Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is a ticketed event which means it happens outside of park hours and it's additional cost to your actual park ticket. I'll do a proper blog post about Magic Kingdom later on in the week but I just wanted to talk specifically about the Halloween Party here!
The Halloween Party is held on select nights in September, October and November and is suitable for all ages. Guests are encouraged to dress up in their fancy dress finest and to enjoy the spooky entertainment and party atmosphere!
Although we have visited Orlando several times before, this was to be our first visit with a child so I did a lot of research and reading of other blogs before we went. One of my go-to blogs for Disney info was the Life of Spicers and one evening when chatting to Angela about Disney, she mentioned Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was the first time I'd heard of it but that was it, as soon as I started googling, I knew we had to go!!
The tickets cost me an additional $144 on top of our park tickets (around £90) but this was for three of us (Elliot was free as he was under 3) - unfortunately going to Disney World isn't a cheap holiday so I just had to bite the bullet and book tickets!
We spent the day at Magic Kingdom and had such a great time - it was day 3 of our holiday, our first Disney park and the sun was shining! The park was decorated in lots of Autumn colours and I couldn't wait to see it come alive after dark for the Halloween celebrations. The park closed to the general public at 7pm but MNSSHP guests are allowed in from 4pm so as the crowds started to thin out at late afternoon, we started to see people in costumes of all descriptions! Elliot couldn't wait to get changed into his zombie costume but his mask didn't stay on for long because it was so hot!
One of the first things we noticed about the event was how much quieter the rides were. These events are generally really popular and the park seemed really busy but nothing like the crowds of the daytime. We found the bigger rides that had a 50mins+ queue in the afternoon, had zero queues in the evening so you could ride again and again if you wanted. And of course, once it gets dark the rides are a whole new experience! We didn't do many rides in the evening as we'd already been on all the big ones earlier in the day but we did take Elliot on the Seven Dwarves Mine Train ride. It was his first proper rollercoaster and we loved it!
One of the most fun things about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was the treats! Scattered around the park are treat stations where staff hand out sweets (or candy!) and we had great fun looking for the Mickey balloons which signaled where the treat stations were. We were all given a trick or treat bag and there was no limit to how many times you could visit the treat stations so it didn't take long for the bags to fill up! Elliot was in his element ;)
New for 2015 is the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular featuring the Sanderson Sisters from the Hocus Pocus film. This happens on the Castle Stage but we only got to see a bit of this as it was just too busy where we were stood to get a decent view - it sounded great though!
I love the parades at Disney and I was really excited to watch the Boo-to-You Halloween parade. It runs twice on event nights and we decided to catch the earlier 8.35pm parade because we weren't sure how late Elliot would manage to stay up. He was beginning to flag at this point but it was good opportunity sit down in the buggy for a bit and rest his tired little legs. The Headless Horseman galloped down Main Street signalling the start of the parade and it was just as good as I imagined. All the usual Disney characters were there including Mickey and Minnie but we also got to see more obscure characters like the hyenas from the Lion King!
Another highlight from the evening was the fireworks show. Disney certainly know how to put on a fireworks display and the Happy Hallowishes Fireworks display is said to be the most impressive you'll see at Disney. We weren't stood too near the Castle so we probably missed out on a good portion of the light display but the fireworks we did see above us were fantastic. The finale was just jaw dropping - 360 degree fireworks that surrounded us. We managed to capture a bit of it on camera but the video just doesn't do it justice - the atmosphere and the noise was incredible!
On event nights, the park stays open until way past midnight but we were dead on our feet (excuse the Halloween pun!) and by 11pm we were more than ready to head home. We had been at the park since 9am so that is one hell of a long day! Elliot was such a good boy despite the long day and he really enjoyed the Halloween Party. He loves spooky things anyway so this was the perfect event to take him to.
He was asleep before we'd even left the park and he certainly slept well that night....and the next morning he couldn't wait to sort out his giant bag of candy!
Linking up with the following:
The Halloween Party is held on select nights in September, October and November and is suitable for all ages. Guests are encouraged to dress up in their fancy dress finest and to enjoy the spooky entertainment and party atmosphere!
Although we have visited Orlando several times before, this was to be our first visit with a child so I did a lot of research and reading of other blogs before we went. One of my go-to blogs for Disney info was the Life of Spicers and one evening when chatting to Angela about Disney, she mentioned Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was the first time I'd heard of it but that was it, as soon as I started googling, I knew we had to go!!
The tickets cost me an additional $144 on top of our park tickets (around £90) but this was for three of us (Elliot was free as he was under 3) - unfortunately going to Disney World isn't a cheap holiday so I just had to bite the bullet and book tickets!
We spent the day at Magic Kingdom and had such a great time - it was day 3 of our holiday, our first Disney park and the sun was shining! The park was decorated in lots of Autumn colours and I couldn't wait to see it come alive after dark for the Halloween celebrations. The park closed to the general public at 7pm but MNSSHP guests are allowed in from 4pm so as the crowds started to thin out at late afternoon, we started to see people in costumes of all descriptions! Elliot couldn't wait to get changed into his zombie costume but his mask didn't stay on for long because it was so hot!
One of the first things we noticed about the event was how much quieter the rides were. These events are generally really popular and the park seemed really busy but nothing like the crowds of the daytime. We found the bigger rides that had a 50mins+ queue in the afternoon, had zero queues in the evening so you could ride again and again if you wanted. And of course, once it gets dark the rides are a whole new experience! We didn't do many rides in the evening as we'd already been on all the big ones earlier in the day but we did take Elliot on the Seven Dwarves Mine Train ride. It was his first proper rollercoaster and we loved it!
 |
| MNSSHP is also great for character spotting - the queue to meet the seven dwarves was massive! |
One of the most fun things about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was the treats! Scattered around the park are treat stations where staff hand out sweets (or candy!) and we had great fun looking for the Mickey balloons which signaled where the treat stations were. We were all given a trick or treat bag and there was no limit to how many times you could visit the treat stations so it didn't take long for the bags to fill up! Elliot was in his element ;)
New for 2015 is the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular featuring the Sanderson Sisters from the Hocus Pocus film. This happens on the Castle Stage but we only got to see a bit of this as it was just too busy where we were stood to get a decent view - it sounded great though!
I love the parades at Disney and I was really excited to watch the Boo-to-You Halloween parade. It runs twice on event nights and we decided to catch the earlier 8.35pm parade because we weren't sure how late Elliot would manage to stay up. He was beginning to flag at this point but it was good opportunity sit down in the buggy for a bit and rest his tired little legs. The Headless Horseman galloped down Main Street signalling the start of the parade and it was just as good as I imagined. All the usual Disney characters were there including Mickey and Minnie but we also got to see more obscure characters like the hyenas from the Lion King!
Another highlight from the evening was the fireworks show. Disney certainly know how to put on a fireworks display and the Happy Hallowishes Fireworks display is said to be the most impressive you'll see at Disney. We weren't stood too near the Castle so we probably missed out on a good portion of the light display but the fireworks we did see above us were fantastic. The finale was just jaw dropping - 360 degree fireworks that surrounded us. We managed to capture a bit of it on camera but the video just doesn't do it justice - the atmosphere and the noise was incredible!
On event nights, the park stays open until way past midnight but we were dead on our feet (excuse the Halloween pun!) and by 11pm we were more than ready to head home. We had been at the park since 9am so that is one hell of a long day! Elliot was such a good boy despite the long day and he really enjoyed the Halloween Party. He loves spooky things anyway so this was the perfect event to take him to.
He was asleep before we'd even left the park and he certainly slept well that night....and the next morning he couldn't wait to sort out his giant bag of candy!
We had a great time at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and wouldn't hesitate to book again on our next Florida holiday!
Linking up with the following:
