Lots of Treats and a Few Tricks: This Year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is a Spook-tacular Soiree

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about all the changes at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year at Magic Kingdom and mentioned that I attended one of the parties. Today, I will be giving my thoughts on the party!

The first tip I will let you know about is that with your Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party ticket, you can enter Magic Kingdom at 4 p.m. That’s 3 hours before the party officially starts! This extra time will give you plenty of time to shop party-exclusive merchandise, get in line to meet Jack and Sally, who start meeting at 4 p.m., or grab a bite to eat before you start feasting on your Halloween candy! You can also join regular park guests and enjoy any of the rides, attractions, or character meet and greets throughout the park.

When you first enter the park, you are given a party wristband and bag for trick-or-treating. At 6 p.m., guests without a party wristband are asked to leave the park before the party starts at 7 p.m.

Once the party kicks off at 7 p.m., you can feel the atmosphere start to change in the park. The lighting gets a little darker, the music changes, and new faces pop up around the park.

I decided to start over in Frontierland with a quick ride on Big Thunder Mountain around 6:30 p.m. It’s one of my favorite rides and a great way to start (or end) the party. Once I rode the wildest ride in the wilderness, I walked over to Golden Oak Outpost to try the new Loaded Sweet Potato Fries. I have to say, if you’re looking for a good way to get your vegetable serving, sweet potato fries tossed in cinnamon sugar and topped with marshmallow cream, butterscotch chips, and toffee pieces are the way to do it. These fries were so delicious, and I’m trying to find a way to recreate them at home, but they just aren’t the same.

While enjoying the Loaded Sweet Potato Fries, I heard some sea shanties in the distance. I decided to stroll over into Adventureland, and right outside Pirates of the Caribbean, there was a band of pirates playing music! The Rusty Cutlass Pirate Band started to play a cover of the Monster Mash about Captain Jack Sparrow, rightfully named Captain Jack. Captain Jack was so thrilled by the song he ran over from his Meet and Greet and joined the band for a quick dance. The band was an absolute delight, and if there wasn’t so much more to do at the party, I would have stayed here as long as possible enjoying the tunes.

I continued into Adventureland and saw there was a relatively short line for a meet and greet, so I decided to hop in line. As we got closer to the front, I finally saw who I was going to be meeting, Jafar! I haven’t seen Jafar before in the parks, so this was a new experience for me. Meeting Jafar was different from some of the other characters I have previously met. He was very quiet and had a sinister look in his eye. The Cast Member at the location was very friendly and assured me that Jafar would be on his best behavior tonight, especially if he wanted any candy.

Speaking of candy, as I headed back through Adventureland, I spotted a treat trail and had to get in line. Even though the line looked long, it moved very quickly. A few minutes later, I was at the front and received a huge scoop of candy from the Cast Member.

At this point, I realized I was starting to get hungry again, so I popped into Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe to try the Bowl of Bones (Bone-in piggy wings fried with fresh jalapeños tossed in Coca-Cola Cherry barbecue sauce) and the Candy Corn Milkshake (Sweet corn soft-serve topped with whipped cream and sweet potato cornbread nuggets). The wings were spicier than I anticipated; however, they were still great. What really shocked me was the Candy Corn Milkshake. I like to say I don’t have just a sweet tooth but a whole mouth full of them. I believe every meal should have a dessert, especially when you’re at Disney. I haven’t been a huge fan of candy corn. However, this milkshake was perfect! It wasn’t overly sweet and was quite refreshing on the warm evening.

I decided it was time to grab a parade spot. I had read online that one of the best spots to watch the Boo to You Parade was from Frontierland. I snagged a spot across from Country Bear Jamboree and Frontier Trading Post. I would highly recommend grabbing a spot here, as there was so much going on before the parade. I got to see the Cadaver Dans perform, and there was a hoedown with the Country Bears and Cactus Flower Cate.

 The Headless Horseman came trotting down the street on his horse, and I knew we were getting close to the parade starting. The Boo to You Parade is my favorite parade, and I get over the moon excited when I begin to hear the “boo to you” being whispered as the floats start to roll out. It was so great seeing the new costumes for Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle right at the beginning. My smile never faded from that point on. My favorite part of the parade this year was definitely the villains’ portion. I loved seeing Cruella, Horace, and Jasper in the Deville, Ursula and Flotsam and Jeston gliding past, and the Deadman’s Band with Pain and Panic tagging along. The entire parade soundtrack plays through my head at least once a day, if not more.

As the parade wrapped up, I followed it up towards the castle, where I was able to get a fantastic up-close spot for Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks show. For most fireworks shows like Happily Ever After, you will find me far back on Main Street, USA. However, this show is hosted by Jack Skellington, so I wanted an up-close view to be able to see the man of the hour. I could see Jack and the projections on the castle and the fireworks! It was such a fun show; I wished there had been multiple showings of it during the party.

After the fireworks, there was a performance of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular on the castle stage. With my amazing fireworks view already secured, I was able to move forward a little bit more and had an even better view of the stage. It was wonderful seeing all the villains come together to celebrate Halloween. The song selection was also fantastic; I sang along the entire time. There are three showings, and I recommend making it to at least one of the performances.

After the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, we stopped at another treat station on our way to the Haunted Mansion for our final ride of the evening. I suggest hitting the treat stations early in the evening, as the candy supply was running low when we went in the last hour.

Ending the night with a ride on the Haunted Mansion was perfect! It was the perfect amount of spooky vibes. By the time we exited the ride, the park was winding down, and there was a calm in the air. You could tell everyone had a wicked time but were ready for bed.

I am so grateful that I was able to not only attend this party but be able to collect content and share my experience with all of you! If you have attended or will be attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, please tell us what you loved or are most excited about!

~Taycee