PERENNIAL FAVORITE: If you know your Halloween movies and your offbeat movies and your stop-motion movies and your movies in general, you know that perennial favorites don't come more perennial-y nor favorite-y than Tim Burton's "A Nightmare Before Christmas." It's hard to believe that the sweet story of Jack Skellington, Sally, and the other denizens of Halloween Town is only two decades old; theaters regularly put it on the big screen each and every October, and when Danny Elfman comes to town on Halloween night to sing the role of Mr. Skellington? The internet positively lights up (in orange and black bulbs, of course). And let us not forget that a certain cobwebby mansion in Disneyland's New Orleans Square transforms into "A Nightmare Before Christmas"-esque wonderland each early-fall-to-New-Year's-Day-ish. The film and all of the songs and styles and ideas and stories it wrought continue to enchant, which means one thing: The new Skellington Mickey's Haunted Adventure, a seasonal treat from Disney Floral & Gifts, is right up the Nightmare buff's shadowy alley.
HOTEL HALLOWEEN: Most hotel rooms do not come with creepy candelabras, except in the occasional horror flick, but this deal does. The upshot? While your favorite Jack Skellington fan is out enjoying the Disneyland Resort parks, his or her hotel room will magically -- this is Disney, after all, so "magically" is requisite -- get decorated with a Jack Skellington throw, "Nightmare"-themed playing cards, small Haunted Mansion tombstones, an Ear Hat ornament from the Mansion, candy, and other ghoul-y goodies. Call it a Christmas morning-type surprise, but in the fall and for Halloween. Price is $374.95. Now, who is the really, really big "Nightmare" maven in your life? Shhh, totally do not tell them you're doing this, because the surprise will be real (and worth documenting -- have that camera ready).
Isn't this the sweet something that Jack Skellington might have done for Sally?
