Day Four. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

September 9, 2018

The day was finally here! The whole point of this trip, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP).  I've been wanting to attend this party since Rob and I first came to Disney World back in 2011.  It's what they call a "hard ticket event" so if you want to attend you need to buy a ticket specifically for the party, general admission doesn't apply.

The party is technically from 6-12, but here's a little tip.  You can get into the park starting at 4pm with your party ticket.  That's 2 extra hours, but they don't advertise that.  You can't get a FastPass+ once the party starts at 6, so the best strategy is to book FP+ from 4pm-6pm using your party ticket.  More about how that worked for us later! 

Before it was party time, Anne and I left the boys at SoG and we went on a monorail shopping hop.  Specifically, I was looking for Mickey ears to complete our family costumes.  What's a Halloween Party without matching costumes??  I knew from my research that people go all out for MNSSHP and I wanted to join in the fun!  Shopping with just the two girls was a real treat.  I love spending time with my kids individually so I can really listen to all the funny things they say.

I took this photo to remind myself to ask for this for Christmas...

So Anne took a picture of this to remember to ask for it for Christmas. Something about an apple and a tree...

Once we were back at SoG, we swam and ate lunch.  My kids never get tired of being in the pool.

About 1pm it was nap time.  We had warned the kids that if they wanted to stay up late and party, everyone was taking a nap.  It worked and we slept until about 2:30.  Then we got up and had a snack before getting dressed for the party.  We stopped at the Starbucks in the lobby for a little caffeine for the grown-ups.  Sufficiently fueled, we were ready to go!

Up close and personal with the SoG turkeys!

My favorite sign!

The entrance all ready for Halloween.

We arrived at the gates of the Magic Kingdom at 3:30.  There were already about 100 people in line for the party, so we stood in the sweltering heat.  Seriously ya'll, it was hot.  There were probably another 200 people behind us in line at 4pm when the cast members opened the gates.  When you enter, the first thing you get is a wrist band.  This lets cast members inside know you are a party guest. At 6pm, they ask all day guests to leave, and you cannot ride the rides without a wrist band.  It is awesome.

Once you have your wrist band, they funnel you behind Main Street, away from the crowds of people leaving the park.  While you are behind Main Street, you are given a complimentary trick or treat bag.  Trick or treat is a big part of the party.  They have stations all over the park and once the party starts, its FREE CANDY TIME!!  The bag also comes pre-loaded with a bunch of candy.  You will see in some of my pictures that M&Ms are a party sponsor.  And it works! I had never tried the caramel M&Ms until we got them at the party, now I'm hooked!

You can see the cast members giving out treat bags.

We also stopped behind Main Street for a party photo-op in our costumes.  

We were old school Mouskateers! You can't see the hand painted saddle shoes that Anne and I are wearing. I thought we were adorable!

Now it was time to ride some rides!! I had FP+ for Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Mine Train.  The next two hours were a blur of fun.  Here's a rundown of how it worked out.

4:15 Pirates of the Caribbean (no wait)
4:30 Splash Mountain with a FP+
4:50 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with a FP+
Popcorn break!
5:20 Haunted Mansion
5:30 Seven Dwarves Mine Train with a FP+
6:00 It's a Small World
Dinner Break, hot dogs from Friar Nooks
6:30 Barnstormer
6:45 Dumbo

Now here are a bunch of photos from the first half of the party!

Can you see how hot Anne was?

This perfectly sums up my kids' personalities.

They were repairing the track that the river boat runs on (spoiler alert! It's not a real boat.) Rob was fascinated by how they did it without totally draining the river area.

Our shoes! This was right at 6pm and the cast member wasn't letting anyone on who didn't have a wrist band. We got right onto the ride!

At 7pm the party really gets going, the trick or treat stations are all open. First, we hit the one in New Fantasyland, then two in Tomorrowland.  While we were in Tomorrowland and had a blast dancing with the Monsters Inc. characters.

After shaking our groove thangs, we got in line for Buzz Lightyear, but then we got word it was broken.  That's ok, because our favorite ride in the park is right next door! Time for some people mover!

Ominous clouds...

After our trip around Tomorrowland, Buzz was back online so we hopped right on! Unfortunately, when we got off the ride it was raining.  Like, really raining.  

Always, always, always, bring ponchos to Disney World. Always.

It was 8pm and everything was shut down because of the rain.  All the rides, all the characters, and most of the trick or treat stations.  That's ok, because our treat bags were full anyway.  We hunkered down at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and prayed that it would stop raining in time for the special parade and fireworks at 9pm.  Luckily our kids love to people watch as much as we do.

At 8:50, we made our way to Main Street and got an awesome spot for the parade.  I was really looking forward to the parade because it starts with the Headless Horseman galloping down Main Street.  I've seen video online and it is super cool.  Well, 9:00 came and went with no parade.  The kids were happy though, so that is all that matters.

So grateful we had the ponchos and the stroller.

It takes more than a little rain to dampen my Disney spirit!

Finally, a little after 9:30 the parade started.  Alas, no Headless Horseman.  Maybe he can't run in the rain?  The parade itself if pretty cool.  You can only see this one during MNSSHP, so it is definitely worth seeing once.  The parade ended about 9:45 and I took the kids to the bathroom while Rob looked for a spot for the fireworks.

Wanna know a secret?  I've never seen the fireworks at Disney!  Honestly, I hate fireworks and any other kind of loud noise.  I also hate crowds... and the Disney fireworks are crowded.  That was another big reason I wanted to try MNSSHP.  Since it is a hard ticket event, the crowds are a little lighter.  The rain also worked to our advantage and the crowd was very light.  Rob got us a spot right outside the hub with an unobstructed view.

I have to say, HalloWishes may have turned me into a lover of fireworks.  The show was awesome.  And the ending was indescribable.  Really, the fireworks are worth waiting in the rain for.  I'm glad we stayed.  The fireworks ended at 10:30.  It had been a really long day, so we called it a night, even though we could have stayed another hour and a half.  The kids were still in good spirits but as a mom I knew tired and overstimulated were lurking just around the corner. So we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and hopped on the monorail.  I was expecting the monorail to have a really long line, but we were some of the few people leaving.  I guess now that the rain was over, most people were staying and hoping to ride the rides.  

The next day we woke up, had breakfast, packed and headed to the airport.  Leaving Disney is always sad, but it's easier knowing we will be back in the future!

Some of our candy haul.

Here are my final thoughts on the Halloween Party.  Did we enjoy it? Absolutely.  The kids loved the dance party and trick or treating.  Getting in at 4 to ride some rides was fun.  While the rain didn't ruin our party, it did put a huge damper on it (Hehe, rain.  Damper).  We didn't get to the other dance party and there were more rides we were unable to ride because of the weather.  

Bottomline, would we go again? Probably not.  I'm hopeful we can try the Christmas party in the future, but I doubt we will be back for the Halloween party again. When you weigh the cost vs the experience, I didn't see the value.  If it hadn't rained I would feel differently? Maybe.  We bought our tickets with the military discount, which is only offered in September.  Since it rains almost every day in September in Florida, that's not a risk I'm willing to take.