We recently took a trip to LegoLand and managed to sneak away for an evening to the most magical place on earth! We couldn’t be that close and NOT drop in for a visit. We could have purchased a day pass to a park but instead decided to get tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This was not our first time attending and won’t be our last. We highly recommend it!
We rented a car and drove from LegoLand to the Magic Kingdom to arrive just after 4pm. I was unable to get anyone to nap prior to heading out for our adventure. Somehow the boys fell asleep in the back of a convertible, while eating, with music blaring!
I was so excited to arrive! This was the first time both boys were tall enough to ride all the rollercoasters! As soon as you arrive they usher you through the special halloween entrance where you get wrist bands and trick-or-treat bags. The bags are small but pretty sturdy and were enough for us as trick-or-treating wasn’t our main priority. However, I did see a lot of people that brought their own bigger material bags. Also, we went in October and temps were still miserably hot so consider that when deciding on costumes.
We kept our eye on the Disney Experience app to watch the wait times. This allowed us to jump on most rides waiting less than 15 minutes. We did run into a bit of a pickle on Splash Mountain. Just before the big drop the ride stopped….and never started back up. We waited around for about 40 minutes until a crew could come ‘rescue’ us. The kids were disappointed but I just told them it just gives us a reason to go back someday. Dad loves that 😉
As soon as we walked in the park we grabbed an event map. This provided us the times of everything such as the parades, hocus focus show, and fireworks as well as the locations for the special halloween treats. I was in the middle of Whole30 when we were there and it was miserable! I have a huge sweet tooth so to miss out was rough. Avoid any sort of diet around your trip, HA!
We didn’t do much trick-or-treating as the kids didn’t really want to wait in line for candy. They had plenty just from the couple of stations we stopped at. We rode the majority of the rides just in time to get to main street for the parade. Unfortunately, we didn’t get there nearly early enough and were a couple rows back. By this time the kids were exhausted and so was Daddy. I was running on adrenaline and wanted to stay all night! We didn’t even make it all the way through the parade before the boys looked like they were about to doze off. We ended up leaving in the middle of the parade. I REALLY had wanted to stay for the fireworks but I wasn’t going to make everyone else miserable as I could tell they had hit the wall.
Luckily we have been to the Halloween party before and stayed for the fireworks a couple years ago. I looooove the fireworks and it is hard to find a bad seat for them. My oldest son kept riding Thunder Mountain over and over again during the fireworks and thought it was pretty cool how he saw them from the rollercoaster in years past. That is a good strategy for some, there are usually little to no lines on rides during the parade and fireworks so you can use that to your advantage.
The Halloween party is a separate ticket in itself and some wonder if it is worth it. In my opinion, it is definitely worth it! If you go around 4pm you will have plenty of time at the park. Not only do I love the Halloween theme and decorations but the crowds seems to be less and lines not as long as usual. Plus there are plenty of fun meet and greets, the Boo to You parade, Hocus Pocus show, fireworks and so on. Lets not forget the trick-or-treating and the specially themed desserts!
Tips & Tricks for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!
- Try to get there around 4pm to maximize your time. It technically doesn’t start until 7pm but we thought we could go enjoy some rides and then be prepared for the halloween events once the time came around.
- Take water bottle or snack. Unlike a lot of other parks, Disney allows you to take in these items. That way you don’t have to spend a fortune on a bottle of water inside the park.
- Take a nap!
- Grab a map for event times and treat locations. The special halloween themed trips are spread around the park and you don’t want to miss them!
- Download the app. This worked out to our advantage. You can view wait times on the app for all the rides. So we would go to the rides when we saw the wait times drop. We rode almost everything and the only real line we had to wait in was about 30 minutes for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride.
- Get a seat for the parade early. The first parade gets very crowded along main street so you will want to snag your spot for ideal viewing. Better yet, if you are able just wait until the second parade of the evening when crowds are lower. Although with little ones that is hard to do sometimes.
