Do you remember the carte blanche silliness of a budding new romance, okay, even if you don’t, Trick or Treating at the Magic Kingdom may just bring it all back!
When I was doing my due diligence in the planning of the trip, I spoke many times with a Disney representative. So as I checked out rates, availability and magic park ticket costs, I relayed my hesitation about taking the kids away on Halloween. The kids had been making arrangements to meet their friends and scoping out the optimal candy accumulation route for weeks.
The Disney rep said to me “I may have just the thing to solve your dilemma. For the month of October on intermittent days, Mickey holds a Not so Scary Halloween Costume Party”. Hmmm I said, tell me more. Kids and parents are encouraged to wear their costumes and there are trick or treat stations throughout the Magic Kingdom. There is a special Halloween parade with all of the Disney villains, followed by special Halloween fireworks. Was this for real??? YUP!
The only caveat here is that this event is not included in your Magic Kingdom theme park pass. It requires a separate ticket per person, but trust me you won’t mind paying! The Magic Kingdom closes at 7:00pm on these special Halloween evenings and the park is accessible to party goers only. Despite the fact that there are thousands of people at the event, the park never seemed crowded. We waltzed on many of the main attractions without waiting at all. This easily justified the additional ticket cost for us. If visiting Disney on Halloween is something you might be interested in, you really need to book in advance. As we raved about Halloween at the Magic Kingdom to our new found friends on the flight home, we found out they were very disappointed when they arrived and the event was completely sold out. Oops, open mouth….
My second big tip on booking in advance is if you are attending the Halloween party there are minimal restaurants in the park and they book up fast. Like a gift from Mickey himself, I squeezed myself into the Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner at 7:15pm. The food was no great shakes, okay just plain bad, but the Disney ‘Villains” Parade passes right by the restaurant at 8:15 and it’s a perfect vantage point. To add to my coupI didn’t realize that this restaurant hosted a Disney Character dinner. Mickey and all his pals visited our table as we hyped up for the parade. It was pretty clear at this point who the kids were and who wanted maximum face time with Pluto! The real kids lapped it all up. Chip was very afraid of my son’s hideous bleeding mask and Minnie insisted that he remove it before any hugs were forth coming!
So the big event finally arrives and all four of us show up at the gates of the Magic Kingdom in full costume. The park entrance is decorated with pumpkins and dry ice abounds. It becomes immediately apparent to us that we were a little on the “dark” side as throngs of mini Cinderella’s and mini Jack Sparrow’s make their way to the Goofy Candy Company Trick or Treat Stations.
In true Disney style your child will not leave the park without a significant candy haul, providing they hit Mickey’s ToonTown Fair where a candy trail is set up. We hit the candy trail following the parade and fireworks and it just made Halloween the real deal. Imagine the day after not being able to spread your treats on the living room carpet and sort them into greedy little piles. In fact we almost surpassed our baggage allowance on the way home as we were mandated to ensure every morsel of candy
accompanied us!
The Halloween parade and fireworks were exceptional of course. I mean why wouldn’t they be, can Disney do no wrong?
The night was one raving success and the muscles in my face were tired from all the smiling and grinning and laughing we did. The kids were thrilled and were quick to point out that this was the best Halloween ever. I don’t think they realized that this was also Mom and Dad’s best Halloween in 45 years, what else can I say.
Every Day in Disney is an adventure. Stay tuned as we go from Magic to Movies at Disney’s MGM Studios.
I live in Orlando and had family with our young nieces come just before Halloween. We did the after hours Halloween party and it was great! At first my husband and I thought we’d go home and let the rest of the visiting family stay for the party but we decided to stay and I’m glad we did.
Maybe that is why it was called Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party because you weren’t supposed to be scary? Just a thought.
This looks like a total blast. Definitely on my list of things to do.