The Mouse can do Halloween.
For years, my family has been partial to SeaWorld’s Halloween Spooktacular. The candy was abundant, the activities were fun, and the price of an annual pass was affordable.
Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights was way too scary for our little ones, and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party seemed too inconvenient and frankly, at $52 for admission, not worth the extra money.
Boy, were we wrong.
First of all, the ticket is $27 less than a single-day admission to the Magic Kingdom. But you get lots of extra benefits, including all-you-can-eat candy (a bonus for the kids) and virtually no lines for the most popular rides.
We walked on to Peter Pan’s Flight last night, an attraction where lines routinely run 45 minutes. Likewise, we didn’t have to wait for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh or Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, two other popular rides.
Around every corner, we found cast members offering handfuls of candy.
The entire park is “Halloweened” out in orange and red lights (true to its name, not too scary) and there’s a fireworks display, which, unfortunately, we had to miss since I had to get on a plane the next morning. Will my kids ever forgive me for depriving them of the pyrotechnics?
We also caught the “Boo-to-You” Halloween Parade, which starts around 8 p.m. and features Disney characters and the stars of the Haunted Mansion attraction. My kids loved Jack Sparrow’s pirate float, since they’re big fans of the Pirates movies.
There are plenty of other opportunities to see characters up close without much of a wait, another noteworthy contrast to the average day at the park. We saw only one or two lines where costumed kids were waiting to have their pictures taken with Goofy or Mickey.
The Halloween party ticket runs from 7 p.m. until midnight. The park closes early to regular guests.
If you’re going to be in Orlando in October, which is the lowest point of low season, I recommend Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I think the only way they could make it any better is if they included it in the price of general admission. (Yeah, like that will ever happen.)
I think one day when the kids are old enough, we’ll try to hit all three — Disney, SeaWorld and Universal — on the same weekend and publish a side-by-side comparison.
Not sure if I can handle that much candy. But a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.
(Photo: photog_friend/Flickr Creative Commons)
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I took the kids last year and they loved it, too. Disney really does a great job with creating the magic. Well, except for the group of kids from Argentina that tried to jump on the floats as they went by.
Though, I’ve been really disappointed as a FL resident and annual pass holder with the huge unsupervised groups of south american teens. They’re rude, cut lines and just completely out of control. Makes me not want to go to Disney much, especially in the summer.
Hope you have a generous relative for a dentist. ;-)
isnt it a bit early for halloween?
My husband and I had a blast at the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party last year and we have no kids. We loved the fact we were able to get on all the rides with minimal or no lines. The best part was the candy, we felt like kids again.
We never went to this event when we lived in FL and had annual passes, and I really regret it. It sounds great, especially the part about walking on to Peter Pan.
The South American packs of teens were a problem for a few years when we had annual passes, then the economy did a nosedive down there and they seeded to disappear for a while. But when we were back for a vacation in June, 2009 (we no longer live in FL), they were back in full force. My husband and I were very disappointed because they are rather unruly; I think those from Argentina are the worst-behaved.
I have been to Disney maaaaaaaaaaaany times and love the way they do everything. This halloween event is no exception.
I wanted to comment about the “unruly Argentinan teens” as I thought our experiences might have been isolated ones. We stayed at All Star Sports this past July and it was PACKED. I was told there was a soccer tournament (or similiar event) at the sports complex and these were teams. Maybe so but it was crazy. They were out all hours of the night. I had to call security at 3 AM to get them to stop playing soccer on that “football field area” between the 2 buildings (if you’ve been there, you kow what I mean). Wish there was a way they could tell you when you booked if a large youth group was booked for the same time. It wouldn;t make me avoid Disney, just stay at an alternate WDW Resort. When suggested to a WDW Customer Relations rep I was told it would be an invasion of their privacy (hog wash!).
From the glowing reports, I’ll have to add that to my “extra”-Disney experiences. I used to take the family to the “very Merry Xmas Party” every year but first they stopped giving the free family photo, then they stopped giving the “Merry Xmas Party” button which the kids enjoyed collecting and then fast-passes were stopped and the ride lines were so long that it was like being there on a summer day, so we stopped going. Sounds like the October event is a much better deal.
I’m on the west coast and an annual passholder at the Disneyland Resort. Their Trick-or-Treat party is held at the California’s Adventure Park, where tickets run from $32 (advance) – $42 (day of) and the party is at either 6:30 or 7:30 depending on the day. I haven’t attended, but I am curious if readers have any comments to add about the west coast version of this event.
I went the halloween party this year and it was terrible. The lines to see any character or go tricker treating were well over an hour long. Peter pans flight had a minimum 45 minute wait… at over 150 bucks for 3 people it was not worth it i got more done at magic kingdom on a regular week day in just a few hours than i accomplished at the crazyness that was mickeys halloween party… it was so crowded you couldn’t even walk at times you just stood in a crowd of people as though it were a spring break crowd. And the monorails wouldn’t take people to the park everyone had to ride a boat to get in and this clogged things up heavily as well. I don’t know why this was or if they did this every night.