Our 23 Tips to Enjoy Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2017 at Magic Kingdom

This article was last updated on September 4th, 2017

Hi everyone!

We have now attended the first three Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party nights for 2017! The event started so early this year, we had all three done by the end of September 1st. The Party nights were all different – one was a clear night, one was a partial rain night and the other was a pretty heavy rain evening. And I learned a lot from the rain evening, it’s something we’ve rarely experienced through the years at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

Before reading our 23 tips below, here is our 40 minute Mousesteps Weekly YouTube show all about Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

Now to my 23 tips with photos and videos. I expect to have an article with 100+ photos soon as well.

Cast Members at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

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Tip 1 – Plan ahead what you want to do and see – It would be very easy to barely leave the Main Street area while watching Mickey’s Boo-To-You Parade, HalloWishes, Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular and meeting Talking Mickey Mouse. It would also be very easy to miss everything I just mentioned by trick-or-treating and meeting characters around the park. Rides tend to have short waits, and some guests enjoy that. So decide what you really want to accomplish and make a plan.

Tip 2 – Dress as your favorite Disney character – While I personally don’t follow this tip, a lot of guests – adults and kids – love wearing Disney costumes and cosplay. Rules on what costumes are and aren’t allowed can be found here.

Tip 3 – Make the most of your ticket and arrive at 4pm – guests can enter at 4pm on the Party ticket. For the second year in a row, there is a special area on Market Street behind Main Street for treats beginning at this time (it ends between 8:00pm and 8:30pm approximately). These are my favorite treats of the Party, a nice goody bag from Mars. There are also some special photo opportunities here. If it rains, this area is moved under the walkway to Tomorrowland.

Market Street bypass location

Cast Members hand out bags for Market Street treats

Tip 4 – Pick up your souvenir Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card – You can pick up the card at the Main Street Firehouse beginning at 4pm! This year it features the Country Bears. It is included with your ticket and makes a nice Party souvenir.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card

Tip 5 – Meet characters meet before the Party starts – As in the past few years, Jack and Sally meet early – they began around 5:00pm at the Liberty Square gazebo. And in Storybook Circus, the Seven Dwarfs meet early as well – closer to 6:00 p.m. I suggest if you want to meet Jack and Sally to line up at 4:00 p.m. and then you will have your full Party time. When we met the Seven Dwarfs, we got in line at 4:45 p.m. and were near the front of the line when they arrived, walking over to meet Donald and Daisy afterwards (Donald with Daisy, Minnie, Cruella, and Goofy all meet in Storybook Circus at 7:00 p.m).

Tip 6 – Pick up your character autograph cards – Not all characters have them, but Jack & Sally do and the Pooh characters do. That also means they will not sign autographs.

Jack and Sally autograph card

Tip 7 – Adults Can Trick or Treat too – Take a bag for everyone, adults and kids can enjoy collecting treats from around the Magic Kingdom. I was asked this past week if adults are discouraged from trick-or-treating, it is totally the opposite.

Market Street bypass Mars inflatable

Tip 8 – Allergy friendly offerings are back – Guests can pick up a teal treat bag and trick-or-treat around the park. Cast Members will give out teal tokens, which can be redeemed at an Allergy-Friendly Center in the Magic Kingdom (one is at Town Square Theater, the other at Heritage House in Liberty Square).

Allergy-free redemption location at Town Square Theater

Tip 9 – View the second parade – Unless there is a weather warning for the evening, I always suggest the second parade because it is much less crowded than the first. However, for the first Party this year, it was raining during the second parade so take that into account. Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade was a little different experience in the rain, so that was fun for me to see. During the third Party, the second parade was much busier – it began around midnight because of the rain delay.

Tip 10 – Watch Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade in Frontierland. Or not. – While Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade looks better on Main Street for photos, Frontierland is much faster. It takes maybe 20 minutes for the parade to go from Frontierland to Town Square (which is where we usually watch from). If we aren’t looking to take photos, we head to Frontierland so we can go back to the rest of the Party quicker. However…

Mr. Smee and Wendy in Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade

Tip 11 – Nick & Judy from Zootopia entertain crowd on Main Street before parade – Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps entertain guests on Main Street and Town Square with the Party Patrol but not in Frontierland or Liberty Square.

Zootopia Party Patrol before Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade in Town Square

Tip 12 – Don’t miss HalloWishes – HalloWishes is a fantastic fireworks show and is a Party exclusive. The 180 degree fireworks are gorgeous as they light up the sky around Cinderella Castle. This is best seen from Main Street as it includes projections on Cinderella Castle. If you don’t care about projections, you can enjoy the fireworks from other locations including Frontierland.

HalloWishes

HalloWishes from Frontierland

Tip 13 – Treat Yourself – Specialty treats are sold around the Magic Kingdom during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. They are the most inventive I can recall them being. While candy is included with your Party ticket all night, you might want to try something unique as well. We do recommend the Pumpkin Cheesecake Dome which is sold at the Main Street Bakery and Gaston’s Tavern (I prefer the bakery because I can use my Starbucks card there and colllect points). We also tried one of the Haunted Mansion treats, and that was a good one as well.

Tip 14 – Opt out of the Happy HalloWishes Dessert Party – (We went to the dessert party as part of a Disney Parks Blog event for free). The dessert party costs $79.00 for adults and $49.00 for kids (plus tax). The desserts were fine, there is cheese and fruit too along with sparkling cider and coffee, non-alcoholic specialty juice drinks, etc. There is a dedicated area for fireworks viewing, which is nice but we didn’t use it – we went to Main Street instead. I would personally suggest having a very nice late lunch or early dinner, then head to the Party. With the money you’ll save (even with a nice meal), you can create your own buffet of specialty desserts that are truly unique. Plus you’ll save an hour of prime Party time.

HalloWishes Dessert Party desserts

Tip 15 – Stop at Photopass Magic Shot locations through the park. – There are more this year than ever! Check them out here.  Photopass photographers are available on Main Street until most guests leave.

Headless Horseman Magic Shot

Tip 16 – Meet Talking Mickey at Town Square Theater – He may even wish you a Happy Halloween, and Mickey is in his Halloween attire once the Party officially starts.

Tip 17 – Meet Moana for the first time at the Party – While Moana has met at Walt Disney World previously, she is now in Adventureland during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Her line was one of the longer ones.

Tip 18 – Enjoy entertainment offerings around the park – The Cadaver Dans are always very popular, there is a Monstrous Scream-O-Ween Ball (dance party) in Tomorrowland and more. We enjoyed meeting Madame Carlotta and new for this year, Butler Broome.

Tip 19 – Check out event merchandise – While there wasn’t anything I found of interest this year, you may want to add a new souvenir to your collection.

Tip 20 – Trick or Treat during the final hour of the Party – Take a nap in the afternoon if you need to, but it is definitely worth pushing through the Party until at least midnight if you possibly can (I know it isn’t always possible). Trick or Treat stations can be really busy early on, but that isn’t the case during the final hour of the Party. The first wave of guests leave after the first Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade, but the big exit is after HalloWishes and treat stations empty out for the most part. This year, Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade and HalloWishes start later than they used to – HalloWishes is at 10:15pm, so the end of the night comes quicker than it used to after fireworks.

Turkey leg decorative pumpkin in Cosmic Rays candy location

Tip 21 – Duck into Philharmagic for candy and to watch Disney animated film shorts – Philharmagic serves both as a candy location and a place to sit and cool off or stay dry while watching Disney animated short films. 

Tip 22 – Enjoy the Party rain or shine – The main thing we found over our three Party nights was that Disney will make every effort to run components of the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in and around inclement weather. While everything was pushed ahead an hour or so on our big rain night (with some lightning), there were still tw Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parades along with HalloWishes and I think just one full Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular (the castle show can’t be run in the rain like the others can). Most rides will be open in the rain, trick-or-treat locations are open and I believe characters are brought inside for meet and greets. There is still a lot of fun to be had, though it will be different than a clear night.

Tip 23 – Stay Through midnight (or later) – Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular offers three shows per night currently (it will eventually be four). The last one is at midnight. This allows guests to enjoy all of the elements of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and then the show at midnight – again, weather permitting. If there is any chance of rain, see it earlier (or if it is very important to you). But you can always catch a second show at that time if you want. The midnight show is fairly busy because nothing else is going on in the Magic Kingdom at that time.

Dates for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party are:

• August 25 and 29, 2017
• September 1, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26 and 29, 2017
• October 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29 and 31, 2017
• November 1, 2017

Pumpkins outside the Magic Kingdom

Projection outside the Magic Kingdom

If you are looking to book a trip to Walt Disney World for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (or for any other event or no event at all!), we recommend Mouse Fan Travel.

Happy Halloween!