Our PB&J Adventure Book

MNSSHP
Mickey's Not So Scar Halloween Party or MNSSHP for short, is Walt Disney World's Halloweentime event held at the Magic Kingdom. The party is held on select nights from August (yes AUGUST) until November 1st. It's a special ticketed event, with pricing varying per date selected ($89-$115) and Disney Vacation Club members and WDW Annual Passholders get a discount on tickets as well.
The big draws to this party is the fact that since it's a ticketed event there are generally less crowds than on a normal park day, which mean less wait times for popular attractions. There are also special merchandise and food offerings throughout the event that can only be purchased during the party. There are also special characters that come out specifically for this event. Some of the rarest Disney characters pop up at the party! There's also a bit of fun spooky attraction overlays and entertainment options that occur only during MNSSHP. Last but not least, costumes!!! During the Halloween party costumes are allowed to be worn by all ages (party dress code guidelines must be followed). A total draw for this Disney Style mama!

There were a lot of excitement and anticipation with MNSSHP since this was to be our very first East Coast Disney Halloween party. We've been to numerous DisneyLAND Halloween parties in the past, so it was exciting to see how the two events compared to each other.

Dressing the Part
Since this was to be our first WDW Halloweentime party and because my family had joined us... We definitely had to dress the part. In running through ideas one night there was one theme that just stood out from the rest: Beauty and the Beast! Not only did it make the most sense in regards to a group costume, but it was fitting since Beauty and the Beast plays a significant part in the Magic Kingdom, the park where the party was being held.
So very thankful that my family let me dress them in these fun get-ups!

Party Time!
MNSSHP doesn't officially begin until 7pm on most nights, but party ticket holders can enter as early as 4pm the day of the party. While the event offerings won't be up and running, you can still head into the park to enjoy the other attractions, dining and more! Even better news? If you're a Disney Vacation Club member and are going to the party, you can get in as early as 2pm (!!!) the day of your party!

We unfortunately didn't take advantage of the early arrival since my family was still exhausted from the travels to Orlando and the time change. We ended up arriving at the party around 5pm.

**Magic Kingdom Arrival Tip**
A huge difference between the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland is the process of actually getting into the park. Disneyland's entry points are fairy easy to get to via the main road or the Downtown Disney area/Hotels. The Magic Kingdom on the other hand is a whole different story! One can't just walk up to the entrance gates of the Magic Kingdom since it's located about a mile away from the parking lot. If you drive to the park, you'll have to park in the main lot, take a tram to the front of the transportation area, then either board a ferry boat or monorail to get to the entrance. If you're staying on property, you're better off taking the Disney Resort bus since you bypass all of this and will be dropped off right next to the park entrance.

Pre Party Festivities
If you arrive before the designated party time, you enter through the gates marked "Special Event". Upon entry, you're given wristbands, your special party maps and make your way into the park! They veer you to the right and you enter a side path where you pick up your trick or treat bags and your first official treat station!
Once you pass this area you're free to roam the parks and enjoy the regular operating attractions and fun! We had dinner reservations so we beelined it to the castle for some family photos before our dinner.

Be Our Guest
Where does one dine while dresses as Beauty and the Beast? The famous Be Our Guest restaurant of course! PB and I have dined here before for breakfast when it's quick service menu and dinner with a more formal set menu. You can't go wrong with any type of dining option here since the ambience alone is stellar. Our more formal sit down meal was amazing!
Our dinner began with meeting the "master" aka the Beast in the library, then we were escorted to our table int he main Ballroom. There are two other dining sections to the restuatnt, the West Wing, themed after Beast's personal liar, complete with a rose and the Gallery room which features a giant music box version of Beauty and the Beast dacing. In my personal option, the West Wing and Grand Ballroom feel the most immersive, so if you can snag a seat in either of those areas it'll be worth it!

**Be Our Guest Tips**
We originally had a dining reservation schedule for 7:30pm the night of the party and I'm SO GLAD we ended up finding and reserving an earlier time at 5:30pm instead. From what we've gathered from other "sit down" service meals at WDW are that they definitely let you take your time dining. Prepare to be at your meal for about 2 hours or more. We checked into our reservation at 5:30, had to wait in line for 30 minutes to meet "Beast" in the library, then wait an additional few minutes to be seated. From start to finish for our meal we didn't get out of the restaurant until close to 7:45pm. If we went with the later timing we would have lost out on a big chunk of our party time.

Trick or Treat Trails
One of the first things we did after dinner was hit up a few trick or treat trails. One of the perks of these parties is the FREE CANDY! The candy offerings are always the best of the bunch and after a while actually ends up piling up to a decent amount. You're given a small trick or treat bag at the start of the party to use, but you're more than welcome to use your own bag, backpack or container to collect your sweet goodies.

You do end up accumulating a lot of candy and for some guests, it enables you to not have to buy any additional Halloween candy to pass out for the season since you just get SO MUCH.

**Trick or Treat Tips**
Thanks to many WDW fellow pals, we were told that the trick or treat trails can have longer waits at the start of the party as opposed to the end. We ended up going into any treat trail open since it was a big "must" for my dad and felt that the info about hitting the trails early was true. There were definitely more people at the start and the end of the night some were virtually empty. One thing I noticed that was a huge difference between Disneyland's party trails and WDW's were that there's only ONE trick or treat candy station at the end of sometimes a long line or length of trail. Whereas at Disneyland you head into a trail and encounter 3-4 different candy stops. Overfall though, it seemed like we still got a ton of candy at WDW since each single station gave out a large handful.

For my families with allergies, you can ask for an allergy friendly option at the treat stations! They'll hand you a token which you can redeem at select locations for allergy friendly treats and goodies!

Party Exclusives
One fun thing about these parties are all of the exclusives offered from food, to entertainment to merchandise! We were so stuffed from our meal at Be Our Guest that we didn't try too many MNSSHP treats, but we did indulge in the chocolate Mickey and Minnie waffle sundae with pumpkin gelato. That was YUM. While not at the party, we did also try to Halloweentime exclusive Pumpkin Spice shake from Auntie Gravity's in Tomorrowland.
Entertainment wise, there's so many fun shows throughout the night. We caught a bit of the "Boo to You" parade and the Halloweentime fireworks that were amazing (don't miss this!). We also checked out a few of the "dance parties" around the park. The cutest was the Disney Jr Dance Party over in the back of the park by Storybook Circus and the Monster's Inc one in Tomorrowland!

Rides with a Twist
Another huge perk of MNSSHP is that most attractions are open and have lighter wait times than you'd find on a regular operating day. For example, the popular Seven Dwarves Mine Train usually clocks in at anything from an hour to 120min waits, but at the party it never went above 45min and went down to about 20minutes towards the end of the night.
There's also a few rides that get a spooky little "twist". Pirates of the Caribbean gets live actors that join in on the fun, Space Mountain goes in the dark with a spooky soundtrack and the Mad T Party teacups get a fun little light and sound overlay. We didn't get to ride the first two since we wanted to do as much as we could while Ben was alert and awake. But we did get to ride the teacups which was fun!

Characters
I will say that Ive heard a few people mention how crazy character meet and greet lines can get at MNSSHP and boy oh boy were they not lying! Some of the craziest waits we encountered were from the character meet and greets! One of the top greets is Snow White with all 7 dwarves and when we went to check on wait times halfway through the party it was still about an hour wait. For us, we really wanted to meet Gaston since PB was dressed like him and we were an entire Beauty and the Beast bunch, but his line snaked around the building so it was a no go.

The line to meet Gaston was crazy! So our version of PB's Gaston had to do instead, lol!

It was kind of a bummer that the waits were so long. Thankfully though, we lucked out on meeting Mickey Mouse at the end of the night with no wait. I will also point out that a lot of the character greet offerings are similar characters that Disneyland has on a regular basis at Halloweentime, so if you're a Disneyland regular, you won't be missing out on too much if you bypass the characters (Halloweentime Minnie, Pumpkin Donald, Jack & Sally to name a few).

Overall Thoughts 
So what did we think of our first experience with WDW's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party? It was fun and I'd definitely be up to doing it again, but with a little more planning. Since we still weren't too familiar with the Magic Kingdom, there was a lot of trying to figure out where different things were located. We were also a little exhausted from the time change to the East Coast so we definitely paced ourselves slower than we normally would. I also don't know if the party date we attended was unusually busy due to the timing of the first party of October, or the fact that it was the Magic Kingdom's birthday, but it was SUPER crowded. We're so used to the lower crowds during Disneyland's Halloween parties that it was a bit of an adjustment at WDW's version. There just wasn't enough time during the party to do as much as we wanted, but despite the setbacks, it was still a ton of fun. If we could do it again, I'd definitely do more research, get to the parks earlier and overall, just plan it out better. As it is with much of WDW compared to Disneyland, more pre planning just needs happen for the best party experience possible.
And as a Disneyland girl, would I say WDW's version is better? Ehh, it's hard to compare because both coasts' parties are similar, yet so different at the same time. So if you're a Disneyland goer, it's definitely worth checking out to see the differences between the two!
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is a fun event that is great for the whole family to partake in! My best tip for those attending is to prioritize what you want to do, get there early and know that the limited party time probably won't be enough to see, do and eat everything, but go in with a plan and an open mind and it'll be magical! The party is a fun way to get into costume, get some treats and experience the park in a whole different light (literally!). Thanks for reading along 💜