In Orlando, Halloween is not a holiday–it is a season that lasts from the end of August until usually the first week of November. Then it jumps straight to Christmas, as Thanksgiving doesn’t really exist in the theme park world. Every theme park has their own Halloween event. Universal has Halloween Horror Nights, SeaWorld has Spooktacular, Busch Gardens has Howl-O-Scream, and Disney World has my personal favorite: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, or Not So Scary as most people refer to it, is a family friendly event held at the Magic Kingdom from 7 p.m. – 12 a.m. It’s a hard ticket event, which means it’s separate admission from normal park tickets so it is not covered by annual passes or day tickets. I went for the first time in 2013, and I haven’t missed it since. Ticket prices usually range from sixty-something to over a hundred, depending on the night, and I find it every bit worth the cost if you go in September.
Obviously I have a Walt Disney World annual pass so I can get in any time I like, but the party tickets begin granting admission at 4 p.m. If you’re going in full costume that’s as early as they’ll let you in. I don’t typically get there right when it starts, but I like to be there well before the party actually begins to get some of the waiting in line out of the way.
One of the many reasons Not So Scary is my favorite Halloween event is because it’s the one time of year adults are allowed to wear costumes to Magic Kingdom. In my previous years going to Not So Scary, I have been Korra, Roo, Gamora, and a pirate. I love cosplay and costuming, and I love clever costumes despite Disney’s new rules that make it a little trickier to be clever (and outlawed the costume I took to the last cast Halloween party I went to). This year I had what I think was my best idea yet. With the closing of The Great Movie Ride still fresh on everyone’s minds, Jay would go as Mugsy the Gangster and I would go as Kate Durango the Bandit with signs about our attraction being closed.
While I thought this was brilliant, and several of my friends told me what a horrible person I was, Jay needed some convincing. Up until the day of the party he was dragging his heels and insisting no one would understand the reference, so we hadn’t done a whole lot of prep work on the costumes. We finally decided, but on a date that only gave us forty-eight hours to get it together. Thankfully I work best on a deadline. For a girl who grew up in East Tennessee, cowgirl stuff is generally easy to borrow; the problem is all the people I borrow stuff from still live in Tennessee, so I had to scrounge everything. The Spirit of Halloween store we went to was only about a third of the way unpacked so we decided Party City was our best bet for a hat and we could do that on our way to the party. I picked up a bandana at Michaels, and thankfully, had literally bought khaki pants earlier in the week. My boots were actually my Korra boots since they wouldn’t show under my pants and were the closest things I own to cowboy boots. (I have combat boots but I wound up wearing them four days earlier in the week and I couldn’t bring myself to do it again so soon.) We still ran out of time to go to Goodwill to try to find a shirt for me, so I tried on one of Jay’s shirts. While it wasn’t perfect, it would do, but he could tell I wasn’t happy with it as we got ready to leave. He suggested running quickly into Target when we went to Party City since they share a parking lot, and I am so happy he did. I found a great sleeveless button-up on clearance, and it’s actually something I could wear again.
We arrived at Not So Scary still with plenty of time before the party started, but much later than we intended thanks to a little hiccup with my car. We had aimed for five and wound up arriving much closer to six. We hadn’t even gotten in the gate when the reactions to our costumes started! We were heading to receive our wrist bands as we entered, and two former Movie Riders came over to tell us how much they loved our costumes. We made our way into the park and I grabbed a map. In previous years you got your candy bags just after you got your wrist bands, but they were funneling all the party guests into the bi-pass (a backstage area next to Main Street where they can funnel guests when the park is particularly crowded) to pick up their bags and get a starter round of treats. It was elaborately decorated, and I was actually impressed with the statues. I hope this is a tradition they continue.
Jay wanted to head over to Adventureland to see some of our friends, so that was our first destination–except we got stopped by “Move it! Shake it! Dance and Play it!” making its way back down Main Street. We caught the attention of several of the characters in the parade, and Mickey stared down at us from atop his float, miming a tear rolling down his cheek. Just then two more former Movie Riders came from behind us to tell us how much they loved our costumes; they were dressed as “Singing in the Rain” and I only know this because they told me. Sorry ladies, you looked fabulous but I didn’t have a clue.
This was about the time when I started saying, “I told you so!” about our costume choice. So much better than pirates!
We lapped our way through Adventureland and headed towards the Haunted Mansion for a photo while the sun was still out. We ran into one of my old coordinators there and he yelled at us from a distance, “Oh I get it!” as he passed by. The lady behind us in line for the Photopass photographer asked who’s idea it was and I proudly claimed the credit.
It was almost party time so we decided to get in line for a character, and so we started with Minnie Mouse in Storybook Circus. Last year, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy had one line where you got to meet all three characters, but this year it was split so Donald and Daisy were on one line and Minnie was on another. Fine by me! I was slightly worried they wouldn’t let us have the signs in the photos with the characters, but we checked with the character attendants who said it was fine. The thing we were “promoting” was a Disney attraction so there was no issue. Both the character attendants were dying laughing at our costumes; even Minnie hung her head in shame after Jay reminded her she and Mickey had kicked us out in the first place.
We wandered over to Cruella’s line where we had seen a group of Dalmatians earlier and a brilliant Radcliffe and Anita complete with soot paw prints. The character attendant explained we would be waiting for when Cruella returned at 8 p.m. I glanced at my watch and then the line, we wouldn’t make it for her 8 p.m. set, and we’d be waiting for the one after that. We decided to move on and come back later, but found a similar issue with Ariel and Eric. My number one complaint about the party is all the characters leave at the exact same time. We decided to head towards Main Street to take some photos, but were distracted by Princess Fairy Tale Hall. They only had a ten-minute wait and it was air conditioned! While you can meet Rapunzel and Tiana any day, Jay and I enjoy the photos and the interactions more than anything else. Standing in a quick line for two characters beats waiting an hour for a rare one any day. Well, depending on the rare one. Anyway.
We were literally in to see the Princesses in less than two minutes. Rapunzel was fantastic. I have never seen a character try so hard not to be excited by something, because she loved our costumes and wanted to say something, but Rapunzel should not know what the Great Movie Ride is. (Even if Mother Gothel was in it for half a second.) Finally she settled on, “It sounds like a wonderful place!” “Well, it was!”
Jay and I moved onto Tiana who was horrified by my sign about stealing for food. “Oh, baby you don’t got to do that! You come on down to my restaurant and I’ll feed you for free!”
Now if only that could really happen.
The Photopass Photographer seemed particularly impressed with our costumes and she took photos of us each individually, which I appreciated. We headed out of Fairy Tale Hall and down towards Main Street. We hit two more Photopass photographers along the way and swung by the Fire Station to pick up this year’s Sorcerer Card. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom is a card game played around the park and is one of the only free souvenirs you will ever find at Disney. Every year there are two limited edition cards, one for Not So Scary and one for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Last year’s was Zootopia themed and this year’s is the Country Bear Jamboree. We grabbed ours and headed over to Town Square Theater to see what Mickey’s line looked like. He was only a fifteen-minute wait, so we headed in, to find ourselves looking at more of a five-minute wait.
This was the least crowded Not So Scary I have ever been to, and it was wonderful.
I couldn’t wait to see what Mickey would say when he saw us, but I shouldn’t have been so excited. Talking Mickey is wonderful, but he’s more limited on what he can say and do with guests. Minnie was much more expressive about our costumes. The grumpy Photopass
We headed back towards Adventureland to eye the lines for Moana and Jack Sparrow, but wound up deciding to pass on both of them. We made our way back to the Haunted Mansion so Jay could get the Magic Shot with the lantern while I took photos of the ghosts on the lawn. Then we realized it was time to pick a character line and commit, or we’d spend the whole night just wandering around. We head for Cruella, and boy am I glad we did. We just had to wait through her fifteen minute break and a few families in front of us, but it moved quickly.
I feel like this is sacrilege since I’m such a dog lover and she wants to make a coat of puppies, but Cruella is actually my favorite villainess. She is just so much fun to meet, and she’s always fabulous. I have a memory of running into her at Boo at the Zoo while dressed as a Dalmatian and she said, “Lovely fur coat darling!”, sending me clinging to my mother.
The first thing I did was ask her if I could take pictures of just her, and she just ate it up. Once we got in to take pictures with her one of the character attendants said, “Look! They’re from the Great Movie Ride!” “I don’t know if it’s great, it’d be great if it had me in it!”
Then Jay stepped in to ask if she was looking for new henchman. His full Italian accent came out as he told her we were looking for work, and she needed to replace Horace and Jasper.
Cruella: “Well of course, they’re useless.”
Jay: “Yeah, I wasn’t impressed.”
Cruella: “You didn’t need to say that, I already it said it. They’re useless, why would you be impressed?”
We started posing for pictures and for the last one Cruella said, “Oh! I’m going to act like I’m on the ride!”
We thanked her, got our stuff and walked away laughing. Jay was right–I’m so happy we went to see Cruella.
It was almost 9:30 p.m. so it was time to get our spot for Hallowishes, the amazing fireworks spectacular at 10:15. We headed towards the Hub only to find ourselves blocked by the first running of “Mickey’s Boo to You Parade”. We came in right after the second float, so we just stayed put and watched the parade over the heads of the crowd. Boo to You is my favorite parade that Disney does, although I prefer the 2013 version to its current lineup. (In 2014 they removed the Winnie the Pooh float to add in the Wreck It Ralph section, and while I like Ralph, I love Kanga and Roo more!)
As soon as the final parade float passed, we headed across the Hub. I wanted to be behind the Partners Statue and I didn’t want anyone tall in front of me. We parked on a spot next to a railing and sat down, and I used our signs to try to block off space around us. I didn’t need to worry, no one even filled in next to us. We stood up literally a minute before the fireworks started and had no one even close to us.
Before Happily Ever After’s release, Hallowishes was my favorite fireworks show. It’s still a close second. (To be clear if anyone is paying attention, Fantasmic is my favorite nighttime show, but I don’t consider it a firework show.) I’ve only seen Nightmare Before Christmas one and a half times, and it’s never my favorite movie, but good lord I love the music. My favorite section in the whole show is the Big Bad Wolf with the spinner fireworks on the castle itself. Hallowishes hasn’t changed in the five years I’ve been going to Not So Scary, but this is the first year without the Celebrate the Magic preshow. I never thought I would appreciate its absence, but Hallowishes was actually better without Celebrate the Magic in front of it. The two shows used a lot of the same songs so you were almost sick of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” by the time both shows were over, but this year I never wanted the fireworks to end. Sadly they did with the “Scream-a-long,” and afterwards we made our way across the Hub towards Adventureland.
I have never actually gotten any of the special party snacks other than the candy, and the “artistic Haunted Mansion Desserts” had me determined to change that. We headed to Aloha Ilse to pick up one of the peanut butter ones, and of course one cannot go to Aloha Isle without getting a Dole Whip.
We swung through the Jungle Cruise and Tiki Room treat trails for our first real candy stops of the night, and went through Pirates twice while I was waiting for “Come Sail Away” to come up in the music loop. I worked a good number of parties at Pirates in my cast member days and it was always my favorite song. Once it played, I was happy to move onto Frontierland’s treat trails. We also ran across Br’er Rabbit and the Cadaver Dans as we made our way towards our favorite parade spot. We got stopped by two more Cast Members who loved our costumes and wound up giving us two free churros!
The second Boo to You was set to start at 11:15, and the Headless Horseman came by just before. Years ago, apparently, he used to gallop through the streets, but now the beautiful horse and Headless rider come through at a nice brisk trot.
Not only is Boo to You my favorite parade, it’s my favorite part of the party. The characters roll by and they’re as likely to notice cool costumes as anyone else. Sometimes you get really cool reactions, like one time Minnie saw me as Korra and immediately started pretending to Waterbend! I couldn’t wait to see what they thought of our out-of-work Gangster and Bandit.
The parade started off with two girls rolling the sign with the parade’s title. Behind them was Goofy, Pluto, Aladdin, Jasmine, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Snow White, Dopey, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Pooh and Tigger. Sort of an odd mix, but they all carried adorable masquerade masks except Pluto, who was dressed as a lion. Aladdin and Jasmine were particularly adorable, and I wish I’d gotten video of them because they made my heart melt. Then came Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy on the gazebo. Daisy noticed Jay and his sign right away. She put her hands up to make a heart and then mimed a broken heart, to which I yelled back, “Good! You broke my heart!” Still not over that duck kicking Duffy out of his spot.
The next float is the Jolly Roger, a pirate ship carrying a captive Wendy and Lost Boys as Pan battled Hook. Wendy seemed affronted by our costumes, but that could just be Wendy being Wendy. Following the pirate ship was a band of pirates on foot, twirling flags and yelling “Yo ho!” I don’t know where Disney gets these guys, but they put every color guard I’ve ever seen to shame. Rounding out the pirate crew was a pile of treasure with none other than Captain Jack Sparrow at the peak, and Barbosa just beneath him.
[lgc_column grid=”40″ tablet_grid=”40″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Behind the pirates were what I think is the best part of the parade, and one of my mother’s favorite things in all of Disney: the Gravediggers. [/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”60″ tablet_grid=”60″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”true”]
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Some Ghoulish Butlers from the Haunted Mansion have left their place burying the dearly departed to parade through the streets of the Magic Kingdom, leaving sparks in their wake. They are absolutely wonderful, and I spent my time watching them alternating between trying to spot a former Skipper I know and taking pictures. The Gravediggers are followed of course by tombstones with Madame Leota’s at the crest, with the Ghostly Ball Dancers right behind them. The Haunted Mansion section is finished off by the Hitchhiking Ghosts, waiting to see who they can follow home.
The next section of the parade completely baffles me, and I don’t understand how Mickey and Minnie have to share a float with Donald and Daisy, but Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck (whose name I had to look up) get their own floats. THEY DON’T EVEN SHARE WITH EACH OTHER! There’s also a section of dancing cowboys and cowgirls. I don’t judge what other women wear, my shorts are pretty darn short, but those give me and my bare legs a run for their money. The fact that that’s what Disney has them wearing irks me a little. They are then followed by a bunch of square dancing Disney characters like the Country Bears, Chip n’ Dale, and Bre’er Rabbit, which is much cuter. Dale completely lost it when he saw us. One of the cowboys seemed to miss the point of my costume and was just excited to see someone dressed as a cowgirl.
Next came Wreck it Ralph on the Sugar Rush truck, both he and the vehicles driver had great reactions when they saw us. The driver looked so sad! Ralph just threw his huge hands in the air and then gestured wildly at us. Behind the truck was a bunch of the Sugar Rush racers twirling batons, extremely cute and I’m glad to see Ralph get some love. (Even if he did kick out Kanga and Roo.) Last year the section was ended by Vanellope on what used to be Goofy’s float, but that was missing this year.
Disney always saves the best for last, and the last float is always the Villains. They get two floats. The first one was headed up by a skeleton band with Pain and Panic from Hercules in cages on the back. Next was a section of villains marching their way across Magic Kingdom on foot: Cruella, Oogie Boogie, the Wicked Stepsisters, Dr. Facilier and the Queen of Hearts. Missing from previous years were the Big Bad Wolf and the Bowler Hat Guy, making it feel a little empty. The parade’s final float was the biggest and the baddest of them all: Jafar, Maleficent, Chernabog and the Evil Queen. I’m really happy they went back to more of Maleficent’s traditional green look instead of the one from the 2014 movie. Awkwardly trailing behind the float were the Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, the hyenas from The Lion King in front of the banner that signals the end of the parade.
The moment the parade was completely past us, Jay and I made a hard line for Cinderella Castle to find spots for the midnight showing of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. I’m not a huge Hocus Pocus fan, or even really a fan at all. I didn’t see the movie until I was in college, and we watched it on a VHS at my brother’s apartment. I’m not even joking. However, really all the Villain Spelltacular is basically an updated version of the Villains’ Mix and Mingle, and they kept the best elements of that show, which I loved.
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]The show began with the same intro music with four male and two female dancers on stage, only to be interrupted by the Sanderson Sisters. They began to brew their “Hocus Pocus Party Potion” and the first ingredient needed was “Sinister Shadows”. [/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”true”]
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Cue Dr. Facilier, my favorite villain. AKA the Shadow Man.
He did the whole song and dance for “Friends on the Other Side”, and the man can move! The next ingredient called for “Nefarious Nightmares”, which brought out Oogie Boogie, who managed to scare the Sanderson Sisters! The next to last element needed was “Frightful Friends” and they lamented not having any friends, until Maleficent herself barged in. “My, my, another party I was not invited to.”
Maleficent graciously called forth some of her friends, the other Disney Villains: Hades, the Evil Queen, Cruella, the Wicked Stepmother, Jafar and Captain Hook. Each brought an element to add to the potion (Cruella’s was a dog bone!!! WHAT THE HECK DISNEY!?), and with the hair of an innocent from one of the dancing girls, the Hocus Pocus Party Potion was complete! Winnie launched into “I Put a Spell on You” in a fantastic finale complete with fireworks. The most impressive part of this show was the live singing. Everything except the Sanderson Sisters are prerecorded, meaning they really are belting it out up there.
It was nearly 12:30 a.m. by the time the show ended and we made our way down Main Street. We stopped for two final Photopass spots, one at the flag pole and one at the park entrance. Jay said they were doing the Headless Horseman photo but I didn’t know what he meant until I looked at the Magic Shot on my phone.
I am so happy my annual pass comes with Unlimited Photopass!
The down and out Gangster and Bandit were a hit. Everyone who saw us and understood the reference loved it, and more people understood it than not. We had a guest and a Cast Member told us we won best costume for the whole evening!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is by far my favorite Halloween event in Orlando, and it’s almost my favorite event period. I love getting to dressed up to go to the parks, I love meeting characters and I love the shows. I plan on never missing it as long as I’m in Orlando. It changes a little every year, with new parade sections, new characters and new treat locations. While I still keep hoping they’ll bring some of my favorites back like the Winnie the Pooh float and the Villains Dance Party in the Diamond Horseshoe, I can’t wait to see what they cook up for next year! I’ve already got an idea for what costume I’m going to do.
Cost: Tickets start at $74 and go as high as $115. The night we went with my annual passholder discount put the tickets at $79 plus tax.
Duration: The party is five hours long, but you can get in at four for eight hours of park time.
Value: Worth every penny.
Add Ons: There is a Hallowishes Dessert Party for $79 plus tax per adult. Haven’t tried it and probably won’t, who wants to give up party time?
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