Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Tips & Touring Strategy 2025

We are Disney pros and have our Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party tips you should use as you experience the after-hours event at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party, which now has dates stretching from August to November, features special party entertainment, character meet and greets, candy, and the opportunity to enjoy select attractions.

It isn't possible to enjoy every single offering that the Halloween party has in one evening, so I will share tips on how to prioritize what you can't miss and the best order to accomplish everything the party has to offer.

We have a full guide to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but today I wanted to go deeper on the event to share our detailed tips and touring strategy for those who have decided to attend the event. These tips are based on my evening at one of the early Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween parties during a previous year.

This article has been checked for accuracy for 2025 and updated with all currently available information. Some of the information from previous years has been kept here to give you a sense of what will likely be offered in 2025.

Top Tips Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party – Know Before You Go!

The below Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party tips are ones that I have collected over the years covering the party and ones based on my Halloween party attendance at the event. This first section of tips is geared towards planning for the party. Then, below that I'll get into my specific touring strategy.

Plan to Arrive By 4 pm – Party guests can enter the Magic Kingdom starting at 4 pm using their Halloween party ticket. The party lines are typically at the far right hand side turnstiles. There will be lines to enter the party before 4 pm. Once the lines start moving, the wait shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes as they move quickly. You'll receive your party wristband once you enter the gates. If you have your My Disney Experience linked to your Walt Disney World app you should automatically have your tickets there ready to scan.

There Will Be Long Lines For Characters – Some of the key offerings of the Halloween party are the rare character meet and greets throughout the parks. From Jack and Sally to the Seven Dwarfs all together, these are characters you won't see normally at the Magic Kingdom. These characters are rare, fun to have photos with, and exclusive which means they all have lines that build quickly. Our top tip here, look at our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party character list and think in advance which characters you care about. I'll share more in our timing strategy on when to see which characters.

Shows Are Awesome and Worth Getting a Good Spot For – This is another tip just for your general awareness. There are three shows at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party that you'll want to see – Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular, Mickey's “Boo to You” Parade, and Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular fireworks show. The Hocus Pocus show is best up close to the castle because it's very fun to see the performers and characters even closer in. In certain instances you could end up waiting on Main Street for a good chunk of the night for the castle show, fireworks, and also parade to see it all well. The shows are pretty well timed where you aren't waiting too long between any of the entertainment.

Bring Games Or Things to Discuss – Generally, we are all about creating Disney touring strategies that avoid long lines completely. At the Halloween party, lines and waiting are inevitable throughout the evening. I'll get into this below, but in order to secure photos with the characters you want you will end up waiting in line during the party. This is a great time to break out ‘Heads Up' on your phone or some discussion topic that will keep the entire group occupied.

Eat Before the Party! – During the party there are only a select few restaurants open for your enjoyment. Eating during the Halloween party will “eat up” the precious time that you could be touring the parks or seeing more characters. In general, we recommend eating before this and other after-hours events to make the most out of the offering. Also, our general recommendation is that the food at the Magic Kingdom is not nearly as good as the dining options at the surrounding resorts or other theme parks.

Bring Water With You – The temperatures for our recent party (in early September) were still up in the 90s with high humidity late in the evening. All of our same Disney World packing list tips still apply here. Make sure to bring a water bottle with you to the event so that you don't need to leave a good seat for a show or line to go find water.

Don't Wear Costumes That Will Be Hot or Obstruct Your Hands – The Halloween parties are held throughout August, September, and October. The weather can be very hot late into the evening. I highly recommend that you avoid wearing heavy clothing for your Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party costume. Also, don't wear a costume that would require you to carry a big prop for the costume to work. You don't want to have your hands obstructed as you carry candy, food, or head through the parks. Remember that you'll be in the parks a long time when you are choosing your costume. While we're here, I should also mention that you should NOT dress up like a Cast Member during the event as you likely will not be allowed into the party if security catches on and if you are allowed in will cause confusion. Also, last thing on clothing – be sure to wear comfortable shoes to Disney for the party.

General Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Touring Tips

Get Your Wristband Inside the Park If You Are Already In – If you are already inside Magic Kingdom from having spent the beginning of the day there with a separate park ticket, the line will be much faster to scan your Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party ticket and pickup your party wristband at some of the distribution points inside the park. Below is an example distribution point located inside Fantasyland at Fantasy Faire near Mickey's Phillarmagic. You can find wristband distribution points within the park at: Fantasy Faire, at Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland across from Pirates of the Caribbean, and in Tomorrowland across from Monster's Inc Laugh Floor.

Visit Popular Characters Before the Party Begins – Part of the reason that we recommend arriving to the parks before the party starts is to start meeting characters. The main set of characters to meet early on is Jack and Sally inside the Main Street Theater. These two have a massive line that grows into the multi-hour range throughout the party. Other popular characters also start greeting guests before the party starts:

• Jack and Sally will begin meeting guests around 4:30 pm
• Winne the Pooh and Friends in Halloween costumes begin to meet guests at 6:30 pm
• Seven Dwarfs begin meeting at 6:15 pm

*Note, the above times could vary based on your party night

Skip Halloween Space Mountain – This tip is based on my general Walt Disney World preference to skip Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom unless you really want to ride it because it is just so jarring. Somehow the Halloween overlay makes this attraction feel even more outdated and like a regional rollercoaster. The ride pales in comparison to the TRON rollercoaster next-door and Disneyland's Space Mountain.

TRON Treat Trail – If you are interested in getting candy efficiently, walk through the TRON treat trail towards the end of the night. There was absolutely no one here when I walked through and the Cast Members gave huge scoops of candy into my bag and filled me up. As candy wasn't my objective for my night at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party I actually only walked through two treat trails.

About 3/4 of the candy pictured below came from this one TRON stop. If candy is a priority, you'll want to bring a second bag to carry additional candy in as the bag provided is somewhat small. In general it's a good idea to wait to get candy to avoid carrying it around all night.

Take In All the Atmosphere – My favorite part of the Halloween party is the atmosphere. Many are in costume, Halloween music is playing, and additional entertainment is out. Make sure to take it all in.

Is Enjoying Rides Worth It? – A big question to consider for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is whether you want to devote precious party time to attractions in the parks. As we specifically mentioned with Space Mountain and TRON above, the attractions can take precious time.

The Haunted Mansion will have a consistent line throughout the evening. The attraction has no special Halloween additions beyond a ghost in the queue section just before the entrance to the stretching room. The best reason to enjoy an attraction is to get out of the Florida heat and to sit down for a break.

Two Shows You Can Probably Skip – There are two shows listed for the party – the Disney Junior Jam and Zom-Beatz Bash that are not worth adding to your itinerary unless you have a little ones particularly interested in the characters there. The Disney Junior Jam also has the added benefit that it is inside Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe which could provide a much-needed escape into air conditioning.

Creating Your Halloween Party Strategy

In order to determine the right strategy for you for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, you need to consider what is most important for you to experience during the party. Unlike the Oogie Boogie Bash event at Disney California Adventure where it is possible to see everything, the Magic Kingdom Halloween party has so many popular offerings that the lines make it impossible to see everything unique at the party.

The biggest consideration for devising your touring strategy for the event is to determine how much you care about photos with the rare characters at the event. The character wait times are what will take up the majority of the time at the Halloween party.

I'll create this itinerary in a type of choose-your-own-adventure style. Some tips for the party can be somewhat militant and frankly those tips are definitely required if you have your heart set on meeting multiple of the most popular characters. With the tips below you'll be armed to approach the party this way if you would like or you'll be able to be far more relaxed with tips to beat the crowds and stumble into great experiences.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Itinerary

Now, let's dive into the itinerary for our top Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party tips! When you arrive at the party be sure to grab the party guide/map that we show in the first photo of this article and below. It includes showtimes and specific information on the special offerings – many of which we detail below.

If you have interest in meeting Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas you'll want to be in line here before the party begins. This meet and greet opens around 4:30 pm and can have long wait times. When I circled back to check on the line at 6 pm on a recent trip the wait to meet the two characters was 220 minutes! So, if you want to meet these two, you'll get in line here immediately.

If you don't care about Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas you can use some of this time to wander the parks and get a lay of the land or find food.

You can take advantage of Mobile Order until 6 pm when the park officials closes but after that all food orders will be done at the counter. Other characters won't begin greeting guests until 6, 6:30, or 7 pm when the party actually starts.

Popular characters you could go line up for during this time included Elvis Stitch in Tomorrowland, Winnie the Pooh and Friends in Fantasyland, or the Seven Dwarfs in the Fantasyland Storybook Circus area. Again, if any of these characters are high on your list, prioritize them now. Be aware that when you join the lines for these characters you may be joining an hour-long line that won't start until the characters begin meeting so add the time before the posted character time with at least an additional hour of waiting time.

This strategy will circle back to some characters, even very popular ones, later in the evening but you could run into lines being cutoff. If you have any top priority characters now is the time to get in line. Consider this the “work” part of the party before you get to enjoy atmosphere and entertainment as the sun sets.

There are three shows that you'll want to fit into your evening – Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular, Mickey's “Boo to You” Parade, and Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular fireworks show. Of these three, the fireworks is my least favorite as it actually isn't that Halloween-themed with much of its music from classic princess animated films. The best part of the fireworks show is the impressive Jack Skellington puppet that plays “host” (see photo included in upper section of this guide). You cannot miss the Hocus Pocus show or parade.

Between 7 pm and the first main show time at 8:35 pm (note this first showtime shifts to 7:40 pm in October) you have time to experience more characters, entertainment, and party atmosphere. There are multiple performances of the Hocus Pocus show (three in August & September, four shows in October & November) and two performances of the parade.

The fireworks are only performed one time. If characters, rides, or other fun in the parks are more important to you than the entertainment you could choose to skip the earlier shows and opt for just seeing the later shows. I personally would make time to see the Hocus Pocus show twice and if you are only going to see it once see it up close to really enjoy the character performances.

In this period before the shows may be caught up in the longer lines for the characters mentioned above. If not, journey further into the party to enjoy some of the other atmosphere and shorter character lines.

If you are interested in some quick-wins during the party this is a great time to head over to Adventureland to meet Aladdin and Abu and Jafar.

Continue your tour through Adventureland whether you are interested in those characters or not. Back by the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction you can meet Jack Sparrow and/or catch some of the Pirates in the Rusty Cutlass band in a fun interactive performance. You could easily spend 30 minutes, the length of a full set, enjoying this entertainment. The band performs intermittently from 7:15 pm to 11:50 pm.

You may also see Jack Sparrow walking through Adventureland as he moves from his meet and greet spot during breaks.

From here, circle back through Frontierland and catch some of the Cadaver Dans Barbershop Quartet performance in Frontierland. This is a play on the classic Dapper Dans that perform on regular days on Main Street USA. You'll find the group on the balcony above the Country Bears Jamboree entrance. Also, note the eery fog that is pumped out on the riverfront. It nicely sets the mood.

From here you will likely need to circle back to the entertainment on Main Street. Or, you could stop where you are to see the first performance of the Mickey's “Boo-To-You” parade which should be coming by shortly. Frontierland should be less crowded than Main Street. The second showing of the parade should have fewer people crowded around generally.

On Main Street you'll have the option to secure a double or triple header of entertainment. If you watch the first parade near the castle forecourt and then right after the parade ends move up to the rope you'll be very close up for the fireworks. From here you could also hold this spot to see Hocus Pocus from the first row.

You could also follow the parade from the time that it passes you in Frontierland to this point to then secure a spot. If you get up close for the fireworks you'll get to be up close to the puppet but miss some of the fireworks that go off behind the castle. I personally like seeing the projections and puppet up close, but you could also still have a great view a little ways back.

During this time you could also circle back to any of the other characters you missed that are on your must-see list. The first parade of the night and fireworks are the times that the lines will be the shortest for any characters.

Other things to do in this Frontierland area – the Haunted Mansion is totally normal during the party except for three elements. Many of the Haunted Mansion Cast Members will have eery makeup on, a performer appears in the queue just before entering the stretching room, and a special fog and lighting package transforms the exterior of the mansion.

It used to be that you could see the ghost actors in the exit of the attraction, but they have been moved to an area in the queue just before the entrance to the mansion so the only way to see them is to get in line for the attraction itself. This character, named Madame Carlotta, will not be out during the brief fireworks period.

Now, this is the part that many write off. Lines for characters close when the line for that character is at or near the remaining amount of time at the party. If there's an estimated hour line for a character, the line will close at 11 pm. They stretch this a little bit but the goal is to have people there late into the night. Now, many guests avoid even attempting to meet characters after 11 pm because of this expectations that the lines will be cutoff. I highly recommend you still try.

During my recent party, I was wandering around Storybook Circus and both the line for Goofy and the line for Seven Dwarf's were still open at 11:15 pm. I walked up to the line for the Seven Dwarfs expecting it to be closed and the posted wait time was only 25 minutes. Within 15 minutes I was meeting the Seven Dwarfs for an awesome photo.

The lesson here? Check back at the end of the night before heading out for character greets. Around this time the line for Winnie the Pooh and Friends was still open but had a line estimate of an hour plus – that estimate could be longer than the actual as they wouldn't want people to join the line at the end of the night.

Another note for parents, the Seven Dwarfs don't sign autographs but a Cast Member will offer you a sheet with the autographs of all the characters.

My final note that I also shared in my party tips section above, and the way that I ended last year's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party was with a walk through the treat trail underneath the TRON Lightcycle attraction. You'll find it to the left of the entrance to the attraction. The Cast Members here gave me two huge scoops of candy and sent me home happy.

Attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party can feel like a mission, but if you accept the fact that you will NOT be able to see it all and select what you are most interested in you'll have a great time enjoying the Halloween offering.

With that, I'll say see ya real soon and ask that you join our newsletter mentioned below if you found this helpful.

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