August 19, 2023 • 24 mins
We're back from our year-long hiatus with a bag full of memories and tips to share. In this episode, we are taking a close look at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. With exclusive stage shows, fireworks, parade and more - is this after-hours event at the Magic Kingdom worth your time? Join us as we answer that question!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nick (00:08):
Hi everybody and welcome to Raised On the Dis.
I'm your host, Nick.
Zoleanne (00:12):
And this is Zoleanne.
Hi everyone.
Nick (00:14):
Well, we're back after a bit of a hiatus, and by a bit of
a hiatus I mean we were off ofdoing the podcast for about a
year, but during that time wemaintained our love of Disney.
We kept an eye on how manyfolks were downloading the
podcast and how many people wereliking the page on Facebook,
(00:36):
and we noticed that that wasstill happening, and so we
thought what better time thannow to get back into it, and we
have a lot of new things to talkabout as well.
Zoleanne (00:46):
Yeah, I mean, the past year has just been busy with,
you know, just life things thekids and work but this is
something we always wanted tocircle back around to.
Nick (00:55):
And we've had a lot of Disney experiences over the past
year, obviously, and we'rereacting to news that comes out
all the time about Disney andtalking about you know whether
we're excited about things likeMoana Journey of Water coming to
Epcot or while we rode Tronover the past year as well.
So that is coming up and as OliAnn is scared to death of
(01:16):
roller coasters for the mostpart, right, I mean you like
Everest, but you were reallyafraid of riding Tron, but I was
terrified, yes you are brave.
And what happened?
Zoleanne (01:26):
I did it.
So for any of you who have beento Magic Kingdom since Tron
launched for lack of a betterterm it can be intimidating,
especially watching that launch,as you're standing in the line
to get into the building, and so, yeah, I was terrified.
I was standing with Christianwatching that, but I got on Tron
(01:49):
and it was awesome.
We'll save the rest of it for afuture episode We'll have to
like you know, really dive intotalking about the ride, but it
was great.
That's my review.
Nick (01:59):
Speaking of our son, Christian.
In February, we had theopportunity to take a quick trip
out to California andexperience, tim and I,
disneyland for the first time,which was really cool, and we'll
cover that on an upcomingepisode as well.
So you know basically all ofthat to say that we have a lot
to talk about, and we had thisconversation over and over again
(02:21):
.
We've had some really coolexperiences over the past year
that we'd like to pass along toyou all, and we miss doing this,
and so we have a lot to say andwe'll be dropping episodes here
weekly and talking about all ofthe cool things that you can do
whether you're in Florida orCalifornia.
But we're talking aboutsomething today, your favorite
(02:46):
time of the year, which isHalloween.
Zoleanne (02:49):
Yes, I know, I know it's only August, but you know,
if you're a Disney fan, you knowthat by about the second week
of August the Halloweendecorations are coming out.
The Jack-O-lanterns are comingout in Magic Kingdom, main
Street is now decorated in itsbeautiful fall decor and we are
officially in Halloween time.
Nick (03:12):
Well, we haven't decorated here yet which is you know
that's an accomplishment,because we usually break out the
Halloween decorations about thefirst week of September.
Yeah, they're coming.
We're in mid-August here mid tolate August and they haven't
come out yet.
So we'll wait to see whathappens.
But let's talk about Mickey'sNot so Scary Halloween Party.
We were there last year inSeptember for this party.
(03:33):
We actually dodged a hurricane.
We got out of town about a daybefore the hurricane hit in late
September last year.
Zoleanne (03:42):
Yes, we were one of the last flights out of Orlando
International at the time, so,yeah, we just missed the
hurricane, but it was.
You know, we kind of went downthere for a quick weekend with
the kids to surprise them withthis Mickey's Not so Scary
Halloween.
We had never done that beforeso we really didn't know what to
expect, but it was.
(04:03):
It was a really awesomeexperience.
Nick (04:07):
So we're recording this on August 18th and the party
started on August 11th and theyrun through November 1st 2023.
How would you describe Mickey'snot so scary Halloween parties,
Zoleanne?
Zoleanne (04:21):
You know, it's really unlike anything that I had
experienced at the parks before.
I mean, up until that point wenever went to any kind of
special event like this like aparty.
I know that they have thingsfor Christmas and things like
that.
We had never been there duringthat time.
So this, I was really kind ofgoing into it not knowing what
(04:44):
to expect, but it was just somuch fun.
I mean, there were shows at thecastle, there was an awesome
parade, trick or treating.
The kids could go around to thedifferent rides and go trick or
treating and there were somereally awesome characters just
kind of floating around the park.
So it was very unique.
It's not like you know, eventhough it was a magic kingdom,
(05:07):
you got to see some things thatyou know you would have not seen
on a regular day.
Nick (05:11):
Yeah, the characters are what our kids would call ultra
rare.
I do know that this year allseven dwarfs are part of
Mickey's not so scary Halloweenparty, and so if you're heading
out to that, the Wicked Stepssisters are part of it as well.
I feel like they're probablyout quite a bit on a regular day
at the magic kingdom.
But as we're looking at some ofthe things that you can do, I'm
(05:32):
just going to kind of walkthrough our night.
So when you're walking into thepark, first of all, if you buy
tickets to this and it is not ifyou go to magic kingdom that
day, it's not included in youradmission, so you have to buy
this separately.
It does cost similar to thecost of a park ticket, but you
do get a discount if you're anannual pass holder or a member
(05:53):
of Disney Vacation Club.
We actually let our annualpasses go over the past couple
months just because we weren'tgetting down to Disney as much
as we used to, but we still aremembers of Disney Vacation Club,
so you do get a bit of adiscount if you're in one of
those two groups.
But what you need to know aboutadmission is that you can then
enter Magic Kingdom.
(06:13):
If you have tickets to thisevent at four o'clock and so you
know the event runs throughmidnight, you're basically
getting eight hours in the park.
If you think about a regular day, you probably spend a little
more than eight hours in thepark.
If you're going on a regularpark day, most days sometimes
you might not.
I mean, if you're down rightnow, it's very hot in Disney in
(06:34):
the summer, so you might notspend eight consecutive hours.
So as you're thinking about thevalue, I think the value is
relatively good for what you get.
We're gonna talk about some ofthe things that you can do for
Mickey's Not so Scary HalloweenParty.
But this is a leveled upexperience from a typical park
day.
But as you're walking into thepark, you're seeing people that
(06:57):
are dressed up as all of theirfavorite characters.
The park actually encouragesyou to dress up.
Zoleanne (07:02):
Now you can't wear masks or anything Anything that
presents a security risk you'renot going to want to do and you
can't do, and you can'tobviously take weapons and a
sword or anything.
That's obviously all prohibited.
But yeah, I mean, some of thecostumes were really awesome.
I remember seeing someonedressed as Yzma, which is the
villain from Emperor's NewGroove, so kind of like those
(07:26):
rare characters you don't seevery often, and the costume was
fantastic.
We did not go to that extreme.
We were very limited on spaceand our luggage and so we just
went as the Incredibles.
We just all had matchingIncredibles shirts, and there
were a lot of people that didthings like that too.
So they were costumes that weresuper elaborate.
And then you also saw thingsthat were much more simple and
(07:48):
some people didn't even dress up.
So it's all what you want to doand what you want to put into
it.
Nick (07:54):
So I actually made the comment.
Today we were having aconversation and I said it's the
coolest thing that I've everdone in a Disney park.
I would imagine that theChristmas party is probably the
same, but I just want to talkthrough some of the things that
you're able to do.
So you have the Hocus PocusVillain Spectacular.
This runs two times throughoutthe night.
(08:15):
It's a stage show at the castlewith the Sanderson sisters and
they're incredible.
They're awesome.
I mean they're very similar tothe original actresses in the
movies and it's a great show.
Oogie Boogie's in it andanything that Oogie Boogie's in.
I mean, I'm there for it.
A lot of the villains are in it.
But this is.
I don't like stage shows.
(08:36):
I skip them at everyopportunity.
I also skip parades, but we'lltalk about the parade in just a
minute.
But this stage show is reallygood.
Zoleanne (08:44):
It's really good.
I think what I love the mostabout this is the fact that you
see all of these differentvillains, not just you know the
main ones that you tend to thinkof, like Maleficent, for
example, but you know even, likeyou mentioned, oogie Boogie is
there.
Dr Facilier, who I think isterribly underrated.
I think he's such a coolcharacter.
(09:05):
He is there.
And then, of course, thoseSanderson sisters.
Last year when we went, thatwas right before, I believe, or
around the time that the HocusPocus 2 film came out on Disney
Plus.
So there was a lot of hype andexcitement around the Sanderson
sisters being at that particularperformance.
But it's awesome.
The singing is awesome, it'slike it's literally like you're
(09:26):
watching a Broadway production.
There's projections on thecastle, it's fantastic.
Nick (09:34):
So I had some false information.
I said it was twice.
It's actually three timesthroughout the celebration.
So times vary and they're veryeasy to find on the internet.
As far as what time the HocusPocus villain specks
Spelltacular it's calledSpelltacular takes place, but
one of the other things is and Ihave to be honest we didn't get
(09:55):
a very good position for thesefireworks but at 10, 15 pm and
this is across the entireHalloween party.
So whatever date you go,there's the Disney's not so
spooky spell.
This is Spelltacular fireworks.
This is hosted by JackSkellington.
There is an animatronic it'sprobably 20 feet tall of Jack
(10:18):
Skellington, so you'll be ableto see this all the way back
Main Street.
We were kind of blocked bytrees.
We couldn't see very well.
Our son, who loves NightmareBefore Christmas and Ogie Boogie
and Jack Skellington was.
He was four at the time but hedecided that he would be scared
to death of this show If thefireworks are really good and
(10:40):
obviously a completely differentshow than what is offered on a
nightly basis at Magic Kingdom,which is happily ever after.
Zoleanne (10:47):
Right and you know, and despite the fact that we we
didn't have the best seats, youknow it's, it's just the whole
vibe of being there, and I don'tknow whether it's just because
I'm a Halloween person and Ijust love all of that, but it's
just fun.
So you know, I would say, don'tstress about necessarily
getting there and trying to getthe best seat, because of course
(11:07):
you're going to miss out ondoing other things because
you're going to be sitting therereserving your seat, Um, but
just, you know, try to get thebest kind of place that you can
and just enjoy it.
Nick (11:20):
You know, regardless of what your view is, Now, the
highlight of the night for usand we've had this conversation
recently and we both agree on itis the Mickey's Boo to you
Halloween parade.
We had some of that music tostart the episode.
We'll wrap up with it as well.
This is presented one twice,twice during the night at nine,
15 and 11, 15.
(11:40):
We went to the later.
It will take the entirety ofthe rest of the time.
The park is open from 1115 to1145.
If you're standing out on theend of Main Street, usa, by the
important, which is where wewere, but by the time it was
over, this is just how long thisparade is.
It takes a long time to workthrough, but if you talk about
(12:04):
just some of the things that yousee during this that you don't
get to see on a regular day, theheadless horseman.
Yeah, you like that.
Zoleanne (12:11):
It's led by the headless horseman and what's so
cool.
Like we were back actually bylike the like, kind of like the
very tail end, um, by like thefire station, and it just got
very, you know, becauseobviously I couldn't see what
was coming down Main Street, butit got kind of very quiet and
then all of a sudden, you know,we could hear these like these
hooves from the horse kind of onthe on the pavement coming down
(12:35):
Main Street and then you cansee the headless horseman and he
is leading the parade.
And so, again for a Halloweengeek like myself, like that was
really really cool to see.
But there were other charactersthat you know your kids might
recognize more.
Like you know, jack Sparrow,the, you know the Pirates of the
(12:55):
Caribbean had a float.
Haunted Mansion had a float,and it wasn't just a float but
there were actually charactersout dancing and, and you know,
just doing some really reallyawesome things.
It was cool to look at.
Nick (13:05):
Max's power line is really popular.
He's in there too pretty earlyon in the parade.
Highlights for me were the factthat basically every ride in
the park is represented in someway with really which super
impressive about it is, withmore than one float.
So just take the HauntedMansion, for instance.
You have dancing ghosts, whichare really cool because the
(13:29):
makeup is is incredible and it'sjust it's.
It says the, as Gen Z says,it's a whole vibe.
But also you have thehitchhiking ghosts.
They have their own float.
And then you have grave diggersand I don't know how they do it
, but they scrape their shovelsagainst the, the Kong, the
asphalt, and sparks fly up.
Zoleanne (13:48):
And then they they, it's all.
Nick (13:50):
it's all choreographed and everything.
But also there's the countrybears, there's characters that
you don't see all the time, likeWreck-It Ralph and Vanellope,
and there's just it's basicallylike a whole representation of
the park, and it goes on for apretty long time.
Zoleanne (14:08):
Right, and then it ends with you know Mickey and
Minnie, and you know on their,their float, and we see all
those classic characters, yeah,and so Carter slept through that
as well.
Nick (14:17):
Um, we're hoping to make it back so that he can get to
experience all of those things,Um, now that he's a year older.
But um, let's talk about someother things.
Um, one thing we didn't get tosee a ton of, but they're,
they're just kind of around and,um, you know, you see them as
you're around the park is, uh,dapper dance.
(14:38):
They're called the cadaverdance during, um, Mickey's not
so scary Halloween party,because they're in kind of
cadaver makeup.
Zoleanne (14:45):
Right.
Nick (14:45):
They perform in frontier land and where they're going to
be is over on top of countrybear jamboree.
If you're familiar with Disney,it's where Chip and Dale are a
lot, or where the country bearsare.
Yeah and so, um, they performat seven, seven, 45, eight, 30,
nine, 50 and 10, 30.
And they have a list of spookysongs that they sing.
(15:09):
Um, but let's talk about trickor treating, yeah.
So, let's talk about how thatworks, because people hear about
trick or treating and theymight wonder how how that works.
But um, let's, let's talk aboutsome places where you can find
that Okay, and how it how itworks.
Zoleanne (15:26):
So when we first came into the park, like you said it,
you know it kind of opens up atfour o'clock, Um, there are
stations, like we went to the um.
Tortuga Tavern was where we wehad to go um in Adventureland in
order to get our, our risks.
We kind of check in, almost uhto the party, so you get your
wristbands, um, and theneverybody in your party also
(15:47):
gets a trick or treat bag, Um,and so then when everything gets
started, uh, there are likedifferent sort of stops and you
do get like sort of an agenda,almost, and a map and everything
, um, whenever you pick up your,your band and your bag.
So you know exactly whereeverything is and what time
everything is.
So you don't need to, like youknow, be searching your phones
(16:07):
constantly, Um, but you knowexactly where to go, Um, and you
, you, basically you know, you,you, when you kids, you go into
these, these different areas, um, that has the candy, Um, and
you can just start filling upyour bags.
I know I'm just thinking aboutkind of like that front Tearland
area.
I know Country Bear Jamboree,um, they had candy where they
kind of wove you through thebuilding and you were able to
(16:30):
get trick or treat candy.
Also, Columbia Harbor house didas well.
Um, and so there are justdifferent places throughout the
park, and so it's fun for forkids to be able to go and to, to
be able to fill up those bagsas they're kind of walking past
on their way to different ridesor, uh, some of those shows that
we mentioned.
Nick (16:49):
And so there's many of these trick or treat locations
across, uh, disney world forexample, one at carousel of
progress, there's another oneoutside of space mountain,
between space mountain Tron,there's one in Liberty square
that I remember very well fromlast year, there is one in
Frontierland, several inAdventureland, and so there's
(17:12):
just these different areas whereyou can and they're, they're
very efficient, so they give youa bag, you start you out with a
full candy bar too, which waspretty cool.
Oh, I forgot about that, yeah,so, um, you walk through and
they, they're, they're verygenerous with candy, they'll,
they'll just fill up a couple ofhandfuls, yeah, um, and you can
go through anytime throughoutthe night.
And a couple of little thingsthat I wanted to mention too is,
(17:34):
um, that they have specialmerchandise for making us not so
scary Halloween party as well.
Um, some limited edition thingsfor people who are really
interested in that.
We talked a little bit about,um, the rare characters that are
out as well.
Lines tend to get pretty longfor those, and so that wasn't
something that we took advantageof.
(17:54):
I mean, for me, I mean, if I'mwalking by and I can see the
character, I mean I don't haveto stand in line to get my
picture taken with them, right?
Zoleanne (18:03):
I mean it's it's just like any other park day.
You know you can't doeverything, so you kind of have
to prioritize what you or peoplein your party want to do.
So you know, if you want toride rides, if that's your big
thing, then that's what you'regoing to prioritize.
If the character meet andgreets, if that's something you
want to do, then that's whatyou're going to spend time, or
most of your time, doing.
(18:23):
But keep in mind that there aregoing to be lines and so then
you're going to sacrifice.
You know other things.
So it's yeah, it's really allwhat you want to do.
I know we really didn't umother than, like you said, at a
distance, maybe getting somepictures, but we didn't actually
go up to meet anyone.
Nick (18:39):
So, uh, lines, because people may have that question as
well.
There's there's a number oflocations that are open.
I just want to go down throughand talk about a few of the
rides that you can do.
Uh, whenever you go to Mickey'snot so scary Halloween party.
So, um, in Adventureland, magicCarpets of Aladdin, pirates of
(18:59):
the Caribbean, swiss FamilyTreehouse, big Thunder Mountains
open in Frontierland.
Um, in Fantasyland you haveit's a small world the Carousel,
peter Pan's Flight, winnie thePooh, mad Tea Party with a
Halloween twist.
They play Halloween musicduring it.
Under the sea with the littlemermaid is open and seven door
smine train.
The haunted mansion is open.
(19:20):
Um, in the past they've had aHalloween twist here, but it
doesn't mention that on thiswebsite, so they might not have
that this year.
Dumbo is open in StorybookCircus along with the
barnstormer, and then inTomorrowland you have Astro
Orbiter, buzz Lightyear,monsters Inc has a Halloween
twist.
Um, it has also twoopportunities to get candy in
(19:42):
that attraction, so it's sort ofa walkthrough.
The show goes on basically thewhole time and it's Halloween
themed, but it's an opportunityto get in.
Space Mountain has a Halloweentwist as well, and then
Tomorrowland Speedway andTomorrowland Transit Authority
People Mover is open as well.
Tron is open.
It's a virtual queue, right, soit operates in the same way
(20:03):
that extended hours operate.
You'll have to log on to yourapp.
I'm not exactly sure on thetime that you need to do that,
but all of that information isavailable on the Disney my
Experience app and it will beeasily accessible to you that
day.
Right, our experience with AfterHours and Tron is good.
We had no issues in our lasttrip getting into the virtual
(20:27):
queue the wait so we'll talkabout this more in a future
episode about Tron specifically.
But don't expect, when you geta virtual queue spot for Tron,
if it's not in the early morning, you're going to wait, and you
could wait up to 45 to 50minutes.
We'll talk about it later on ina future episode.
(20:48):
The wait is worth it.
Your luck is probably going tobe a little bit better during
the Halloween party as far asyour wait, than even regular
extended hours for deluxe guests, but just something to keep in
mind.
And then, the last thing Iwanted to mention is something
that's new this year is theyhave a band of pirates that are
roaming around Adventurelandsinging Sea Shanties.
Zoleanne (21:12):
Oh, that's awesome.
Nick (21:13):
That's something new.
In the past they've had livepirates.
I'm not sure if that's stillpart of it in Pirates of the
Caribbean.
Zoleanne (21:19):
That was cool.
Nick (21:20):
Honestly, it didn't do a lot for me because it was just a
couple of people in the queueand the one person in the ride
and so it wasn't that big of adeal.
But to really wrap it up withMickey's Not so Scary Halloween
Party, we want to do it again.
So I definitely would say foranybody who is on the fence
about doing it, do it.
(21:41):
Don't let the fact that it isaround the same price as a
regular admission day scare youaway.
My recommendation is take abreak that day.
Go to the pool If you'restaying offsite, maybe go do
something else and then headover to the park to be there at
four o'clock.
You can still get eight hoursin.
(22:03):
That's a pretty extensive day.
So my recommendation is thatyou definitely do the party,
skip a park that day and berefreshed for the evening.
Zoleanne (22:15):
Yeah, I agree, and of course if you're a local that's
not an issue.
Then you just make your wayfrom your house on over to the
park at the time that you canget in there.
But no, I agree, it'sdefinitely a unique experience.
It's something that if you're afan of Disney and you're a fan
of this time of year, todefinitely check out.
I think if you have young kidsand I'm not saying very small, I
(22:37):
mean you know your children, sosome kids might be freaked out
by some of this stuff.
But if your kids are a littleolder and they're into Halloween
, that they will probably likeit as well.
And it is what you make it justlike any normal park day, so
you can kind of tailor it toyourself, to your party, what
you all want to do.
Nick (22:55):
Well, it's been good to be back.
We have a lot to talk about inepisodes to come.
We used to think about, okay,what are we gonna do for the
next episode, and really wouldkind of stress over that and
really brainstorm.
But we've got a lot of contentthat we can bring to you in the
coming weeks here, between ourtrip to Disneyland, my son and I
and also with Tron and manyother things that we've
(23:19):
experienced over the past yearand you know wouldn't even say
that we've gone to Disney a tonin the past year since we've won
our hiatus but we've just had alot of unique experiences that
I think would be good to passalong to people.
Zoleanne (23:33):
Yeah, and there are a lot of new things happening,
like I feel like there are somethings that we've been talking
about for a really long time,like the Moana, the water
feature.
Nick (23:41):
The journey of water.
Zoleanne (23:42):
yes, Right, I feel like we've been talking about
that for a while.
It's still not open, but youknow there have been new things
like Guardians of the Galaxy,Tron, of course.
So, yeah, we have a lot of coolthings to talk about.
Nick (23:54):
Well, that'll do it for this episode of Raised on the
Diz.
Zoleanne (23:57):
Have a magical day.
Nick (23:58):
And have a great big, beautiful tomorrow.
Zoleanne (24:03):
Happy.
Nick (24:04):
Halloween everybody.
Hi everybody and welcome to Raised On the Dis.
I'm your host, Nick.
Zoleanne (00:12):
And this is Zoleanne.
Hi everyone.
Nick (00:14):
Well, we're back after a bit of a hiatus, and by a bit of
a hiatus I mean we were off ofdoing the podcast for about a
year, but during that time wemaintained our love of Disney.
We kept an eye on how manyfolks were downloading the
podcast and how many people wereliking the page on Facebook,
(00:36):
and we noticed that that wasstill happening, and so we
thought what better time thannow to get back into it, and we
have a lot of new things to talkabout as well.
Zoleanne (00:46):
Yeah, I mean, the past year has just been busy with,
you know, just life things thekids and work but this is
something we always wanted tocircle back around to.
Nick (00:55):
And we've had a lot of Disney experiences over the past
year, obviously, and we'rereacting to news that comes out
all the time about Disney andtalking about you know whether
we're excited about things likeMoana Journey of Water coming to
Epcot or while we rode Tronover the past year as well.
So that is coming up and as OliAnn is scared to death of
(01:16):
roller coasters for the mostpart, right, I mean you like
Everest, but you were reallyafraid of riding Tron, but I was
terrified, yes you are brave.
And what happened?
Zoleanne (01:26):
I did it.
So for any of you who have beento Magic Kingdom since Tron
launched for lack of a betterterm it can be intimidating,
especially watching that launch,as you're standing in the line
to get into the building, and so, yeah, I was terrified.
I was standing with Christianwatching that, but I got on Tron
(01:49):
and it was awesome.
We'll save the rest of it for afuture episode We'll have to
like you know, really dive intotalking about the ride, but it
was great.
That's my review.
Nick (01:59):
Speaking of our son, Christian.
In February, we had theopportunity to take a quick trip
out to California andexperience, tim and I,
disneyland for the first time,which was really cool, and we'll
cover that on an upcomingepisode as well.
So you know basically all ofthat to say that we have a lot
to talk about, and we had thisconversation over and over again
(02:21):
.
We've had some really coolexperiences over the past year
that we'd like to pass along toyou all, and we miss doing this,
and so we have a lot to say andwe'll be dropping episodes here
weekly and talking about all ofthe cool things that you can do
whether you're in Florida orCalifornia.
But we're talking aboutsomething today, your favorite
(02:46):
time of the year, which isHalloween.
Zoleanne (02:49):
Yes, I know, I know it's only August, but you know,
if you're a Disney fan, you knowthat by about the second week
of August the Halloweendecorations are coming out.
The Jack-O-lanterns are comingout in Magic Kingdom, main
Street is now decorated in itsbeautiful fall decor and we are
officially in Halloween time.
Nick (03:12):
Well, we haven't decorated here yet which is you know
that's an accomplishment,because we usually break out the
Halloween decorations about thefirst week of September.
Yeah, they're coming.
We're in mid-August here mid tolate August and they haven't
come out yet.
So we'll wait to see whathappens.
But let's talk about Mickey'sNot so Scary Halloween Party.
We were there last year inSeptember for this party.
(03:33):
We actually dodged a hurricane.
We got out of town about a daybefore the hurricane hit in late
September last year.
Zoleanne (03:42):
Yes, we were one of the last flights out of Orlando
International at the time, so,yeah, we just missed the
hurricane, but it was.
You know, we kind of went downthere for a quick weekend with
the kids to surprise them withthis Mickey's Not so Scary
Halloween.
We had never done that beforeso we really didn't know what to
expect, but it was.
(04:03):
It was a really awesomeexperience.
Nick (04:07):
So we're recording this on August 18th and the party
started on August 11th and theyrun through November 1st 2023.
How would you describe Mickey'snot so scary Halloween parties,
Zoleanne?
Zoleanne (04:21):
You know, it's really unlike anything that I had
experienced at the parks before.
I mean, up until that point wenever went to any kind of
special event like this like aparty.
I know that they have thingsfor Christmas and things like
that.
We had never been there duringthat time.
So this, I was really kind ofgoing into it not knowing what
(04:44):
to expect, but it was just somuch fun.
I mean, there were shows at thecastle, there was an awesome
parade, trick or treating.
The kids could go around to thedifferent rides and go trick or
treating and there were somereally awesome characters just
kind of floating around the park.
So it was very unique.
It's not like you know, eventhough it was a magic kingdom,
(05:07):
you got to see some things thatyou know you would have not seen
on a regular day.
Nick (05:11):
Yeah, the characters are what our kids would call ultra
rare.
I do know that this year allseven dwarfs are part of
Mickey's not so scary Halloweenparty, and so if you're heading
out to that, the Wicked Stepssisters are part of it as well.
I feel like they're probablyout quite a bit on a regular day
at the magic kingdom.
But as we're looking at some ofthe things that you can do, I'm
(05:32):
just going to kind of walkthrough our night.
So when you're walking into thepark, first of all, if you buy
tickets to this and it is not ifyou go to magic kingdom that
day, it's not included in youradmission, so you have to buy
this separately.
It does cost similar to thecost of a park ticket, but you
do get a discount if you're anannual pass holder or a member
(05:53):
of Disney Vacation Club.
We actually let our annualpasses go over the past couple
months just because we weren'tgetting down to Disney as much
as we used to, but we still aremembers of Disney Vacation Club,
so you do get a bit of adiscount if you're in one of
those two groups.
But what you need to know aboutadmission is that you can then
enter Magic Kingdom.
(06:13):
If you have tickets to thisevent at four o'clock and so you
know the event runs throughmidnight, you're basically
getting eight hours in the park.
If you think about a regular day, you probably spend a little
more than eight hours in thepark.
If you're going on a regularpark day, most days sometimes
you might not.
I mean, if you're down rightnow, it's very hot in Disney in
(06:34):
the summer, so you might notspend eight consecutive hours.
So as you're thinking about thevalue, I think the value is
relatively good for what you get.
We're gonna talk about some ofthe things that you can do for
Mickey's Not so Scary HalloweenParty.
But this is a leveled upexperience from a typical park
day.
But as you're walking into thepark, you're seeing people that
(06:57):
are dressed up as all of theirfavorite characters.
The park actually encouragesyou to dress up.
Zoleanne (07:02):
Now you can't wear masks or anything Anything that
presents a security risk you'renot going to want to do and you
can't do, and you can'tobviously take weapons and a
sword or anything.
That's obviously all prohibited.
But yeah, I mean, some of thecostumes were really awesome.
I remember seeing someonedressed as Yzma, which is the
villain from Emperor's NewGroove, so kind of like those
(07:26):
rare characters you don't seevery often, and the costume was
fantastic.
We did not go to that extreme.
We were very limited on spaceand our luggage and so we just
went as the Incredibles.
We just all had matchingIncredibles shirts, and there
were a lot of people that didthings like that too.
So they were costumes that weresuper elaborate.
And then you also saw thingsthat were much more simple and
(07:48):
some people didn't even dress up.
So it's all what you want to doand what you want to put into
it.
Nick (07:54):
So I actually made the comment.
Today we were having aconversation and I said it's the
coolest thing that I've everdone in a Disney park.
I would imagine that theChristmas party is probably the
same, but I just want to talkthrough some of the things that
you're able to do.
So you have the Hocus PocusVillain Spectacular.
This runs two times throughoutthe night.
(08:15):
It's a stage show at the castlewith the Sanderson sisters and
they're incredible.
They're awesome.
I mean they're very similar tothe original actresses in the
movies and it's a great show.
Oogie Boogie's in it andanything that Oogie Boogie's in.
I mean, I'm there for it.
A lot of the villains are in it.
But this is.
I don't like stage shows.
(08:36):
I skip them at everyopportunity.
I also skip parades, but we'lltalk about the parade in just a
minute.
But this stage show is reallygood.
Zoleanne (08:44):
It's really good.
I think what I love the mostabout this is the fact that you
see all of these differentvillains, not just you know the
main ones that you tend to thinkof, like Maleficent, for
example, but you know even, likeyou mentioned, oogie Boogie is
there.
Dr Facilier, who I think isterribly underrated.
I think he's such a coolcharacter.
(09:05):
He is there.
And then, of course, thoseSanderson sisters.
Last year when we went, thatwas right before, I believe, or
around the time that the HocusPocus 2 film came out on Disney
Plus.
So there was a lot of hype andexcitement around the Sanderson
sisters being at that particularperformance.
But it's awesome.
The singing is awesome, it'slike it's literally like you're
(09:26):
watching a Broadway production.
There's projections on thecastle, it's fantastic.
Nick (09:34):
So I had some false information.
I said it was twice.
It's actually three timesthroughout the celebration.
So times vary and they're veryeasy to find on the internet.
As far as what time the HocusPocus villain specks
Spelltacular it's calledSpelltacular takes place, but
one of the other things is and Ihave to be honest we didn't get
(09:55):
a very good position for thesefireworks but at 10, 15 pm and
this is across the entireHalloween party.
So whatever date you go,there's the Disney's not so
spooky spell.
This is Spelltacular fireworks.
This is hosted by JackSkellington.
There is an animatronic it'sprobably 20 feet tall of Jack
(10:18):
Skellington, so you'll be ableto see this all the way back
Main Street.
We were kind of blocked bytrees.
We couldn't see very well.
Our son, who loves NightmareBefore Christmas and Ogie Boogie
and Jack Skellington was.
He was four at the time but hedecided that he would be scared
to death of this show If thefireworks are really good and
(10:40):
obviously a completely differentshow than what is offered on a
nightly basis at Magic Kingdom,which is happily ever after.
Zoleanne (10:47):
Right and you know, and despite the fact that we we
didn't have the best seats, youknow it's, it's just the whole
vibe of being there, and I don'tknow whether it's just because
I'm a Halloween person and Ijust love all of that, but it's
just fun.
So you know, I would say, don'tstress about necessarily
getting there and trying to getthe best seat, because of course
(11:07):
you're going to miss out ondoing other things because
you're going to be sitting therereserving your seat, Um, but
just, you know, try to get thebest kind of place that you can
and just enjoy it.
Nick (11:20):
You know, regardless of what your view is, Now, the
highlight of the night for usand we've had this conversation
recently and we both agree on itis the Mickey's Boo to you
Halloween parade.
We had some of that music tostart the episode.
We'll wrap up with it as well.
This is presented one twice,twice during the night at nine,
15 and 11, 15.
(11:40):
We went to the later.
It will take the entirety ofthe rest of the time.
The park is open from 1115 to1145.
If you're standing out on theend of Main Street, usa, by the
important, which is where wewere, but by the time it was
over, this is just how long thisparade is.
It takes a long time to workthrough, but if you talk about
(12:04):
just some of the things that yousee during this that you don't
get to see on a regular day, theheadless horseman.
Yeah, you like that.
Zoleanne (12:11):
It's led by the headless horseman and what's so
cool.
Like we were back actually bylike the like, kind of like the
very tail end, um, by like thefire station, and it just got
very, you know, becauseobviously I couldn't see what
was coming down Main Street, butit got kind of very quiet and
then all of a sudden, you know,we could hear these like these
hooves from the horse kind of onthe on the pavement coming down
(12:35):
Main Street and then you cansee the headless horseman and he
is leading the parade.
And so, again for a Halloweengeek like myself, like that was
really really cool to see.
But there were other charactersthat you know your kids might
recognize more.
Like you know, jack Sparrow,the, you know the Pirates of the
(12:55):
Caribbean had a float.
Haunted Mansion had a float,and it wasn't just a float but
there were actually charactersout dancing and, and you know,
just doing some really reallyawesome things.
It was cool to look at.
Nick (13:05):
Max's power line is really popular.
He's in there too pretty earlyon in the parade.
Highlights for me were the factthat basically every ride in
the park is represented in someway with really which super
impressive about it is, withmore than one float.
So just take the HauntedMansion, for instance.
You have dancing ghosts, whichare really cool because the
(13:29):
makeup is is incredible and it'sjust it's.
It says the, as Gen Z says,it's a whole vibe.
But also you have thehitchhiking ghosts.
They have their own float.
And then you have grave diggersand I don't know how they do it
, but they scrape their shovelsagainst the, the Kong, the
asphalt, and sparks fly up.
Zoleanne (13:48):
And then they they, it's all.
Nick (13:50):
it's all choreographed and everything.
But also there's the countrybears, there's characters that
you don't see all the time, likeWreck-It Ralph and Vanellope,
and there's just it's basicallylike a whole representation of
the park, and it goes on for apretty long time.
Zoleanne (14:08):
Right, and then it ends with you know Mickey and
Minnie, and you know on their,their float, and we see all
those classic characters, yeah,and so Carter slept through that
as well.
Nick (14:17):
Um, we're hoping to make it back so that he can get to
experience all of those things,Um, now that he's a year older.
But um, let's talk about someother things.
Um, one thing we didn't get tosee a ton of, but they're,
they're just kind of around and,um, you know, you see them as
you're around the park is, uh,dapper dance.
(14:38):
They're called the cadaverdance during, um, Mickey's not
so scary Halloween party,because they're in kind of
cadaver makeup.
Zoleanne (14:45):
Right.
Nick (14:45):
They perform in frontier land and where they're going to
be is over on top of countrybear jamboree.
If you're familiar with Disney,it's where Chip and Dale are a
lot, or where the country bearsare.
Yeah and so, um, they performat seven, seven, 45, eight, 30,
nine, 50 and 10, 30.
And they have a list of spookysongs that they sing.
(15:09):
Um, but let's talk about trickor treating, yeah.
So, let's talk about how thatworks, because people hear about
trick or treating and theymight wonder how how that works.
But um, let's, let's talk aboutsome places where you can find
that Okay, and how it how itworks.
Zoleanne (15:26):
So when we first came into the park, like you said it,
you know it kind of opens up atfour o'clock, Um, there are
stations, like we went to the um.
Tortuga Tavern was where we wehad to go um in Adventureland in
order to get our, our risks.
We kind of check in, almost uhto the party, so you get your
wristbands, um, and theneverybody in your party also
(15:47):
gets a trick or treat bag, Um,and so then when everything gets
started, uh, there are likedifferent sort of stops and you
do get like sort of an agenda,almost, and a map and everything
, um, whenever you pick up your,your band and your bag.
So you know exactly whereeverything is and what time
everything is.
So you don't need to, like youknow, be searching your phones
(16:07):
constantly, Um, but you knowexactly where to go, Um, and you
, you, basically you know, you,you, when you kids, you go into
these, these different areas, um, that has the candy, Um, and
you can just start filling upyour bags.
I know I'm just thinking aboutkind of like that front Tearland
area.
I know Country Bear Jamboree,um, they had candy where they
kind of wove you through thebuilding and you were able to
(16:30):
get trick or treat candy.
Also, Columbia Harbor house didas well.
Um, and so there are justdifferent places throughout the
park, and so it's fun for forkids to be able to go and to, to
be able to fill up those bagsas they're kind of walking past
on their way to different ridesor, uh, some of those shows that
we mentioned.
Nick (16:49):
And so there's many of these trick or treat locations
across, uh, disney world forexample, one at carousel of
progress, there's another oneoutside of space mountain,
between space mountain Tron,there's one in Liberty square
that I remember very well fromlast year, there is one in
Frontierland, several inAdventureland, and so there's
(17:12):
just these different areas whereyou can and they're, they're
very efficient, so they give youa bag, you start you out with a
full candy bar too, which waspretty cool.
Oh, I forgot about that, yeah,so, um, you walk through and
they, they're, they're verygenerous with candy, they'll,
they'll just fill up a couple ofhandfuls, yeah, um, and you can
go through anytime throughoutthe night.
And a couple of little thingsthat I wanted to mention too is,
(17:34):
um, that they have specialmerchandise for making us not so
scary Halloween party as well.
Um, some limited edition thingsfor people who are really
interested in that.
We talked a little bit about,um, the rare characters that are
out as well.
Lines tend to get pretty longfor those, and so that wasn't
something that we took advantageof.
(17:54):
I mean, for me, I mean, if I'mwalking by and I can see the
character, I mean I don't haveto stand in line to get my
picture taken with them, right?
Zoleanne (18:03):
I mean it's it's just like any other park day.
You know you can't doeverything, so you kind of have
to prioritize what you or peoplein your party want to do.
So you know, if you want toride rides, if that's your big
thing, then that's what you'regoing to prioritize.
If the character meet andgreets, if that's something you
want to do, then that's whatyou're going to spend time, or
most of your time, doing.
(18:23):
But keep in mind that there aregoing to be lines and so then
you're going to sacrifice.
You know other things.
So it's yeah, it's really allwhat you want to do.
I know we really didn't umother than, like you said, at a
distance, maybe getting somepictures, but we didn't actually
go up to meet anyone.
Nick (18:39):
So, uh, lines, because people may have that question as
well.
There's there's a number oflocations that are open.
I just want to go down throughand talk about a few of the
rides that you can do.
Uh, whenever you go to Mickey'snot so scary Halloween party.
So, um, in Adventureland, magicCarpets of Aladdin, pirates of
(18:59):
the Caribbean, swiss FamilyTreehouse, big Thunder Mountains
open in Frontierland.
Um, in Fantasyland you haveit's a small world the Carousel,
peter Pan's Flight, winnie thePooh, mad Tea Party with a
Halloween twist.
They play Halloween musicduring it.
Under the sea with the littlemermaid is open and seven door
smine train.
The haunted mansion is open.
(19:20):
Um, in the past they've had aHalloween twist here, but it
doesn't mention that on thiswebsite, so they might not have
that this year.
Dumbo is open in StorybookCircus along with the
barnstormer, and then inTomorrowland you have Astro
Orbiter, buzz Lightyear,monsters Inc has a Halloween
twist.
Um, it has also twoopportunities to get candy in
(19:42):
that attraction, so it's sort ofa walkthrough.
The show goes on basically thewhole time and it's Halloween
themed, but it's an opportunityto get in.
Space Mountain has a Halloweentwist as well, and then
Tomorrowland Speedway andTomorrowland Transit Authority
People Mover is open as well.
Tron is open.
It's a virtual queue, right, soit operates in the same way
(20:03):
that extended hours operate.
You'll have to log on to yourapp.
I'm not exactly sure on thetime that you need to do that,
but all of that information isavailable on the Disney my
Experience app and it will beeasily accessible to you that
day.
Right, our experience with AfterHours and Tron is good.
We had no issues in our lasttrip getting into the virtual
(20:27):
queue the wait so we'll talkabout this more in a future
episode about Tron specifically.
But don't expect, when you geta virtual queue spot for Tron,
if it's not in the early morning, you're going to wait, and you
could wait up to 45 to 50minutes.
We'll talk about it later on ina future episode.
(20:48):
The wait is worth it.
Your luck is probably going tobe a little bit better during
the Halloween party as far asyour wait, than even regular
extended hours for deluxe guests, but just something to keep in
mind.
And then, the last thing Iwanted to mention is something
that's new this year is theyhave a band of pirates that are
roaming around Adventurelandsinging Sea Shanties.
Zoleanne (21:12):
Oh, that's awesome.
Nick (21:13):
That's something new.
In the past they've had livepirates.
I'm not sure if that's stillpart of it in Pirates of the
Caribbean.
Zoleanne (21:19):
That was cool.
Nick (21:20):
Honestly, it didn't do a lot for me because it was just a
couple of people in the queueand the one person in the ride
and so it wasn't that big of adeal.
But to really wrap it up withMickey's Not so Scary Halloween
Party, we want to do it again.
So I definitely would say foranybody who is on the fence
about doing it, do it.
(21:41):
Don't let the fact that it isaround the same price as a
regular admission day scare youaway.
My recommendation is take abreak that day.
Go to the pool If you'restaying offsite, maybe go do
something else and then headover to the park to be there at
four o'clock.
You can still get eight hoursin.
(22:03):
That's a pretty extensive day.
So my recommendation is thatyou definitely do the party,
skip a park that day and berefreshed for the evening.
Zoleanne (22:15):
Yeah, I agree, and of course if you're a local that's
not an issue.
Then you just make your wayfrom your house on over to the
park at the time that you canget in there.
But no, I agree, it'sdefinitely a unique experience.
It's something that if you're afan of Disney and you're a fan
of this time of year, todefinitely check out.
I think if you have young kidsand I'm not saying very small, I
(22:37):
mean you know your children, sosome kids might be freaked out
by some of this stuff.
But if your kids are a littleolder and they're into Halloween
, that they will probably likeit as well.
And it is what you make it justlike any normal park day, so
you can kind of tailor it toyourself, to your party, what
you all want to do.
Nick (22:55):
Well, it's been good to be back.
We have a lot to talk about inepisodes to come.
We used to think about, okay,what are we gonna do for the
next episode, and really wouldkind of stress over that and
really brainstorm.
But we've got a lot of contentthat we can bring to you in the
coming weeks here, between ourtrip to Disneyland, my son and I
and also with Tron and manyother things that we've
(23:19):
experienced over the past yearand you know wouldn't even say
that we've gone to Disney a tonin the past year since we've won
our hiatus but we've just had alot of unique experiences that
I think would be good to passalong to people.
Zoleanne (23:33):
Yeah, and there are a lot of new things happening,
like I feel like there are somethings that we've been talking
about for a really long time,like the Moana, the water
feature.
Nick (23:41):
The journey of water.
Zoleanne (23:42):
yes, Right, I feel like we've been talking about
that for a while.
It's still not open, but youknow there have been new things
like Guardians of the Galaxy,Tron, of course.
So, yeah, we have a lot of coolthings to talk about.
Nick (23:54):
Well, that'll do it for this episode of Raised on the
Diz.
Zoleanne (23:57):
Have a magical day.
Nick (23:58):
And have a great big, beautiful tomorrow.
Zoleanne (24:03):
Happy.
Nick (24:04):
Halloween everybody.
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