Our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Experience
Ever since I watched ResortTV1’s live stream of the Halloween party two years ago I’ve wanted to go and this year we were able to make it happen with our family of four (for reference DS is nine and DD is six with hypersensitivity).
As party guests we were allowed to enter Magic Kingdom starting at 4pm, so we arrived at 3:30 and ended up in a large crowd of partygoers waiting outside the ticket gates. The cast members let us in at 3:45 and we secured our wristbands, headed straight to the bathrooms, and then to Pinocchio Village Haus to eat pizza (the original plan was to immediately get in line to meet Jack and Sally, which had a starting wait time of 90 minutes, but the kids needed a bathroom break and were hungry). When we finished eating, we still had an hour and a half before the party started, so we walked around and rode a few rides.
At 7:00, I knew exactly where we needed to be - not on main street, not in front of the castle, not at the Haunted Mansion - but right in front of the Diamond Horseshoe in Liberty Square. I learned from Ron on the Go that Powerline Max does a special performance at this location right at the start of the party. However, unlike all of Ron’s live streams, this time the cast members were redirecting a trick-or-treat line right in front of the Diamond Horseshoe. I started to panic that there wasn’t going to be a performance, but then we heard the upbeat music of Powerline Max and his crew as they came out and redirected us to the pirate stage in Adventureland. So we kicked off the party with a nostalgic rendition of “Eye to Eye,” complete with the perfect cast!
We then hit a few trick-or-treat trails (which were very generous with their candy pours) and secured a viewing spot in the hub for the Hocus Pocus stage show. We stood on the left side of the hub next to the bridge entrance to Liberty Square. The Hocus Pocus stage show started and DD was upset by loud noises, smoke, and fireworks. We had her wear her special noise-canceling headphones to aid with her hypersensitivity, but she was still upset and refused to watch the show. Dad calmed her down and took her to use the bathroom while DS and I finished watching the show. The show was fun and DS is a big fan of Oogie Boogie.
Once the show finished, we stayed put because the parade would be stepping off next. DD returned but was hesitant about the parade and worried that it was going to be too loud, so I had her sit on my lap while the parade went by. She enjoyed seeing Mickey and all the characters and DS loved the Haunted Mansion section (I had to close my ears for the gravediggers - don’t get me wrong, they’re awesome, but I’m not a big fan of the sound of metal scraping against concrete). However, as the parade went on parents were pushing their kids in front of us and blocking our view, but I didn’t mind because I’d seen the parade countless times on YouTube. I did stand up with DD at the end to see the villains come through because that’s my favorite part.
After the parade it was time to ride Haunted Mansion. Dad and DS went first and then DS rode a second time with me. I love Haunted Mansion and riding it during the Halloween party felt extra special. The fireworks were coming up next, and we knew we had to get DD to a safe place away from the loud noise of the booms. We took her to the kids’ dance party inside Cosmic Ray’s and Dad stayed with her while DS and I watched the fireworks. DS loved the fireworks and had strong opinions about which fireworks were superior to others (the fireworks that just shot up and disappeared without bursting ranked low on his list).
The fireworks were the last scheduled item on our family’s list. For the remaining two hours of the party, we did trick-or-treat trails, rode Tomorrowland Speedway and Under the Sea at DD’s request, and rocked out to the DescenDANCE Party. Dad rode Space Mountain solo to experience the pitch-black overlay for the party (he said the ride wasn’t as thrilling because it didn’t have racing lights to make it appear like the roller coaster is moving faster than it is). At the end of the party we made our way to transportation with four full bags of candy and tired children.
Overall, it was a great experience and every member of the family found something that they enjoyed about the party. I’ll admit though, five hours went by fast. While we did hit all the main attractions and shows, there wasn’t any downtime to just relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the party. One thing is for sure, we got our money’s worth of candy to take home.
