We had the pleasure of attending Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on September 7, 2018. We have previously attended one party in the past and created this handy list of tips and tricks for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but we wanted to check out this year’s offering.
It’s worth noting that our decision to attend this year was completely spontaneous. It involved changing our flight, adding a stay at a different hotel and scrambling to update our transportation. That should give an overall idea of how fun we find this event!
We approached things a bit differently this year. Instead of waiting in line for characters, we made the parade and fireworks our top priority, with rides falling in line just behind them.
Though the party officially begins at 7pm, your ticket will get you into the Magic Kingdom at 4pm. We arrived around 5:30pm and planned to try to hit some rides as the regular guests left for the day. We hit Big Thunder Mountain (15-minute wait), Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (10-minute wait), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (10-minute wait) and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (15-minute wait). That’s a pretty huge success and the party hadn’t even officially started.
We also hit up a few lines for candy, because what’s a Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party without eating some candy?
If you couldn’t tell already, the crowds for this event were extremely manageable. They were smaller than when we went around Labor Day in 2017 by a significant margin. Consider the parties the weekend following Labor Day for a more relaxed experience.
After a quick meal at Pecos Bill’s (sorry, no food pics), we decided to camp out in the hub for the 8:15 Hocus Pocus show, the 9:15pm Boo to You Parade and the 10:15pm fireworks show. We found a spot on the curb where the circular portion of the hub turns into the straight shot of Main Street, happy to have a place to sit between shows. That strategy worked wonderfully and the candy mentioned earlier was a hit during our wait.
The Hocus Pocus show is fine, but it really only seems to resonate with fans of the movie. The parade was outstanding as ever and is still in the running as the best parade Disney currently has running.
The fireworks were awesome. Sure, they could use some upgrading now that Happily Ever After is wowing guests on a regular basis, but the ability to see perimeter fireworks at the Magic Kingdom is a special sight.
If you’ve never seen them, here’s a horribly-shot eight-second video we tried to film.
From here, we went over to the Mad Tea Party to check out the lighting changes in person. They were a lot of fun! It’s amazing how some new lights and music can completely change the feel of an iconic ride. The Halloween overlay for the Mad Tea Party received high marks from us.
With the night starting to wind down and people heading for the exits, we rode the People Mover (it’s a classic), Space Mountain (the Halloween “overlay” was just complete darkness and loud music, but a lot of fun) and Big Thunder Mountain. Thanks to tiny lines, Big Thunder Mountain was a walk-on, which we continued to ride again and again and again all the way up until park close at midnight. There’s something special about being on the last train of the night.
And who doesn’t love having a ride to yourself?
There you have it! We ended up riding way more rides than we expected (five times on Big Thunder Mountain) and had a great view of the parade and fireworks. We had manageable crowds, if not light crowds, and some perfect weather.
Needless to say, if we’re back at Disney World in 2019, we’ll likely plan another trip to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
