Last week I went to my very first ever Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (referred to as MNSSHP). This was such an awesome experience, and it made me wonder why I had never been before. I'm here to give you tips, tricks, and just general ways to have the best party night ever!
I'm going to preface this by saying that there is NO WAY you will be able to do everything listed on the party map. I definitely needed two nights to get everything done. The bats are character meet and greets and the lollypops are trick or treating locations.The green cameras and orange picture frames are special photo ops.
Tickets
MNSSHP is a separately ticketed after hours event at Magic Kingdom (MK) that occurs on select nights from mid August through November 1st. This means that even if you have an annual pass or day tickets, you must buy a separate ticket for this after hours event. Official party time is 7pm-midnight. However, with your party ticket, you can enter MK starting at 4pm. On party nights, MK will close promptly at 6pm and they will usher out anyone who is not wearing a party wristband. Ticket prices vary depending on day of the week and month. The closer it is to Halloween, the higher the ticket price will be. Ok, Disney is expensive, and the after-hours events and parties have been getting out of control over the last couple of years. For 2023, August and September dates are priced $109 to $149, and October and November 1st range from $149 to (are you ready for it) $199!!! Annual Passholders and DVC members do get a $10 discount on most nights in August and September. Discounts were not available this year for any day in October. At time of this writing, ALL dates in August and September are sold out, and all but three dates in October are sold out. Even with the crazy high prices, the consumer demand is obviously still there. If this is a must-do event for your family, you need to buy tickets as early as possible. Many people buy tickets the day they go on sale (which this year was in April). To guarantee that you get tickets for your travel dates, you need to purchase your tickets no later than June.
What's it all About?
So what actually goes on at MNSSHP that people are willing to pay all of this money? This event is filled with all kinds of special (not so scary) spooky entertainment. One of my favorite parts (ok, my absolute favorite part) is the special stage show that can only be found at this event. At set times throughout the night, the Sanderson Sisters (yes, Winifred, Mary, and Sarah themselves) put a spell on us when they take center stage. I grew up watching this movie over and over again on the Disney Channel. It's still one of my favorite movies today!This was 100% the highlight of the night for me. If you want to be right in front of the stage (which, trust me, you do), you should plan on being there at least 30 minutes before the start of the show.
My Personal Rant.... (sorry)
Ok, I'm going to go off on a tangent here.... please, please, please people... when watching a show (any kind of show... regular inside show, stage show, parades, fireworks, etc) please take off your ears, do NOT hold your children on your shoulders because then no-one behind you can see (and according to my chiropractor, it's bad for your spine health), secure those massive light up balloons at a low level, and generally try to stay in one place. If you're going to record or take pictures, hold the camera in front of your face instead of above your head. We all paid the same amount to be there, and we all want to see the show the same. Ok, rant over.
Fireworks
One of the big draws of the night is Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular. This is the one and only Fireworks show of the night. On party nights, the park closes at 6pm, so there are no normal nightly fireworks at all. As of 2023, this fireworks and projection show is shown once a night at 10:15 pm. This spectacular includes fireworks, castle projection show, special music, and a guest appearance from the king of Halloween himself, Jack Skellington. If you really want to get a good view of Jack, you need to be in the hub area near the castle. You won't be able to see him if you are further back down Main Street. Since this fireworks show only happens once, the area in front of the castle will be packed (much like during normal nighttime fireworks shows). If having a good view of Jack is important to you, or if you are a large group, I recommend arriving 30 minutes before show time to secure your spot. I was there solo, and strolled up right as it was starting and was able to get a decent spot along the side. If I had done only one thing differently for the entire night, I would have kept an eye on the time and gotten there earlier to have better viewing spot. Have I mentioned how rude it is to put your kids on your shoulders?
Parade
While we are talking about things happening at the hub, let's talk about the Boo-to-you Halloween parade. This "not so scary" Halloween parade happened twice nightly. The parade route takes the same path as the regular day time parade, meaning it starts back at Tiana's Place (formerly Splash Mountain) and ends at the front of the park by The Emporium. Characters and floats in this parade are completely different than the regular daytime parade. You'll see your favorite characters dressed in their Halloween costumes. The princesses and princes have masquerade masks. You'll also see characters from The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean with Captain Jack, and villains (I loved Cruella de Vil riding in a car driven by Horace and Jasper!!!) The first parade (9:15) will be much more crowded than the later parade (11:15).
Character Meet and Greets
Another huge draw of this party is all of the special character meet and greets that are available. Some of the characters are regular daytime meet and greet characters, such as Aladdin and Jasmine. Others are regular characters, but wearing their Halloween costumes. Inside of Dumbo's tent you will find Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and Donald wearing special Halloween costumes. While you can meet these characters anytime at any park, you will only find them in these outfits during MNSSHP. Some characters can ONLY be found at parties (both MNSSHP and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party). These partys are the ONLY times you can meet Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Side note, Jack is dressed as Sandy Claws during the Christmas Party. MNSSHP 2023 saw the long awaited return of the Seven Dwarfs meet and greet, who hadn't made an appearance since before Covid. Since these two meet and greets are exclusives, wait times are regularly over two hours long. The other exclusive characters are Jafar and Stitch dressed in an Elvis costume. The line was really long for Stitch all night (45 minutes- 1 hour), and I simply ran out of time and didn't get to meet him. He was top priority for me, but I just ran out of time. We'll talk about how to navigate these long waits below.
Trick-or-Treating
The other major draw of the party is Trick-or-Treating. Yep, there are tons of locations throughout the park designated as candy trails where guests get to trick-or treat inside of Magic Kingdom. You can find the locations clearly marked on the map with an orange lollipop. At each location, there are also giant inflatable, glowing icons to let you know where the trail starts. Cast Members are stationed at the entrance of each trail as well. Some of the locations are extremely busy (especially early in the party), and lines can be quite long. When the lines extend past the entrance of the trail, there will be CMs marking the end of the line. You will receive one bag to use to hold your candy. If trick-or-treating is top priority for you, I would recommend bringing another bag with you, or buying a reusable shopping back from any store in Disney. You can go through the same line as many times as you want. I did do this at one trail at the end of the night because it was a very short trail and did not have any line at all (at Gaston's Tavern). I did NOT prioritize trick or treating because I'm an adult and can just buy candy at Costco if I want. I hit about half of the candy trails, and look how much candy I brought home!!! Disney does take part in the Teal Pumpkin Project. If anyone in your party has allergies, ask a CM for a teal bag. Instead of candy, you will get tokens which will be redeemed for special allergy friendly treats at two special locations.
Short Ride Times
Short ride times is also something that Disney promotes with these parties. Ok, yes, ride times are really low, but the party only lasts five hours, and there is sooooo much to see and do in those short five hours. I'm not sure why anyone would pay $200 and spend all of that time doing something they can do literally anytime at Disney. Everyone wants to ride Haunted Mansion during the party, so queue times for that ride can get pretty long. There is a special 6pm virtual queue (VQ) for TRON that opens for party guests only. I will caution that it can still be an hour wait even with your VQ. Again, I would not necessarily recommend wasting precious party time waiting for a ride that will always be there. I did open the MDE app around 6:15 just to check, and the VQ was still open. I grabbed a spot just to see what time I would get while fully prepared to not actually ride and waste party time. My call back time was 10:58-11:58. This was perfect and I did actually jump in line for TRON right at midnight (I was the second to last group they let ride).
Rides with Overlays
The only time I make an exception to my ride rule is for the three attractions that have Halloween overlays. Mad Tea Party (the teacups) have Halloween colored lights and music (I can't ride this due to the spinning). Space Mountain is amazing. They literally turn off all of the lights and you ride in the dark with Halloween music playing. It was so cool. The third one is Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. This is actually a candy trail location. You go through the queue like normal and get your candy in the pre-show area. After you get your candy you can either just walk through the theater and exit, or you can stop, sit, and watch a modified show. This is a continuous, free-flowing show. The monsters make jokes and interact with the audience pretty much nonstop. You can sit as long as you like. I sat and watched for about 10 minutes when the rain was level red on the radar. It was a nice place to sit and escape the elements while still having fun.
PhotoPass Photo Shots
Y'all, I love doing pictures at Disney. I've been known to do photoshoots with my coffee or food because my family (especially The Kiddo) hate taking pictures. On the park map, you will see little green cameras and orange picture frames. Those are the locations of the special PhotoPass spots. They have special MagicShots that they do at each location. If you have MemoryMaker, definitely stop and do these as they are included with your MemoryMaker purchase. If you do not have MemoryMaker and know you will not be buying picture, it may not be worth your time to stop and do these. Here are some of my favorites.
Special Entertainment and Dance Parties
I LOVE Disney Streetmosphere. It's one thing that sets Disney apart from other theme parks. As with all streetmosphere, these shows occur randomly throughout the night. During MNSSHP, The Dapper Dans transform into The Cadaver Dans and perform spooky songs in their quintessential barbershop quartet style throughout the night. They were not out when I was in that area due to the rain. I hated so much to miss that because The Dapper Dans are one of my favorite things about Magic Kingdom. Note that they are not in their normal spot on Main Street. They are on the roof where the Country Bears are in Frontierland. I did get to see the all pirate band, Rusty Cutlass. It was a fun and interactive show. I stood and watched them for several songs. For littles (and bigs too I guess), there is a Disney Junior dance party located inside of Cosmic Rays. There were Disney Junior characters out for everyone to dance with (I saw Vampirina through the window). We've done the dance parties at Christmas Parties in the past. They are a lot of fun and a great way to let the littles get their wiggles out. Since this is inside, it happens even if it's raining outside. Another dance party is the Zom-beatz Bash. Apparently there is Disney show or made for TV movie or something called Zombies. I have never seen this before and have no clue what it is about. I did not stop to watch. It is an outdoor dance party over near the stage where Buzz Lightyear and Stitch make daytime appearances. This is a weather dependent event.
Specialty Food for Purchase
None of the specialty foods looked appealing enough to me to actually spend money on. Not even for research for you guys... sorry. I'm just not a big eater to start with. If The Hubby and The Kiddo had been there with me, we would have tried a couple of them. Just note that there are snack options available for purchase, both sweet and savory.
Navigating Party Night
Ok, let's talk about what happens on party night. As mentioned earlier, the party officially starts at 7pm and lasts until midnight. If you have an annual pass or a day ticket, and you are inside the park before 4pm, simply make your way to the front of the park any time after 4:00 to the designated location and get your party wristband. If you do not have one of those, then you can NOT enter the park until 4pm. I do have an annual pass, but spent the day relaxing at the pool knowing that I was going to be out late. I was not prepared for the process of getting into the park. I arrived to the TTC about 3:45 (I-4 traffic is icky). The line for the monorail was pretty long and I had to wait for two monorails before it was my turn to board. The ferry boat is running as well, but it was almost 100 degrees outside and I needed to be in the air-condition monorail.
Entering the Park
Once getting off the monorail, there is a line to get into another line to get into the line to get to the magic band scanner. From the time I stepped off the monorail, it took me 30 minutes to actually get into the park. THIS was not something I was prepared for. I had no idea what was going on. They just kept yelling "boats and party go this way". If I had realized this was a multi-line process, I would have entered the park through the normal entrance since I have an annual pass and can enter anytime, and gotten my wrist band inside the park. If you do not have an AP or day ticket for that specific day, you MUST go through the multi-line process. Once you scan in with your magic band, mobile wallet, or card, a CM will place a wristband on your arm indicating you have a ticket for the party. The color wrist band changes for every party so people can't sneak into the party with an old wristband. Once you enter the park, you will see this trolly with a sign pointing you to the way to pick up your treat bag and get your first candy!
Line up Early
With your wrist band secured, you can now get in line for your first meet and greet to maximize your actual party time once the event officially starts. Jack and Sally always have the longest wait time of the night. Jack and Sally are the only character that start meeting super early. They actually start meeting around 3:30-4:00!!! When I got there about 4:30, the line was already about 2.5 hours long and they started meeting at 3:30 that day. This is THE most popular character meet and greet of the party. If you want to see them (and I totally recommend you do), use the pre-party time to wait in line. It's Florida and it's hot. This queue is completely inside and air conditioned. It's nice to get this one out of the way while the sun is blaring outside. We also have been in line and sent one person to go get food to bring back to us while we wait. This is a very fun interaction as Jack and Sally actually talk! If Jack and Sally isn't one you want to meet, then take those couple of hours and go ride some rides or grab a bite to eat. Just be sure to be in line for Dwarfs or Stitch no later than 6:00.
I've heard that Stitch will usually start meeting around 6:30. Other characters are very strict about the 7pm start time. Seven Dwarfs and Donald and friends do have a strict 7pm start however, you can queue as early as you like. For Donald and Friends, they will just have you wait outside in front of Dumbo and move you inside around 6:30 after day guests leave and the ride clears. If you want to meet both of the big name characters (Jack/Sally and Dwarfs), then you need to be in and out of the Jack line by 6pm and then go directly to the Seven Dwarfs line. This queue will initially be outside (in the heat), but will move inside to the AC around 6:15-6:30. If you follow these guidelines then you should be able to get the two longest lines of the night finished by 7:45 or 8:00.
Optimizing Party Time
I know that all of my advice this far has literally been "wait in line", and we haven't even gotten to official party start time yet. You really need need to get a couple of big name things done before the party actually starts so that you can optimize you party time, or at least be in line for one well before 7:00. I know it's hard, because candy is so yummy, but resist the urge to trick-or-treat at the start of the party. A CM did confirm to me that they will NOT run out of candy. Ever. They have tons of candy in a storage building, and they get regular shipments. You do not have to jump in line for candy immediately. However, most people do, and those candy trail lines are crazy long. Wait until later in the night and there will be low to no lines for the candy trails.
Parades, Fireworks, and Stage Shows
Everyone wants to see the fireworks and parades. The 9:15 parade will be a lot more crowded than the 11:15 parade. I thought they were both very crowded, or at least they were at the hub. The strategy that I used was to watch the fireworks show at 10:15, move a little closer to the castle stage for the 10:45 Hocus Pocus stage show, then just turned around and had a perfect spot for Boo-to-You parade at 11:15. If you have littles and can't stay there that long, I might suggest doing the earliest Hocus Pocus show, and then go do a little trick or treating, see a less busy character, or even some photo pass spots. Then be back to the hub no later than 9:00 to get your spot for the 9:15 Parade. You will want to pick a spot that would be ideal for both parade viewing and fireworks viewing, as you will be in the same spot for the 10:15 fireworks Spectacular. During regular daytime hours, I do not actually like watching parades at the Hub (it's so crowded and there are way better viewing areas other places), but it's more practical on party nights since everything is packed in back to back during the parties.
I hope this helps to give you lots of help when trying to plan your Halloween Season at Walt Disney World. For help booking a room and park tickets check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.
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