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[Spoiler warning] The ride is largely the same as last year; the major change, of course, being the music. Most of last year's score is gone. There are bits of it here and there, though. It still plays "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in the graveyard, and the singing pumpkins still shout out "Boo! Boo! Boo!" There are still traces of the demented children's choir in the stretching room. If you listen, you can hear them over Danny Elfman's "Making Christmas.

I am told that the same person who orchestrated the music for Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris orchestrated the new mansion score. (John Debney) If you listen well enough, you can hear a bit of Phantom Manor in the music too. When you burst into the changing portrait hallway, you hear "Kidnap the Sandy Claws." The loading area with its new "advent calendar" plays "Scary Christmas." Those charming (or alarming, depending on your view) plants also hum (as only they can) "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" as well.

In Leota's room, "Making Christmas" wafts through the room as she still recites her version of the "13 Days of Christmas." Leota has also added a wonderful tree to her room, fashioned like an elaborate candelabra complete with chain garlands. The ballroom has a new hidden Mickey that is easy to spot (but if you cannot, e-mail me and I will tell you where to look) and the music here is "Making Christmas."

Cymbal-clanging monkeys have taken up residence in the present-laden attic where the music is, appropriately enough, "What's This?". The scary teddy in the tree outside the attic has received some nifty fiber optics that make it look like it is sparking as the teddy chomps down on that string of Christmas lights.

The music in the graveyard is a mixture of Christmas tunes, "Scary, Scary Christmas," and "Grim Grinning Ghosts," and so on. The two teeter-tottering ghosts now have a present that slides back and forth between them and the mirror in the exit room that was wrapped like a gift being torn open has no wrapping any longer.

On the outside of the attraction, beside the scarols, the pumpkins on the hill are now illuminated in the evening and best of all, Zero is flying somewhere around the Mansion. I will not tell you where (unless you are dying to know... again e-mail me), but look for Zero's cute little pumpkin nose. It's a very charming effect that I absolutely love.

For a more detailed description of the ride, check MousePlanet's coverage of last year's version (links are in the sidebar to the right) as it is basically the same. [Spoilers end]

After the ride, I headed over to the Fantasyland Theatre for this year's panel discussion. For many, the panel discussions are the reason to attend these special events. Since the panelists were not announced prior to the event, I had no idea what to expect. As we walked in, each event participant was handed as tasty goodie: an orange-colored Rice Krispies treat in the shape of Jack Skellington's head. There were also many tables laden with yummy cookies of several different varieties and choices of beverages, including bottled water.

It was a nice touch that there was no limit to what you could take. If you wanted to be a complete pig and take a handful of everything, it was yours. I opted for a couple of cookies to eat later, as my dinner for the evening was scheduled the later -- or "post mortem" -- seating of the two available dining times.

The stage setting was not quite as interesting as the set from 2001. I believe this has something to do with the inability to move the set for Mickey's Detective School, the show that normally runs in the Fantasyland Theater. Allowing for that hindrance though, it was nicely decorated with the Mickey set covered by large black and red velvet drapes. Overhead was a large screen projected with Jack's same chalkboard print as on the carry-all bag.

There was a very Burton-esque fireplace on the left of the stage and several rather uncomfortable-looking chairs that seemed as though they had come from Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, on the right side of the stage. Various reproductions of artwork pertaining to either the Haunted Mansion or Nightmare Before Christmas hung in back of the chairs, and the edge of the stage was decorated with large-scale Christmas books and giant bottles filled with various toys. Curiously, in between the fireplace and the Beetlejuice-like chairs sat what looked like an electric chair.

The show commenced with an interesting entrance, or should I say, a rather sparked entrance. "'Twas was a long time ago, longer now, than it seems, in a place that perhaps, you've seen in your dreams. For the story that you are about to be told, took place in the holiday worlds of old. Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven't I'd say, it’s time you've begun." Sandy Claws popped out of the fireplace with a bit of help from some pyrotechnics, as the audience screamed with delight at the sight of Jack Skellington dressed in Halloween's version of Santa Claus. Although it looked like Sandy was in danger of having his pants set on fire, that fortunately did not happen; Sandy made a nice recovery and went on with the show.

Sandy was joined on stage by Sally, a witch, a vampire, the Behemoth, and the Clown with the tear-away face. They performed a little show that consisted mostly of Sandy/Jack singing "What's This?", and of Jack sitting in the electric chair to jump-start his memory to project his "dreams" on the overhead screen of what he remembered from his trip to Disneyland last year.

The "show" amounted to little more than a commercial for Christmas at the Disneyland Resort, and I felt it was a curious and somewhat condescending choice to present to an audience that had paid so much to be there, especially since last year's show was so entertaining. But then, as I have said before, entertainment at Disneyland hasn't been very entertaining of late.

When you consider that the audience at events like this is largely made up of die-hard fans who know all about Christmas at the resort, it's logical that they do not need the hard-sell "come see Disneyland at Christmas" show. What they especially do not need is to be reminded that there are pins for sale. It was very annoying to see Sandy/Jack reduced to a huckster for pins, and my immediate thought was, "My, how crass. Shove it down our throats that the only reason we are here is so you can sell us something." It was sad. At least I will give the scriptwriter this: Sandy/Jack bought up the pin subject by telling the audience about the "advent calendar" in the Mansion (shown below) and describing pins as, "a very special brand of pointy, prickly thing. A 'pin,' they call it..."

My favorite line of the evening? Jack announcing, "Yes... we're all back again. The citizens of Halloweentown and I are very happy about how last season went. But if you think we were going to stop there... then you don't know Jack!"

My least favorite line of the evening was Jack enlisting the aid of the witch to conjure up someone who could tell more about what's in store for this year. Jack asked the witch, "Will you help me?" He explained, "I want you to scare up a being from another dimension. Someone grand, someone glorious, someone who can tell us all about what’s going on here at Disneyland."

"Ohhhh, an Annual Passholder. They make the best stew," the witch cackled. The entire audience laughed, myself included. It was funny for a second or two. But when you consider the subcontext that we all know exists -- mainly the disdain for Annual Passholders -- it seems to me, anyway, to be in rather poor taste, especially since this was the introduction for the filmed message from Cynthia Harriss, president of the Disneyland Resort.

Enough about the show. It wasn't a main reason to be there anyway -- the panel discussion was. This year's panelists were a slight rehash of last year's. The discussion again, was moderated by the author of the book, "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas," Frank Thompson.

Also returning was Glenn Shadix, the voice of the Mayor. New this year were Catherine O'Hara, the voice of Sally and Shock, Kerry Katz, the voice of the Corpse Dad, the Monster under the stairs, and a Vampire, and Randy Crenshaw, the voice of Mr. Hyde, the Behemoth, and a Vampire. As with last year, I though Frank Thompson's skills at moderating a panel were a little less than sterling, and it was a bit annoying to hear him constantly throw in that he needed work and his bank account is less than what he'd like it to be. I could not tell if he was joking or sincere, and that made it all the worse.

Each panelist was asked to tell how he got the job. Kerry Katz told the audience how he got a phone call, made a funny voice, and "showed up." He talked about being asked to sing, "We want it more intense, but... cheery."

Randy Crenshaw said he was basically hired in same manner as Kerry. He added to the story about how the voices were developed, "We had to go in there not knowing what we were going to do and just made it up on the spot. And that's what we did a lot of the time. We just improvised with Danny (Elfman) saying, 'Uh well, there's no music, but it kinda goes like this,' or madly writing, 'Okay, I need somebody to sound like a mom, but she has to have a slash in her face...'"

Glenn Shadix told the story about how he found the voice for the worried Mayor face. Amusing, but we heard it last year. If you don't know this story it is fun and you can read it on Glenn's Web site, where you can also see his filmography and other interesting stuff (like drawings of different versions of the Mayor). Glenn's hiring story was slightly more interesting to those of us who had heard the Karen Black/worried Mayor face story. "I was at a pool party at Tim's and he was like, up in this Jacuzzi, and I was down in the pool and he hollered down, 'Hey Glenn, you got a big voice. You wanna play the Mayor in Nightmare?' And I went, sure. And that was it."

My favorite panelist was Catherine O'Hara. She was quite charming and very self-effacing. She couldn't understand what all the fuss was about the movie or why anyone would want to hear her tell about her experiences making the film. When Frank Thompson asked if she had a more interesting story about how she was hired than Glenn's, she replied, "Why did you start on this end? You're cruel. I wish I had a story. I follow Glenn wherever he goes. I worked with Glenn on Beetlejuice and Tim asked me to do this. I don't know why. I guess they wanted someone to sound like they didn't have much in them but stuffing, or whatever. There were a lot of people who could sing and be funny, like you guys (to the rest of the panelists), but they didn't seem to care who could sing with my part. It was just someone who was very light, a lightweight voice, I guess."

Most amusing was Catherine O'Hara's answer to the question regarding Henry Selick's direction. She recited the line, "But I don't want to go," in every way it could possible be delivered and it drew huge laughter from the audience.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the panelists each summed up their thoughts about Nightmare Before Christmas, starting with Catherine O'Hara, who voiced displeasure with having to address her feelings first. "Well, that's a mistake," She said when Frank Thompson said, "Let's start on this end."

"I want you to finish big," He added.

"No!"

"Maybe a song."

"No!" Catherine pleaded, "No! I had no idea there were lovely people like you," she gestured to the audience, "who actually cared. And, I'm just honored to be part of it. I think it's a great movie. It's full of unbelievably beautiful art on every level and you'd have to explain to me why people are still talking about it and we're all here. That's amazing to me... Tim's really good at, and I'm giving him all the credit here, but he's good at doing stuff that's scary but somehow is a great balance of dark and light. Beetlejuice was like that. Scary but lifted somehow. I don't know. See, I shouldn't speak publicly."

I doubt anyone in the audience would have agreed with Catherine O'Hara that she shouldn't speak publicly. I think we all wanted to take her home with us.

Kerry Katz told his story next. "I have a neighbor who sets up his house for Halloween rather elaborately and in my home and in his, I get to be the star, because during Halloween, he plays Nightmare Before Christmas, he plays the soundtrack. And I get to hit my kids and say, That's your Dad!"

"And your kids," Frank Thompson asked, "are they impressed with this?"

"Not at all," he replied

"You know, I get much the same reaction," Randy Crenshaw said. "I think one of the secrets to the success of the thing is the real sweetness of the vision. It could have been dark and macabre but instead it's kind of the collision of the two worlds so it's kind of one of those timeless fairy tales. It's the first full-length stop action musical ever and it's still great. I'm sure when my kids hear the silly things I did, it's like, Daddy, use your real voice, not your stupid voice."

Frank Thompson wanted to know, "What would your stupid voice be? 'Is it rotted and covered with gook?' Yeah, that one, especially."

Glenn Shadix summed it up: "It was a privilege to be a part of it. There's a beautiful story there and at the center of it is a really great heart."

After that, it was a little bit anticlimactic, but Sandy/Jack and the rest of the gang reappeared to add a special touch to make it seem, "Just like Christmas," in Sally's words. They made it snow.

And then, it was time for dinner.

The dinner was lovely. It was served in the "Boo Bayou," which was decorated especially for the occasion. Each table had pumpkin centerpieces and scary-face lanterns hung overhead. We were serenaded by pretty dead-looking singers, who sang scarols and sounded anything but dead.

At one point during the dinner the audience was asked to join the singers in singing "The 13 Days of Christmas. Again, it's all in the details, so it was especially nice to receive a booklet containing the evening's menu plus a few scarols so we knew the words of the song we were asked to sing. The booklet was printed on paper that resembled a bound leather book, each page a faux parchment. I do have to say that my table -- table number five -- was quite good at their particular line. We all sang out, "Five twisted toys!"

We dined on Bewitching Cheeses and Cyclops Bread, Melting Man's Butternut Squash, Mummified Salad, Master of Fright Filet Mignon, Dark Lagoon Halibut with Tomato Concasse, Sally's Fingerling smashed Potatoes and Corpse Kid's Cauldron-Roasted Baby Vegetables. For dessert, which was listed on the menu as "What's This? What's This?", we were each served a large plate containing Jack Skellington Tart filled with Pumpkin Mousse, Chocolate Scare-amel Mouse, Pralines and Rice Krispies, Scared-Stiff-as-Meringue Ghosts, Chocolate Pumpkins, and a Haunted Mountain of Cookies. I found everything to be scrumptious, except the fish, which I though was, well, fishy tasting.

The nicest thing about dinner for me though, was that I could eat it all. In a few past events, there has been no thought to guests with food allergies. For me this has meant that I could eat dessert and that's about it. This time (as with last year's event too), there was a place to list special food requirements on the form that was to be faxed to Event Services. I did this. And they listened. While those around me dined on food that would make me very sick, I enjoyed the same food sans the offending parts that would absolutely kill me. I know there are others out there who either cannot eat or don't like such things as onions, seeds, and garlic. It's wonderful to know that the event planners take this into consideration now. I for one truly appreciate that consideration and thank them for making my meal as pleasurable for me as for everyone else.

As we exited the Boo Bayou at the conclusion of dinner, we were each handed the first of the evening's gifts: an Eric Robison print of Sally that matches last year's Jack print. I was a little sad at this point. You know, it had been nine months since I got to ride the Nightmare version of the Haunted Mansion. One ride on this fine evening was simply not enough. My friends and I were talking about this and one of the cast members overheard us, and said, "You know the ride is open until 11:30. You can go ride it again." And, I did.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and it was time to leave. I picked up the packages being held for me. It was such a small thing to hold purchases for event guests but such a large thing to me to not have to lug them around. Again, details, and a very nice one indeed. Good show event planners! I walked down the now-empty Main Street toward the exit gates and remarked to a friend, "I always feel that getting to see Main Street like this when the park is closed, quiet, almost no one around, is a special privilege. Really, in the grand scheme of things, how many people get to see this?" It's so pretty, all lit up, no one there, no noise from the hundreds of people that usually inhabit the street. It's like a glittering jewel. It was a nice way to end the evening.

There was one more nice thing to come. Two more gifts awaited us as the last of the guests straggled toward the exit. And although I am partial to last year's gift of a set of Madam Leota's Tarot cards, I do appreciate the gift of a print of one of the stained glass windows in the stretching room and a limited edition skeleton reindeer pin.

Yes, it was a nice way to end the evening.

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You can drop Sue Kruse a line at: tggrfn@aol.com