- September 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30
- October 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, and 31
November 1
My husband and decided to go during Halloween this year because I have a short fall break from a pretty stressful dental hygiene program and I needed somewhere that offered endless entertainment, great food, pools, and free candy....voila...Disney World in the fall. We'll be hitting up the NSSHP in the second week of October so I thought I'd share a run down of what's going on so you can add it to the itinerary that I just know you are making, because I give the best advice ever.
- Trick or Treating: When Toontown existed (Walt rest it's soul), there was a trick or treating trail that ran from Toontown fair in to Tomorrowland. That portion of Toontown is now under construction for the new Fantasyland expansion due to open in 2012 (*squee*). There were various spots in Liberty Square and Adventureland that had large balloons denoting trick or treating locations, so I can only imagine that this year the candy trail will be concentrated to that half of the park. This is an important thing to take note of when you are planning what rides you want to experience that evening, fighting your way through a crowded private event and getting past the parade may take some extra skill and planning. Here is a map of the 2010 Not So Scary Halloween Party. Candy's included Snickers bars, tootsie roll pops, candy corn, and various treats from Goofy's Candy Company. Might I add this is an excellent way to save money on snacks! You can visit the candy stations as many times as you want so keep dumping those full bags in your backpack and go back for more!
- Disney Villains Mix & Mingle: billed as a chance for Disney villains to go trick or treating in the sky and hosted by Maleficent, this spectacular stage show takes place in front of Cinderella Castle. Afterward your favorite villains like the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, Shmee, and my personal fave Cruella DeVille (I love the stereotype of the once glamorous old lady that has been eating cigarettes for the better half of three decades) are available for a meet and greet with autograph and photo opportunities. I find this particular event makes for the coolest pictures, because anyone can have a photo of themselves and Pluto lying around (seriously he's everywhere), but it's really awesome to have a picture of a character that only makes an appearance once or twice a year!
- Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade: This is the parade that I talked about in my second ever blog post. It opens with the Headless Horseman and ends with Goofy's candy making machine showering the crowd in bubbles and candy. I mean, that's the stuff people dream about right there! As long as you don't get nailed in the face with a light saber (see: prior MNSSHP post) it's completely worth hanging around on the curb for an hour or so. It happens nightly at 8:15 and 10:30 and my advice is if your kids can stay up, go to the later parade and use the distraction of the first parade to get on the rides with the short lines. That way you get to power through all the rides you want and end the night with one of the most fabulous spectacles you will ever witness. The area around Cinderella Castle is usually quite crowded (as it is for everything!) so I would set up shop somewhere on the parade route that is a little less populated. You'll still see everything and you won't have to be rubbernecking over people all the time. Here are a couple of the cool things I saw at the parade when I went:
- live action versions of the hitchhiking ghosts
- Mickey, Donald, and Minnie on a float in masquerade outfits
- Winnie the Pooh and friends in costume
- A pirate ship with Jack Sparrow (DREAMY MUCH!?), Captain Hook, and about a dozen pirates
- The Magic Mirror and a skeleton band
- The Evil Queen
- Jafar and Maleficent
- The Haunted Mansion caretaker and his dog (he walks an actual bloodhound, so cool!), and a group of dancing "skeletons" with shovels that spark as they hit the ground.
- Happy HalloWishes: This takes the place of the regular nightly fireworks show and I'm going to be honest with you guys, I've never actually seen it. Here in Louisville we have a Kentucky Derby kick off event called "Thunder Over Louisville" which is the largest fireworks display in North America and once you've seen it nothing really compares, not even Disney and it's gigantic fireworks budget (which is about $10,000 a day for Magic Kingdom alone!) so my husband and I use this time to "follow the Code", which as you may remember from early posts is a list of rides we stick to when all other rides are taken. (Pal Mickey Note: once we got on Pirates of the Caribbean during a fireworks show and had a whole boat to ourselves!)
The Not So Scary Halloween Party is a super duper private special event, you guys. So you have to purchase extra tickets on top of regular admission, and if you don't get a wristband by 7PM they start giving you the big pirate boot straight out the door. You can purchase the tickets on the day of the party, but they do sell out so you should buy them in advance because doing things day of at Disney is a an absolutely terrible idea the level of which I can't even put in to words. Seriously.
