Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
Encyclopedia
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
-themed event held annually during the months of September and October at the Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
theme park of the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....
, outside Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, and at Disneyland Paris Resort outside Paris, France. The party began as a response to the Halloween Horror Nights
Halloween Horror Nights
Halloween Horror Nights is an annual Halloween event that occurs at Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Singapore. Universal Studios remains operational during the day and transitions to Halloween Horror Nights at night...
event at Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
. Disney's event caters to a family atmosphere, whereas Universal's has more of a "fright-centered" event with their monsters (Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, etc.)
The event encourages guests to dress up in Halloween costumes and celebrate the season with themed events throughout the park. Normal rules prohibit guests over the age of nine years old from dressing in costume, however, this rule is waived for the party, although anyone dressed as a Disney character is prohibited from signing autographs or posing for pictures with other guests so as not to be confused with regular cast members (the Disney term for employees) in those roles.
Trick-or-treating
Unlike regular hours, the events include trick-or-treatingTrick-or-treating
Trick-or-treating or "Guising", is a customary practice for children on Halloween in many countries. Children in costumes travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy with the question "Trick or treat?"...
throughout the Magic Kingdom, featuring an Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
-themed trail on the bridge between Mickey's Toontown Fair and Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland
- Tomorrowland 1955–1967 :The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 18, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a corporate showcase,...
titled "Alice and Mad Hatter's Treat Party." In previous years the candy has been sponsored by Nestlé
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
but in recent years Mars
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
' M&M's
M&M's
M&M's are dragée-like "colorful button-shaped candies" produced by Mars, Incorporated...
and Snickers
Snickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....
have been there as well. The assortment includes a mixture of those brands and others, including the in-park "Goofy's Candy Company" brand. There are several other trick or treating opportunities indicated by special lighted balloons that are pointed out in the park map.
Stage shows, meet and greets and parties
A stage show and meet-and-greet with villains from Disney animated movies led by MaleficentMaleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a...
titled "The Disney Villains Mix and Mingle" is held on the Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle is the fairy tale castle at the center of two Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Both serve as worldwide recognized icons and the flagship attraction for their respective theme parks.-Inspiration...
Forecourt Stage. After the show, villains such as Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense...
, Captain Hook, Evil Queen and others are available for meet and greet in front of the castle stage. Other meet-and-greet opportunities exist during the party, including two Disney Character dance parties, one in Fantasyland
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Magic Kingdom-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Each Fantasyland has a castle as well as several gentle rides themed after Disney movies...
at Ariel's Grotto
Ariel's Grotto
Ariel's Grotto is a meet-and-greet area at several Disney parks based on The Little Mermaid, as well as a restaurant in Disney California Adventure Park....
featuring supporting characters such as Chip and Dale titled "Get Down and BOOgie" hosted by DJ Sir Herald Mix-A-Lot, and "Stitch's Cosmic Dance Party", held at Tomorrowland inside Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe Starlight Room. All the other characters are available at their regular locations, such as the Princesses from the Disney animated canon at Mickey's Toontown Fair. Because many kids dressed as either pirates or princesses at these events, Walt Disney World created a new hard-ticket event called Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party
Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party
Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party is a hard-ticketed event held throughout the months of January through June at the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida outside Orlando, and starting in 2011 at Disneyland Paris Resort...
in 2007. It was discontinued for 2009. Soon, it will have Jack Skellington
Jack Skellington
Jack Skellington is the protagonist in the 1993 Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack is the "Pumpkin King" of Halloween Town and lives in a fantasy world based solely on the Halloween holiday...
& Sally Meet and Greets.
Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade
As with Disney-themed parks, a parade and a fireworksFireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
show are the centerpieces of the event. The holiday-themed parade, entitled "Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade," features a pre-parade ride by the Headless Horseman
Headless Horseman
The headless horseman has been a motif of European folklore since at least the Middle ages.The Headless Horseman is a fictional character who appears in a short story called “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” which is in a collection of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon written by Washington Irving...
from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
. The parade, which runs in place of SpectroMagic
SpectroMagic
SpectroMagic was an evening parade presented at the Magic Kingdom park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Produced by longtime Disney Show Producer Ron Logan, it is similar to the Main Street Electrical Parade, which was its predecessor, directed by Don Frantz. The parade incorporates elaborate,...
, or The Main Street Electrical Parade, features various Disney characters (Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and their friends) in Halloween costumes and a live-action version of the three hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. A significantly re-imagined incarnation of the ride, known as Phantom Manor, is located in Disneyland Paris...
attraction. The villains are also in the parade with a unit of their own. Besides the Haunted Mansion dancers, Hitchhiking Ghosts, the hoedown dancers, and the barn unit, the parade and soundtrack were changed in 2005.
Happy HalloWishes
The fireworks show that is shown in lieu of the regular show, WishesWishes
Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams is a fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom theme park in Florida and at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris...
, is titled Happy HalloWishes: A Grim Grinning Ghosts' Spooktacular in the Sky, which is based on the Haunted Mansion and features Halloween-related music from the Disney library of animated films. Prior to the show's debut in 2005, a revival of the classic fireworks show, Fantasy in the Sky
Fantasy in the Sky
Fantasy in the Sky was a fireworks performance at Disneyland Paris from 1993 to 2005 in Marne-la-Vallee, France, Disneyland in Anaheim, California from 1958 to 2000, shortly again in 2004, and at the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, until 2003....
, was shown along with a three-minute holiday-themed finale featuring the voices of cackling witches. The soundtrack for both the fireworks and parade are available on an in-park CD as of 2008 titled "Magic Kingdom Event Party Music", which also includes music from Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party.
Disneyland Paris
For the first time ever, a Not-So-Scary Halloween Party took place outside the USA in 2008. In October 2008, Disneyland Paris hosted "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" (translated in French in "La Fête Pas-Si-Trouille de Mickey"), in the Disneyland Park. Located in Fantasyland and a part of Adventureland, these evenings offered access to several attractions, different shows especially created (Merlin and the Witch Academy, The Halloween Magician) and a Disco Party. Streetmospheres and Meet'n'Greet with Disney Characters gave to the Park a special and spooky atmosphere.For the second year, Disneyland Paris will host once again four of these family-centered events on October 9, 16, 23 and 27, 2009. The first rumors announced a wider area than the previous year (including Adventureland, Fantasyland and Frontierland) and a new Villain Show could take place on the Central Hub Stage.
The idea of these events remains to bring more families to the park during their annual Halloween events with a separate ticket like their annual "Soirée Halloween Disney" ("Disney's Halloween Party"), which has been run on All Hallow's Eve since 1997, and is darker in tone than those in the USA and Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
, but not as scary than the Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks. The park opened to visitors on 12 September 2005...
events in 2007.