Bat's Day and the Black Market

Just got back from Bat's Day, and had a blast as usual. What is Bat's Day? It's basically Goth Day at Disneyland, and is officially called "Bat's Day in the Fun Park." The event was started 13 years ago and has grown to become Disneyland's second largest non-official event (Gay Day, in June, is the largest. They wear red t-shirts.) While Bat's Day is an unofficial event, Disneyland does cooperate to make it a success by securing venues and providing photographers for large group photos- we're talking 1,500 Goths at once in the annual photo in front of the castle at noon, among other photo ops.

All types of Goths attend, including classic, cyber, lolita, neo-victorian, and steampunk.

Hearse owners and pirate-loving people are also attracted to the event. Phantom Coaches is a local hearse club that had some members attend in their hearses, old ambulances, and flower cars.

I see some people there regularly, like sisters Green Orchid and Mistress Xian. The event is sort of a reunion for them, as they live in different states. Mistress designs and sews dresses with a new theme each year. This year the dresses were fitted with electroluminescent wires, so the skirts actually lit up and became fields of green or purple stars. You could spot the girls from quite a distance at night.



2009 with Haunted Mansion wallpaper design in the skirt (not well seen here, sorry.)



2010 had a Little Miss Muffet theme with embroidered spiders on the skirts

2011 electroluminescent starfield

Lyn is another regular that I seek out to photograph due to her magnificent wardrobe. I didn't happen to see her this year, which was disappointing.

Lyn 2010

Lyn 2009 with Hilary and ?

Mary Poppins and me, Scary Mary Poppins

This year, I dressed as a gothic Mary Poppins. By mid-day, my hair and makeup were a hot mess, but people enjoyed my dead parrot umbrella and my hat of black daisies and rotted cherries. 

Queenie and Tightrope Girl Roxie Rot

But the best outfit I saw was "Tightrope Girl" from one of the stretching portraits in the Haunted Mansion. I neglected to get her name, but here she is with artist Queenie and her rendition of the scene. (EDIT: Thanks to a comment here, I found out her name is Roxie Rot.) There was also another Tightrope Girl, but I found the first girl had the perfect face for this character.

 I met John Fair, the creator of Killhouettes there. He came in from Arizona and he kindly gifted me with these postcards he is holding. I'm a big fan of Killhouettes, as you may recall from this post.

John of Killhouettes gives a sly wink

The photo above was taken at The Black Market, an event held at a nearby hotel the day before Bat's Day, where vendors sell Gothic wares such as clothing, jewelery, books, art, dolls, hair accessories and hats. Bat's Day is actually a 3-day event, and encompasses a meet-and-greet dinner,  a concert and dance, the Black Market, a costume ball, and the big day at Disneyland.

This devilish guy is ready for the Swinging Wake masquerade ball held after the Black Market.

Here's the event creator and founder, Noah K. dressed as the graveyard caretaker in the Haunted Mansion. I first met Noah several years ago when I visited his home haunt, Grimmstone Cemetery, which ran for 20 years, and have also run into him while visiting other people's haunts.

Founder Noah K, flanked by his girlfriend Melissa and his mother

Since Bat's Day happened to fall on Mother's Day this year, Noah brought his mom along. You can barely see it, but Noah is wearing the Bat's Day hat, which is formed from a Mickey Mouse hat that has special plastic bat wings snapped onto it, and a patch that changes each year. Clever idea, yes?

For more information on Bat's Day, click here.