Every Fall, Halloween graces the Magic Kingdom with 2 whole months of parties. These parties usually happen 3 times per week and you need to purchase a special ticket to attend. A lot of people may ask “Why would I pay extra to go to the party if I already have regular park tickets?”. Well, while the Halloween party will still give you access to all the attractions, there are a lot of extras included that you will not find on a regular park day. Here is what a Halloween party gives you access to:
Dress in Costume
You get to dress up at the park! Children and adults are welcome to dress up in their Halloween costumes for the party. Some families come up with some amazing themes/group costumes. Being able to see how everyone else dresses up is probably one of my favourite parts of the party. Some people get really creative and there is just something fun about seeing adults being able to enjoy the dress-up fun as much as the kids.
Special Character Greetings
You’ll find a lot of cool characters during the party that you wouldn’t normally find in any of the parks. One of the most popular character meets at the party is the Seven Dwarves. Other than seeing them in a parade, this is your only opportunity to meet all of them and have your photo taken with them. Here is an example of some of the rarer characters you will get to meet at the Halloween party:
- Aladdin with Abu
- Anastasia & Drizella
- Mad Hatter
- Cruella De Vil
- Jack Skellington & Sally
- Jafar
- Lotso
- Queen of Hearts
- Tarzan & Jane
Boo to You Parade
At the moment, they no longer have a nightly parade at the Magic Kingdom, so party nights are the only opportunity to get to see one. The Boo to You Parade is a long time favourite. With it’s catchy tune and amazing theming, it’s hard not to seriously enjoy this parade. It begins with a headless horseman that trots down the parade route right before it begins. It’s really cool to see and you’ll leave that night without being able to get the tune from the parade out of your head!
Boo to You Parade
Hallowishes
Hallowishes is the Halloween version of the old Wishes fireworks show. There are usually two showings, so you will have two separate times to choose from to enjoy the show. This is great because it means being able to watch the show without an immense crowd. There are already a limited amount of people in the park and if you go to the second showing, it is usually less crowded. The theming of the fireworks is right on point and I found I enjoyed it a lot more than the original Wishes show.
Trick-or-Treating
For anyone with a sweet tooth, this may be the most important perk out of all of them! There are several trick-or-treat stations set up throughout the Magic Kingdom; they will be indicated on the map you will receive at the entrance of the park. You will also receive a special trick-or-treat bag. Stop at any of the stations to pick up some delicious goodies. Most people leave with a ton of candy, which could be good or bad, depending on how much candy you want your family eating.
Villains Show
Throughout the evening they host a villains show in front of the castle. Be entertained by your favourite villains and then stick around afterwards to get a chance to meet them and grab a photo with them. Make sure to check the Times Guide to see when the shows start.
Dance Parties
You’ll find a Monsters Inc. Dance Party in Tomorrowland. They have a DJ playing some fun tunes and you get to join in and dance with some of your favourite characters from Monsters Inc. Just head over to the DJ booth, which is right next to the Carousel of Progress and join in on the fun!
Shorter Wait Times
If you are a ride junkie, then now is your time to shine! Since attendance is limited and most people will be enjoying the extras that the party has to offer, you will find much shorter rides at the attractions. You could use this opportunity to catch a few extra rides on your favourites that usually see longer lines during regular park hours.
The price of the tickets varies and changes from year-to-year. This year it ranged from $69 to $110 for children and $74 to $115 for adults. The dates for the Halloween parties are usually announced in May/June. If you want to attend on a popular date, such as Halloween (Oct.31st), then make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that announcement so you can get first dibs at purchasing your tickets!
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Laura is a mom of one adorable girl with a love of all things Disney. She traveled to Disney World with her family in 2010 and was hooked. They have since been a total of over 15 times. With all her knowledge of planning Disney trips, she now wants to share that with others. She loves giving guidance, tips and advice to others planning their magical vacation!
We’re currently planning a trip to the party this year. Were you able to see the Evil Queen or Malificent?
Most of the villains appear in the Boo to You Parade at the Halloween party, so you will most likely see the Evil Queen and Malificient there. They have a villains show in front of the castle where you can sometimes meet the villains after the show, but the characters change from year to year, so not sure who will appear next year.
We’ve met the Evil Queen twice and it was at Hollywood Studios. They have a secret character greet that they do mostly every afternoon. It isn’t advertised, so not everyone knows about it, but that is where we caught the Evil Queen twice. Here is a link to information about that “secret” character greet: http://www.kennythepirate.com/2012/05/08/tuesday-tip-take-advantage-of-character-palooza/
We went to the Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween party last year. It was a costly mistake we will never make again! HUGE waste of money. First, the lines are NOT shorter! We couldn’t get any FastPasses because it’s so supposed to be so much easier to ride the rides once the regular ticket holders are forced to leave. I could see NO crowd level difference between before the party started and after. It was just as crowded. There were still hour-long waits for rides.
We couldn’t even see the parade. We staked out a spot at Pecos Bill’s long before the parade started. Then, as the time got close, people just shoved their way in front of us, blocking our view. We couldn’t even see the headless horseman when he rode by, which was really disappointing because that was what we were most excited to see.
We also didn’t see any of the characters, except one. We had the map that showed where they were, but Tarzan was the only one we found.
The trick-or-treating was great. The lines were really long, but they moved quickly. She counted her candy when we got back to the resort (we left the party early because it was so disastrous) and had 110 pieces of candy. She probably would have had more, but we stopped to stake out a spot for the parade. And contrary to what most blogs claimed, the trick-or-treat locations weren’t open after the parade. They were closed and signs were taken down. One note about the candy, though…if you flew into Orlando, make sure you pack the candy in your checked luggage. TSA wanted to scan each and every piece of her candy. We finally had to tell them to just toss the bag because we were going to miss our plane.
Oh goodness, I am so sorry to hear that you did not enjoy it. Disney limits the amount of tickets they sell for the parties, however I do think they have increased that limit in the past few years. It’s too bad you weren’t able to fully the enjoy the parade, it is one of the best parts of the Halloween party.
Overall, I definitely recommend getting in on the fun and attending one of these parties. This is an experience you can get nowhere else; shorter attraction waits, exclusive fireworks and stage shows, rare and costumed characters, food, and more. By purchasing tickets to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, you’ll create even more memories that will last you a lifetime.
Ohhhh I want to go so bad and get my mom to dress as the falcon an I can dress up as Bucky barns we love super hero’s