Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2019

I debated holding off on this post 'til it was at least October, but real talk: this is already my phone's

 lock screen:

 

 (I left the watermark off so you can use it, too!)

So yeah, I'm ready to go all-in on Halloween. 

Besides, it's still 90 degrees here in Orlando. LET ME HAVE MY PREMATURE AND WHOLLY ARTIFICIAL FALL.

So c'mon, let's head over to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!  

 

 John and I'll take care of the sweating, you just sit back in your A/C wonderland and enjoy. :p

Our costumes again. They were as comfortable as we could hope through the rainy, 85 degree night.

We went with friends who kindly snagged us a cast-member discount on tickets. Like everything at Disney, tickets aren't cheap - starting around $80 each - but we hadn't been to the Halloween Party in years, and wanted to see the new shows. 

Being me, I was immediately distracted by all the fun costumes people were wearing. It was too hot for anything super elaborate, but folks went all-in with the park specific references, like this:

This one's for the hardcore Epcot fan who knows they shut down Club Cool this month. Those are the Fanta, Beverly, and Bibo sodas. Nonsensical anywhere else, but here? CELEBRITY STATUS.

We arrived a bit late; you can enter the party as early as 4pm, but we didn't roll up 'til 6:30. That meant I only had about an hour and a half of sunlight, something I dearly missed later when I was chasing down costumes in the dark. I was willing to make that trade since it meant less hours in the heat, but if you plan on going yourself, definitely get there at 4 to take full advantage!

Disney fans who dress up are some of the sweetest people on the planet. When I asked these two for a photo, he immediately quipped, "Only if we can have one with you!" Then they insisted we all get in for a selfie. In fact John and I had so many great interactions with people, I had to stop myself from making it weird by asking random strangers to be my friend.

Parade time! I don't have many photos - everything came out blurry in the dark - but here are a few lucky shots:

Trying to catch floats in front of the castle:

Blurry, but too cool not to share:

Then my one good shot of the new Haunted Mansion bride, Constance:

I also took some fun video - mostly of the Haunted Mansion segment, which is really the best part of ANY parade.

I've watched this way too many times, ha.

It was nearly dark when I took this photo in Frontier land, and the colored spotlights were SO vivid:

That's super edited, of course, but I love the way it turned out! Plus it was a minor miracle that I caught the bridge people-free. 

Once it was fully dark I realized I'd forgotten just HOW dark the Kingdom is at night. It was hard to see much of anything outside, including all the fantastic costumes, sob.

Glowing butts, however, are easy to spot.

(As several folks pointed out, he's probably Ray from Princess and the Frog!)

We were walking directly behind Erin & Kevin here in Frontierland, so I started explaining to John what their costumes were. They overheard me, and were so excited I recognized it! Then we all had a laugh and I convinced them to run over to a lighted overhang so I could take this picture:

They were a smash hit when I shared this on my Story - and happily I got to tell them that, because Erin found me later on Instagram! (If you're missing the reference, get ready to laugh, then click here.)

Lots of mist over the water, and Tom Sawyer's Island was lit bright green:

More park-specific costume groups:

Ug, this lighting. YOU SEE WHAT I HAVE TO WORK WITH HERE. :p

This is a good place to mention why John and I actually stopped going to the Halloween Party some years back: for starters, the price - which keeps going up as they take away benefits - but also, Disney is really squirrely with their costume guidelines. Most of it is common sense: don't look like you work there (so folks mistake you for the "real" character), and don't impede traffic. Unfortunately the enforcement of those rules is really inconsistent, though, and often boils down to "anyone who looks especially awesome gets harassed by management."

Case in point: Disney let these folks in with their incredible Coco costumes:

...but then when other guests wanted to take pictures, Disney stepped in and told the family they couldn't let people take any. Not even pictures with them, just pictures OF THEM.

John and I had a similar situation years ago when he first dressed as Dreamfinder. Some CMs were fine with photos, others followed us into the street and told us we couldn't stop if anyone asked. It led to us constantly looking over our shoulder in a panic every time someone wanted a photo, which felt awful.

For the Coco family, John and I ran ahead and took this while they were walking, so they wouldn't technically be breaking the rules by stopping. But c'mon, Disney: why let them in, then?

All that to say, if you're planning to go to the Halloween Party yourself, definitely dress up, but keep your costume as casual as possible. Going all-out will only get you grief, so save the really elaborate stuff for a convention, where folks can better appreciate it anyway.

Now, back to my favorite Disney villain & henchman duo:

PULL THE LEVER, KRONK!!

And more Dizgeekery:

Awww, I still miss Wishes.

Who knew the parking tram would be the best lit place in the whole park for costumes?

 

 Do you recognize the Patriotic one? She's from The Main Street Electrical Parade! (Again, the insider park references are STRONG here, and I can't get enough!)

 When we first entered the park we weren't allowed to go down Main Street, sadly; we were shunted off to the right, down the "secret" road that's only opened for heavy crowds. That means I missed all the fun Main Street decor on the way in, but I tried to grab a few on the way out:

Now let's get to the best parts of the whole night: the stage show and the fireworks!

The "Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular" lives up to they hype, y'all. We stood a good ways back to avoid being trapped in the crowd, but I could still see fine from back by the Partners statue.

I didn't take video because I'm sure Youtube has plenty, plus it was nice to just enjoy the show. Great vocals, fun dancing, ALL the great villains, AND a plot line? YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

And finally, prepare to be inundated with far too much castle eye candy, because the "Not-So-Spooky Fireworks Spectacular" is PHENOMENAL. It's really more of a castle projection show; there are still plenty of fireworks, but it's almost impossible to look away from the castle itself:

 

See what I mean?

These villain funhouse looks were soooo coooool.

 I'm intentionally leaving watermarks off some of my favorites, in case you'd like to use them for your phone's wallpaper! If you do and you want to give me a shout-out somewhere for them, that'd be super sweet.

I had no idea the Jack puppet existed, so this was a real Magic Moment for me. I know from my puppeteer friends that he takes two people to operate, but I won't spoil anything more for you.

There are so many phenomenal scenes, each so completely different from the last, that I really couldn't stop taking pictures.

These are all barely edited, too; it really did look like this in real life!

 

THE COLORS.

Funnily enough I almost didn't post this next one on IG, and it turned out to be a lot of folks' favorite:

 

Bone castle!

Check out this glow:

 

I found a video of the entire show on Youtube, and this song starts around 6:30, in case you want to hear it for yourself. (Which I highly recommend.)

None of these photos are in order from the show, but here's the last fan favorite from my Stories:

And it's easy to see why!

Again, I didn't take any video of the show because I knew there'd already be great ones on Youtube. In fact, here's the best one I've found:

This is a great view of the Jack puppet especially, which I only saw from about the waist up.

Ok, gang, that's it for me and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! I hope you enjoyed your vicarious visit, and I hope you're feeling a little lighter, a little happier, and dare I say, a little SPOOPIER as a result.

I'mma go drown my house in fake pumpkins now. 'Til next time!

*****

If you'd like to donate to my fake pumpkin fund - or any of the other ridiculous things John and I do to hopefully make you smile - then you can throw a few dollars our way through Paypal! We have options for one time tips and for monthly donations, if you're feeling unusually generous. Always remember that the most important thing to me, though, is that you're here reading these words. So THANK YOU. You put the "poop" in "spoopy." Which I'm like 95% sure is a compliment.

Now, go do something silly. CHOP CHOP.