Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party returns to Magic Kingdom with dates starting in August 2023. Here’s a sneak peak at the entertainment lineup and details for the hard ticket event, plus our commentary about the likely popularity of MNSSHP after every single night sold out last year for the first time-ever.
This announcement about the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party’s came as part of the Disney Parks “Halfway to Halloween” wicked celebration that features “shriek peeks,” recipes for dreadfully delicious dishes from the parks, not-so-spooky tips, and other random stuff. Above all else, though, Halfway to Halloween is now when announcements are made about the start of the spook season at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and aboard Disney Cruise Line. That’s the main event, and everything else is a distraction.
To that end, we know now that the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will be the longest version of the event ever (truly historic news), held on select nights in Magic Kingdom from mid-August through the start of November 2023. Here are the official details with dates, ticket prices, and more–followed by our commentary about crowds, pricing, etc…
Tickets for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party may be purchased online or by calling 407-939-4240 by the general public beginning May 2, 2023. Guests of all Walt Disney World resorts and other select hotels (see below) can begin purchasing tickets as early as April 27, 2023. Ticket prices will range from $109 to $199.
2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates are as follows:
- August 11, 2023
- August 15, 2023
- August 18, 2023
- August 22, 2023
- August 25, 2023
- September 1, 2023
- September 4, 2023
- September 8, 2023
- September 10, 2023
- September 12, 2023
- September 15, 2023
- September 17, 2023
- September 19, 2023
- September 22, 2023
- September 24, 2023
- September 26, 2023
- September 28, 2023
- September 29, 2023
- October 1, 2023
- October 3, 2023
- October 5, 2023
- October 6, 2023
- October 9, 2023
- October 10, 2023
- October 12, 2023
- October 13, 2023
- October 15, 2023
- October 17, 2023
- October 19, 2023
- October 20, 2023
- October 22, 2023
- October 24, 2023
- October 26, 2023
- October 27, 2023
- October 29, 2023
- October 31, 2023
- November 1, 2023
Throughout the evening during the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, you can:
- Set your sights on the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular! Watch 3 sinister sisters bewitch and bedazzle the residents of Magic Kingdom park.
- Witness Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular—a wickedly wild fireworks display featuring some of your favorite Disney Characters and hosted by Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- Boogie down at the Disney Junior Jam at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café—featuring some favorite friends from Disney Junior shows. It’s perfect for young partygoers!
- See beloved Disney Characters during Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade.
- Collect a bag full of candy as you roam the trick-or-treat trails in search of some of your favorite sweets.
- Revel in the extraordinarily enchanting atmosphere of Magic Kingdom park during this limited-capacity event.
During Mickey’s Boo to You Parade, it’s good to be bad! Your favorite Disney villains are back to stride down Main Street, U.S.A., alongside Disney heroes, the iconic Haunted Mansion graveyard diggers and other favorite characters.
You may even spot some ghoulish new faces this year…
Jack-o-lanterns aren’t the only ‘Jack’ at Walt Disney World this Halloween!
The Pumpkin King, a.k.a. Jack Skellington, will once again host the must-see nighttime spectacular, “Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular.” Featuring projections, special effects and lighting paired with fireworks, music and iconic Disney characters, you won’t want to miss this!
The Sanderson Sisters, stars of the iconic “Hocus Pocus” films, will unite for an adventure and call on their comrades to summon the ultimate “Hocus Pocus” Party Potion during the “Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular” stage show at Cinderella Castle.
In Frontierland, you can encounter the ghostly group known as the Cadaver Dans, a Dapper Dans-style quartet will have you howling in laughter to a bone-rattling bevy of tunes.
Also during the party, you may have the opportunity to experience some of your favorite attractions including Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the newly opened TRON Lightcycle / Run.
TRON Lightcycle / Run will use a virtual queue during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, allowing guests to enjoy all the festivities while they wait to enter the Grid. Stay tuned for more details!
Last year, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was held on 37 select nights August 12 through October 31. So this year starts one night earlier, ends one night later, and has 1 more event.
For those keeping score at home, these are all records. August 11 is the earliest the event has ever started (technically Boo Bash beats it with an August 10 start date) and November 1 is tied for the latest that MNSSHP has been held, tied with 2019.
Not that anyone cares, but we attended the last Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party of the year on November 1, 2019 back when we had the Halloween Party Pass for unlimited admission to MNSSHP. After leaving the park at about 1 am that night/morning, we were back at Magic Kingdom only a few hours later for the last day of Extra, Extra Magic Hours…and also the first day of Christmas.
We’ve all seen those time lapse videos of Magic Kingdom’s overnight transformation for the holidays, but its was nonetheless surreal going from Halloween one night, and returning only hours later to be greeted by Christmas decorations the following morning. Surreal, joyous, and bittersweet all at once, actually. That feels like a lifetime ago, but I digress…
As always, the 2023 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party will take place from 7:00 pm until midnight. Ticket holders will be admitted to Magic Kingdom as early as 4:00 pm on the valid date of their ticket–giving them even more time to enjoy park favorites before the event begins! These date-specific event tickets do not require an additional day theme park ticket or theme park reservation.
Below is date-by-date pricing, along with other additional details about the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that Walt Disney World has released:
Discounts – Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members can save $10 per ticket to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, valid for select event nights.
Purchase Tickets Soon – Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels can begin purchasing Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party tickets as early as April 27, 2023. All other Guests may purchase tickets beginning on May 2, 2023.
In addition to guests of all hotels that are Disney-owned, this advance purchase window is available to guests of:
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Resort
Tickets are limited and may not be available for purchase on the day of the event (or earlier).
If you still have questions about what the event does and does not include, when tickets go on sale, eligibility to purchase, crowds, and much more, see our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party FAQ.
We wrote that MNSSHP FAQ in response to the most common questions in the comments to last year’s version of this post. If you have a question, there’s a strong probability that FAQ answers it. (As soon as I’m done with the rest of the Halfway to Halloween news, I’ll be revising that with new questions from this post.)
One thing we do want to caution up front is that you should go in with realistic expectations about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party if you’ve never attended or haven’t done MNSSHP since 2016. In the last few years that the event has been held, its attendance levels have absolutely exploded. See Is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Too Crowded? for a look at what we mean. Or for a more comprehensive analysis, see Is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Still Worth It?
If past precedent is any indication, attendance caps for hard ticket events only increase and never decrease. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party have gotten progressively busier over the years (save for the off-season or anomalies like hurricane-induced cancellations). That’ll likely be true once again in 2023.
Turning to commentary, let’s turn to the hottest topic: pricing.
To our surprise, the price range for the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party are exactly the same as last year ($109 to $199). This comes as a shock because last year’s event was more popular than ever, with all dates selling out. That was the first time that had happened, and it occurred despite the steepest price increases for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on record.
Now in fairness, although the price range for the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is identical to last year, the average price has increased. That’s due to fewer of the lowest priced nights and tickets costing more in mid-September through mid-October 2023.
In effect, those of you who visit Walt Disney World during the second half of the Halloween season (save for October 31, as it’s the same price) will likely be paying more than last year. Nevertheless, we were bracing ourselves for significantly higher prices. (My prediction to a friend was that ticket prices would be about $20 higher than this, so I view this as good news. YMMV, though!)
To that point, the price range for last year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was $109 to $199, but the average event cost about $145. In fact, only one date during the month of October–the heart of Halloween season–was at or below that price point. Every single date after October 4 last year cost $159 to $199.
The previous time Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was held, back in 2019, the price range for the party was $79 to $135. That’s right, the highest price that year (Halloween night) was lower than the average last year. And the average back in 2019 was also under $100, or less than the starting point of tickets last year.
All in all, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party ticket prices increased by about 50% last year with the highest hikes coming in late September through October. That didn’t seem to put a dent in demand as, again, tickets sold out faster than ever.
Given the degree of unsatisfied demand, it’s impossible to say how much higher Walt Disney World could’ve priced last year’s MNSSHP tickets. One thing we do know is that the price range ($149 to $199) and average were both higher for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party last year, and that also sold out every night.
However, MVMCP is always more expensive and more popular than MNSSHP. That’s in large part due to none of those party nights occurring during the true off-season (mid-August through September) and in part because Christmas is simply the more popular holiday, making it conducive to spendy events like this.
Regardless, it would seem that Walt Disney World does NOT think that it can push prices higher for the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Our guess is that this is not a charitable move on Disney’s part, but a realization that last year was an anomaly due to pent-up demand and MNSSHP being on hiatus for the 2 previous years. But who knows.
Which brings us to the next common question or concern among readers: when will tickets to the 2023 MNSSHP sell out?
The bottom line is that you do not need to worry about 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets selling out…yet. If you’re reading this when the announcement is first being made during Halfway to Halloween, you have nothing to worry about.
Even with last year setting the record for sold out dates, nothing was gone until June 30. That’s when Halloween night sold out. It wasn’t until July 28 that the next date sold out, and no other nights running out of tickets until August. That all happened earlier than normal, too.
In other words, the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is not going to sell out within days of tickets going on sale. That applies to both the presale window and the general public window. Honestly, our expectation is that 2023 tickets will sell significantly slower than last year.
To both of these points–about 2023 prices and tickets selling out–there are a lot of potential ways to explain why MNSSHP sold so well and quickly last year. Pent-up demand is a big one; both for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party as an event (that hadn’t been held since 2019!) and for Walt Disney World in general. Many fans had postponed fall trips for several years, dating back to 2019 when the feared “crowd-pocalypse” caused many visitors to delay trips until 2020…and then cancel again.
There was also stimulus money, higher household savings, and a renewed emphasis on traveling or making up for lost time. Another underappreciated factor is the lack of new Annual Pass sales at the time, which means some locals likely purchased MNSSHP to get their Walt Disney World fix. (That’s a big contributor to Oogie Boogie Bash’s popularity at Disneyland Resort.) The lack of new Annual Pass sales is in the process of being rectified, but it remains to be seen whether those will still be sold come the 2023 party season.
With that said, the popularity of last year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party should not be minimized as a relic of its time frame or an anomaly. Those parties sold out despite more of them, a significantly higher capacity cap than Boo Bash, and substantial price increases relative to the last Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party before that. Substantial Cast Members had also been ubiquitous in prior years to drive attendance (the holiday parties are particularly popular with College Program participants) and that was not the case last year.
In other words, there are explanations for the popularity of last year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that may not apply in 2023. However, it would be foolish to forecast significantly lower sales as a result; there were many factors driving the popularity of MNSSHP last year, and at least some of those will once again be present in 2023.
The bottom line is that Walt Disney World likely feels emboldened to raise average prices for tickets to the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party as a result of last year’s demand while maintaining the same range. Even if internal attendance forecasts are soft for late this summer and fall (and they probably are based on what we’ve heard), the event will still likely maintain a high degree of popularity–at least from late September through all of October 2023.
On the one hand, last year’s event sold incredibly well even as there was a slowdown in late summer travel due to higher gas prices. On the other hand, this year is already proving very different from last; more resort discounts have already been released, and they’ve come earlier and been better than historical norms. If there are internal concerns about softer numbers do to fizzling pent-up demand, it would behoove Disney to move faster and lock-in MNSSHP ticket sales ASAP.
Ultimately, we’re incredibly excited about this news that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is back again for 2023. Like so many Walt Disney World fans, attending MNSSHP is a fall tradition for us, and we were really excited to have the event back last year. It was nice to once again see the Boo to You Parade and Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, even if that did come at a much steeper cost.
Our hopes for the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party are two-fold. First, that not as many dates sell out and that there are more manageable crowd levels and breathing room as a result. Second, that more of the entertainment and character meet & greets are restored, and at least a few new things are added to the event roster this year. (Which, in theory, would also help with the first point.)
If you’re already planning ahead and thinking about when to do the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, your best bet from a low crowds perspective is attending on a Tuesday night. If you’re a local with even more flexible dates, attending one of the earlier events in August through mid-September (but not the very first night–that’s the “blogger bash” that’s attended by sites like this, vloggers, influencers, and every other diehard local who wants to be first, which is why it’s more expensive than the following nights) is your best bet for avoiding the crowds. Of course, that assumes not every date will sell out; if last year was any indication, that might be an overly bold assumption.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts about all of this? Excited for the 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Will your family be buying or sitting this Halloween event out? What are your thoughts on ticket prices, demand, crowd levels, or the likelihood of the 2023 MNSSHP selling out to the same extent as last year? Do you agree or disagree with our perspective on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
