Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party 2023
You may this post a little backwards than my usual trip report posts. Normally I post about what we did each day, THEN I get into all the details on individual posts about all the specific things we did on our trip. Well I am starting with a very specific thing we did on our early September trip because it is the Halloween party! It ends on November 1st, so I wanted to share our experience as soon as I could!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party has been a goal of ours for quite some time. We attended the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party way back in 2014, and we LOVED IT! [You should seriously go back and look at that post…the prices were SO low and things were so different.] But I knew so many people loved the Halloween party and typically recommended it more than the Christmas party. This is primarily because all the entertainment can only be seen during the Halloween party and no other time outside of that.
We went in with a very vague agenda. Our trip was really short so this would also be our only Magic Kingdom time we would have. We didn’t care about meeting any of the characters. We have never been HUGE character people, and it wasn’t worth our time waiting in lines. We didn’t care to stop and see any of the shows, fireworks, or parade unless it just worked out. Our primary goals were to take pictures, trick or treat, and ride rides. Oh, and Tron. This may seem like a pricey ticket for those things, but it was great for us and what we wanted to accomplish.
We were on the bus from The Swan around 3:15 pm. Now with the party ticket only, you can get in as early as 4. But the true event does not start until 7. If you want to truly be inside at 4, you need to be waiting in line to enter the park at like 2:30-3 at the latest. I knew this, but again, it was not worth rushing for us to get there.
The line was really long and crazy when we got there, but I expected the long part. I didn’t expect how crazy it was as far as them blending in multiple modes of transportation together as well as leaving space for people leaving. It was honestly strange. And it did start raining, so we threw on our ponchos while in line. But the line moved fast, and we were inside in less than 20 minutes.
We immediately walked down Main Street (do NOT do this) looking for photographers because I wanted pictures of us in our shirts with Melody’s costume before we got soaked. But we had no luck. I am suspecting it was due to the light rain maybe. I mean we saw like two that had HUGE lines, but that was it. We did find some at the entrance of Tomorrowland, so we took some pictures there before heading to Carousel of Progress. We rode this first since it would be closed during the actual party.
Now why not go down Main Street immediately? Well when you come in, you can go right and start trick or treating some. Well we wanted to wait until the evening to trick or treat. Melody wanted it to be darker, and we didn’t want to lug candy around all night. But by doing this, we missed out on the special bags you get. I assumed they would have them at all the trick or treat stations, but they did not. So if you want one of the bags, go right!
When we finished Carousel of Progress it was 5 pm and POURING rain. I figured we could just go ahead and get dinner at this point. Cosmic Ray’s was the closest, so I placed a mobile order while waiting outside of Carousel of Progress. As soon as I placed it, we all put back on our ponchos, and we walked through the pouring rain. Melody LOVED this. It may even be her highlight lol.
By some miracle, Brad was able to get us a table by Sonny Eclipse, and our dinner was ready around 5:30. Brad and Melody got chicken fingers and fries, but I opted for the chopped vegetables and crispy noodle salad with chicken. And it was surprisingly really good! I loved the sesame ginger dressing that they used, and there was a perfect amount of it. There was a ton of grilled chicken on the salad as well. The noodles were hard to find, but I did eventually get to them too. I have been against food at Cosmic Ray’s for so long because I hate burgers and chicken fingers at Disney. But this may have put it back on the map for us! It is also important to note that while eating here, we did join the Tron virtual queue at 6 pm. There is not a standby line during the party unfortunately. Virtual queue is the only way to ride it.
Around 6:15, we decided to just brave the rain and go ride some rides. Melody picked the teacups first. I took some medicine earlier to help prevent me getting sick on rides, so I opted to ride it with her. Luckily at this point the park was pretty cleared out. The castmembers are looking for wristbands after 6 pm, and with the rain, most non-party guests had left anyhow. As soon as we finished, we walked over and walked on the Little Mermaid ride.
Next we headed over and rode the Magic Carpets followed by a zero wait at the Jungle Cruise. We hadn’t ridden Jungle Cruise in so long due to waits in the past, and Melody even seemed to enjoy it this time. At 7, our Tron boarding group was called. So after Jungle Cruise, we headed back towards Tron. We did stop at get pictures in front of the castle at this point. We were soaked as you can see!
We made it to Tron around 7:30. It took us around 20 minutes to get on the ride, but part of that was all the measuring they did with Melody. Unfortunately she was borderline height wise, so she didn’t get to ride it. But they did let us wait and take turns riding it instead of having to do rider swap. And I must say, this was truly my favorite coaster at Disney now. I didn’t feel an ounce of motion sickness, and it was SO smooth. I just wished it was longer!
When we got off, we did a little bit of browsing at the Tron stuff before heading over to ride The PeopleMover. Then we decided to take a small break at Cosmic Ray’s. We got drinks and let Melody dance at the dance party there.
At 9, we headed out and decided to do some trick or treating and ride more rides. This is when we found out about the bags. We used our hands at the first stop at Cosmic Ray’s. At Pinocchio Village Haus, we had a gallon bag, but the lady didn’t seem happy and only gave us one scoop to just Melody and none to Brad or me. So that was frustrating. We walked to another castmember who recommended we go to a shop and get a Disney shopping bag from there.
Brad and Melody rode the carousel while I did just that. Then we went and did the trick or treat stop at Philharmagic. At 9:30 we headed over and rode Dumbo and Barnstormer with no waits.
Melody didn’t want to ride Space Mountain, so we split up a bit in Tomorrowland. We got candy at Carousel of Progress, then Melody and I rode Astro Orbiter and Buzz Lightyear twice. We also took some pictures and got candy at Monsters, Inc. During that, Brad rode Space Mountain twice. Then Brad and Melody rode Buzz Lightyear.
At this point it was 11:20, so we decide to walk over and watch the parade. Melody was done, and we were pretty tired ourselves. Unfortunately we missed the headless horseman, so we opted to just skip the parade, We did see bits and pieces as we left, but it just wasn’t worth it to keep waiting. We were on the monorail by 11:40, at our bus stop at midnight, and back in our room by 12:40.
I could definitely see us doing the party again. I personally enjoyed the Christmas party more. I think that was only because it was still too early to feel like Halloween. All the candy was good, and the low crowds were amazing as well. I am not sure I would pay the October prices for the party, but it was still a lot of fun!
