Even though Halloween isn’t until October 31, Disney celebrates early with pumpkin decorations and Halloween parties starting in early August. This past week, I attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, or MNSSHP for short, in the Magic Kingdom Park in Walt Disney World. Now, I’m here to tell you whether I think paying the extra cost to attend is worth it.

MNSSHP is a special-ticketed event on specific days in August, September and October. Tickets cost between $119 and $199 per person, however children ages three and under get in for free. The earlier dates like in August and early September, are the dates that are the cheapest. My ticket on Sept. 6 cost $129 plus tax.

But what makes the special-ticketed event different from the operation of a normal park day? The event includes exclusive food items and treats. It also includes special character meet and greets, Halloween-related ride overlays and special live entertainment offerings. The park closes for date-based park guests at 6 p.m. and the party starts at 7 p.m. and concludes at midnight. Guests who do not have a day-based park ticket and attend the party can enter the park as early as 4 p.m. This is exactly what I did.

One of the most important aspects of making the most of your MNSSHP is setting your priorities because you only have five hours for all of the party’s offerings. Lines can get extremely long for the exclusive characters, mobile order windows for exclusive food and treats can sell out and viewing spots for live entertainment offerings can go fast.

Characters:

Here is a list of exclusive characters guests can meet during MNSSHP:

• Main Street U.S.A.: Jack and Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and Mickey Mouse in his Halloween costume (both in the Town Square Theatre).
• Fantasyland: Ariel and Prince Eric from “The Little Mermaid” near Prince Eric’s Village Market. Also, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” near Enchanted Tales with Belle, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore at The Thotful Spot near the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Fantasyland also has Alice & Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum and the Queen of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland” near the Mad Tea Party; Drizella and Anastasia from “Cinderella” who are roaming around Fantasyland and newly added this year, Mirabel & Bruno from “Encanto” in the Fairytale Garden.
• Storybook Circus: The Seven Dwarfs from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in Pete’s Silly Sideshow, Witch Minnie, Princess Daisy & Pumpkin Donald outside of the Dumbo attraction and Pirate Goofy outside of the Barnstormer attraction.
• Adventureland: Abu & Aladdin, Genie & Jasmine and Jafar from “Aladdin” outside of the Magic Carpets of Aladdin attraction. Also Captain Jack Sparrow from “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.
• Frontierland: The Country Bears who are roaming around Frontierland.
• Tomorrowland: Elvis Stitch from “Lilo & Stitch” outside of the previous Stitch’s Great Escape attraction.

Many of these characters can have long lines but I was able to meet four characters/groups. Jack and Sally meet when guests enter the parks at 4 p.m. This is where I went as soon as I scanned the park. It took me 35 minutes to get through the line. This is very short compared to the two to three hours guests have waited for them.

The Winnie the Pooh characters come out about a half-hour before the party starts (about 6:30 p.m.), so I decided to get in line at 6:10. My situation was slightly different than normal party nights because it started to rain, thunder and lightning. Because of this, the characters did not come out until 7:50, but I did stick it out in line. After making their first appearance, it took me 20 minutes to get through the line.

Elvis Stitch has also been known to come out early and have a lengthy line. I prioritized meeting him during the fireworks show because I knew it would be a shorter wait during this live entertainment offering. I got in line at 9:45 p.m. and only waited 35 minutes.

The last character I met was Mickey Mouse in his Halloween attire. I only waited 10 minutes after getting in line at 11:25 p.m. Be sure to get in line to meet those characters by 11:30 p.m. because their lines will close after this time.

Food & Treats:

There are a ton of Halloween-themed food items and being only one person, I definitely couldn’t eat them all, but I had a few! Below is a list of the items I tried and my review of them:

Casey’s Corner:

• Mickey-shaped cheesecake: Pumpkin cheesecake with graham cracker crust and white chocolate-whipped ganache ($6.29). This cheesecake was pretty good. It had a great pumpkin flavor, but I found it to be a super soft cheesecake that was hard to pick up and eat. Would I get it again? Maybe! I would give it 6/10 stars.
• Chipotle barbecue pork and street corn french fries: French fries topped with fire-roasted corn, queso fresco, and cilantro ($7.79). I bought this item for dinner and thought the flavor was great! The portion size was worth it for the price and I walked away full for a while. I would give it a 9/10 stars.

Sleepy Hollow Refreshments:

• Madame Leota séance candle: Red velvet cake and cookies and cream mousse ($5.99). I wish this wasn’t a push-pop type of treat because it was very messy to eat. There was way too much frosting and that it would have been better if it were a bundt cake. I would give it 5/10 stars.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the items I tried. I had mixed feelings about a couple of them. I was hoping to try the Sally Pop at Liberty Square Market but found the location to be closed when I went.

Entertainment:

• Mickey’s Boo-to-You Parade: There are two showtimes for this parade. I was the most excited about this offering and one of the things I looked forward to the most. There are two showings at 8:15 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. It is recommended that you go to the second showing for less crowds. This is what I did. The disappointing thing is that the second showing was canceled after another torrential rainstorm.
• Disney Junior Jam Dance Party: For the younger partygoers, this dance party includes some of your favorite Disney Jr. characters including Doc McStuffins, Fancy Nancy and Vampirina that you can dance along with to your favorite songs. Timon from “The Lion King” and Max Goof from “The Goofy Movie” also made appearances throughout the night.
• DescenDance Party: A new show on the Tomorrowland stage debuted this year with the DescenDance Party, inspired by “Descendants: The Rise of Red.” Guests can sing and dance along with some of their “Descendants” friends.
• Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular: The fireworks show of the evening started at 10 p.m. with projections on Cinderella’s Castle and the buildings on Main Street U.S.A. The fireworks show was postponed due to lightning in the area. But was still able to show up about 30 minutes later. It’s so fun to see a big Jack Skellington come out on stage and present the show to the guests.
• “Hocus Pocus” Villain Spelltacular: There are three showings from Aug. 9 through Sept 28, 2024, at 9:05 p.m., 10:35 p.m. and midnight. From Sept. 29 through Oct. 31, 2024, there will be four showings from 7:35 p.m., 9:05 p.m., 10:35 p.m. and midnight. Keep an eye out for visits from other villains including Maleficent, Oogie Boogie and Dr. Facilier as the three “Hocus Pocus” sisters ‘mix sinister shadows and terrifying nightmares and use the nefarious powers of their frightening colleagues to conjure the ultimate “Hocus Pocus” party potion­.’

Merchandise:

Exclusive merchandise can be found at the Emporium on Main Street U.S.A., Star Traders in Tomorrowland and Frontier Trading Post in Frontierland. Guests can find exclusive apparel, accessories, drinkware, ornaments and pins.

Trick-or-Treating:

There are tens of trick-or-treat locations around the park where guests can fill up their bags with both fun-sized and king-sized candies! If you want to get the most out of filling up on candy, I suggest bringing your own bigger bag!

Overall, I think MNSSHP is worth it for the extra cost. Magic Kingdom tends to be less crowded on party days, so even when party guests enter at 4 p.m. with the date-based crowds, they can still get some rides in beforehand. Of course, you can’t control the weather, but you’re still in Walt Disney World at the end of the day and you should make the most of it!