This past weekend I attended my first ever Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) at Walt Disney World. We had a lot of fun, and while I personally did not like it as much as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, I'm glad we were able to experience it and I am sure we will definitely go back in the future. In this post I will let you know my thoughts and how well my planning (laid out in a previous post) worked out.
Although the party hours were technically from 7pm-12am, party guests were allowed entry into Magic Kingdom starting at 4pm. From my research, I knew that people began lining up for entry to the park well before 3pm. These were people who hoped to get the coveted first spots in line to meet Jack & Sally and the Seven Dwarfs. There was not anything that we absolutely had to do right at 4pm, so we arrived at Magic Kingdom around 3:30pm. No surprise- there was already a huge line winding around the area in front of the entrance gates. We got in line, and they started admitting people right at 4pm. Upon entrance to the park, we received a trick or treat bag and our first trick or treat stop- a full bag of m&ms.
Since meeting characters wasn't a priority to us at this party, we decided to use the 3 hours before the party to go on some rides. We were able to knock out Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean before 6pm. Then, at 6pm, the park closed to the general public. At this time, party exclusive merchandise came out and we made a beeline for the Emporium to make our selections. From my research I knew that there was only a limited amount of party exclusive merchandise for each party, so it was first come first serve. I ended up getting into the party exclusive section before a long lined formed for entry. Whew!
We decided to wear costumes to the party and dressed up as Tarzan and Jane! We received a lot of compliments throughout the night and people immediately recognized who we were. I am glad we dressed up because it made it feel even more like a Halloween party and when else can you dress up as a Disney character in Magic Kingdom?! If you are wondering if you HAVE to dress up for the party, no you do not. I saw plenty of people simply wearing a Halloween shirt or Halloween ears. I just think it made it more fun to dress up.
The decorations around the park were fantastic! The daytime decorations were mainly located in the Main Street and Castle area. It was fun to walk around and check them out. Disney did a great job of reflecting the fall and Halloween theme without being too scary.
At night, the spooky lighting and ambiance spread out throughout the entire Magic Kingdom. Even at night when it got dark out, the lighting and decorations were slightly spooky but in a playful fun way, not scary at all. The Haunted Mansion area along with the Liberty Square area had the best atmosphere, with fog, light effects, and eerie music.
The party officially began at 7pm. We had held off on having dinner before coming to Magic Kingdom, because we planned on sampling party exclusive snacks throughout to night. I will admit that this wasn't the best idea. The party time is so limited and the lines for food were long. I hated wasting party time waiting in line to order food, then waiting for the food to be prepared, and then sitting down and eating. Therefore, we only were able to try a few party snacks and I was a bit hungry during the night.
The first thing we did at 7pm was make our first (and only) trick or treat stop at Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. They gave a generous scoop of milky way bars and skittles. Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor was also one of the attractions at the party to have a Halloween Twist. It was kind of disappointing since it was not an actual show like it normally is. It was basically a walk-through experience, where the monsters commented on people's costumes. Definitely not something to make a priority to do during the party.
Then, we stopped at Cosmic Ray's to try our first party exclusive snack. We had the snarling sub. It was pretty good, but I will say the theming of the snack was better than the actual taste.
Next, we headed over to Space Mountain, which was another attraction with a Halloween twist. WOW! It was so much fun and also actually pretty scary. For the Halloween twist, all of the lights were turned off during the ride itself. You were basically plummeting through the pitch black and quite literally couldn't see anything in front of you. If you are familiar with Space Mountain, you know just how twisty the track is. Now imagine having no idea which way or when you would turn next, all while traveling extremely fast. It was fun, but one time riding it was enough for me. KC was ready to go back for seconds though!
As we made our way around the park, we noticed long lines at most of the trick or treat stations. When I say long line, I mean the line was winding around the building and was very likely 10 minutes or longer- all for a scoop of candy. This was the main reason that we did not do any more trick or treating for the remainder of the night. It seemed incredibly silly to wait in such a long line for candy that we could easily buy at any convenience store, and probably would never even eat. It was a major waste of party time and I am honestly shocked that anyone was willing to wait that long for candy. I even overheard a father saying to his young child- "Do you want candy or do you want to ride rides?"
At this point, it was getting close to the start of the Boo To You Parade. We decided to grab another party exclusive snack before finding our parade viewing spot. This time we tried the Char Siu chicken wings from Sleepy Hollow. At this point in the night, I felt very "sugared out" and just wanted some protein. This snack tasted pretty good but was difficult to eat. This was unfortunately the last party exclusive snack we tried, despite there being other items that I had wanted to try. I am definitely disappointed I missed out on the loaded sweet potato fries.
After finishing up at Sleepy Hollow we headed down Main Street to find a good spot to watch the parade. From my research, I knew I wanted to find a spot at the far end of Main Street, closer to the exit than the Castle. That is because the headless horseman rode down Main Street on his horse and this location gave us a great view. This was hands back one of the coolest parts of the night.
The parade was awesome! It was the part of the party that I was most looking forward to and it did not disappoint. The parade featured the song "Boo to you" which was quite catchy and included a majority of the famous Disney villains. There were also characters from the Haunted Mansion ride (the hitchhiking ghosts and the bride) as well as pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. The parade was a great length, around 20 minutes or so, and really lived up to the hype. I absolutely loved the parade.
The special Halloween fireworks show was set to start about 20 minutes after the end of the parade, so we made our way closer to the Castle. The fireworks show was hosted by Jack Skellington, from The Nightmare Before Christmas. They actually brought a giant Jack Skellington out onto the stage in front of the castle, which was pretty impressive. The fireworks show/light display was not as good as the normal Happily Ever After fireworks show. However, neither was the Christmas fireworks show at the Christmas party. It was something different, and incorporated more Disney villains with a spooky light show on the castle. Overall I'd give it a 7/10.
After the fireworks, we made our way over to Haunted Mansion. We beat the crowd (obviously with the same idea that we had) and it was practically a walk-on. The queue outside the ride was very well themed, with the tombstones in the graveyard eerily lit up and thick fog in the air. It was definitely the most fitting attraction for the party. By the time we got off the ride, there was a huge line, probably an hour wait or longer.
I was slightly surprised to see that the crowd volume at the party seemed to stay pretty consistent up until the end of the night. I was expecting a lot of people to leave the party after the fireworks show, but it seemed like the majority of guests stayed through the night. It seemed as though there were just as many people lining up for the 2nd parade at 11:15pm as there were at the earlier parade that we watched.
Final Verdict
We had a great time at MNSSHP and I see us going back again. It was a fun and different Disney experience. However, it probably wouldn't be an annual thing for us. I enjoyed the Christmas party a lot more. The best part of MNSSHP, in my opinion, was the parade. I also really enjoyed the decorations and ambiance. It did feel like a different park than the "normal" Magic Kingdom. Dressing up was a blast and it was neat that they had party exclusives such as snacks and merchandise that only party guests could get. I also really appreciate that party guests got access to the park 3 hours prior to the official start of the party, so that we could get some Magic Kingdom time before focusing solely on party activities.
However, I also think Disney could've done a lot more to make the rides Halloween themed, but they only put a true Halloween overlay on Space Mountain. There were some missed opportunities with Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and even Jungle Cruise. I also did not like how it was practically impossible to trick or treat around the park, unless you wanted to waste time waiting in long lines for candy. The Christmas party seemed to handle this aspect a lot better with the free cookies and cocoa. I cannot remember waiting in any lines longer than a minute for those. I'm not quite sure why it took so long to hand out candy, but it was disappointing since the "free" candy was built into our ticket price and we walked away practically empty handed. I also noticed that at the Christmas party we were given a free party ornament, but there was no free keepsake from the Halloween party (hmmm...).
All in all, I do recommend the party and think it is something that most Disney fans would enjoy doing at least once. There is room for improvement and hopefully Disney will continue to build onto the party in years to come, to make it reach its full potential. Hopefully this post inspires you to check out MNSSHP next year!
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