2016 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Recap
On Sunday, we attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. This recap features photos and our take on the party, including crowds, characters, a value assessment, and random tips. We’re currently still at Walt Disney World, but we’ll have a few “reports” like this, including one from Food & Wine Festival (hopefully tomorrow). This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide–for that, see our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Tips & Review post–just somewhere to quickly share our take.
After doing lunch at Disney Springs (Splitsville followed by dessert at Sprinkles), we headed over to Saratoga Springs for a quick walk around the resort (because what better way to spend an afternoon in 90+ degree heat than wandering around a sprawling, outdoor resort?!) and then headed to Magic Kingdom.
We arrived around 5 p.m., and breezed through security and the turnstiles. Disney’s new costume policy indicates extra screening may occur for guests in costume, and that probably led to longer lines at 4 p.m. and later at 7 p.m., but there was no one at the entrance when we arrived. From there, we decided to make a quick circle tour of Magic Kingdom to see how things were looking.
Having heard that Jack & Sally had been meeting early this year, we immediately headed to Liberty Square to check out their line. Sure enough, it was already insane. I’m not sure of a precise time to jump into this line, but if you only have the party ticket, I’m betting as close to 4 p.m. as possible is the safe option if you’re looking to maximize your time during the party itself.
Likewise, the Seven Dwarfs line was already long, albeit not nearly as long as in previous years. They also are meeting early now, but not as early as Jack & Sally. I think (although I haven’t tested) that it would be feasible to get in line for Jack & Sally right at 4 p.m., meet them by 5:15 p.m., and then head to Seven Dwarfs and meet them before their line really swells. Again, this is if you’re concerned with optimizing your time during the party itself. Towards the end of the night, you won’t have to wait 75 minutes for Jack & Sally, but we think party time is more valuable than mid-afternoon time.
During this particular Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, we heard reports that waits were not nearly as long as the 1-2 hour norm for either set of characters. We have a friend who indicated they waited 15 minutes for the Seven Dwarfs around the middle of the party, which is pretty much unprecedented.
We walked around after the fireworks and noticed many characters with minimal waits (Jack & Sally was still at least 45 minutes), and some with no waits at all. In fact, all around the park, waits were pretty non-existent. Mine Train was a walk-on. None of the candy stations had lines. I’ve been to lightly-attended parties, but this was all fairly unprecedented from my experience.
Low crowds and short waits were a recurring trend throughout the evening, and we’ll circle back to that later. On the character front, things were pretty disappointing.
To my knowledge, there wasn’t a single new character there this year, and many (most?) of the characters doing meets were the same as those you could find on a normal day in Magic Kingdom.
This probably contributes to Jack & Sally and the Seven Dwarfs having such long lines. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Seven Dwarfs line shortened considerably if the party were all rare characters. I’d rather have them removed and replaced with a few 2-character meet & greets with rare characters. I’d hazard a guest that Disney would respond that “guest demand” dictates the Seven Dwarfs stay, but that demand seems a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We met Minnie, Daisy, and Donald early in the night, and then Jafar later, only because he had no line. Changing out the characters seems like such an easy way to refresh the party, so I’m not really sure why it hasn’t been done. Too obvious?
After that, we headed to the front of the park. I wanted to see Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular a couple of times, so catching the first show made sense. We were, conveniently enough, also able to grab a parade spot for the first Boo to You.
As it was last year, the Spelltacular was fantastic. The new castle projectors pushed it up a notch, but otherwise the show was substantively the same. It’s so, so good.
I had never watched Boo to You from the Hub, and I ended up liking this spot a lot. Normally, this fills with people early–and the lighting is poor with strong color casts–so we’ve never bothered.
Boo to You is basically the same this year as last. The Candy unit is now totally Wreck-It-Ralph, which makes sense, but it utilizes the same floats as before. Minor changes. On the one hand, Boo to You is a classic, but it’s been a while since this parade has had any significant changes. Might be nice to see in the future.
Then we watched the fireworks (sorry, no photos from this year yet, but it’s exactly the same as last year’s show, so please enjoy this stock photo), which were excellent as always.
For most of the show, there was no one within 20′ of us on Main Street. Granted, we were back near Town Square, which isn’t a popular (or recommended–we were back there because I had a specific photo idea) location. Still, the lack of people was pretty crazy.
Next up was the second Boo to You. We watched this from my favorite spot, and it was not at all crowded. In fact, there were curbside spots less than 10 minutes before the parade.
After that, we pretty much just wandered around, enjoying the ambiance. One of my favorite aspects about the Halloween and Christmas parties is the moody lighting, special music, and other effects, all of which give Magic Kingom a totally different vibe.
Okay, back to crowds. As it was a school night in mid-September, the party was not crowded. Actually, “not crowded” is an understatement. We’ve attended both Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party every year for the last decade–sometimes multiple times per year–and this is the least crowded party we have ever attended. We’ve been to parties in heavy rain that have been busier. (In our Best Days to Attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party post, we predicted that the September 13, 2016 party would be the least busy one–but we don’t see how it could possibly be less busy than last night…)
Given that it’s still early in the 2016 Magic Kingdom “party season,” we are reluctant to say this is indicative of anything. We know of at least one other party that has been light on attendance, while a couple of others have been fairly busy. We do think that there’s a possibility that this year’s steep price increase represented a tipping point for a significant number of guests. Attendance this been light much of this month, and that plus the price increase amounted to a smaller guest pool from which Disney could draw from this particular party. As such, we would expect September parties on the whole to be less busy than last year’s.
Still, we expect the Halloween Parties in October to be much busier. There are a number of signs pointing to October being a busy month, including an occupancy rate that is already near 100% (so if you wondered why there was no Free Dining for much of October, there’s your reason). With that level of on-property occupancy, a significant number of guests could balk at the price of MNSSHP tickets and parties would still sell out, or come close to it.
Overall, we had a wonderful time at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. With the significant price increase this year and no new offerings to speak of, you’re safe skipping this year if you went last and are on a budget. If you’re like us and love these parties, the higher price is a tough pill to swallow (although admittedly, if it weren’t for the sake of reporting on it, I think we might have skipped this year), but one (we think) you still aren’t likely to regret–especially if attendance stays light as others balk at the pricing.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our take on the Halloween Party? Have you or are you attending this year? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Hi,
We are planning on spending the whole day at Magic Kingdom on the day of the parade. Do you know if it’s ok if we go dressed in our costumes in the morning? Will they allow us in? Thanks.
I have read that the earliest they will allow costumed guests in is 4:00.
Hi Tom,
Why do you consider the price of the Halloween Party ticket a bad deal? For the same price or less than the price of a regular park ticket you get entry to a cool, “exclusive” party with unique food, shows, parades, and fireworks, and significantly reduced wait times to virtually all rides. You can feasibly enjoy as many or more rides in half the time as you could on a regular day. Why not purchase multiple party tickets in place of regular tickets on your MK days and spend mornings at your resort pool or Typhoon Lagoon and enjoy short lines on just as many or more MK rides from 4 pm to midnight? You can spread out the shows and characters over multiple visits and focus more on the rides and the short waits. It seems like that’s the better value. At worst, it’s not a bad value.
I just got back from a WDW vacation and attended the Halloween Party on Friday the 16th; it was quite crowded. I went in costume for the first time– as Doctor Who (if you’re familiar with the series). That carried its own problems, the Doctor dresses for England’s weather, not Florida’s so it was climatically unpleasant, but a lot of fun otherwise. I enjoyed several times hearing people say “Look! It’s the Doctor!” especially when they were British (nice to know my costume worked).
Lines for the popular rides seemed a bit shorter than during the day, but not dramatically so. The same for the general crowd level walking around. I’m not one for character interactions, but I stood in a 5 minute line for Buzz Lightyear since I was in a science fiction character costume myself. I don’t know how that compares to during the day, but it’s going to be a favorite photo of mine from the trip.
I also went to the Food & Wine festival this trip, but I’ll add that as a comment over on the post about that.
You are so lucky. I went to the party tonight and it was insane despite early rain. I didn’t even get to meet Jack and Sally bc even though we got in line at around 5:30 for 7 dwarves it took us almost 1.5 hours to meet them. From there we headed straight to meeting daisy, Donald, and Minnie which took another 1 hour and then went to the pooh line which lasted another 1 hour. As soon as that ended we rushed to see celebrate the magic show and the fireworks but had not ideal fireworks spots bc we got there right prior to celebrate starting so we were right by the front of the castle and it was too hard to get a further spot for fireworks. we watched the Hocus Pocus show which started right after the fireworks and then made a mad dash to frontierland to watch the final showing of headless horseman and the boo to you parade. After that ended we went to the haunted mansion to get the ghost magic shot and then tried to get to the town center to see Mickey in his Halloween outfit. We got there at like 11:50 and they already closed the line to meet him even though it was supposed to be open until 12 am. We grabbed candy when we were by story book circus and that was the only time bc the rest of the night we were basically in line. I was shocked at how crowded it was and how long the waits were. Was I expecting too much to be able to meet more characters? Traffic into Orlando was so bad we didn’t get there as early as I hoped but still didn’t expect lines for everything to be so bad. The Queen of hearts with the tweedles was also almost an hour that’s the only other one I tired to do but couldn’t fit it time wise. Tom is my esperience typical? I mean we were running around or waiting and didn’t even have time to eat anything other than some candy and we grabbed some popcorn by the stand that was where our parade spots were. This was far from being an enjoyable party night for me.
We attended on the 13th and braved the bad weather/rain. We came in around 5 and stayed nearly to close. The queues for the rides were very short. We were able to walk right on seven dwarfs after 11 and repeat several times. The same with space mountain. We did miss splash mountain (shut down during the storm) and it was just too cool once the rain stopped.
It’s definitely a good idea to attend the early September “school night” parties to get the biggest bang for your buck. We missed the parade as we were too busy riding rides. We’ll definitely attend next year!
We’re headed down tomorrow for our fifth MNSSHP. We do this crazy thing… We leave around 6 a.m. and drive down from Atlanta, check into our hotel before hitting the party at 4 p.m. Of course we’re wiped on Saturday and spend a chill day at the resort pool before driving home Sunday. Tom, is it possible the crowds were super light due to it being a noteable 9/11?
Thanks for your Disney tips and tricks we have been using some of these gems on our current trip. We saw you guys in Hollywood Studios on Saturday.
Michelle
Australia
We are attending the Halloween party on 10/28 and the Christmas party on 11/7. This will be our 3rd time for each party. It will probably be our last. The price has gotten so high. We are only going because I already had the dates booked before the prices came out. We are not doing any days in any of the parks though, just the two parties with a cruise in between.
Absolutely love your blog. We will be attending the Halloween party in October for the second time. I will be exploring certain attractions for the first time after having read some of your reviews of the various parks many times now. I always find something new!
Are you going to be going to the Halloween party in Disneyland this year as well? I’ve love to see your thoughts on it with all the changes! (Also I got lucky and will be going on October 31st, so I’m suuuper excited!)
I’m going to the MNSSHP on Halloween night, it’s guaranteed to be packed that night :/
I love Sarah’s costume! Did she find that off the rack or did she have it made?
We had pouring rain on the 13th. It was still fun. We didn’t really go for the rides or the characters. We went more to see the difference in ambiance and for the candy and for getting away with dressing as my favorite Princess, Ariel. We enjoyed the parade, Hallowishes, and Hocus Pocus. I think we’d go again, just to see what it would be like without the rain. BTW: it was cool to say hi to you (eek!! I think I called you Mr. Disney Tourist Blog) at MK. Sorry for the random interruption when you were hanging out with your fellow photographer friends. My son said we should say hi, because these opportunities to meet famous people don’t happen every day! We really enjoy your blog.
Tom, you are most likely right on the 13th being the least busiest party because all of the heavy rain. Lots of guest were just finding cover anywhere, but HalloWishes still went off in time.
Also, where is your favourite viewing spot out of curiosity? Thank you.
Perhaps Disney has finally succeeded in pricing themselves out of the average family’s pocketbook. It’s not just specific events, it’s almost everything. To vacation at WDW, one needs to be able to afford airfare, hotel, admissions, meals and souvenirs for let’s say two adults and two children. Cheap, it ain’t.
I went two years in a row in 2013-2014 and skipped the party last year. I plan on skipping this year too, but I would love to see the Hocus Pocus show. I am a huge fan of the ambiance, but the price is just a bit too steep. I have an AP, so paying extra is hard to justify. And my October dates don’t have any discounts. I think I’ll end up watching Hallowishes from Top of the World Lounge and hopefully get my fill that way.
surprised by the low crowds – wish I had been there! also, I love Sarah’s costume!
I attended this same party and was amazed at the low crowds versus the September Halloween parties I attended in 2014 and 2015.
I want to remind folks that the Seven Dwarves have moved locations to the Storybook Circus tent. (I didn’t realize and was waiting for them near Fantasyland – but luckily I was only there for a moment when a photopass photographer saw the few of us in line and walked us over to the new spot). Unfortunately, when I got to the real line at 6:25pm it was already massive and it was stifling hot under that tent. I gave up and enjoyed the short waits for all of the rides. Bummed I didn’t see you or Sarah, that would have been cool. Thanks for the report and the great photos!
PS – it was so hot at the party, that we sat our candy down on the pavement while watching the first parade that it all melted. (it was okay as we had plenty of time to go get more…but be careful on those hot days…save trick or treating for late in the evening as Tom suggests)
IMHO the best time to attend Disney is during the Halloween party. Sigh… this year I have to do it vicariously via your pictures and reports.
Thank you, thank you. I’ve never attended, so it will all be new to me. We are attending the last Tuesday in October, so I am quite sure it won’t be so light on crowds. Looking forward to your Food and Wine review!