I have grown up as a huge Disney fan. I have always loved watching Disney movies and have loved going to Disney World even more. While I have been to the Disney theme parks more times than I can count, I have never been able to go during Halloween. It has been a goal for me and my younger sister to go to Disney World during Halloween in order to see the special parades, shows, activities, theming, and decorations that they have for the season. This year, over my fall break from college, we were lucky enough to be able to make a quick, nearly 24 hour, trip to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, FL to experience Disney Halloween magic with our parents.
We had a pass to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, which is a private, ticketed event that occurs in Magic Kingdom. Anyone with a regular park pass is kicked out of the park at 6:00 and then the event begins and only those with tickets to Mickey’s Party are allowed to stay in the park. It is during this party only that the seasonal Halloween shows, parade, trick-or-treating, and themed rides are activated. We flew down to Florida to go to this event for the night and then flew back home the next morning. It was an adventure but worth it!
The themed foods were pretty decent. I have never been a huge fan of pumpkin or fall flavors, so there were many that I did not try. One example is this amazing looking pumpkin milkshake (which I ate the whipped cream off of and let my sister have the pumpkin milkshake part of LOL) However, it was exciting to be going throughout the park and see that the menu items had changed and many were now fall or Halloween themed just for the special event. They also had trick or treating spots throughout the park where you could get (quite a large amount of) candy!
During this special event, some of the rides were also specially themed. The Mad Tea Party ride had special halloween lighting, Space Mountain had all of the lights turned off for an extra spooky vibe, and Pirates of the Carribean had extra, real-life pirates added into it.
My favorite part of this special Halloween event was the special parade and shows. The parade, called “Boo to You!”, was seriously cute. They had special Halloween songs and there were a lot of characters featured in the parade that are not typically in parades. The fireworks and castle projector show, which was new to 2019, was absolutely spectacular. The projections were amazing and had my jaw on the floor. There was also a life sized Jack Skellington that walked out onto the stage of the castle – Jack Skellington is not a commonly, if ever, seen character around the park so to see him in the flesh was so cool. They also had a Hocus Pocus show, which was hosted by none other than the Sanderson sisters. It also featured nearly all of the Disney villains, which was my favorite part because it is not often that Disney features their villains in shows or around the park.
While not everyone has the opportunity to go to Disney World for just one night just to experience a Disney Halloween, it is definitely an opportunity not to pass up. Even if you can’t actually be in Disney for Halloween, at least look up some videos of the shows or parade on YouTube – you’ll definitely be feeling the not so scary Disney Halloween spirit!