Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween

A long-time favorite event at Walt Disney World is the annual Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Many of you have been at one time or another. Some of you have never been. While I’ve been many times, I’ve never actually done a recording since starting this podcast. So we have lots to talk about! We’ll discuss the parade, the castle show, the fireworks, other entertainment, food, beverage, character meet ‘n’ greets and especially, the Headless Horseman. Moreover, I’ll talk about this experience as I shared the entire evening 1:1 with my grown Autistic son. So lots of craziness and magic lies ahead. Join us as we talk all things about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on this our 490th Podcast.

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The images and text below support the concepts presented in the podcast. A video showcasing the entire evening can be found here.

Overview

• Prices range from $119 to $199.
• Annual Pass Holders get a discount, but the real value comes from those who would have paid a regular ticket to enter, but are choosing to do the party instead.
• Prices are more affordable in August. But with it comes fairly oppressive heat and some nights of very heavy rainfall.
• Guests are welcome to wear costumes, but with the heat, a Halloween T-Shirt may be a better choice.
• Guests staying in the park during the day are invited to depart by that time.
• Hours get darker sooner as you get closer to Halloween

Entry

• The event officially runs from 7:00-12:00 pm. But you can enter as early as 4:00 pm. That gives you more than 8 hours to enjoy the park, and perhaps at a lesser price and better temperature than you would get if you went during the day.
• Wristbands are provided you as you enter the park on the East side of the Magic Kingdom entrance
• Everything is very organized moving into the park and then being greeted by a DJ and by Cruella deVil as you go through Market Street on the East of Main Street.
• There was a Guest Services person on Market Street to answer questions and resolve issues. Mine dealt with utilization of the DAS pass during the event.

Attractions

• Times for attractions were by and large much more favorable during the event.
• Key attractions were highlighted and encouraged by guests during their visit
• It’s a good time to check out new and refurbished attractions
  • Country Bear Musical Jamboree
  • Tiana’s Bayou Adventure–Standby
  • Tron Lightcycle Coaster does a 6:00 pm virtual queue on the app
• Note that certain attractions were not running
  • Enchanted Tiki Room
  • Liberty Belle Steamboat
  • Tom Sawyer Island
  • Hall of Presidents
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • Carousel of Progress
• “Halloween Twist” attractions included:
  • Mad Tea Party–Utilizes special lighting FX and Halloween style music
  • Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor–Monsters share Halloween jokes while guests grab their candy
  • Space Mountain–Ran with no lights and villains music playing
  • Haunted Mansion had “goulish spirits” greeting guests in the queue

Not So Scary Spectaculars

Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular

• This event is hosted by the Sanderson Sisters from Disney’s Hocus Pocus films.
• Facilier, the Oogie Boogie Man, The Wicked Queen, Jafar, Hades, Cruel deVil, The Stepmother, and Maleficent all make appearances to add ingredients to their potion.
• Because darkness falls earlier as you reach Halloween, there are four shows rather than three shows from September 9th on.
• Note that all nights there is a 12:00 am showing to close out the park.

Mickey’s “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade

• This is for many the best parade Walt Disney World offers and for many good reasons:
  • Wide range of Disney characters and villains
  • atch the skies come alive with a Halloween spectacular featuring lasers, fireworks and more!
  • Gather ‘round as your host­—Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas—delights with a not so scary-tale that proves anything can happen at Halloween!
  • Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow and Daisy Duck dressed as the sinister Sanderson Sisters
  • Chick costumes are from Disney on Parade over 50 years ago
  • Very clever use of butlers and shovels
  • The Headless Horseman
• This year the first parade began earlier a full hour earlier this year, actually making this parade seemingly a little less crowded than previously, and making the later parade a little more crowded than previously.
• This would be my favorite parade as well if it would change the “Boo to You” song which is an obnoxious earworm.

Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular

• The skies come alive at 10:00 pm with a Halloween spectacular featuring lasers, fireworks and more.
• Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas as a very large puppet serves as host of this show.
• The plot is that Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy are spirited away to a mysterious haunted house where they encounter dancing skeletons, waltzing ghosts and a sinister gathering of Disney villains!’
• Definitely well worth watching, and you can hear the show from most anywhere in the park.

Street Entertainment

Some of the best parts of the evening came in the form of street entertainment such as:

• The Cadaver Dans Barbershop Quartet
• Rusty Cutlass
• Disney Jr. Jam
• Descendance Party

Food & Beverage Plus Trick Or Treat

• Six or seven stations will easily fill your bag, but bring a backpack and another bag if you want to get more candy to justify the cost of the evening. They will make sure you go home with all the cans you want. And lines get shorter in the later evening.
• I craved something savory and ended up with Chipotle Barbeque Pork and Street Corn Mini Corn Dogs: Mini corn dogs topped with fire-roasted corn, queso fresco, and cilantro. This was available at Casey’s.
• This and many other choices, but not all are available during regular park hours.
• Some formal dining restaurants like Cinderella’s Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Plaza Restaurant are open, but not all.

Characters

Wide range of character meet ‘n’ greet experiences, but not all of them are stated in the Disney park guide. So take note and ask. Tom Bricker of Disney Tourist Blog had the most complete list:

• Main Street
  • Mickey Mouse–Halloween costumes
  • Jack Skellington and Sally
• Adventureland
  • Friends from “Aladdin”
  • Captain Jack Sparrow
  • Moana–Near Jungle Cruise
  • Max Goof as Powerline–Across from Pirates in the Pop Up Party
• Frontierland
  • Country Bears
• Fantasyland
  • Anastasia & Drisella
  • Friends from “Winnie the Pooh”
  • Belle
  • Ariel and Prince Eric
  • Friends from “Alice in Wonderland”

• Storybook Circus
  • Witch Minnie, Princess Daisy & Pumpkin Donald 
  • Pirate Goofy – Barnstormer
  • Seven Dwarfs–Pete’s Silly Side Show
  • Mirabel & Bruno–In the Gazebo, not the Fairytale Garden
• Tomorrowland
  • Stitch as Elvis
  • Timon – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Party)
  • Vampirina – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Party)
  • Doc McStuffins – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Party)
  • Fancy Nancy – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Party)
  • Max Goof as Powerline – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Pop-Up Dance Party)

Also, if certain characters matter to you, line up as early well before the 7:00 pm official start time. I suggest you choose characters that you can’t meet during regular park hours, or at least those characters like Mickey and Minnie who are in special Halloween outfits.

Our Experience

• We’ve gone over the years as part of the press event when I was with MousePlanet
• The key component has been the Headless Horseman
• Our last visit was prior to Covid and on a very rainy night where we had our money returned
• This was really important to our grown Autistic son, so we made this part of his birthday. By the way, to him it’s not Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party but Donald’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
• This was not my first choice, I would have probably preferred something different like Jollywood Nights.
• We were looking to have all four of us attend, but we didn’t get the second two tickets before they sold out.
• I worked to craft a plan with him to do more than simply wait at the barbershop for the Headless Horseman to come
• With Guest Services we got a DAS pass early to Haunted Mansion. We also got a DAS to Tiana’s but never used it.
• Our son loved the Haunted Mansion, and then wanted to do trick or treat, but it wasn’t 7:00 pm yet, and he didn’t want to do anything else.
• We canvassed most of the Trick or Treat locations, but the best was Princess Fairytale Hall and Donald’s Philarmagic.

• I set a timer for doing Trick or Treat and as it came to a close, we went well ahead of time to the barn to await The Headless Horseman.
• On the way I tried to stop and get pre-ordered food at Casey’s but my son wanted nothing of it and resisted waiting.
• The barn is not the best spot for viewing the parade, but it was quiet and completely available to us.
• My son loved both the Headless Horseman and the Boo to You parade.
• Afterwards, I tried to coax him down the street hoping he might be into the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. If he had seen the villains he probably would have been in. But he’s not connected to the Sanderson Sisters.
• Going through Liberty Square, I tried to point out seeing Ichabod Crane, but he had no patience to wait.
• We went through Adventureland. His token chart talked about going on Tiana’s and Country Bear Jamboree, but he would have none of it.
• I tried to get him to choose an attraction he wanted to do, but he didn’t want that either.
• We ended up doing more trick or treats while checking out some of the entertainment.
• He loved Splash Mountain, but he hasn’t signed on to seeing Tiana’s.
• I finally coaxed him into the Country Bear Musical Jamboree, but he wasn’t happy about it initially.
• I think he liked the tunes that are tied to the new show, but he ran out of there quickly and moved on.
• My attention was caught on the Hitchhiking Ghosts standing on the rail adjacent to Grizzly Hall, when I turned and found my son looking at fireworks with a Disney character. It was truly the most magical moment of the evening.
• We continued walking toward the castle watching the fireworks. He had his headset on, and enjoyed the entire fireworks.
• I considered that about as good a moment as I was going to get, so we went back to the barn to await the Headless Horseman returning some 45 minutes later.
• My son kept thinking the Headless Horseman was going to the barn. When I finally explained that he had gone back to the “barn at Fort Wilderness in the jungle of the enchanted forest” he was settled with that. We promised that experience for his next birthday.
• After the Headless Horseman we caught the monorail back before crowds built out.

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In addition to our coverage of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween

You can see how the entire evening comes together in this video. Be sure to subscribe to our channel on YouTube.

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