Here is the thing, I know this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea especially for the cost, but I definitely feel for the money and what Disney incorporates, it is a 100% worth it. However, I felt for the steep pricetag of the cost for Boo Bash last year it was worth it too considering all the free treats (popcorn, ice cream and bottled soda and water, plus the overabundance candy).
First and foremost, get yourself a Mickey’s Not So Scary Party event map at the front of the park. Many Cast Members will have them and no matter how acclimated you are to Magic Kingdom, trust me from one Disney professional to another, you need one.
If you watched any of the livestreams on YouTube (I highly suggest ResortTV1), follow the hashtags on social media and/or read any of the blogs, you will see that there were excessive lines. Excessive lines included, but were not limited to ‘rare’ characters like Jack and Sally, Elvis Stitch, Winnie the Pooh and crew donned in Halloween costumes, as well as several of the Fab Five (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Daisy) that are dressed in Halloween costumes, but were in separate locations. The lines for these characters are MASSIVE and can be HOURS.
If meeting the characters are the only thing that you and/or your crew care about, it might be worth it to attempt to get to as many as possible, but just keep in mind that it will suck up a majority of your night (if not all of it). If characters are a fun ‘extra’ to you and/or your family, I would select a character (maybe two) that is NOT Jack and Sally (I heard people waited HOURS or even the whole night for this meet and greet) and let them be your one. There are plenty of opportunities throughout the night to meander around certain areas where other rare characters are frequenting and where the lines won’t have you wasting your whole night. Characters, such as; Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum or the Queen of Hearts were rotating by the tea cups (no pun intended) and Aladdin, Genie, Jasmine, and Abu were by Adventureland. These characters are equally rare and the lines for them were never incredibly long.
Just to give you an idea of wait times, we got in the line for Minnie and Goofy in their Halloween costumes at 7:05 (they started at 7) and we were still in an hour long line. The photopass photographers were excellent however and took their time with the photos which was nice considering how long people waited. However, I had planned to see Halloween Mickey in Town Theater and after this, I was done, which is saying a lot.
The Storybook Circus Dance Party which is also over in this area has Vampirina (my kiddos love this and her), Timon, and again other characters that rotate. The characters are VERY interactivae here and there are no lines because it is a Dance Party. You can get some great photos of your kiddos here getting their boogie on. We did not stay over here long at all as it wasn’t very busy and EV was dying to get her trick or treating underway. Hence, not one picture (shocking I know)
The Magic Shot locations were another thing that had longer lines and depending on where in the parks these locations were is what magic shots were available. Again, if you are a picture magic shot person, the map is important for this as the locations are marked and again, I would look online to see what location offers what pictures so that you are getting what you want. You might also have to request magic shots if you have small kids with you. I often feel they want to get the shot and move one, but if you are a couple or have older kids they find this more manageable for magic shots, as seen below. Do not be afraid to ask for a magic shot regardless though.
Here is the thing, 7-12pm seems like a lot of time for an event, but it goes super fast. Between the parades, shows, meet and greets, magic shots, characters roaming and of course the trick or treating locations (again, on the map…see the importance of the map now) you are going to find that before you know it, it is the end of the night.
So no one is disappointed by what they want or could have seen and if you have taken my advice and have researched this event prior, I would prioritize what you want to do and let everything else be a win. We had the best night because of this. Let everyone pick a ‘thing’ that is a reasonable want and go from there. If the ‘want’ is a parade or show I would try to choose the best times based on what everyone else’s ask is. Yes, I wanted Minne and Mickey photos, but best laid plans andonce experiencing what a time sucker it was for Minnie, I figured getting Goofy was already a bonus. In the grand scheme of things, Commodore is at the age to finally understand trick or treating and they were so excited for treats that letting go of Mickey, was not that big a deal, plus they never asked for him so at the end of the day it was obviously more for me anyway.
The only thing I felt I missed was the Headless Horseman taking off down Main Street. The price of the ticket is worth this alone (IYKYK). It is best to be in the middle section of where the middle entrance of the Emporium is and you really do have to get there super early and just wait and again, what toddlers want to wait when there is candy and rides waiting for them? C’est La Vie, there will be other MNSSHP’s! We were able to watch a portion of the Hocus Pocus show (we have seen it multiple times before) and watched parts of the Boo Parade. I only cared about the Haunted Mansion grave diggers so seeing them was a check off the list and the rest of the night was spent doing all the rides. You know what the Commodore’s favorite part of the parade was?! Clara Cluck…true story…I will let you ponder on that a bit!
The lines for trick or treating were not long at all (basically we walked through). This was EV and Commodore’s favorite part, they loved getting the treats, saying
‘trick or treat’ and seeing how much candy they enmassed after.
However, let me tell you the lines for the rides made the whole evening and for guests who are doing this for the first time. We walked on EVERYTHING, including Peter Pan (I will let that sink in). The only ride that had a wait as you can imagine was the Haunted Mansion which have been on more times than I can count so we aimed for rides that we we normally have to wait for and end up passing on if too long.
I have never done the Peter Pan queue before so this was a treat for me and Commodore had not been on the ride since he was a baby so between this being a boat and it flying, he was also having the most magical night of his young life.
If the shows and parades are not your priority, I would take this opportunity to go on the rides that DID have lines like Haunted Mansion or go for the magic shots that were not in front of the castle. Randomly we happened to be in line for the Tomorrowland Speedway and the fireworks happened to start as we started driving which made for the most amazing show of life albeit really jerky because EV was steering.
It will never NOT be funny taking pictures of the Commodore driving.
Several things were going on in Fantasyland which had mama having the most magical night of HER life. Prior to Peter Pan, I had run into Sir Mickey’s shop to look for something for EV and I come out and there is Drizella and Anastasia in the most animated conversation ever with the kiddos. I almost lost my mind. So they walk away randomly (IYKYK) and EV and the Commodore walk over to the Sword and the Stone (another thing that surprisingly we have never done with them) and we let them have a go of it and over walks Drizella and Anastasia and once again begin to interact with the kiddos whereupon these magical pictures were taken.
If anything,this just goes to show you that you can have amazing interactions with the characters in the park without waiting hours, but if you are a rare charater lover, I can fully see why waiting for Jack and Sally or Elvis Stitch would be your priority. We had met Jack and Sally on the Halloween Cruise and Elvis Stitch several MNSSHP’s ago, so we kept to choosing a character that the kids would really appreciate. Anyone else’s kids having difficulty getting into Stitch, such a cool character and my kiddos just don’t appreciate Lilo and Stitch.
Anywho, I digress…
After the most amazing character encounter of life and Peter Pan, we start to walk to Liberty Square and what do I spot, but the reintroduction of Rapunzel’s lantern. I don’t think I gasped so much in my entire life as I did this night. It was like the stars aligned and it was one magical event after the next. Anyway, out of the corner of my eye, I see the lantern and I just about lose it. Poor Sean is just trying not to make eye contact with it because he already knows I am about to yank the stroller out of his hands and make a beeline. Of allll the picture spots in all of Disney, this is my absolute favorite. We have one with us and EV as a baby, one of all four of us when Commodore was a baby and then the pandemic happened and of course the lantern was taken out of the park. We did one on the cruise, but it is during daylight so although the pictures are cute, they are no where near as magical. The line surprisingly was not long at all (I am not sure a lot of people knew that it was there or knew what it was). It did take a bit to get through as the amazing Photopass Assistant with the lantern and photographer really maximized the shot and the families and took their time lining up every shot. I was so excited to have updated pictures I cannot even tell you. Night. Made.
Too lazy to do it now, but I will be erasing all the people in the back ground lol
The 50th Castle during the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween, just hits different. I think it is perfection!
These pictures were incredibly hard to get. One, because of the fog machines (which were awesome FYI) as they made the pictures as you can see really grainy. Two, because the parade backs into the Hocus Pocus Spectacular, there was forever a very large group in front of the castle. Basically everyone and their mother was sitting there to be assured that they had a good spot for both the parade and castle show. All this to say that in order to get these pictures, it was at the very end of the night and it was impossible to get Commodore to listen to any direction including to just to ‘sit and look up’ for two seconds was lost on him. Literally, he doesn’t even have to look at the camera ::cue facepalm emoji::
I love a good surprise, but I will say when it comes to this event, this is the one you should research prior to going. It can be stressful with all the people and trying to do everything so having an idea of how it is laid out, what goes on and where is what will be something that will actually make the night less stressful rather than more. Watching YouTube videos may also make you feel that you experienced something and no longer have the need to see it in person, or it make create the opposite want. Either way these videos will help you evaluate what you want to do and what will be worth the wait. Plus, there are pro tips of when you should be doing them. I knew not to wait for Minnie later in the evening. We did one ‘treat trail’ and then headed to her line right at 7:05, which was still crazy. I heard the queue for Jack and Sally starts at 4pm even though the line was not up and running until 7pm.
I reiterate what I said before: If you are going with a party of people, I would have a plan and prioritize as well as dicuss what things are things you would want, but are not dire or I would let each person pick their one thing and have a discussion regarding how much time it could eat up. If a kiddo sees a wait is two hours for a character and they know that will only leave them two hours for everything else, they might change their mind on what their priority is. We get to do this every year and would I have loved for us to have more character meet and greets and photospots because that is me, but EV and Commodore are of that age where they are loving rides and treats, so we did Minnie (they loved it) and the rest of the time was spent doing the rides and treats and they loved it. As you can see we did not miss much and still experienced so much more than intended.
Definitely looking forward to next year and seeing what the kiddos will want to focus on then. Maybe it will be more pictures…who am I kidding?!
