Thursday September 11th 2025

On Tuesday evening I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. This is a separate admission after hours event at the theme park. The party is held on select evenings from the middle of August to the end of October. It has special entertainment including two runs of a special parade, special fireworks, stage shows, rare character meet and greats and spooky enhancements to some rides. Guests are also encouraged to collect candy at designated trick or treat sites throughout the park.

I bought my ticket in August for the Tuesday night event. It turned out to be a sold out night. The only problem was I couldn’t predict the weather. When I arrived at the Magic Kingdom shortly before 5PM there was a downpour in progress, but I came prepared. I had a rain coat packed in my backpack. I needed it just to get from the parking lot to the theme park. The theme for the night was set.

A light to medium rain fell most of the night. Disney did its best to work around the weather, but the weather had an impact. The live entertainment became less live by using recordings, fewer performers and no dancing. The real problems started when it came time for the first running of the parade. I lined up fifteen minutes before show time, but should have lined up earlier for a good viewing area. Starting at show time they announce that the weather was delaying the parade every five minutes until 9PM. By then, I’d been waiting for an hour before they canceled the first running of the parade. The next showing was scheduled for 11:15PM. A full hour of park time was wasted waiting for a parade that didn’t happen.

The 10PM fireworks went off on time. The weather was only a very light drizzle. There was no wind and the air was very thick. The weather kept all of the smoke from the fireworks near the ground. Many of the shells were obscured by the smoke. It also didn’t help that I was a little too far down main street from the castle in a less than ideal viewing spot.

Shortly after the fireworks Disney announced the 11:15PM parade was going to start early during a window in the rain. I found a good viewing location along the parade route along with everyone else and waited. My viewing location was in Town Square near the exit to the park. As soon as the parade was over I headed for home. I successfully beat the crowd back to the parking lot. It was around 11:30 when I reached my car and started home.

In between all the waiting for parades and such I went through six or seven trick or treat sites. Disney uses the theaters for shows and restaurants that aren’t open during the party as candy distribution sites. According to the map there were another four or five that I didn’t stop at. Still, I came home with a haul.

I had an Okay time. The rain was a big negative, but even without the rain I probably wont do it again unless I have company. I don’t do waiting around alone well. I need to keep moving.