What really happened at Disney during the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?

                     

What happened at Disney during the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?

On August 23rd, 2024 we (My 2 sons, 11 & 3, boyfriend and I) made our way to Magic Kingdom for a spooky evening full of fun! 

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

It was our first time so I was open to discovering what we were in for and oh boy,it was not a nice ride! 

We arrived at 6pm to give ourselves 1 hour to roam around collecting our wristbands and candy bags and I had a super plan!

By the way, I made a very complete Excel file with all the things to do and eat at the party that I’ll be happy to share!

Anyways, here comes 7PM (Party time!)  and I can already sense something is a bit unusual but it seems to be normal. 

I just feel the way leaving guests and arriving guests are being managed is quite odd but hey it’s Disney they know what they’re doing!

First of all, I feel we missed the main entrance (on the right  side by the confectionery) where you can see Cruella, traffic was going in all the different directions and even though i’m pretty sure it’s impossible, I feel like “day guests” could have enjoyed a bit of the party until being “ caught” for not wearing the wristband. 

Moving on… I had a super super SUPER plan (and realistic) I even told myself to not stress it if it doesn’t happen EXACTLY this way, I was really prepared to enjoy and make the best of it.

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

I wanted to get started with the dance party Disney Jr Jam in Tomorrowland.

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

The Dj was super cool and fun! It really felt like being “inside Disney Channel”! 

He played awesome music and we were all dancing and having fun!

He then announced that we might have some guests on stage including Bluey, my son is a huge fan of Bluey so I decided to maybe skip the next activity on the list to wait for the famous Bluey who… never showed up. First disappointment, we waited an extra 20 minutes full of hope but no characters showed up on stage (Unless they did after we left but I didn't come to the MNSSHP to just do a dance party, sorry!) 

Well, Time to go collect some candies but at my Not So Scary Surprise, it was POURING. 

What to do? That’s the Disney choice us locals and tourists have to make when it comes to bad weather. Run! But run where? Tomorrowland doesn't have the best options to take a shelter and lines were already all the way to…. Outside the rides.

The best I was able to do once was wait under the Carousel of Progress outside and got kicked out and ran under the People Mover a few covered areas… ouch! 

On a regular day I would say “hey no problem let’s call it a day” but NOT on my first Halloween Party!!! 

Boyfriend to the rescue! Fast forward we bought ponchos and were very determined to not let the rain ruin this for us!

Let’s move on to going to meet up with Mickey, so far the rain only canceled our 2 candies collection stops and now we can navigate the park easier with our new poncho styles! 

One thing about me, I have DAS for reasons that I will disclose (or not) at a better time. 

DAS is a disability pass that allows people with a certain “Condition” (I hate this word) and allow them to book an activity/ride without staying in line and come back at a designated time. 

It is used through My Disney Experience app and it’s being scanned at the beginning of each activity/ride to confirm the DAS. 

We booked the Meet & Greet with Mickey as soon as 7PM (See my coming article about how DAS works on the Mickey Not So Scary Halloween Party) 

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

I started to be hopeful again and we made our way to the Boo-To-You Parade, in the meantime we got lucky enough to ride The Mad Tea Party! 

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

Well that’s where it starts really going wrong….

We booked the Mad Tea Party with my DAS, and continued to collect some candies. 

The newer rule is that DAS users have to wait 10 minutes after initially scanning their DAS at an activity/ride before booking another one. 

Sometimes, the system doesn't realize you have scanned already and you become… stuck and blocked from booking anything else. 

The app does not let you cancel and your only option is to go to Guest relation.

And that’s EXACTLY what happened to us. On a normal day, you would just go to Guest Relation and they reset it for you in no time.

Not that day….Sadly not that day. 

At parties like that, time is limited, there is too much to do and not enough time, so decisions need to be made according to preferences. That’s why time needs to be optimized and that’s what I thought I was going to do by leaving my family in the line to collect candies and go to the nearest Guest Relations office. (Lines are supposed to be short but due to rain and the fact candies collection was indoor, line were insanely crazy) 

(Meanwhile We started hearing the announcement that the Boo-To-You party was being delayed due to the weather and finally canceled.)

I asked the Cast member for the nearest one and was told to go by Liberty Square (Close to the haunted mansion), it’s a 5 minutes walk through the rain and crowd but no problems.

Once there and in line for about 15 minutes, a cast member approaches the lady in front of me to ask how they could help. 

Funny not funny story, the lady purchased popcorn buckets and was holding them by the lanyard that you put around your neck and oil from the pop corn had damaged her entire outfit.

While explaining her story to the cast member, she was told that this location was NOT a Guest Relation that night but only an allergy free candies pick up location and she.... Kind of lost it which triggered me a whole lot!

So I jumped in asking to confirm what was just said, the cast member confirmed to me we both waited for nothing and the ONLY REAL Guest Relation office is the one by the entrance of the park. 

Here goes another 10 minutes walk under the rain with orange color spray in my hair drooling all over my face….

I finally made it to the office to find… a 1+ hour line. Here comes the anxiety attack.

This is an event most of us have been anticipating for weeks or months even more.

Lots of us had to take time off work or spent so much time and money on the event on our costumes and outfits, most of us also have kids, small kids. 

I find myself all alone in the middle of this huge crowd

(I wish I had taken a photo of the line when we left. It was easily 2h long! From the Guest Relation office to passed The Emporium shop) 

Again, Boyfriend to the rescue!!!

Him and kids were running to me as fast as they could to come and comfort me.

We stayed in line for so long it made no sense. Disney was totally disorganized.

All shows were currently canceled when suddenly, when we were about ¾ done with the line a rude cast member popped out of nowhere yelling “ WHO WANTS A REFUND?”

I thought this was the best option she could have picked to create CHAOS! And mission accomplished, people started running towards her, and it’s only then she realized it was not the best idea. 

She insisted people get out of the line (after waiting for so long!) to come collect a  paper that had a phone number to call and get a refund. Except we could not get out of line as I still had to deal with my DAS situation to unblock it. 

She refused to give us a paper.. I sent my son out of the line to go grab one.

(Photo Credit : Frenchy & The Mouse)

This paper mentions to call a number to get refunded or get a 1 park 1 day ticket. 

After another 20 minutes or so in line, we were able to speak to a Cast Member who offered to reschedule our party to another day which we accepted.

To end this very long article, for most of you, this might just seem like an inconvenience but for a DAS girl, this was a nightmare to handle. 

Disney is my comfort zone, I am a Disney adult and until you go through it you can’t understand the feeling of “leaving your problems at the door” once entering Disney. So feeling that my comfort zone became the trigger of my nightmare was a really big hit that day.

Being a local, I have a few Cast Members in my entourage and several have reported being sent home in tears that night due to extremely rude visitors and lack of organization.

I made sure to pixie dust all the Cast Members I interacted with and plan to keep on doing it on September 27 for our next time. 

(See my article What’s the Pixie Dust at Disney World?)

I am happy and grateful we were given an opportunity to come back and I hope Disney will have their act together.

See you with my next article ;)

Also : big THANK YOU TO ALL THE WONDERFUL CAST MEMBERS, they were overwhelmed and overworked for US to have fun and this is priceless. Sending Love 

XOXO