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| "HalloWishes" Fireworks at Magic Kingdom |
We attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year for Labor Day Week. It was our second time attending a Walt Disney World Halloween Party, having first gone in 2017 and now this year. September is pretty early to start celebrating Halloween but as it coincides with the trip we like to take to celebrate Toddler Son's birthday it has become a fun addition to our visits.
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| Poison Apple "Magic Shot" photograph |
We arrived at Magic Kingdom the afternoon of the party in time for lots of rain, in 2017 the rain came solidly in the middle of the party eating up most of the event. It pretty much rains everyday in September. Luckily for us the afternoon storm this year (right around 3:30 PM) would be the only rain for us and for 2018 we enjoyed a full Halloween party! Our party tickets were part of a "Fall into Magic" package we were enjoying and Dad neglected to bring the hard tickets to the gate thinking the tickets would be pre-loaded on our magic bands through My Disney Experience. Unfortunately that was not the case and we were directed to will call and then guest services to rectify the situation. It looked for a second like we would have to go all the way back to our room to get the hard tickets but luckily a supervisor was able to help the window agent locate our tickets in the system and issue us new hard tickets. We were then finally through the gate and on our way. Teenage Son & Dad were dressed as Figment & Dreamfinder while Toddler Son was an "It's A Small World" doll from Mexico, accompanied by Mom in a retro Small World T-shirt and with her hair in a braid with a folkloric flower.
For the Halloween Parties you are allowed to enter the park as early as 4:00 PM and the party starts at 7:00 PM. Typically you are routed behind the east side of Main Street USA from entering Town Square where they issue you your treat bags, give out treats and take pictures. At the end of this gauntlet you are dumped into Central Plaza("The Hub") between Main Street USA & Tomorrowland.
The Halloween Party officially starts at 7PM but they start letting you meet the special characters at approximately 6:30 and distributing Candy shortly after that at several locations throughout the park. For other special event entertainment they have a musical show at the Castle Stage, fireworks, and a parade. For 2017 the rain was bad enough that it delayed/cancelled some entertainment and we only saw the fireworks and a few glimpses of the parade but for 2018 we were able to see all three.
There are several special characters that appear at the party and are not common throughout the rest of the year. For us the must see character was Stitch dressed as Elvis. Prior to this year you could only see him on Halloween Night at the Polynesian Resort so we were very excited at the chance to see him. We were in line by 5:45 PM and they brought in Stitch at 6:30 PM and we saw him right away. We then went off to have dinner and start Trick Or Treating. The lines for the characters can get pretty long so we ultimately did not see any more up close.
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| We caught Lotso Hugging Bear heading to his photo op |
Several attractions were modified slightly for the party and we experienced 2 of them. We all rode Pirates of the Caribbean with live performers in the fort and on the ride. Mom & Teenage Son got to ride Space Mountain in the dark while Dad & Toddler Son rode the Peoplemover (also in the dark through the Space Mountain portion). We did not get a chance to ride the Teacups with special Halloween Party lighting.
We stumbled onto a spot on the bridge to Tomorrowland to see the Fireworks show. The fireworks show has basic projections on the Castle and does not yet incorporate the remarkable projection mapping of the regular show. But it more than makes up for that with a great soundtrack and the use of the perimeter fireworks bursts reserved for holidays that are really spectacular. The night becomes day as large fireworks bursts surround the entire Magic Kingdom.
As the crowd dispersed somewhat after the fireworks we moved to a spot at the base of the Partners statue in the center of The Hub to view the Castle stage show. The Castle stage show is the "Hocus Pocus Villian Spelltacular" a Disney Villain's greatest hits show linked together by the Sanderson Sisters from the film "Hocus Pocus". The show is high energy, has great music and the performers are terrific. Dad was not really a fan of the movie "Hocus Pocus" but this show made him a convert and we have been enjoying all of the related "Hocus Pocus" programming on the Freeform Cable Channel.
For the "Boo To You Halloween Parade" we made our way to Town Square and found a spot on the rope line between the Square and the Emporium across the street from City Hall. The parade was delightful, especially the gravediggers and the ballroom dancers from The Haunted Mansion.
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| Ride of the Headless Horseman |
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| Haunted Mansion Gravediggers |
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| Haunted Mansion Gravediggers |
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| Haunted Mansion Ballroom Dancers |
2018 was a vast improvement for us over 2017 in terms of experiencing the special entertainment, and we managed to meet a character this year. In 2017 we did more trick or treating than this year, there is more things to do at these parties than can be done in one visit. To experience it all would probably take at least attending 2 parties a year, you could easily spend an entire night meeting the characters and trick or treating and not do anything else. The party felt crowded, the lines for the candy moved but they were very long and the waits for most characters looked very long. Overall we had a great time and hope we can go again and perhaps concentrate on the special characters.
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