Boo to You: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party 2019

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is a ticketed event taking place on select nights in Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando. Although Disney has hosted the parties for several years, the events have grown significantly in frequency and popularity more recently.  There are 36 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties planned for this year through November 1. Guests that choose to attend gain access to special characters, treats and activities that are only available during the parties. Are all these extra goodies worth the $100+ admission? Today’s post explores this question in detail. Here are ten things to know about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in 2019.

1. Tickets & Timing

Let’s start with tickets and timing.

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is a “ticketed event” in Disney-speak, which means you’ll need to pay an additional fee beyond standard park admission to attend. This year tickets hover around $110 per person, depending on the specific date. Guests with party tickets can enter Magic Kingdom at 4PM and stay through the duration of the event (7PM-midnight).

If you want to enter Magic Kingdom before 4PM on your party day, you’ll need to purchase regular park admission in addition to the party ticket. If you’re visiting Magic Kingdom on a party day and don’t plan on attending the party, you’ll be asked to leave the park (politely of course) at 6PM.

Disney discerns who’s coming and going by scanning Magic Bands or Disney-issued cards and distributing bracelets to party guests. After 7PM, only guests with the bracelets are permitted to take advantage of the party’s many entertainment offerings.

Please note that if you choose to attend a party, you should consider purchasing your tickets in advance. Many of the events sell out, even the “less popular” dates.

2. Scariness

Disney emphasizes the Halloween parties at Magic Kingdom are family-friendly by including “not so scary” in their titles.

So how “scary” are the parties really?

As far as I can tell “not so scary” means no evil creatures, outside of the Disney villains of course. Nothing will jump out and scare you as you might experience at Halloween entertainment elsewhere. Nor will you encounter gruesome displays of blood and gore. In that sense, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is less intense than wandering the aisles of Party City this time of year.

There are some Halloween aspects that may still be too much for younger guests, however. The Headless Horseman kicks off the party parade in very believable fashion. Other parade entrants include ghosts, grave diggers and skeletons. These performers sent the sweet Snow White-clad four year old next to us into a fully frightened fit on our recent visit. If the scariness is a concern to you, you can avoid most of it by skipping the parade and the Haunted Mansion attraction.

3. Rides

Speaking of attractions, the rides at Magic Kingdom are another aspect of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Most are open throughout the event, although the lines tend to increase between 4-7PM as party guests arrive and day visitors leave.

After 7PM the FastPass option disappears and the lines tend to decrease, or at least move more quickly. I can’t say the lines are necessarily short (the popular ones can still run 45+ minutes), but they do tend to lighten while other party events (parade, fireworks, shows, etc.) are taking place elsewhere in the park. If tackling the rides at Magic Kingdom is your main motivation for attending the parties, you should be able to experience the majority of them throughout the evening. Just please note you’ll likely have to skip some of the other forms of entertainment to do so.

Part of the reason the lines stay long for popular attractions is the “Halloween Twists” Disney adds during the parties. Pirates of the Caribbean, for example, receives live actors after 7PM. Other attractions, like Space Mountain and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party receive special lighting effects. Most also distribute treats (Halloween candy!) as you exit the rides.

My favorite attraction overlay, although I’m not sure Disney really calls it that, is the glowing “ghost” entertaining guests in front of the Haunted Mansion (shown above). You can see her and enjoy her humorous observations even if you don’t want to stand in line. 

I don’t think the Halloween Twists are significant enough to be your main reason for attending the parties, but they are a fun touch. This is particularly true for repeat guests familiar with these attractions.

4. Characters

Although you can’t actually meet the glowing ghost in front of the Haunted Mansion, there are tons of other more familiar options that you can. So many, in fact, that you’ll really need to prioritize which are most important to you.

During the parties, Disney offers a chance to meet characters that aren’t typically available in the parks. Examples include Jack Skellington and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas or the dwarfs from Snow White.

Other characters greet you in fun Halloween costumes (like Winnie the Pooh and friends) or with companions that typically don’t greet guests at Magic Kingdom (like Jane with Tarzan or Prince Eric with Ariel). Unfortunately, the more unique the character the longer the lines tend to be to meet them. You won’t really have time during the party to visit all 16 stations, so you’ll need to choose favorites.

You may also have to get in line early, since many of the lines start before the party officially begins. Guests started queuing up to see the dwarfs around 5PM and Disney started ushering guests in to meet them at 6PM. Check out the park maps or the My Disney Experience App for specific character locations and plan ahead.

5. Costumes

Many guests attending the parties choose to do so in costume. I didn’t on our recent visit, due to the 90 degree heat, but I’d estimate maybe a third of guests did. We saw numerous characters from the Incredibles, Toy Story, Star Wars, Marvel and pretty much every Disney movie you can imagine. If you choose to participate, you won’t be alone. If you don’t, you can still enjoy the creativity (guts?!?!) of those around you.

There are rules for the costumes of course. The short version is to skip the masks and floor-dragging robes and keep the ensemble family friendly. You can find the more complete list of Disney rules here.

6. Merchandise

If shopping is your favorite pastime, the parties offer a few unique options too. Although most of the Halloween-themed merchandise is available everywhere at Disney World during the fall months, a few items are only available during the parties at Magic Kingdom. These items are mostly limited to clothing, pins and special edition Magic Bands or ear headbands.

Again, I don’t think it’s a big enough draw to attend the parties just for the exclusive merchandise, but it’s a nice touch if you want a unique memento of your visit.

7. Treats

Similar to the merchandise, there are also unique treats available only during the parties. This year, for example, there is a gooey-caramel Hocus Pocus-themed cupcake available on Main Street that drew quite a line. The treats are technically limited to official party hours, but I feel like I saw some guests enjoying them before 7PM. All of these special party treats are available for an additional fee, or in some cases, a Dining Plan snack credit (score!).

Other Halloween treats like Mickey’s caramel apples or the Maleficent Waffle cone are available during regular park hours too.

If you’re looking for “free” treats your party ticket will entitle you to GOBS of Halloween candy. Disney offers 14 trick-or-treat stations around the park during the event. Associates also distribute plastic bags (decorated with upcoming Disney films of course!) to collect the goodies. The treats are mostly from M&M Mars and include seasonal favorites like Snickers, Skittles and Three Musketeers. On hot evenings the candy is stored in large cooled bins to help prevent melting.

If you have dietary restrictions, you can ask a Disney associate for allergy-free or non-food treats too.

We enjoyed the treats distributed at the end of some of the rides, like the appropriately themed gold coins on Pirates of the Caribbean. Although we quit visiting the snack stations (indicated by giant glowing candy-corn colored sticks) fairly early in the evening, we still ended up with two full bags of sweetness.

If candy is your thing, you can definitely snag a TON of it at the party.

8. Shows

Other entertainment options only available during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party are the shows. The most popular one by far is the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. It takes place on the stage in front of Cinderella’s Castle three times each evening. If you’re a fan of the film or the Disney Villains, then this one may be of interest of you.

Other shows are geared toward younger audiences and are really more like drop-in “dance parties” that you can enjoy any time. They include the Monstrous Scream-o-ween or the Disney Descendance Party in Tomorrowland or the Disney Junior Jam (Vampirina!) in Fantasyland.

9. Parades

One of my personal favorite features of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is the parade. In fact, I made watching the parade my number one priority on our recent party visit.

It’s officially called Mickey’s “Boo-To-You” Halloween Parade and it’s full of your favorite Disney characters and a few Halloween-themed extras. It also features a very catchy and completely fun theme song that I may have caught myself humming during the rest of our trip.

I enjoy the parade so much that I watched both showings on our recent visit. The first from Main Street at 9:15PM. The second from Frontierland at 11:15PM.

The advantage of watching from Main Street is the festive atmosphere, brighter lighting and fun Halloween decorations lining the space. The downside is definitely the wait time, both in terms of securing your seat in advance and then waiting for the parade to reach you (a solid 20 minutes after the parade officially begins in Frontierland).

It’s much easier to snag a great spot in Frontierland or Liberty Square with less wait time than Main Street. The trade off is lower lighting and less pre-parade entertainment. If you watch from Frontierland however, you’ll also get a slight jump on other activities while the other party guests are waiting for the parade to finish on Main Street.

The standard line from Disney cast members and numerous blogs is that the second parade is “way less crowded” then the first. It makes sense in theory, but it doesn’t really match my personal experience. I didn’t notice a smaller crowd at the second Halloween parade during our visit last week. Nor did I on previous visits to the Christmas Party or the no-longer-running Disney’s Electrical Parade (sniff sniff).

In other words, pick the one that makes the most sense for your schedule, or watch them both! They will both draw a crowd. If you don’t like parades (what?!?!) you can skip both and enjoy shorter ride lines.

10. Fireworks

And finally, the tenth aspect of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and another one of my favorites is the fireworks show. It’s new this year and it’s entitled Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular. I’m a total sucker for Disney Park’s evening shows because they are just so incredible. This Halloween show is no exception.

Jack Skellington serves as the host for the show, who shares the adventures of Mickey, Goofy and Donald on Halloween Night. The program blends fireworks and projections into a fun and beautiful show that offers the perfect mix of dark villains and happy Disney characters. I’m completely biased, but I loved it.

I used to recommend staking out a spot for the fireworks about 45 minutes to an hour before viewing. The downside of this approach is that inevitably somebody will move in front of you right when the show begins. For this reason, I now think it’s better to snag whatever you can about fifteen to twenty minutes beforehand. You’ll still get a great show and skip the frustration of trying to hold your ground.

Or, maybe that’s just me.

If you want to skip the party, the incredible Happily Ever After show during regular evening hours at Magic Kingdom is just as good if not better than the Halloween one. Attending the party just gives you a chance to see two different shows on the same trip if wanted.

Conclusion

So there you have it, ten features of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Thanks for hanging with me for this long post and for letting me relive some of my happy memories from last week!

I hope these details helped you make an informed decision on whether or not the parties are for you.

Either way you can’t really make a wrong decision. If you go to the party, just know that the crowds will be similar to a regular day at the Magic Kingdom. You’ll have tons of fun entertainment options available, but you’ll still have to prioritize what is most important to you.

If you choose not to go the party, you can still see the Magic Kingdom Halloween decorations (and a good share of the merchandise and treats!) on a non-party or before-the-party visit. If it helps, I tend to recommend the parties to people that have visited Magic Kingdom several times and want a different experience and recommend skipping them to first timers or those that haven’t visited the park in a long time.

Whatever you decide, make it spooktacular!

Add a little (Halloween) magic to your world!