Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party 2023
It’s Spooky Season at Walt Disney World and my favorite extra ticketed event at Walt Disney World is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. It is held a Magic Kingdom on select dates August-November. I took a quick solo trip this year for the party. Here are some of my tips if you plan on attending.
The party hours are 7:00PM to Midnight but you can enter Magic Kingdom at 4:00. The line to get into the party will be very, very long at 4:00. It will go fast but it is intimidating to see. If you have a park ticket for the day (say you were at Hollywood studios earlier in the day) you can go to the left and head into the park with your regular park ticket. This line will be much shorter. There are places inside to grab your wristband but I would suggest to not go there as soon as you enter the park because that line may also be long at 4:00. Once you grab your party wristband you will also receive a party park map and a trick or treat bag.
The party festivities don’t begin until 7:00 but they will begin to “push” the day park visitors out at 6:00 so grab your wristband before then. Between 6:00 and 7:00 cast members will be checking to see if you have a wristband in the front of all the lands.
At 7:00 all of the party fun begins. I suggest discussing with your group before the party begins what your objective is. Are you looking to meet characters, ride the rides, get all the candy, see the shows? You will not be able to do it all.
The trick or treat lines will be long at 7:00. If you have night owls I would suggest waiting to trick or treat until later or during the first parade. This year the cast members are using big scoops to hand out the candy so you will get plenty even if you only go to a handful of stops. You can also go back though the same line over and over if you want to.
This is my candy haul from this year’s party. I only went through a few trick-or-treat lines
Something fun they are doing this year in tomorrowland is the Zom-Beatz bash. If you love the Zombies movies you will love this. They sing all the catchy songs and teach the dance moves. The littles love this and they were all so adorable dancing. I have to admit I also loved this one.
If you are looking to meet characters be prepared for extended queues. My tip for this one is to go later in the party. Like after 11:00, Are you noticing a pattern in my tips? The queues for Jack and Sally or The Seven Dwarfs was close to or above 120 minutes for most of the night but that should go down as the night gets later. I opted to skip the characters in favor of riding some rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine train that usually have longer waits during the regular park hours.
Speaking of rides. If you want to ride Haunted Mansion also be prepared for an extended queue. Some of the happy haunts will be outside the mansion and will be putting on a show for you. You can only see them if you wait in the queue. It’s worth it to wait. They can be very entertaining.
One thing that I didn’t experienced last year was the Cadaver Dans. It’s the Dapper Dans style quartet performing haunted melodies. They are very entertaining. I like to sit in Frontier Land to watch the Boo To You parade and that is where the Cadaver Dans perform. Get there early and snag a spot for the parade and you can be entertained before the parade begins!
So let’s talk the Boo to You parade. This is my favorite thing of the night! The music for this parade is very catchy. Everyone in the crowd will start to dance and sing. That’s why I love this parade and this party. It’s a whole mood. Everyone is having a great time and it shows! The parade starts with the headless horseman. The cast members will instruct you to turn off any flashing lights and no flash photography. This is for the safety of the rider as the horse could get spooked. Shortly after the headless horseman you will hear the Boo to You music and the parade will start. There are two parades. One at 9:15 and one at 11:15. The 9:15 parade will be packed. This is when most of the families with children watch the parade. Since I was alone this year I waited until the later parade and there were a lot fewer people watching.
The first parade is usually at 9:15 and once that is over most people will head over to the castle to grab a spot for the Not So Spooky Spectacular which is at 10:15. These fireworks are also not to be missed. There will be projections on the castle and Jack Skellington will be on stage. I like to watch these fireworks standing near the partners statue. This is the statue of Walt and Mickey and is right in the middle of the hub. From here you can see everything well. People do not sit for hours for these firework so it is pretty easy to get a good spot even if you show up around 10:00.
One thing I didn’t talk about is costumes. This is the one time that adults are allowed to dress up in Disney World. There are a few rules but they are mostly for safety, no long capes, no weapons… I dressed as Joy from Inside Out this year. Last year I went with my son and my mom and we were Toy Story Characters. I love walking around and seeing everyone in costume or matching Halloween shirts.
This is just a few of the things you can do at the party. There are also spooky (Disney Spooky) overlays for a few of the rides, a Hocus Pocus Stage show, Disney Jr Jam, party exclusive snacks, Halloween photo spots and more.
If you have been to the party before let me know what your costume was and your favorite things in the comments. I’d love to hear your opinions!