Inside Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We're back from our year-long hiatus with a bag full of memories and tips to share. In this episode, we are taking a close look at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  With exclusive stage shows, fireworks, parade and more - is this after-hours event at the Magic Kingdom worth your time?  Join us as we answer that question!

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Transcript

Nick: 0:08

Hi everybody and welcome to Raised On the Dis. I'm your host, Nick.

Zoleanne: 0:12

And this is Zoleanne. Hi everyone.

Nick: 0:14

Well, we're back after a bit of a hiatus, and by a bit of a hiatus I mean we were off of doing the podcast for about a year, but during that time we maintained our love of Disney. We kept an eye on how many folks were downloading the podcast and how many people were liking the page on Facebook, and we noticed that that was still happening, and so we thought what better time than now to get back into it, and we have a lot of new things to talk about as well.

Zoleanne: 0:46

Yeah, I mean, the past year has just been busy with, you know, just life things the kids and work but this is something we always wanted to circle back around to.

Nick: 0:55

And we've had a lot of Disney experiences over the past year, obviously, and we're reacting to news that comes out all the time about Disney and talking about you know whether we're excited about things like Moana Journey of Water coming to Epcot or while we rode Tron over the past year as well. So that is coming up and as Oli Ann is scared to death of roller coasters for the most part, right, I mean you like Everest, but you were really afraid of riding Tron, but I was terrified, yes you are brave.

Nick: 1:25

And what happened?

Zoleanne: 1:26

I did it. So for any of you who have been to Magic Kingdom since Tron launched for lack of a better term it can be intimidating, especially watching that launch, as you're standing in the line to get into the building, and so, yeah, I was terrified. I was standing with Christian watching that, but I got on Tron and it was awesome. We'll save the rest of it for a future episode We'll have to like you know, really dive into talking about the ride, but it was great. That's my review.

Nick: 1:59

Speaking of our son, Christian. In February, we had the opportunity to take a quick trip out to California and experience, tim and I, disneyland for the first time, which was really cool, and we'll cover that on an upcoming episode as well. So you know basically all of that to say that we have a lot to talk about, and we had this conversation over and over again. We've had some really cool experiences over the past year that we'd like to pass along to you all, and we miss doing this, and so we have a lot to say and we'll be dropping episodes here weekly and talking about all of the cool things that you can do whether you're in Florida or California. But we're talking about something today, your favorite time of the year, which is Halloween.

Zoleanne: 2:49

Yes, I know, I know it's only August, but you know, if you're a Disney fan, you know that by about the second week of August the Halloween decorations are coming out. The Jack-O-lanterns are coming out in Magic Kingdom, main Street is now decorated in its beautiful fall decor and we are officially in Halloween time.

Nick: 3:12

Well, we haven't decorated here yet which is you know that's an accomplishment, because we usually break out the Halloween decorations about the first week of September. Yeah, they're coming. We're in mid-August here mid to late August and they haven't come out yet. So we'll wait to see what happens. But let's talk about Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party. We were there last year in September for this party. We actually dodged a hurricane. We got out of town about a day before the hurricane hit in late September last year.

Zoleanne: 3:42

Yes, we were one of the last flights out of Orlando International at the time, so, yeah, we just missed the hurricane, but it was. You know, we kind of went down there for a quick weekend with the kids to surprise them with this Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween. We had never done that before so we really didn't know what to expect, but it was. It was a really awesome experience.

Nick: 4:07

So we're recording this on August 18th and the party started on August 11th and they run through November 1st 2023. How would you describe Mickey's not so scary Halloween parties, Zoleanne?

Zoleanne: 4:21

You know, it's really unlike anything that I had experienced at the parks before. I mean, up until that point we never went to any kind of special event like this like a party. I know that they have things for Christmas and things like that. We had never been there during that time. So this, I was really kind of going into it not knowing what to expect, but it was just so much fun. I mean, there were shows at the castle, there was an awesome parade, trick or treating. The kids could go around to the different rides and go trick or treating and there were some really awesome characters just kind of floating around the park. So it was very unique. It's not like you know, even though it was a magic kingdom, you got to see some things that you know you would have not seen on a regular day.

Nick: 5:11

Yeah, the characters are what our kids would call ultra rare. I do know that this year all seven dwarfs are part of Mickey's not so scary Halloween party, and so if you're heading out to that, the Wicked Steps sisters are part of it as well. I feel like they're probably out quite a bit on a regular day at the magic kingdom. But as we're looking at some of the things that you can do, I'm just going to kind of walk through our night. So when you're walking into the park, first of all, if you buy tickets to this and it is not if you go to magic kingdom that day, it's not included in your admission, so you have to buy this separately. It does cost similar to the cost of a park ticket, but you do get a discount if you're an annual pass holder or a member of Disney Vacation Club. We actually let our annual passes go over the past couple months just because we weren't getting down to Disney as much as we used to, but we still are members of Disney Vacation Club, so you do get a bit of a discount if you're in one of those two groups. But what you need to know about admission is that you can then enter Magic Kingdom. If you have tickets to this event at four o'clock and so you know the event runs through midnight, you're basically getting eight hours in the park.

Nick: 6:22

If you think about a regular day, you probably spend a little more than eight hours in the park. If you're going on a regular park day, most days sometimes you might not. I mean, if you're down right now, it's very hot in Disney in the summer, so you might not spend eight consecutive hours. So as you're thinking about the value, I think the value is relatively good for what you get. We're gonna talk about some of the things that you can do for Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party. But this is a leveled up experience from a typical park day. But as you're walking into the park, you're seeing people that are dressed up as all of their favorite characters. The park actually encourages you to dress up.

Zoleanne: 7:02

Now you can't wear masks or anything Anything that presents a security risk you're not going to want to do and you can't do, and you can't obviously take weapons and a sword or anything. That's obviously all prohibited. But yeah, I mean, some of the costumes were really awesome. I remember seeing someone dressed as Yzma, which is the villain from Emperor's New Groove, so kind of like those rare characters you don't see very often, and the costume was fantastic. We did not go to that extreme. We were very limited on space and our luggage and so we just went as the Incredibles. We just all had matching Incredibles shirts, and there were a lot of people that did things like that too. So they were costumes that were super elaborate. And then you also saw things that were much more simple and some people didn't even dress up. So it's all what you want to do and what you want to put into it.

Nick: 7:54

So I actually made the comment. Today we were having a conversation and I said it's the coolest thing that I've ever done in a Disney park. I would imagine that the Christmas party is probably the same, but I just want to talk through some of the things that you're able to do. So you have the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. This runs two times throughout the night. It's a stage show at the castle with the Sanderson sisters and they're incredible. They're awesome. I mean they're very similar to the original actresses in the movies and it's a great show. Oogie Boogie's in it and anything that Oogie Boogie's in. I mean, I'm there for it. A lot of the villains are in it. But this is. I don't like stage shows. I skip them at every opportunity. I also skip parades, but we'll talk about the parade in just a minute. But this stage show is really good.

Zoleanne: 8:44

It's really good. I think what I love the most about this is the fact that you see all of these different villains, not just you know the main ones that you tend to think of, like Maleficent, for example, but you know even, like you mentioned, oogie Boogie is there. Dr Facilier, who I think is terribly underrated. I think he's such a cool character. He is there. And then, of course, those Sanderson sisters. Last year when we went, that was right before, I believe, or around the time that the Hocus Pocus 2 film came out on Disney Plus. So there was a lot of hype and excitement around the Sanderson sisters being at that particular performance. But it's awesome. The singing is awesome, it's like it's literally like you're watching a Broadway production. There's projections on the castle, it's fantastic.

Nick: 9:34

So I had some false information. I said it was twice. It's actually three times throughout the celebration. So times vary and they're very easy to find on the internet. As far as what time the Hocus Pocus villain specks Spelltacular it's called Spelltacular takes place, but one of the other things is and I have to be honest we didn't get a very good position for these fireworks but at 10, 15 pm and this is across the entire Halloween party. So whatever date you go, there's the Disney's not so spooky spell.

Nick: 10:10

This is Spelltacular fireworks. This is hosted by Jack Skellington. There is an animatronic it's probably 20 feet tall of Jack Skellington, so you'll be able to see this all the way back Main Street. We were kind of blocked by trees. We couldn't see very well. Our son, who loves Nightmare Before Christmas and Ogie Boogie and Jack Skellington was. He was four at the time but he decided that he would be scared to death of this show If the fireworks are really good and obviously a completely different show than what is offered on a nightly basis at Magic Kingdom, which is happily ever after.

Zoleanne: 10:47

Right and you know, and despite the fact that we we didn't have the best seats, you know it's, it's just the whole vibe of being there, and I don't know whether it's just because I'm a Halloween person and I just love all of that, but it's just fun. So you know, I would say, don't stress about necessarily getting there and trying to get the best seat, because of course you're going to miss out on doing other things because you're going to be sitting there reserving your seat, Um, but just, you know, try to get the best kind of place that you can and just enjoy it.

Nick: 11:20

You know, regardless of what your view is, Now, the highlight of the night for us and we've had this conversation recently and we both agree on it is the Mickey's Boo to you Halloween parade. We had some of that music to start the episode. We'll wrap up with it as well. This is presented one twice, twice during the night at nine, 15 and 11, 15. We went to the later. It will take the entirety of the rest of the time. The park is open from 1115 to 1145. If you're standing out on the end of Main Street, usa, by the important, which is where we were, but by the time it was over, this is just how long this parade is. It takes a long time to work through, but if you talk about just some of the things that you see during this that you don't get to see on a regular day, the headless horseman.

Nick: 12:10

Yeah, you like that.

Zoleanne: 12:11

It's led by the headless horseman and what's so cool. Like we were back actually by like the like, kind of like the very tail end, um, by like the fire station, and it just got very, you know, because obviously I couldn't see what was coming down Main Street, but it got kind of very quiet and then all of a sudden, you know, we could hear these like these hooves from the horse kind of on the on the pavement coming down Main Street and then you can see the headless horseman and he is leading the parade. And so, again for a Halloween geek like myself, like that was really really cool to see. But there were other characters that you know your kids might recognize more. Like you know, jack Sparrow, the, you know the Pirates of the Caribbean had a float. Haunted Mansion had a float, and it wasn't just a float but there were actually characters out dancing and, and you know, just doing some really really awesome things. It was cool to look at.

Nick: 13:05

Max's power line is really popular. He's in there too pretty early on in the parade. Highlights for me were the fact that basically every ride in the park is represented in some way with really which super impressive about it is, with more than one float. So just take the Haunted Mansion, for instance. You have dancing ghosts, which are really cool because the makeup is is incredible and it's just it's. It says the, as Gen Z says, it's a whole vibe. But also you have the hitchhiking ghosts. They have their own float. And then you have grave diggers and I don't know how they do it, but they scrape their shovels against the, the Kong, the asphalt, and sparks fly up.

Zoleanne: 13:48

And then they they, it's all.

Nick: 13:50

it's all choreographed and everything. But also there's the country bears, there's characters that you don't see all the time, like Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope, and there's just it's basically like a whole representation of the park, and it goes on for a pretty long time.

Zoleanne: 14:08

Right, and then it ends with you know Mickey and Minnie, and you know on their, their float, and we see all those classic characters, yeah, and so Carter slept through that as well.

Nick: 14:17

Um, we're hoping to make it back so that he can get to experience all of those things, Um, now that he's a year older. But um, let's talk about some other things. Um, one thing we didn't get to see a ton of, but they're, they're just kind of around and, um, you know, you see them as you're around the park is, uh, dapper dance. They're called the cadaver dance during, um, Mickey's not so scary Halloween party, because they're in kind of cadaver makeup.

Zoleanne: 14:45

Right.

Nick: 14:45

They perform in frontier land and where they're going to be is over on top of country bear jamboree. If you're familiar with Disney, it's where Chip and Dale are a lot, or where the country bears are. Yeah and so, um, they perform at seven, seven, 45, eight, 30, nine, 50 and 10, 30. And they have a list of spooky songs that they sing. Um, but let's talk about trick or treating, yeah.

Nick: 15:14

So, let's talk about how that works, because people hear about trick or treating and they might wonder how how that works. But um, let's, let's talk about some places where you can find that Okay, and how it how it works.

Zoleanne: 15:26

So when we first came into the park, like you said it, you know it kind of opens up at four o'clock, Um, there are stations, like we went to the um. Tortuga Tavern was where we we had to go um in Adventureland in order to get our, our risks. We kind of check in, almost uh to the party, so you get your wristbands, um, and then everybody in your party also gets a trick or treat bag, Um, and so then when everything gets started, uh, there are like different sort of stops and you do get like sort of an agenda, almost, and a map and everything, um, whenever you pick up your, your band and your bag. So you know exactly where everything is and what time everything is. So you don't need to, like you know, be searching your phones constantly, Um, but you know exactly where to go, Um, and you, you, basically you know, you, you, when you kids, you go into these, these different areas, um, that has the candy, Um, and you can just start filling up your bags.

Zoleanne: 16:20

I know I'm just thinking about kind of like that front Tearland area. I know Country Bear Jamboree, um, they had candy where they kind of wove you through the building and you were able to get trick or treat candy. Also, Columbia Harbor house did as well. Um, and so there are just different places throughout the park, and so it's fun for for kids to be able to go and to, to be able to fill up those bags as they're kind of walking past on their way to different rides or, uh, some of those shows that we mentioned.

Nick: 16:49

And so there's many of these trick or treat locations across, uh, disney world for example, one at carousel of progress, there's another one outside of space mountain, between space mountain Tron, there's one in Liberty square that I remember very well from last year, there is one in Frontierland, several in Adventureland, and so there's just these different areas where you can and they're, they're very efficient, so they give you a bag, you start you out with a full candy bar too, which was pretty cool. Oh, I forgot about that, yeah, so, um, you walk through and they, they're, they're very generous with candy, they'll, they'll just fill up a couple of handfuls, yeah, um, and you can go through anytime throughout the night.

Nick: 17:30

And a couple of little things that I wanted to mention too is, um, that they have special merchandise for making us not so scary Halloween party as well. Um, some limited edition things for people who are really interested in that. We talked a little bit about, um, the rare characters that are out as well. Lines tend to get pretty long for those, and so that wasn't something that we took advantage of. I mean, for me, I mean, if I'm walking by and I can see the character, I mean I don't have to stand in line to get my picture taken with them, right?

Zoleanne: 18:03

I mean it's it's just like any other park day. You know you can't do everything, so you kind of have to prioritize what you or people in your party want to do. So you know, if you want to ride rides, if that's your big thing, then that's what you're going to prioritize. If the character meet and greets, if that's something you want to do, then that's what you're going to spend time, or most of your time, doing. But keep in mind that there are going to be lines and so then you're going to sacrifice. You know other things. So it's yeah, it's really all what you want to do. I know we really didn't um other than, like you said, at a distance, maybe getting some pictures, but we didn't actually go up to meet anyone.

Nick: 18:39

So, uh, lines, because people may have that question as well. There's there's a number of locations that are open. I just want to go down through and talk about a few of the rides that you can do. Uh, whenever you go to Mickey's not so scary Halloween party.

Nick: 18:56

So, um, in Adventureland, magic Carpets of Aladdin, pirates of the Caribbean, swiss Family Treehouse, big Thunder Mountains open in Frontierland. Um, in Fantasyland you have it's a small world the Carousel, peter Pan's Flight, winnie the Pooh, mad Tea Party with a Halloween twist. They play Halloween music during it. Under the sea with the little mermaid is open and seven door smine train. The haunted mansion is open. Um, in the past they've had a Halloween twist here, but it doesn't mention that on this website, so they might not have that this year. Dumbo is open in Storybook Circus along with the barnstormer, and then in Tomorrowland you have Astro Orbiter, buzz Lightyear, monsters Inc has a Halloween twist. Um, it has also two opportunities to get candy in that attraction, so it's sort of a walkthrough. The show goes on basically the whole time and it's Halloween themed, but it's an opportunity to get in. Space Mountain has a Halloween twist as well, and then Tomorrowland Speedway and Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover is open as well.

Nick: 19:59

Tron is open. It's a virtual queue, right, so it operates in the same way that extended hours operate. You'll have to log on to your app. I'm not exactly sure on the time that you need to do that, but all of that information is available on the Disney my Experience app and it will be easily accessible to you that day.

Nick: 20:18

Right, our experience with After Hours and Tron is good. We had no issues in our last trip getting into the virtual queue the wait so we'll talk about this more in a future episode about Tron specifically. But don't expect, when you get a virtual queue spot for Tron, if it's not in the early morning, you're going to wait, and you could wait up to 45 to 50 minutes. We'll talk about it later on in a future episode. The wait is worth it. Your luck is probably going to be a little bit better during the Halloween party as far as your wait, than even regular extended hours for deluxe guests, but just something to keep in mind. And then, the last thing I wanted to mention is something that's new this year is they have a band of pirates that are roaming around Adventureland singing Sea Shanties.

Zoleanne: 21:12

Oh, that's awesome.

Nick: 21:13

That's something new. In the past they've had live pirates. I'm not sure if that's still part of it in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Zoleanne: 21:19

That was cool.

Nick: 21:20

Honestly, it didn't do a lot for me because it was just a couple of people in the queue and the one person in the ride and so it wasn't that big of a deal. But to really wrap it up with Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party, we want to do it again. So I definitely would say for anybody who is on the fence about doing it, do it. Don't let the fact that it is around the same price as a regular admission day scare you away. My recommendation is take a break that day. Go to the pool If you're staying offsite, maybe go do something else and then head over to the park to be there at four o'clock. You can still get eight hours in. That's a pretty extensive day. So my recommendation is that you definitely do the party, skip a park that day and be refreshed for the evening.

Zoleanne: 22:15

Yeah, I agree, and of course if you're a local that's not an issue. Then you just make your way from your house on over to the park at the time that you can get in there. But no, I agree, it's definitely a unique experience. It's something that if you're a fan of Disney and you're a fan of this time of year, to definitely check out. I think if you have young kids and I'm not saying very small, I mean you know your children, so some kids might be freaked out by some of this stuff. But if your kids are a little older and they're into Halloween, that they will probably like it as well. And it is what you make it just like any normal park day, so you can kind of tailor it to yourself, to your party, what you all want to do.

Nick: 22:55

Well, it's been good to be back. We have a lot to talk about in episodes to come. We used to think about, okay, what are we gonna do for the next episode, and really would kind of stress over that and really brainstorm.

Nick: 23:07

But we've got a lot of content that we can bring to you in the coming weeks here, between our trip to Disneyland, my son and I and also with Tron and many other things that we've experienced over the past year and you know wouldn't even say that we've gone to Disney a ton in the past year since we've won our hiatus but we've just had a lot of unique experiences that I think would be good to pass along to people.

Zoleanne: 23:33

Yeah, and there are a lot of new things happening, like I feel like there are some things that we've been talking about for a really long time, like the Moana, the water feature.

Nick: 23:41

The journey of water.

Zoleanne: 23:42

yes, Right, I feel like we've been talking about that for a while. It's still not open, but you know there have been new things like Guardians of the Galaxy, Tron, of course. So, yeah, we have a lot of cool things to talk about.

Nick: 23:54

Well, that'll do it for this episode of Raised on the Diz.

Zoleanne: 23:57

Have a magical day.

Nick: 23:58

And have a great big, beautiful tomorrow.

Zoleanne: 24:03

Happy.

Nick: 24:04

Halloween everybody.