Disney World Teases 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party News

Walt Disney World is almost certain to announce dates & details about the 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom, based on a new teaser just posted to the Disney Parks social media accounts. Here’s the latest, along with what we’re expecting in terms of event dates, price increases, tickets selling out, changes & major additions.

For those unfamiliar with it, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) is a special event that occurs after Magic Kingdom closes for the day. It is separately ticketed, meaning you have to pay extra for the party if you’re already in the park as a day guest and want to stay through MNSSHP. It’s a highly popular party, and for good reason.

Throughout the evening during MNSSHP, you can enjoy Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular!, watching as the 3 sinister sisters bewitch and bedazzle guests from the Cinderella Castle Forecourt Stage. There’s also Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular, a wickedly wild fireworks display that’s hosted by Jack Skellington on that same stage. The final piece of the MNSSHP trifecta is Mickey’s Boo to You Parade, one of Walt Disney World’s most iconic entertainment offerings of all-time. The special event also features dance parties, trick-or-treating, exceptional atmosphere, and more.

The teaser image that Disney Parks posted shows illustrated playing cards glowing with a Mickey Mouse silhouette on a dimly lit table along with the caption: “Well, well, well what do we have here. A few ghoulish riddles are near. #HalfwayToHalloween”

Here’s a look at the photo that accompanies the cryptic caption:

The caption is a nod to Oogie Boogie, suggesting that we’ll also hear news about the hard ticket Halloween party held at DCA, Oogie Boogie Bash. However, we’d note that Disneyland already announced 2026 Oogie Boogie Bash dates at the end of last year, and normally doesn’t start selling tickets until much later in the summer. So if the Oogie Boogie quote was purposeful, it’s probably different–potentially bigger–Oogie Boogie Bash news.

In addition, Mickey Mouse’s silhouette on the tarot cards is likely a reference to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. Mickey heads are a staple of Disney design–so it could be purely coincidental–but there has not been a single “Halfway to Halloween” that didn’t involve the announcement of Disney After Hours Boo Bash (remember that?!) or MNSSHP dates and details.

Honestly, the #HalfwayToHalloween hashtag is all we really need here. With that, it’s a done deal with that we’re getting 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party news this week…

For those who are unfamiliar with it, ‘Halfway to Halloween’ is an announcement event that Disney Parks did for several years during the post-reopening era. The idea was (or is, it would seem) like Christmas in July, offering an excuse for Halloween-reveal campaign in the spring.

In addition to announcements, Halfway to Halloween has featured food & beverage items sold out of season for like a week at Disney Springs, and synergy with the networks and streaming services. One year, the Disney Parks account live-tweeted running commentary during Hocus Pocus approximately 1,971 times. Which might seem fun…except for those of us who have notifications enabled for the Disney Parks social media accounts. My phone was blowing up more than the night that Bob Chapek got canned!

In any case, Halfway to Halloween is a fun way to generate hype ahead of ticket sales starting. It’s also a bit amusing. The notion of it being ‘halfway’ to Halloween makes us chuckle just a little bit given that the parks start celebrating Halloween in early to mid August.

Don’t get me wrong–I love Halloween and appreciate any excuse to celebrate holidays prematurely. But being a Walt Disney World regular sorta means having a warped sense of seasons. It’s also funny that the ‘halfway’ point to Halloween has shifted around over the years, bouncing around between April and May.

Halfway to Halloween did not happen last year, which came as no surprise. Even the year before, the announcement event felt phoned in–like an afterthought. There wasn’t much of a build-up, it just happened with a quick news dump. It seemed like Walt Disney World was moving on from Halfway to Halloween, and consequently, we didn’t expect it to return for 2026.

It’s also possible that Halfway to Halloween was ‘sidelined’ the last couple of years due to bigger announcements that were still in a holding pattern. In 2024, fans were awaiting an announcement of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which was the main attraction debuting that summer and had a relatively last-minute opening date announcement.

It was a similar story last year with Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. That new nighttime parade was delayed until late summer, and it’s our strong suspicion that a desire not to start the parties too soon after it debuted pushed back both the original announcement of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates, as well as the first evening of the event.

This year, Walt Disney World has done a much better job of getting its ducks in a row well in advance. We got dates for almost everything debuting during Cool Kids’ Summer nearly two months ago. The main stragglers were Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, both of which got official dates within the last couple of weeks.

Aside from the Magic of Disney Animation, there really aren’t any big unknowns (and as much as I’m looking forward to that, I doubt many planners are on pins and needles awaiting that date before booking a trip). Kudos to Walt Disney World for reducing uncertainty with earlier announcements.

Walt Disney World likes to space out announcements to give each a bit of ‘breathing room.’ With nothing else on the horizon, this also opens the door for a return of Halfway to Halloween in the absence of ‘competing’ news…

Based on past precedent, we’d expect dates and details for the 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party to be the major news during Halfway to Halloween. It’s also likely that we’ll hear more about Halloween on the High Seas, new character costumes for Mickey & Friends at Disneyland, and perhaps a wildcard (more on that in a bit).

Last year, dates and details for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party were not revealed until May 12th. Event tickets went on sale to guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels starting May 15, 2025. General public sales started May 22, 2025.

All of that was late by historical standards, but we strongly suspect it was due to the aforementioned Disney Starlight Night Parade delay. In each of the three years prior to that, dates were announced between late April and early May during “Halfway to Halloween.”

Most recently, the “Halfway to Halloween” announcement was made on May 6, 2024 with ticket sales starting one week later. But again, that was also a bit of an anomaly due to the TBD nature of TBA.

The best precedential example is 2023, which was the last ‘normal’ or full year of “Halfway to Halloween.” The weeklong event started on Monday, April 17 and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates and details were announced on Thursday, April 20. So this is already late as compared to that!

There’s obviously no guarantee of history repeating itself, but whenever “Halfway to Halloween” has been a fully-fledged hype event, it’s been more drawn out and the MNSSHP news has been Wednesday or Thursday. With that said, I also can’t recall the tease ever happening on a weekend, so I guess that doesn’t completely rule out a Monday morning announcement of MNSSHP dates.

The big reason that dates were announced and went on sale earlier in past years was to provide a longer runway for the event to sell tickets. That’s no longer a concern–the new normal is for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party to sell out.

In fact, every single date has sold out for the last two years, with MNSSHP sales increasing even as the parks have otherwise slowed down post-pent-up demand. Last year, October 31st sold out on the day that ticket sales opened; a record-setting sell out despite a record-setting high price! Other dates didn’t sell out nearly as quickly, but they did sell out.

There’s really no reason to believe MNSSHP tickets will sell slower in 2026. You might find that difficult to believe, but part of the Halloween Party’s popularity is because of the slowdown. Meaning that Floridians, fans, and other guests are “trading down” from expensive Annual Passes and regular tickets to MNSSHP.

For reference, last year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was held on the following dates:

• August 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29
• September 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30
• October 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31

Note that the first MNSSHP was a full week later than normal, which we believe was a one-off due to the delayed debut of Starlight and operations wanting that parade to have a longer runway of nightly performances.

Walt Disney World never officially stated as much; that’s purely speculative on our part. We’ll know one way or the other once 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates are released.

With all of that in mind, we’ll predict that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will start on August 7, 2026.

MNSSHP will continue several nights per week until October 31, 2026 (probably not November 1st since that’s a Sunday). These dates ignore 2025 and follow past precedent prior to then. If last year’s start is used instead, the first event would be one week later, on August 14, 2026.

There were 38 parties last year–we’d expect 39 to 41 nights of the 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Disney usually tries to squeeze in another date or two, and there’s plenty of room earlier in the season. A greater density of dates in August and September could easily push 2026 past the 40 night barrier.

Ticket prices for the 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will likely range from $125 to $250 depending upon the date. It’s actually difficult to predict prices–they skyrocketed a few years ago, but haven’t gone up much since except on the higher end, despite all dates selling out.

Walt Disney World could stick with the current range ($119 to $229) or blow past it, resetting the floor and ceiling (~$150 to $250). Last year, the price of the last two parties shot up from $199 to $229, but that increase only applied to those two dates. Every other night was $199 or below.

With those final two nights being a weekend in 2026, we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see them hit $250…and still sell out with ease. Walt Disney World might even be able to “get away with” $299 tickets for those final two parties, but there’s the question of whether the negative headlines would be worth it.

The dates with the slowest sales were the in-between ones. Nights in late August and early-to-mid September that were priced around $139 to $159. These are too expensive for bargain-hunters, but also way before most normal people start celebrating Halloween.

It thus might behoove Walt Disney World to leave the middle dates unchanged, while increasing the price ceiling and maybe even the floor. The latter really depends on when the new dates (if any) are added. There’s likely less bandwidth for the least-popular August dates, which probably can’t go above $129 in 2026.

Disney might also be worried about getting too aggressive with price increases. Both from a brand damage/guest goodwill perspective, and also one of FOMO. Dates selling out might very well lead to more dates selling out, as people see this trend and don’t want to miss out on something special. The reverse is also true–that more people might have pause about purchasing tickets if many dates remain available.

Given how well tickets have sold for the last several years, we’re not expecting major changes to the 2026 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Walt Disney World likely has a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” mentality towards the event, and sees no incentive to invest in an event that’s hugely popular as-is.

We already know that two marquee entertainment offerings are confirmed as returning. A couple of months ago, Walt Disney World starting accepting applications for vocalists and dancers performing in Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, as well as flag corps performers for Mickey’s Boo to You Halloween Parade.

None of this is surprising. Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular and Boo to You Parade are the tentpole productions during MNSSHP. Confirmation that they’re returning is nice, but there was no reason to believe they wouldn’t. When it comes to changes for 2026, the realistic best case scenario is refreshes to the existing entertainment–new villains in the stage show, a new parade unit, or atmospheric enhancements.

Even though there haven’t been major changes to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party since 2019, Walt Disney World has quietly plussed the event in a bunch of little ways. There’s definitely still room for improvement, and we’d love to see WDW do fully-fledged treat trails (which they’ve tested on a smaller scale the last two years), but we’re not holding our breath.

Finally, there is the possibility of a major announcement during Halfway to Halloween.

Now that the Jollywood Nights Christmas Party has finally found its footing after three years and started to sell well last Christmas, maybe Walt Disney World introduces a similar counterprogramming Halloween party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

They could do a slightly more adult event, and with the lessons learned from Jollywood Nights, it could be a success from the inaugural year. I wouldn’t bet against this (Disney loves upcharges!), but with zero rumors of such an offering in development, I also wouldn’t bet on it.

The big news that seems like more of a sure thing is a new major piece of entertainment for Oogie Boogie Bash. The event has gotten stale each of the last two years, and needs a shot in the arm. More importantly, the backstage parade facilities at DCA are out of commission for the next few years due to Coco construction.

This presumably includes the Halloween parade at Oogie Boogie Bash, and I’d assume Disneyland plans on alternative entertainment to fill the gap. Both for the sake of selling out the event and having sufficient capacity. It would be a very bold move to cut the parade and offer no replacement. I wouldn’t be against it (Disney loves cost-cutting!), but I also wouldn’t bet on it. My gut says a new World of Color and something else will be added.

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted about what’s announced (and what isn’t!) during the 2026 Halfway to Halloween “event” this week.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you expect to be announced during Halfway to Halloween? Think Walt Disney World will start MNSSHP a week earlier than last year, returning to the ‘normal’ August 7, 2026 start date? Predictions as to pricing or other changes? What about a new event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or added entertainment for Oogie Boogie Bash? Will your family be buying or sitting the Halloween hard ticket events out? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!