Review: Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland

Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland is one of the year’s most anticipated events by Disney fans and after attending this past Wednesday, I am here to share my experiences from this fun filled night.

For the uninitiated, Mickey’s Halloween Party is a ticketed event that allows guests of all ages to dress up in their Halloween finest (something that makes this event extra special since guests over the age of 14 are not allowed to wear costumes into any Disney park otherwise) and meet their favorite characters, many of whom are in special costumes only found during MHP, trick or treat via treat trails setup throughout the park, shop Halloween special merchandise and see an exclusive Halloween parade and fireworks spectacular.

Tickets went on sale for MHP in June- about a month earlier than usual this year and I thankfully bought tickets on the first day they were released because as is always the case, certain dates sell out quickly. As of last week, all dates for 2018 are sold out.

My husband and I arrived just in time for the Toontown pre-party to start (each MHP ticket allows guests to enter both parks three hours before the event starts at either 6 or 7pm depending on your day). Toontown opens an hour before the party begins and offers special treat trails and costumed characters that rotate every 15 minutes or so- we saw Donald, Daisy, Minnie, Mickey, Chip, Dale and Goofy while there. Having that extra hour in Toontown was great, albeit crowded (It’s a pretty small area and with a large amount of MHP guests in it, felt even smaller) and got our candy collecting off to a solid start (for the record, I’m not much of a candy fan but it’s the thrill of the hunt and Disney gives out the top shelf candy we all hoped for as a kid so who am I to miss out on that?). Once 6pm hit, we headed out to explore the park.

All of the attractions are available during the party (with extremely short lines to boot) so we headed for the Haunted Mansion since we were dressed as characters from the ride and wanted to take photos. We hit up all of the treat trails along the way, including the couple that were set up at the soon to be entrances to Star Wars Land.

After wandering the park to discover treat trails and running into friends (w

Mickey’s Halloween Party 2018. Photo: Annie Thornton

ho clearly won the night with their group costumes from The Princess Diaries), we got a spot on Main Street to watch the parade and fireworks. Before the parade began, the Headless Horseman rode up the street on a spooky black horse and set the mood for the Frightfully Fun parade. Although shorter than most Disney parades, it was gorgeous and had an all-star cast of characters fit for the season including those from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Haunted Mansion, and a whole heap of villains. The fireworks are a definite highlight that feature music from villains like Cruella de Ville, Ursula, AND Kaa as well as from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Zero flying over the castle is the cherry on top!

After the fireworks, the crowds trying to navigate out of the viewing area were similar to what you’d find on a normal Disneyland night which was a bit disappointing (it definitely felt as though there were a lot more MHP guests than the last time we attended), but we got through and wandered a bit more and made sure to watch the Cadaver Dans on the fog filled area of The Rivers of America. (The Cadaver Dans are the MHP version of The Dapper Dans and perform throughout the evening)

More from Bam Smack Pow

• James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
• New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episodes 1 and 2 review: Aftermath
• 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters

We even met a new face character that is for now, only available for meet and greets during the party: Constance Hatchaway, the bride from the Haunted Mansion. She and Sally Slater aka the tightrope girl have never been available to meet at Disneyland and I’d like to think they are a sample of what is to come given that next year is the Haunted Mansion’s 50th anniversary. Fingers crossed!

By the end of the night, we were wiped out from multiple laps around the park and the proprietors of five pounds of candy each. Yep, we collected ten pounds of candy and didn’t even hit all of the treat trails (some had bizarrely long lines that we weren’t interested in waiting in, as did some of the characters unfortunately). Overall, we had great time! Would I recommend if to friends and family?

Yes and no.

Yes if you go in with an understanding that you may not get to see and do all you hope to. We ate beforehand so that we wouldn’t lose time while dining and still felt the need to rush towards the end. If you watch the parade and fireworks, you will lose at least an hour of party time, so be prepared for that.

If you don’t visit the parks often and would rather not wander around collecting absurd amounts of candy in the dark, the price tag might not be worth it ($95-$120 per guest). Putting that money towards upgrading to a multi-day Parkhopper ticket during Halloweentime to experience all of the festive goodness both parks offer throughout the season may be a better choice that gets you more boo! for your buck.