise, which featured special Mickey ears featuring poisoned apples, Maleficent themed horns, and a Queen of hearts theme. Making our way around the park we stopped in at the Animation store for vinylmations. As a note, I (Ashleigh) have started my vinylmation collection with the release of the Little Mermaid themed items. I was happily surprised to get Prince Eric and his butler this time, but still in search of Ariel (all I want is Ariel and Eric lol!). Anna was disappointed to not find any Beauty in the Beast themed vinylmations anymore (we fear it's been discontinued). We trekked on stopping to watch the Muppets show and search out some autograph books. We finally choose the traditional autograph books and a pen from a store back by the Muppets show and stopped in at Pizza Planet for a quick bite before Hade's Unleash the Villains Party. Not much to our surprise, everyone else had the same idea and we waited in a long line for pizza. 
Stuffing our faces with different pizzas, salads and some soda we made our way back to Mickey's hat where the stage was set for Hades. We were told the show was to start at sundown or 8 pm. This is when our evening started going downhill. The show was delayed to start and to my disappointment we couldn't get a good spot to see the show. Struggling to see, despite the extra screens we watched as Hades announced each of the 13 featured villains on stage, including some favorites like Maleficent, Ratcliffe, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Queen (referring to Snow White). All costumes were pretty awesome and unique. After the show, the DJ remained playing awesome music for a dance party. We, of course, made our way to get in line to take photos with the Villains and get autographs.
Now this is when chaos seemed to be unleashed (maybe part of Hades plan?). Rumors had spread that parking was full with many Disney goers having to park in Epcot and come over so you can imagine how packed the park was. We walked all around the areas with the "lines", talked with 3 different workers (the only 3 to be found anywhere), and discovered that the only distinguished line out of 3 supposedly formed lines went around the whole big circle across from American Idol. It seems that there were 3 lines supposedly (we could only find the one). Each line was suppose to lead to one of the three areas where a character was. If the lines weren't bad enough, we found out that the three areas were not three specific villains but constantly changing out so you were not guaranteed to get a picture with any villain you wanted. And worst of all, no autographs were being given. After all this chaos and many complaints amongst ourselves and others, we got out of line and decided to go back to Villain Vogue again and then leave the park. At Villain Vogue we bought other Vinylmations and waited in a line to check out and trade some Vinylmations. Upon check out we discovered the trades were moved across the street. Shannon and Anna made some trades then and we left Hollywood Studios to go to Downtown Disney. At Downtown Disney, we checked out the D-store to trade again (not succeeding much for Shannon and Anna) and then finally going home very disappointed. It's with great displeasure for me to give Disney two thumbs down for this event. Overall, it was very disorganized with no defined lines for characters, little to no workers available or with knowledge, and lacking much of the Disney magic we typically feel. I would suggest for the next event, consider following how Star Wars weekend is set up to keep lines organized for the character spots. In addition, open up more than one bar with special drinks (forget to mention that disappointment). Perhaps make the event all day (considering Friday the 13th is all day not just 8 pm to 1 am) so people have more time with characters and enjoy the show, etc. I do hope the event happens again just better put together for enjoyment. Despite all this, we'll still keep visiting Disney (I don't know if anything could stop that) haha!
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