Over here in the Jackpot, we love Halloween. Like, drive around looking at neighbors’ decorations, dress up for work, family costume wearing, LOVE Halloween. The second I found out about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney World, I knew Miss O needed to go. We had just entered the “what time of year should we go?” phase of our trip planning and I laser focused on fall so we could go to the party, too. Then I looked up the ticket price and almost died.

Tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party are no joke. Any internet search will pull up reviews that tell you to skip the party and go buy three bags of candy at your favorite store instead. I get that. I really do, but I also feel that way about walking through my neighborhood, laughing about how we should all just go buy candy and sit in the middle of the street one night trading full bags. That’s not the point, though.

We enjoy the decorations and the costumes and the sheer fun of pretending for one night. When you add in Disney-level production quality, you know you’re not getting one giant pumpkin inflatable that might be up that night. You’re getting to wear your costume at the park, watching special villain parades, meeting characters who hardly ever come out, riding rides at night and yes, trick or treating for tubs upon tubs of candy. What six-year-old wouldn’t be in to that?

Unfortunately, we’re those crazy people going to Disney World in August. What can I say? We like living dangerously. It wasn’t our first choice, that’s for sure, but it worked with the end-of-camp-just before-school-starts-void-of-childcare. My first choice would have been late fall/early winter, when it’s not terribly hot in Florida, and hurricane season is finally over, but there’s not enough snow in New England to delay your flights yet. I wasn’t too upset about the shift, but I was bummed that it would be too early for Miss to go Halloween-crazy at Disney.

Miss O still doesn’t know about our trip, but she’s been saving her own money to take us to Disney World. SO. SWEET. Every so often she asks if we can watch Disney videos. I happily pull up the free marketing videos we got access to when we started this adventure and we got our Disney fix. This time, when we got to the seasonal and special event video, Miss O LOST HER MIND over Halloween at Disney. She saw Jack and Sally and it was all over. I almost told her about Captain Jack Sparrow, her absolute favorite Disney character, but something told me to hold back a bit on that one.

It must have been the pixie dust working that day, because on my first opportunity to surreptitiously check the schedule, I found not one, but two nights of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party during our stay!

I wasn’t sure we could really afford to add it on to our week-long Disney extravaganza, but I couldn’t let the opportunity for Miss O to meet Captain Jack go quite so easily. Hubs and I brought it up on one of our family trip planning calls and left it as an optional thing that we were thinking about but didn’t want to pressure anyone else into. Flexibility is important, yes?

As I suspected, my in-laws passed on committing right away, but left the door open for buying tickets at the door if it seemed like Mr. A was up for a longer day. It’s harder for Mr. A. He most likely can’t have any of the candy Disney will offer. Even though there are allergy friendly trick or treat stations, the list of things he can’t have is so long, so the likelihood they’ll have something acceptable is pretty slim. Auntie L and Uncle B are pretty good at either sending us brand recommendations or bringing things he can have so we can slip them into goody bags or have them out at family events for him. The trick or treating isn’t the only part of the party, but it’s a big part and that could be rough on a 5 ½ year old.

It took a couple more months of debate, but we finally decided to spring for tickets. Hubs suggested we go for the Friday night instead of the Tuesday night that was offered because it’s the last park night of our trip. Our Saturday flight left at 7 PM, so we’d have the morning to sleep in and could have an easy day at the pool or Disney Springs while we waited for the Magical Express to take us home. “Why not go out big?” he said.

Why not, indeed, sir.

So now we’ll see what candy debauchery really looks like and hopefully Miss O will have a great night, even if she doesn’t get to meet one of her heroes. As if my summer weren’t full enough, now I have to figure out how to make her a costume that fits her request, is lightweight enough for the weather, and doesn’t take up too much room in our park bag. I’m sure there’s enough pixie dust left to help that along, right?

Have you ever gone to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Did you love it?

 

Featured image by Ashley.