Magic Kingdom & Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 09/15/24

[Tr0y]

Girlfriend and I dressed up to attend my fist Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. We arrived early, to eat lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. This ticketed event only allows entry at 4pm, beforehand you either need to be a passholder or purchase a normal park ticket separately. 

 

Cinderella's Royal Table

We made our way to the back of the Castle and entered a side door. I was a bit surprised to find out that the restaurant was located directly above the walk-through path of the castle. The waiting area was below the dining hall. The waiting area had a grand hall like feel, there we were greeted by Cinderella. The hostess then had us follow her upstairs to a waiter who then taken us to our table. Cinderella's Royal Table is one of the few restaurants you pay in advance when you make a reservation. This included a 3-course meal of your choosing from the menu. Alcohol was the only upcharge at the restaurant. I choose to get braised beef as an appetizer, lamb chops for the entree, and a chocolate ganache tart for the finale. By far the braised beef was my favorite. While you're waiting on food, various Disney Princess's make their rounds in the dining hall. Afterwards you are given the option of souvenir.

 

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

We started the party by riding some rides that normally have long waits. The days the park closes early to the GP typically has short wait times. We then proceeded to make our way to get our wrist bands and the provided trick or treat bags for the event. From there we focused mainly on the 3 rides that were themed and or altered for the event. The Haunted Mansion had actors in the graveyard bantering with guests. Given that we were the odd couple sticking out by not wearing Disney themed costumes we became easy targets. After Haunted Mansion we proceeded to the Teacups ride which had a lightning and music package for the event. The last ride themed for the event was Space Mountain. We rode Space Mountain earlier in the day prior to the event just to see what the difference would be. Well, it was entirely different being that Space Mountain was completely blacked out, with horror music playing in the background. It was a wild experience, not seeing where the on-ride photo was made for some very awkward photos. 

We made our way back to Mainstreet to take apart of some special event treats, followed by the Halloween themed firework show at the castle. As midnight drew closer, the lines for trick or treating were gone so we made multiple stops. It didn't take many stops to fill our bags as Disney uses scoops to pass out candy. After 3 stops our bags were full. During that time, we intermittently stopped to get photos. Which in hindsight was a mistake, because photos are still being taken after the event ends at midnight. We then proceeded to find a place to watch the parade the parade took 30 mins to reach our location on the route. Afterwards we finished the night riding Space Mountain.

 

Final thoughts

We had a blast during this event, although in my opinion it didn't seem like the event was long enough. Time does fly when you're having fun, haha. The lines were short and seeing different characters / firework show / parade made the event all the better. Some takeaways that I learned from attending was for the parade, to stand by the route where the parade starts in Frontierland. We lost a good amount of time standing at Mainstreet waiting for the parade to get there. Secondly was getting photos during the event. Alot of the photo stations around Mainstreet stayed open after the event ended.