Mickey's Not So Scary, Very, Very, Early Halloween Party

Halloween season at Walt Disney World starts in August now and last year we attended a Labor Day Weekend Halloween Party.  We entered the Magic Kingdom right at 4:00 PM, typically the time they allow party guests into the park and it closed to day guests around 7:00 PM. 

Little Orange Bird Costume Test

When we got to Magic Kingdom it was sunny, hot and not yet rainy

Perfect Florida sky at 4:13 PM

Toddler Son was dressed up in a homemade Orange Bird costume. The super nice folks at the Aloha Isle comped our Dole Whips ("It's on Mickey!") because "Orange Bird was visiting his home and they couldn't charge him at his own home." That was such a sweet and generous gesture and a nice dose of pixie dust. 

Complimentary Dole Whips for the Orange Bird and his guests!

Little Orange Bird in the Sunshine Pavillion

Once the party officially started there were trick-or-treat stations set up all over the park. Some of the interesting locations for candy distribution were inside the Enchanted Tiki Room, inside Mickey's Philharmagic Theater (while they played cartoons on the big screen!) and inside Pinocchio's Village Haus. We enjoy the shorter wait times for attractions during evening parties. This was our first experience with a special event party and did not realize we should try to prioritize photo ops & meet & greets before the lines get too long so we ended up avoiding them. We would definitely like to return and take advantage of visiting the meet & greets right away.

Moody Halloween lighting on Cinderella Castle

There was supposed to be 2 performances of the Boo To You Parade, periodic Castle stage shows, & Halloween themed fireworks.  Unfortunately the night we went had lots of rain, which cancelled one of the parades, most of the stage shows and delayed the fireworks. 

Rain in Frontierland...and throughout the park

Halloween projections & lighting on Cinderella Castle

The rain was heavy from about 8PM-10PM, eating up most of the party time. We ended up seeking shelter in an arcade near the Cinderella fountain in Fantasyland.  The parade ran in light rain, and the rain cleared up enough for the fireworks which had simple projections on the Castle which were very charming.

Spooky!

 

We did enjoy most of the night despite the weather. August is still very much the rainy season and often at night so it is something to consider if you are planning to go to one of the early Halloween parties.

A Kids Perspective on Disney Pin Trading

Pin trading is a very fun thing to do but it can be super addicting. You can find pins of your favorite Disney Character doing something silly! It can be a very expensive hobby and confusing. So I'am going explain the lingo and tips for starting.

History of Pins
Pins have been around for years in some way or another. Button Patents have been around since at least 1896. The oldest Disney pin we own is from around 1970 and is themed around Orange Bird. But Official Disney Pin Trading didn't start until 1999. During the Countdown to the millennium they started a pin promotion and they have been making pins ever since.

Steps
1. Go buy pins. The cheapest pins you can get at the parks are usually in mystery packs or pin sets and they will end up costing around $5-$6 per pin.

2. Go find pin lanyards and boards. Most Cast Members have them and a lot of sit down restaurants have them. You can also find them at shops & hotel front desks. Be sure to ask nicely.

3. Once you find a pin you like, you ask for the pin that you want and offer them one of your pins in exchange.

Some Pin Terms
NFT/NFS-Not For Trade or Sell

OE-Open Edition

HM-Hidden Mickey, note the small Hidden Mickey emblem somewhere on the pin. These are issued to cast members, so you get them by trading!

LE#-Limited Edition of #, these are only made in a certain number and are usually for special events

Ways to Wear or Display Them

I have been exploring quite a few ways to display them and I'am going to go over some of the main ones!

The first thing that comes to mind are lanyards. While lanyards are functional and can have cool designs, I find that after a while they can start scratching my neck and make me itchy. You can wear them on your clothes but you don't won't to wear too many or your clothes will have a lot of holes.

Some of my favorite pins on one of my lanyards

 So one of my favorites are pin boards, you can hold a lot of pins and you can even decorate them with cool designs.

I had an old cork board lying around so I covered it up in some fabric I found. It is kinda hard to see them, but it looks so cool.

But I like the portability of a backpack, you can take them anywhere and can show of some of you best pins. The downside is they can easily get a little scratched. I was online looking for a better option for storing pins when I found something called a Pinfolio. I went on etsy and looked them up. On their etsy site they have a bunch of designs so I looked through them and I found a Figment one. I was so happy. I really like it, it holds quite a few pins and the pins don't feel like they are going to fall out. The only problem is that the back pocket does not have a zipper. But I really love the design and I feel like the pins are protected in there.

The front of my Pinfolio! I picked the Figment one because he is one of my favorites.

These are my Limited Edition and my figment/orange bird collections.

This page is full of mostly Attractions pins and Traders.

The only downside is it can kind of be expensive after awhile. Overall pin trading is a really fun hobby. Especially for a person who goes to Disney World a lot!

I give Pin Trading 4 and half, because it is super fun even thought it has it hiccups!

I give Pinfolio a 4 stars because it is a really solid display unit.

Sketch: Orange Bird and the Tiki Room

Welcome to the Tropical Hideaway you lucky people you! Imagine watching the Tiki Birds with Orange Bird.

Being Californians we were not familiar with "The Little Orange Bird", but we pretty much fell for him from the moment we saw him! He was developed by Walt Disney Productions as a mascot for the Florida Citrus Commission- the original sponsors of the Magic Kingdom Tiki Room. At Walt Disney World the Tiki Room show was called "Tropical Serenade" from 1972 through the 1990's. The version of the show you will find today is a slightly truncated version of the current Disneyland show and goes by the name "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room".

We think of  "The Little Orange Bird" as a mascot for our youngest son since he too is an East Coast creation. He's a big fan of the little guy and we dressed him up in a homemade Orange Bird costume for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and in the sketch he can be seen wearing the costume.