Let's Talk about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (also known as MNSSHP) is one of the "hard ticket" events at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.   This means, you pay extra for admittance. It is not covered by your regular admission tickets.  MNSSHP runs on select nights starting September 10 to November 1, 2013.  The hours are 7 PM to midnight.

Important things to know:

Many dates sell out early.  Buy tickets ahead of time.  Children under age 3 DO NOT need a ticket.

Here is a simple breakdown of the ticket prices for the rest of this year's event:

October 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 29 & Nov. 1

Advance Purchase:  Adult: $62.00 +tax, Child: $57.00 + tax

Same Day Purchase:  Adult: $67.00+ tax, Child: $62.00+tax

October 31, 2013 THE PARTY IS SOLD OUT FOR OCTOBER 31ST!

Advance Purchase: Adult:$73.00 + tax, Child: $68.00 +tax

Same Day Purchase: Adult $73.00+tax, Child: $73.00+tax

Hours:  7:00 PM to Midnight

Boo To You Parade:  8:15 PM and 10:30 PM

Happy HalloWishes Fireworks:  9:30 PM

Disney Villains' Dance Mix and Mingle!:  7:45 PM, 8:50 PM, 10:05 PM, and 11:15 PM

Character Dance Parties:

Monstrous Scream-O-Ween Ball (Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland) 

Woody's Happy Harvest Roundup (The Diamond Horseshoe in Liberty Square)

There are those who feel that the Boo To You Parade is the best parade Disney has to offer at DisneyWorld.  When you see that Headless Horsemen riding down Main Street...a misty fog rising, you just know you are in for a terrific parade!  The Haunted Mansion float is just incredible. Speaking of the Haunted Mansion, there are two "Magical Shots" opportunities during the MNSSHP.  They are only available at the Haunted Mansion.  You may just find a hitchhiking ghost or two in your photopass memory. (You are allowed to request these from the photopass photographer. Don't be shy!!)   The Happy HallowWishes Fireworks is definitely one of the best fireworks shows that Disney offers throughout the year.  

Money saving hint:  

If you would normally buy a 5 day pass for the park, buy a 4 day pass and your MNSSHP tickets. Spend the day relaxing at your resort, or visit Downtown Disney.  MNSSHP ticket holders can enter the park as early as 4 PM.  Arrive around 4 PM (in costume!), do an attraction or two, have a nice, leisurely dinner all before 6:30 PM.   Now.. it's time to PARTY! And I do mean party.

This will be the first year that Jack Skellington and Sally will be in the park!  (Do I wish I was going this year?? YEAH!!)  I have read on the various Disney sites that the waits to meet those characters have been lengthy. 

The MNSSHP is said to be the only time of year you can get the autographs of certain villains. I SO wanted to meet Maleficent when we went last year. Anyone who knows me, knows that I sport an avatar of Maleficent around Digi-Land.  I was very VERY disappointed.  The villains do come into the crowd, however, it was for short periods only.  Approx 10 - 15 minutes per show. So you had to be right up front to hope to meet one of the characters and get your photo pass photo.  I say that because, yeah.. everyone wants their photo with a villain, right?  So there I am.. in an ECV, which makes it VERY difficult to get close enough to even hope to catch a close up glimpse.  I was crushed.  On the flip side, I do actually get really good viewing areas being in an ECV for the parades and other shows. 

What else is there? The attractions are all open.  There are wonderful special meet and greets with characters.  A Trick or Treat trail.. and you can go to each as many times as you want!  There are some very special food and beverage treats available during the MNSSHP. And the Halloween Merchandise..... is to die for!!   My favorite was a flashing Jack Skellington head that you could wear around your neck. And at home,  attach it to a window with a suction cup. Can I say AWESOME? 

So if you haven't figured out by now that I am just a huge kid at Disney, now you  know!  I was born the same year as Tinkerbell and I grew up on Disney.  I LOVE Disney. It is truly my "Happy Place". I can't tell you how many times I just close my eyes and walk down Main Street.   

It's really hard to get everything in during those 5 hours.  Chrissy and I are huge fans of the characters and spend time hanging with them.  Did I mention the characters themselves dress up in costume?   

Before I go on to this week's fun challenge...  I have to tell you a story.  Just the other night, Joe and I were having a quick hamburger at Wendy's here in town.  There was a woman with two children seated next to us. She was talking to the kids about their upcoming trip to Disney.  Explaining how there was nothing between the Halloween Party and the Christmas Party, which they did not have tickets for. Then she goes on to tell the kids but we can go to the Transportation center and watch the fireworks show from there.  I wanted to bang my head against the table and say, "Buy the kids the tickets!"  She was really trying to push Epcot on the kids.  (And we will talk about Epcot now and then, I promise.)   I had to fight every feeling in me to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to say, so if you're at Epcot.. stay there! Illuminations is wonderful. Epcot has a pretty darn good Christmas line up. Sadly, the year we were at Disney when the Christmas Party is on...  we missed it. We had our tickets, went for dinner at the Liberty Tree. Walked out into the pouring rain. It had been so cold and rainy the whole time we had been there. We were both getting sick. I looked at Joe and said, I know we paid extra for this.. but can we please just go back to the room? Important note to self and all: never ever EVER buy tickets to a Hard Ticket Party the night before you are due to go home. Chances are you will be too tired to truly enjoy the event.  Buy those tickets early on in your trip. 

*takes a deep breath*  On to the challenge....  Connie whipped up this template for one of our MouseScrapper challenges.

Your challenge this week: Download the template file (click on the template image or here for immediate download).   Have fun with the template and upload your layout using Linky.  Everyone that uploads a layout using this template will receive a $1.00 coupon to Connie's store.  For my layout, I used some of the pumpkin decorations at Disney. 

I am really looking forward to seeing your layouts from this template.  Don't you just love that alpha? It's from the Haunting Halloween Add On Alpha packs.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~