Best & Worst Dates for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Wondering about the least-crowded or most-crowded nights to attend the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? This post covers the best & worst dates to buy tickets for Magic Kingdom’s special event, so you can plan your vacation around avoiding these crowds.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party occurs in Magic Kingdom on 37 select nights August 12 through October 31, from 7 p.m. until midnight. There are more party nights this year than ever before, which has become something of a trend. Unsurprisingly, Halloween is always the busiest (and most expensive!) night of the party, but if you have other options, when should you attend?
Expect the parties to be busy, in general. Last time it was held, most nights were crowds were moderately crowded to very crowded–we would strongly recommend “Is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Too Crowded?” for a look at what we mean.
When it comes to choosing the least-crowded Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, the first rule of thumb is that the cheaper nights are the less busy ones. There are numerous different ticket price groupings, with most of cheapest dates are all in August and early September.
Prices get progressively more expensive in October, at which point many dates are over $150 per ticket. It’s pretty easy to spot some trends simply by looking at Disney’s calendar of available party dates. However, not all dates in the same price tier will be equally busy.
In an ideal world, we would recommend attending a party on a Tuesday in August. Even Friday in August will be less busy than Fridays in September and October. The one exception to this is the first party, which is always busy due to vloggers, bloggers, influencers, all of the fans who want to be “first,” and Walt Disney World guests doing late summer vacation who are leaving that weekend and don’t have any other MNSSHP nights during their trip.
However, demand should drop off after that, especially for weeknights. If you can’t go in August, early to mid-September on a Tuesday night will be the best option.
We predict that the August 23 party will be the least busy of the entire season…but there’s the slight chance celebrating Halloween in August might not sit well with you. (Hence our prediction that it’ll be the least crowded party!)
Historically, there are generally three rules for how busy Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will be:
- Tuesday nights are always the least crowded
- Friday nights are the most crowded
- The parties get progressively busier the closer you get to Halloween
We consider these fairly hard and fast rules because locals/Annual Passholders don’t want to take their kids to the Halloween party on a school night, and because they actually start thinking about Halloween when you get closer to Halloween.
As such, pretty much any Tuesday night through September 20 would be a good day to attend, as would Sundays through September 25.
There’s one Monday night party this year–on September 5, which is Labor Day. Typically, that’s not a busy weekend at Walt Disney World by holiday standards and most Southerners doing long weekend trips will head home by then. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’d definitely pick the party on September 5 over the one on September 2. The Friday one will almost certainly be worse.
You might think that “it doesn’t matter if every single party sells out,” which very well might occur with the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party given that it’s returning from a two year hiatus. However, our experience has also been that capacity caps are increased as the event wears on.
Totally anecdotal, but we attended over a dozen MNSSHP nights in 2019, including numerous “sold out” parties in August and October. The latter were easily 30% busier on average. Of course, things could always be different this year–again, it has been 3 years since the last Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Basically, tourists go to the parties on whatever night they feel like going (they’re on vacation, it’s all the same to them), but locals who could go any night of the season choose more carefully. They’re the ones who tip the scales in terms of congestion.
With that said, overarching crowd trends also come into play–if there are fewer tourists, it stands to reason that there’s also less demand for MNSSHP. As a general matter, October is also more crowded than mid-August through September, which definitely adds to it. In the last few years, October has become busier and busier at Walt Disney World, and we do not expect that trend to change.
Tourists also don’t have the same luxury of picking and choosing nights, having only a few days from which to choose during their trips. But locals with the entire calendar in front of them want to get dressed up and take their kids later on weekend nights, once Halloween is actually on their radar and they have made costumes.
Plus, locals know that Florida is still hot and humid in September, and typically cooler in October, making those bulky or ornate costumes more feasible later in the season.
While crowd level recommendations for the entire calendar of dates is well beyond the scope of our knowledge and expertise, we think if you follow the go Tuesday, don’t go Friday rule (expanded to ‘go school nights, don’t go weekend nights’), and/or plan for a trip earlier in the Halloween (if you still have that luxury–if not, there’s always next year), you’ll be pretty well set.
Another easy trick that you should use for determining whether Disney is projecting a particular party to have low or high attendance is to look at the price of tickets for that party, and available discounts.
Disney does not offer Disney Vacation Club or Annual Passholder discounts out of some sense of corporate benevolence, it does so to encourage guests to attend the cheaper parties because they have lower attendance. How this can be helpful in your planning is when you see an anomaly party, price-wise.
For example, if there’s a weeknight party that should have low attendance but has no discounts available and is priced higher, then perhaps that is because Disney knows something we don’t. Maybe there’s a convention or athletic group that is anticipated to make a large ticket buy.
Regardless of all of the other tips that we have, you can be pretty certain that if a party costs less, it will be less crowded. If a party costs more, it will be more crowded. Disney has mastered the art of manipulating attendance patterns with discounts and pricing tricks in order to more evenly re-distribute crowds. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is no exception to this rule.
The only thing to potentially keep in mind, or use as a “tie-breaker” when two dates you’re considering are priced the same is to think about potential demographics of the parties. In our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Guide, we strongly encourage guests to not do attractions during the party despite the shorter wait times, because there is a lot of party entertainment (so much that you can’t see it all in a single party), and rides can be done on a normal day in the Magic Kingdom.
Annual Passholders and locals are more inclined to follow this because they have regular access to the attractions in the Magic Kingdom, and could do them any ole time. By contrast, many tourists do not have such access, and are willing to pay a premium to attend the event for shorter lines, plus some Halloween entertainment.
Factor in when locals are more likely to be attending the parties you’re considering (based on the above) in the case of a “tie” in terms of pricing, and either go to or avoid that party depending upon whether characters/entertainment are more important to you, or doing attractions with shorter waits is more important to you. Obviously, it’s your decision, but we recommend picking the tourist-filled nights if you can and focusing on attractions during a different day in the Magic Kingdom.
With 37 party nights, chances are your Walt Disney World vacation will be impacted by Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party regardless of whether you attend. There’s also the matter of Magic Kingdom during the day on event nights, and you should absolutely plan around this.
In short, Magic Kingdom is least busy on days with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in the evening and more busy on days that MNSSHP isn’t happening. This is because the Halloween Party is separately-ticketed, which causes Magic Kingdom to close early on MNSSHP nights. Many day guests avoid Magic Kingdom on party dates because the park hours are shorter and fireworks are not shown to regular guests. This results in significantly lighter crowds before the party.
These same guests then flock to non-party days in Magic Kingdom. Even though the park has longer hours on these dates, you will get less done than you could before ~5 pm on a party day. So long as you’re comfortable missing the fireworks or are fine watching from a resort restaurant or the TTC, we highly recommend doing your days in Magic Kingdom on party dates.
Avoid Saturdays in Magic Kingdom during party season, which will likely have 9/10 or 10/10 crowd levels. Also steer clear of any days that are in between two or more Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party nights. This is less important in August and September when attendance levels are lower, but is absolutely essential in October.
If you have a Park Hopper ticket, visit Magic Kingdom during the day on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party nights, and then head to another park at around 4 pm. Animal Kingdom will always be your best option for lower-crowd evenings during the fall. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is another solid option. Epcot tends to be the “hopper park” (especially during Food & Wine Festival) so we’re less inclined to recommend it.
If you don’t have a Park Hopper ticket…we’d strongly recommend upgrading to one. As far as splurges go, this is a valuable one to have during party season at Walt Disney World.
In practice, since our Halloween party visits don’t operate in a vacuum, we love the party on the last Tuesday in September or the first Tuesday in October. We view this as the “sweet spot” because it allows us to plan a trip around both Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and better weather. It used to be that this also allowed us to attend the early days Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival, but with that being moved forward a couple of weeks pretty much every year, it now starts in August…just like the Halloween Party.
Also like the Halloween party, the Food & Wine Festival is less busy on weekdays. Going at the very start of Food & Wine allows us to enjoy that, plus Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party during a less-busy September date, and weather that has cooled since the start of the parties in September. But don’t tell anyone else about this sweet spot…it’s our secret!
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Your Thoughts…
Which dates are your favorites for doing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Have you had more success going earlier in the season as opposed to waiting until October? What about Tuesday v. Friday v. Sunday nights? Think “sold out” in August still has fewer people than “sold out” in October? When are you planning to go this year? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!
We are going to Orlando in September and buying an 8 day WDW ticket. How do we get a ticket to the Halloween Party on top of our 8 day pass? We haven’t bought the pass yet but I was planning to buy from Undercover Tourist. We are coming from Australia. Could you please tell me the best way to buy my tickets including the Not So Scary Halloween Party? We have flexibility so we could go on a Tuesday night. Thanks
You purchase your regular park tickets separately from the Halloween Party ticket. Purchase the park tickets from Undercover Tourist to save money. Purchase the Halloween Party ticket directly from Disney.
Have a great trip!
We went Oct 2013 and had a great experience. We went last year Sept 2015, the first day of the Halloween party and it was sooooo crowed. We couldn’t figure out why, so we asked around and it turnss out that was a free dining period. I would not recommend going during free dining if you can avoid it. It was crazy packed.
Following conventional wisdom, we went to a Tuesday party in September (the 22nd) and it was packed! Turns out it sold out, as have a bunch od other parties so far this year. It was still fun, but not as much fun as last year when the party was much quieter!!
We are going on nov 1st and wondering if it will be too crowded since it’s the last day. Also, what other park would you recommend visiting on that day (you can do that, right, even if you don’t have a hooper option?) We have a 5 and a 3yo, so we will need to take a rest in between parks. Was thinking Animal Kingdom would be a good option?
Hi guys , we are going November 1st-8th. We are doing the last Halloween party on the 1st. Will this be a busy night for the party since it’s the last one?
We went to MNSSHP in mid Sept 2013 and the crowds/weather couldn’t have been more perfect! Went last year sep 18th and had a horrible time. It rained the entire time and, surprisingly, I thought the crowd level was quite large. We are 3hrs away so, this year, I will decide our party night “weather permitting”. We will go in Sept but I’m seriously considering the Tuesday night party this time. How are crowds on opening night of MNSSHP? The parties begin later in Sept this year and didn’t know how that may affect things. Any thoughts?
We’re planning on going this time next year, which would be better…the last Sunday night party in September or the first Thursday night party in October? If they keep the same schedule as this year, we won’t have a Tuesday option.
We went last year for the first time last week of Sept, first week of Oct. Weather was hot, but my goodness, this was a VERY special time for us. We are hooked and going back again for the party on Oct 9th. Yes we went on Friday, but honestly, remember there are only so many tickets sold, so it was still very comfortable crowd wise (try doing the first week of June when school has just let out, now that’s crowds!)
Anyway…plenty of people were dressed up, but the hidden perk was Sat morning! Up until about noon, it was almost like we had the park to ourselves! EVERY ride Yes, Space Mountain too was a walk on. We didn’t even need to get fast passes until the afternoon, when we “doubled up” on our favorite rides.
Great shots, really inspired me. I have a question on one of your shots. I to shot wishes fireworks or illuminations. But I’m having a hard time with both grande finales. All my shots are over exposed. Nikon 7000, ISO 100, remote manual, nd filter, wb auto. What can I do to remedy this?
Tom I LOVE your website, thanks for the great site.
I have my tickets for October 16th, do you think two adults can get a lot of character pictures or will it be mass crowded?
I Bought tickets for the Halloween party a few months ago and thought it would be great to do the party on Halloween night. Wished i had read this article sooner. Oh and Halloween is on a Friday night this year….double whammy!! Hope my family and a don’t get trampled!
I’m sure you’ll have a great time, anyway. Halloween night generally means the best guest costumes, for what it’s worth.
I will be going on Tuesday next week – made the choice based off the advice on this site. Thanks again!
Please report back on whether our advice is solid or not! 🙂
We will be at WDW SEPT 13th thru the 20th for our 3rd MNSSHP. We don’t do rides as you said and instead try for pictures with characters you usually don’t see. Like the seven dwarfs and Tarzan, Jack Sparrow, Jack Skellington & Sally etc. Because we wanted to see the Frozen Fireworks Spectacular on Sunday the 14th, we opted to buy our MNSSHP hard tickets in advance at a lower price and with an AP discount. A dangerous decision I know. Especially if it rains that Tuesday. We had a terrible rain experience at a MVMCP one year and had to book a 2nd night so we could enjoy the party, We will be keeping a wary eye out for the weather forecast for that Tuesday & that Sunday. If it looks like rain on tuesday we will skip the FFS at DHS. Bite the bullet and purchase a Sunday night tickets. I don’t think they will allow us to swap tickets. My wife finds the sparks from the gravedigger’s shovels more entertaining than most DHS special fireworks shows. As always, your tips are spot on.
If the weather is bad enough during the party and you go to City Hall DURING the party, they will allow you to switch. However, you can’t switch at this point, or even until the party has a decent portion of its entertainment canceled.
We went to the very first MNSSHP last year in September, and it was great! It was our first day arriving in Florida, so we were able to save a day on our tickets and still get to enjoy the parks, and there was hardly anyone there. We aren’t usually huge on the parades, but the Boo to You parade was AMAZING. I get the music stuck in my head on a regular basis.
It was the perfect way to start our trip and we wouldn’t have known to do it if not for your blog! 🙂
I will be attending the last Sunday night in September this year. For what its worth, Touring Plans has the crowd calendar at a crowd level of “1” at Magic Kingdom for that day. I am sure that is for the regular day before the party but still I think this will be a pretty good night to be there crowd wise.
Definitely going to focus on entertainment over rides, however I may try to hop on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as soon as the fireworks end to try to avoid too long a wait. It opened 2 days after my last trip in May and I can not wait to ride it!
The crowd calendar at TouringPlans is based upon the crowds during the regular operating day. In general, I think crowds are lower on party nights because the 7 pm closing scares away day guests without Park Hopper tickets.
Makes me glad I booked our tickets for Tuesday, Sept. 23! Hoping my costume arrives on time!
Well, we will try out your theory Tuesday of next week…planned because we figured on the same metrics you used.
We attended the party mid October several years ago on a Friday night and can compare to that experience. This will only be our second time for “Not So Scary,” since we are from out of state, but should be a good comparison. Good reminder about bulky costumes this time of year!
Please report back! 🙂
Just returned from a week at WDW, attending the Tuesday night party Sept. 9th…The difference between that and mid October on a Friday night?
A LOT less costumes…both adults & children.
About half the crowd in early Sept…(rated about a 2 out of 10 online for crowds during that day.)
Weather about the same in the evening…But hotter & more humid during the day by several degrees in Sept. More rain also…1st Boo to You Parade was missing all the fantastic dance numbers. My guess…the intermittent rain caused them to speed it up. October was only a misty drizzle by comparison. We also had day “drenchers” quite a few times. But they helped cool things well. (SO glad my costume was lightweight.)
All in all, we will do the Sept. visit again…& Not So Scary only on midweek nights! If someone wants a more festive, everyone decked out feel, October might be better.
Your advice was great.
Thanks for this article. It confirms what my wife and I have already started to plan for next year. Tuesday night (our arrival day) in late Sept. for MNSSHP and also get some time during the week at Food and Wine.
This post comes at the perfect time for us as we will be in WDW sept 13-20th and need to decide which night to experience MNSSHP. Sunday the 14th I’m hoping for low crowds but I am waiting until I can get the weather forecast to buy tickets. Although some rain in no big deal- a steady rainfall would be a bummer. This is our first trip with our 5 month old (who we can’t wait to dress up for the party!) so the lighter the crowds and nicer the weather the better! One thing is for sure and that is it will be hot and humid!
We will be there at the same time 9/13 – 9/21, we are going to the party on Tue 9/16. Sunday night should be less crowded, for the locals it’s a school night. As for the weather it’s FL it will probably rain around 3 and the sun be out by 315. 🙂
We’ve found that Florida weather forecasts that time of year can be pretty unreliable, but not a bad move. Just make sure you make up your mind the day before the party so you can get the advance purchase discount.
I attended a Sunday night party in mid October in 2011 and was very pleased with the crowd level and overall experience. We felt like we experienced quite a lot, including the fun of people watching and costumes. Very short lines really helped us relax and enjoy the experience, which featured six consecutive rides on the Haunted Mansion with almost no wait.
Last year’s Sunday night party in late October, on the other hand, was just as crowded as many regular park days. The 11 day difference really could be felt. I still had a great time, but it was not as relaxing.
Yep, things get so much worse the closer to Halloween you get. I’m actually a little surprised that Disney doesn’t do away with the Halloween night party and include that entertainment in the daily offerings (like they do Christmas week). I’ll bet they’d have a capacity crowd.
My only 2 choices for attending are October 30th and 31st (2016) So, guess I will go the 30th and hope for the best!