Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party 2026 Review (as a solo traveler)

  First a little intro... I've been to Disney World in September many times but decided that it was finally time to try Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. I am a 34-year-old Disney adult who has been going to Disney her whole life. Recently as of last year i gained up the courage to do a solo trip to Orlando as I really wanted to see the newly opened Epic Universe and I have a husband who is not a fan of theme parks and my usually theme park pal was not available to go. Before the trip, going solo definitely felt a little scary. But once I experienced the freedom of exploring a theme park on my own, I was hooked—and I’ve taken several solo trips since. Now, I’m making it my mission to experience all the Disney and Universal events offered throughout the year that I’ve never had the chance to try.

 I attended the September 1st party. I really like going to Disney in early September. The weather can be a little iffy with it being Hurricane Season but the crowd levels tend to be much lower than other times of the year and prices are also a bit more reasonable as well. 

The party begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends at midnight, but your ticket allows you to enter the park as early as 4:00 p.m. Upon check-in, you’ll receive a wristband and a trick-or-treat bag.

The event features a variety of entertainment, including trick-or-treat trails throughout the park, Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Parade—typically offered twice each evening—Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular, and the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. You can also enjoy special ride overlays, such as Space Mountain in complete darkness with spooky music, along with multiple character meet-and-greets. You will also experience most rides to have shorter wait times during the event.

I had a few things on my list I wanted to see and do. I started with trying one of the event exclusive meal options. I tried the Graveyard Hot Chicken and Waffle from Sleepy Hollow, which was very good. I didn't care much for the trick or treating but there were two trails I did want to see. One located in Frontierland which had hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion and one in Fantasyland which had Maleficent and Evil Queen. I wanted to do a few rides, and the wait times were significantly lower at this event (I did not find that to be the case when attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party last year). I wanted to catch Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular which is the fireworks show for the party which begins at 10:00pm. I arrived to the castle area about 10 minutes prior to the show and it was pretty packed. I managed to find a decent spot as I was alone so it was easy to squeeze in however if you are with a group I would definitely recommend arriving early to get a good spot. After the fireworks I did a few more rides before catching a few minutes of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. The main thing I was very excited to see for this event was The Headless Horseman kicking off Mickey's Boo-To-You Parade. As i mentioned the parade has two showings. The earlier show tends to be more crowded because a lot of families will leave earlier with young kids. I caught the later show and managed to get a very good spot in Frontierland showing up maybe 20 minutes before the parade begun, if you are a bigger group I would recommend finding a spot earlier for a good view. The parade was the highlight of the party for me. One thing I opted out of doing was any of the character meet and greets. They had very long lines throughout the night and for me being on a solo trip it just wasn't worth it. I saved Haunted Mansion for the very end of the night as that was one ride that did have a longer wait time, which made sense for it being a Halloween event. I started to make my way to the park exit at Midnight but made a final stop at the Emporium to look at the event exclusive merchandise and purchased a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Pin. Overall, I really enjoyed this event. I was able to get on several rides and see most of the party exclusive offerings. I would recommend this one regardless of if you are a solo traveler like me or a large family. I think it has plenty to offer for everyone!