Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Pros & Cons 2023

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) is officially returning in 2023.

Evening & After Hours events like this are separate ticketed events with reduced capacity that offer experiences that are not provided to the regular park day guests. 

MNNSHP will occur on 38 different nights between August 11- November 1. The party begins at 7:00pm & runs until midnight. On these nights, regular park hours end at 6:00pm & day guests exit the park before the party officially begins.

Let's dive in to some pros & cons to help you decide if this event is a good fit for your family or travel group and if you need to adjust any of your other plans due to the party schedule.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is a good fit for you if:

• Your family or travel group can hang for late nights. 7:00pm - 12:00pm may not seem super late, but when you add in getting back to your resort, you are looking at 1:00am - 2:00am before you are back to your room, in pajamas & asleep. 

 

• You like the idea of a lowered capacity event aka shorter ride lines. Shorter waits are a perk to lowered capacity. If you do not care about enjoying the themed entertainment or characters, you could have 5 hours of rides with lower than normal waits.

 

• You are interested in unique in park experiences like specialty character meets, fireworks & parades. These special ticketed events provide experiences that are not available during the day. My favorite experiences from past Halloween parties include the Boo to You parade, meeting all 7 Dwarves & experiencing the Halloween themed fireworks.

 

• You are able to build some rest time into your schedule either the day of or day after the event. Flexibility in your schedule can make this event more worthwhile. Being able to have a rest day before/after the party or even pre-plan a park with a late start the day after can really build in the space you need to feel rested so you can enjoy all aspects of your trip.

 

• It is in your budget. These events are not inexpensive. Tickets start at $100 & go up to $199 depending on the date. The tickets are nonrefundable, so be sure this will work with your other plans before making the purchase.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is NOT a good fit for you if:

• Your family or travel group has an early bed time. All guests age 3 & over must have a ticket. At $100+ per person for the 5 hour event, you want to be able to stay for all or almost all of that window. If there are a surplus of adults on your trip, you could consider purchasing for part of the group that are more wired for late nights while the others enjoy resort time. 

 

• You desire short waits & are going to shorten your wait time in other ways during your trip through utilizing early park hours, purchasing Genie+ and/or individual Lightning Lanes or are taking advantage of extra evening hours for Deluxe resort guests.

 

• Themed character greets, rides & entertainment are not part of your trip goals. Every family has different trip goals. If these unique experiences are not part of what you are after, then this may be a skip for you.

 

• Adding this on will be more exhausting than beneficial. If you already have a 4 park day trip with no rest day & do not want to get rid of a park day, adding this in may be more of a hassle than a fun evening.

You may need to adjust your regular park ticket or park passes if:

• You want to see Magic Kingdom fireworks on a regular park day. Some weeks have 4 out of 7 nights designated for the Halloween party. This only leaves 3 nights for regular park guests to see fireworks. If that is important to you, you will need to make sure your Magic Kingdom day falls on a non-party day.

 

• You want a less crowded Magic Kingdom day. One con to so many party nights is that everyone who wants to see fireworks will likely be piling into the Magic Kingdom on those non-party days, so it can make for a more crowded park day. If you want Magic Kingdom fireworks without a full day of big crowds, you may choose to add on a park hopper option. This would allow you to experience a day at the Magic Kingdom on a party day (which tend to have lower regular day crowds) & hop somewhere else for the evening. Then on a night with fireworks, you could spend your day at one of the other parks & just hop to Magic Kingdom for only the evening entertainment.

 

• If you don't mind missing out on the fireworks in the park, you could purposely schedule your Magic Kingdom day on a party day (and therefore experience a significantly lower crowd day) & just enjoy a slow evening at your resort. You could always schedule a dinner at a Magic Kingdom resort location (such as Grand Floridian Cafe or Steakhouse 71) on a regular fireworks night & watch the fireworks from a distance outside of the park.

2023 Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Tickets go on sale to resort guest on April 27th & non-resort guests on May 2nd.

MNSSHP 2023 Dates

• August: 11, 15, 18, 22, 25, 29
• September: 1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29
• October: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31
• November: 1
  

Read more details about the party at: Disney Parks Blog
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