Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Tips and Tricks (for Treats)
Updated for 2019
Magic Kingdom’s fall season is one of the best of the year. The entire park is decorated with pumpkins and leaves and it signals the beginning of one of Disney’s best hard ticketed events: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This nighttime party consists of trick-or-treating, special character meet and greets, costumes and much more. The event itself doesn’t change much from year to year, but first-time goers can easily miss out on some fun if they don’t plan their event in advance.
If attending a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is on your bucket list, check out our guide to getting the most out of your experience.
The Strategy
Before we talk about the party, it’s important to talk about strategy. Even though the park is emptier than usual, there are still crowds to deal with. And where there are crowds, there are lines. Ride lines aren’t going to be as big an issue as they normally are, but character lines can really put a damper on your night. You can literally waste the entire night standing in lines for characters if you aren’t careful.
Here are some tips to help you determine your strategy:
Decide what’s important to you.
You simply can’t do and see everything during a single party night. Between the entertainment, character meet and greets, rides, food and trick-or-treat stations there is a LOT to do during a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Because of this, you need to make sure you create a “must-do” list and stick to that.
For example, here were the top things we wanted to do in no particular order:
- Jack Skellington and Sally character meet and greet.
- Donald Duck and Daisy character meet and greet.
- Eat some party-night-only food.
- Watch all of the special entertainment – the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, The Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular fireworks show (New for 2019!) and the Boo-to-You Parade.
- Ride all the rides that have a special Halloween twist (Space Mountain, Pirates and others).
We were able to accomplish all of our must-do’s, but we added an additional character meet and greet which took WAY longer than we thought. Because of this lost time we felt rushed to get our list checked off. Looking back, we should have stuck with our plan through and through and tried to see if we could squeeze in the additional characters later on in the night.
The Arrival
If you aren’t an annual passholder, or don’t have a ticket for the day, you can enter the Magic Kingdom using your party ticket starting at 4 p.m. There are a few stations throughout the park where you can get your wristband and first bag of candy.
We entered the park a little bit before 4 p.m. to grab some photos on Main Street and picked up our wristbands and candy bags in Tomorrowland between Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.
Be prepared to show your wristband to cast members so they know you are there for the party.
The candy bags are a bit on the small side, so if you are planning on doing a lot of trick-or-treating, then you may consider bringing a larger bag with you. If you forget your bigger bag or realize you’re getting more candy than you planned, you can always grab extra bags from a cast member.
The Rides
All of Magic Kingdom’s rides are open during the party, but there are only a few that do something special for the party.
Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor – New for 2019!
Tacked on to the back of the trick-or-treat location on the Laugh Floor is a rolling session of the famous Monsters Inc. show. There isn’t a beginning or an end to the show like on a normal day at the park, but rather there are sessions for each of the monsters to comment on the people who choose to take a seat in the theater. We stayed for two of the “sessions” and had a great time. It was nice to take a break and laugh for a bit. Fair warning, it wasn’t very busy during the sessions so if you sit and watch, you may be more than a spectator!
Pirates of the Caribbean
In Pirates of the Caribbean, you are on the lookout for Gunpowder Pete. There are two live actors in the queue and you also encounter another actor on the ride. They aren’t there to scare you, just add to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we really couldn’t follow the Gunpowder Pete story at all. Were we looking for him? What would happen if we found him? All in all, it was fine as a walk-on ride, but we wouldn’t recommend it if there’s a long wait as it’s not that different than the normal ride.
Space Mountain
Space Mountain’s gimmick during the party was a new soundtrack and riding in complete darkness. You never fully appreciate just how much light is actually in the ride until you experience Space Mountain in complete darkness. Unlike the additions to Pirates, the changes in Space Mountain make a big difference to the ride and it’s something you should make a point to see.
Something to be aware of, however, is even though the ride is in complete darkness, the camera still works. The blinding flash of the camera left an afterimage in our vision for pretty much the entire ride.
The special soundtrack isn’t anything to write home about. The music is more techno-themed and slightly faster, but you don’t really notice it while on the ride unless you’re specifically looking for it.
Throughout the night we kept an eye on the wait times and they were mostly under 45 minutes, with a lot of attractions at less than 15 minutes. Since we have our annual passes, going on rides wasn’t a big priority for us during the party. If, however, you are using this as your Magic Kingdom park day, the wait times went down more and more as the party went on.
The Entertainment
A big draw of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is the extra entertainment. Magic Kingdom’s fireworks and parades are great, but getting to see something different really makes the night special.
Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular (New for 2019!)
After the disappointment that was the Happy Hallo-Wishes fireworks show, we were very impressed with the new fireworks spectacular at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Hosted by a live Jack Skellington puppet, this fireworks + projection spectacular follows Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy as they traverse their way through a haunted house.
We had a lot of fun listening to the music, watching the projections and seeing the spectacular fireworks. Pick your spot wisely. Nab a spot close to the castle to see the Jack puppet better, you might miss some of the fireworks. Get a spot further back to see the fireworks and you’ll miss Jack. You can’t go wrong either way!
Boo-to-You Parade
This was the part of the party we were most excited about. The parade begins in a spooky fashion when the Headless Horseman rides by on his gigantic horse.
There are several unique elements to this parade – the gravediggers, the Haunted Mansion dancers and yes, the villains. Plus, the song is cute and catchy. We were pleasantly surprised by how close we were able to get to the parade, especially considering we were at the Hub. We attribute that toward the smaller crowd. We chose that spot strategically so we would be in the position to nab a good spot for the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular.
Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular
If you are a fan of Hocus Pocus, you will absolutely love this show. The actresses did a great job portraying the iconic Sanderson sisters. Plus, you get to see all of your favorite villains together on one stage.
Because of our spot at the parade, we managed to get up close to the front of the castle to see the last Hocus Pocus show of the night. Seeing it up close is a lot of fun since you can see the actors better.
The Food
We had grand plans for trying several of the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party-specific treats, but our hurried schedule prevented us from trying everything we wanted. We ended up grabbing the Hades Nachos and Worms and Dirt from Peco’s Bill.
The “black” nacho chips were covered in cheese and buffalo chicken. The buffalo chicken had a nice kick to it – not too spicy but a nice flavor. The Worms and Dirt were your standard, run of the mill dirt cup, but come on, who doesn’t love a dirt cup?
During the 2019 party, we tried Constance’s For Better or For Worse Wedding Cake. Found at the popcorn cart in Liberty Square, this citrus-scented cake has raspberry Bavarian cream and is topped with a chocolate axe. The cake was pretty light, which was a nice change to all of the candy.
The Costumes
We’ve run several RunDisney events, but have never really dressed up, so we were excited to try and come up with a fun costume for our first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. If you follow us on Instagram, you know we have a fondness for ducks. So naturally, we decided to go as our favorite ducks – Donald and Daisy.
All in all, this was a pretty inexpensive costume for us. Tyler bought his Donald Duck shirt from Disney Springs. Jessica made the hats after going on a quick trip to Michael’s. It’s a miracle what some paint and felt will do to a plain white baseball cap.
Donald and Daisy were very excited about our costumes!
One of the most fun parts of the party for us was seeing all of the costumes. Even if you don’t like dressing up, we would really recommend doing something for the party – a fun t-shirt or hat. It really helps get you in the spirit and it’s fun to have people recognize you.
The Verdict?
It is absolutely impossible to do everything at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in one night, so the repeatability factor is really high. The party is also perfect for families and people who like to get into the Halloween spirit, but aren’t too keen on getting scared. The price point is better the earlier in the year you go, but even with the added cost, the party is definitely worth the cost of admission.
