Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together at Magic Kingdom is dearer than ever earlier than, with tickets costing as much as $199 every and promoting out yearly. We’re right here that will help you resolve whether or not Walt Disney World’s fall seasonal occasion is “value it” for you–plus commentary on whether or not MNSSHP presents adequate worth for cash to us. (Up to date October 2, 2024.)
One of many difficulties in assessing whether or not Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together justifies the excessive value is that there are not any simple comparisons. Shopping for a single-day ticket to Magic Kingdom isn’t an apples to apples equal, nor are there any “Enchanting Additional” upcharges (presently) which can be viable options to MNSSHP.
As such, figuring out whether or not Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is well worth the cash requires a take a look at options to the arduous ticket occasion, its core parts, previous precedent, and extra. It’s a patchwork method, however that’s sorta the character of the beast in the case of these “is it value it?” questions and all issues Walt Disney World.
Largely, it’s because there’s all the time an inarticulable x-factor in the case of Disney. An emotional or nostalgic pull that causes many individuals to miss goal on-paper comparisons. We justify a lot on the premise of perceived benefits or substance. If we’re being trustworthy with ourselves, the truth is that it often boils all the way down to one thing much more emotional, nebulous, or intangible.
That is true not simply with Walt Disney World diehards. A big swath of the general public is keen to pay premium pricing for Disney’s product and that’s as a result of there’s the notion that there’s no “substitute good.” Positive, there are different Halloween occasions–most likely a half-dozen of them simply in Central Florida–however none of them have the identical basic attraction to the goal demo as Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together.
(We are saying this as individuals who love Halloween Horror Nights, however are cognizant of the truth that we’re outliers. The 2 occasions are hardly direct opponents, which is patently apparent to anybody who attends each and easily seems round.)
Subjectively, it’s troublesome to argue that plenty of what Disney presents is value the associated fee on paper. Whether or not that be upcharge choices, rack charges for Deluxe Resorts, or a large number of different issues. Comparable “actual world” counterparts nearly all the time supply higher worth for cash. Identical goes for previous incarnations of Walt Disney World’s personal choices–you pay extra and get much less in 2024 than you probably did in 2014.
Objectively, it’s a very totally different story. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together has bought out fully for each of the final two years, and there’s no signal of demand slowing in 2025 or past. Within the clearest and most easy sense, the market has already spoken and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is value it.
Whereas followers like us would possibly complain about ever-increasing costs, discuss is affordable. We proceed to vote with our wallets and reaffirm that not solely is MNSSHP nonetheless value it, however that it’s underpriced–as evidenced by the occasion promoting out sooner and extra steadily than ever earlier than. Walt Disney World has but to search out the ceiling on what friends are keen to pay earlier than balking at MNSSHP. Actually, we’re type of scared about what that quantity could be.
Mainly, this preface is our cop out. A roundabout means of claiming that every little thing at Walt Disney World is value it, and nothing is. Admitting that that is an train in futility, as emotion and nostalgia are large drivers for Walt Disney World and worth for these issues may be very a lot within the eye of the beholder.
However, it’s an train we’ll undertake simply the identical, attempting to find out if the ever-increasing ticket costs for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together could be justified in any means.
Costs are most likely an excellent place to begin an evaluation of value, so let’s start there. Tickets for the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together ranged in value from $119 to $199. That is up very barely over the course of the final couple years.
Though it hasn’t gone up a lot in the previous couple of years, these are huge value will increase as in comparison with 2019. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary tickets value between $79 and $135 again then. That’s an unimaginable distinction. (On condition that tickets have bought so nicely for the previous few years, we concern an enormous enhance is coming in 2025.)
On the upside, we’ve noticed decrease ‘appears like’ crowds at each MNSSHP and MVMCP within the final two years as contrasted with 2019. After a constructive response and better visitor satisfaction for the Halloween After Hours occasion just a few years again, we strongly suspect Walt Disney World decreased the capability cap by round 20% (give or take). That’s not sufficient to offset the value enhance in proportion phrases, however it’s noteworthy.
When it comes to historic pricing, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together didn’t break the $100/night time barrier till 2016. We first began attending in 2007, and budgeted ~$50 for each the Halloween and Christmas Get together for the primary a number of years we went.
I don’t understand how a lot worth there’s in evaluating costs right this moment to again within the “good ole days” of the Nice Recession. The world is a really totally different place than it was in 2007-2009. Whereas we could desire pricing from again then, the financial system and actual wages are unquestionably higher. Consequently, demand is lots larger for MNSSHP than it was then.
However, I additionally don’t assume it fairly passes the odor check to say “this occasion that’s considerably the identical because it was in 2007, besides extra crowded and dearer, is now higher than it was then.” Demand can clarify Disney’s underlying rationale for value will increase, however not reply questions of value. However maybe that’s a bit too within the weeds.
What’s most likely extra helpful than eager for the previous is dollar-cost comparisons to the current. We will evaluate MNSSHP ticket costs to the price of a 1-day ticket to Magic Kingdom. Common day admission ranges from $134 to $179 in the course of the months of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together.
Not so coincidentally, day ticket costs are literally similar to MNSSHP ticket costs on a date by date foundation for the remaining occasion nights. Some are about the identical; Friday nights in October being $20 dearer.
If we had to decide on between a full day in Magic Kingdom and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together this time of 12 months, we’d decide the latter instantly. It presents decrease crowds, higher ambiance, enjoyable leisure, and is at night time throughout a time of 12 months that’s usually scorching.
So long as MNSSHP continues to be comparably priced to single-day Magic Kingdom tickets within the fall, you may count on it to proceed promoting out shortly in 2025 and past–barring a recession or different main change. It’s because an rising variety of friends are buying Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween as an alternative of day tickets.
That is enjoying out in a methods huge and small, from vacationers shopping for shorter length tickets (3 days as an alternative of 4) to locals skipping out on Annual Passes and getting their “Disney repair” throughout Get together Season. The latter is a large issue, as Floridians are being priced out of APs or opting to take a 12 months off from them, however nonetheless need to do Walt Disney World every now and then. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is a strategy to scratch that itch, so to talk. That is undoubtedly taking place, as evidenced by the bigger mix-in crowds ready to enter at 4 pm.
Nevertheless, we will’t assist however assume that this can be a false selection–or that the dynamic would possibly revert in some unspecified time in the future within the not too distant future. That’s as a result of Walt Disney World has provided ticket offers for every of the final two years for each Floridians and most of the people, providing multi-day admission ranging in value from $59 per day to $99 per day (the decrease finish of the spectrum was for Floridians).
It’s honest to say that followers in search of a single-day Disney repair aren’t going to need 2-day to 4-day tickets, however some are. And if it’s a selection between 4 days for $235 to $396 or Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together for $149, I’m selecting the multi-day choice, even on the larger value. (With Epic Universe looming, it’s protected to say these ticket offers will return for Fall 2025–maybe even higher than ever!)
However, there’s a query of the worth proposition of MNSSHP vs. common 1-day tickets for a lot of friends.
We’ve been urging Walt Disney World trip planners to do Magic Kingdom on celebration days, which quantities to as many as 10 hours within the park (plus one other 30-60 minutes in the event you rely Early Entry). Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween begins at 7 pm and runs till 12 am, however as famous above, party-goers can really enter the park starting at 4 pm, for a grand complete of as much as 8 hours.
From a qualitative perspective, the argument might be made that these 8 hours in the course of the celebration are superior to the ten hours in the course of the day. If that math is hard to sq., it means you haven’t visited Florida in the course of the months of August by October. Level being, night hours are extra nice than the daytime.
That is really pretty much as good of some extent as any to handle crowds. Perceptions of crowds varies extensively primarily based on locations and priorities. As soon as the leisure begins, Principal Avenue and the world in entrance of Cinderella Citadel could be congested at occasions. The entrance of Magic Kingdom sees a disproportionate quantity of crowds, so that you would possibly assume MNSSHP may be very crowded–worse than a standard day–in the event you hang around across the entrance of the park ready for leisure.
In the meantime, over in Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland, there are sometimes extensive open walkways throughout the very same events, at the very same occasions. Whereas not as brief as After Hours occasions, wait occasions for many sights with out overlays are below 10 minutes. Visitors who use MNSSHP as a strategy to do rides with minimal waits and keep away from Principal Avenue would possibly understand crowds to be round 2/10 or so.
That’s about on par with a standard day in Magic Kingdom throughout celebration season with a 6 pm closing. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween is rather less busy if we’re utilizing nothing however the goal measure of wait occasions. Conversely, the celebration can worse if we’re utilizing the extremely subjective measure of congestion.
Circling again to the subject of ticket value, a lot of that is irrelevant to most Walt Disney World trip planners. The overwhelming majority of attendees aren’t deciding between a 1-day ticket and MNSSHP, they’re deciding between MNSSHP and (doubtlessly) one fewer day on their multi-day tickets.
As such, the incremental value of including (or subtracting) a day to multi-day tickets is the important thing consideration. On this case, that’s an additional ~$10 to ~$30 as in comparison with $139 to $199. Instantly it’s an enormous distinction. The qualitative benefit of night versus daytime in Magic Kingdom melts away.
When assessing worth, MNSSHP followers usually level to the “free” trick-or-treating. That is misguided. When you spent the whole night time doing nothing however trick-or-treating, you’d find yourself with a sweet haul having a good market worth of $8.97 from Walmart or CVS. (Or ~$234 at Walt Disney World present store costs.) As somebody who enjoys having tooth, I’ll additionally admit to being biased in opposition to consuming copious quantities of sugar. However severely, the precise worth of sweet just isn’t a profitable “argument” in the case of the price of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together.
Given all of that, we’re left with no higher choices for assessing worth than by ascribing worth to the core competencies of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together: Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, Mickey’s Boo to You Parade, and Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular Fireworks. These three items of leisure are the cornerstones of the occasion.
Walt Disney World followers can quibble over whether or not HalloWishes is healthier than the present fireworks or if Boo to You is pretty much as good because the Christmas parade, every convey one thing totally different to the desk. They’re all nicely value seeing and every supply one thing spectacular.
If we have been to fake the leisure at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together bought Lightning Lane entry, it’s doubtless that seeing every one among these would value round $25. Assuming you don’t need to repeat any of them, that’s $75 of leisure plus a time value of about 3 hours of the occasion itself.
Add in one other $25 for atmospheric acts and ambiance, and also you’re at $100. Then there are character meet & greets, trick-or-treating, attraction overlays, and the time you’re capable of entry Magic Kingdom. In concept, that will get you to the typical ticket value, assuming you worth all of these issues.
In fact, you may regulate these numbers upwards and downwards primarily based in your celebration’s priorities and what you worth. It’s doable the additional time in Magic Kingdom or doing common sights with brief traces is value considerably extra to you, however the leisure is value considerably much less. Possibly the person parts have been barely value it for you 5 years in the past and now actually aren’t.
Maybe merely being there amongst different friends carrying costumes for Halloween whereas your children are capable of trick-or-treat in a enjoyable and protected setting is priceless. It’s additionally doable you’re wholly involved with having the most effective trip doable and are keen to spare no expense to realize that. (In that case, undecided why you even are studying this.) Once more, worth is within the eye of the beholder.
To that time, I figured it’s value sharing our perspective as attendees for the final decade-plus. We’re complete suckers for these events, and we completely love the ambiance on the occasions. That is equally true for each MNSSHP and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together.
From 11 pm till every time we depart is our favourite time at Magic Kingdom, and the events are immensely satisfying on a private stage primarily based on that end-of-night ambiance alone. Lots in regards to the Walt Disney World expertise for diehards is revisiting fond reminiscences, and now we have a ton of them from late nights at MNSSHP and MVMCP.
The top of the night throughout these events transports me again to 2007-2010, and I’d pay a silly sum of money only for that feeling. It’s not rational, however it’s what it’s. (When you’re an informal visitor or first-timer, it’s value understanding that lots of the Walt Disney World expertise boils all the way down to chasing nostalgia for diehards, whether or not they’re keen to confess it or not.)
With that stated, if the query is whether or not Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is well worth the cash to us primarily based on the present occasion itself, the reply might be not.
For us, MNSSHP peaked in 2015 or 2016. Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular had debuted, the occasion was comparatively uncrowded, there have been extra meet & greets, HalloWishes was nonetheless round, and ticket costs have been considerably decrease. There have been modifications since then by way of experience overlays and different modifications, however none of that actually strikes the needle sufficient for me to offset the upper value.
Frankly, if I may select between the MNSSHP of 2016 or 2024 at similar costs, I’d nonetheless decide 2016. There have been plenty of little cuts and different methods the standard of the expertise has been eroded. Throughout that very same timeframe, nearly nothing of worth has been added to justify the upper costs.
The underside line is that we splurge on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together as a result of we need to do it–with out regard for its worth proposition. It’s a type of issues we all know isn’t fairly what it as soon as was, however since we don’t personal a time machine (but), we proceed attending. It’s a extremely enjoyable expertise and nonetheless “shut sufficient” on worth that we give it a cross (for now).
At this level, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is one thing we might do each different 12 months if it have been only a matter of non-public enjoyment. Writing in regards to the occasion is what ideas the scales for us, and makes it simpler to justify paying the ever-increasing costs to attend.
In fact, all of that is extremely private. Though it’s much more costly than MNSSHP, I can not think about lacking Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Get together. The necessity to write about it excuse additionally exists with MVMCP, however we’d completely attend yearly for private enjoyment. That comes all the way down to much more nostalgia, preferring Christmas, climate, and the spirit of the season. (Christmas in November is much more enjoyable for us than Halloween in August.)
In the end, the ambiance, fireworks, plus two showings of each the Boo to You parade and Hocus Pocus present present adequate worth for us to maintain returning, with every little thing else being icing on the cake. We additionally get to revisit fond reminiscences and nostalgia for MNSSHP–however greater than something, that ought to underscore why it’s so troublesome to find out whether or not Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together is well worth the cash.
There’s additionally the truth that we ascribed plenty of worth to the time after 11 pm, which could be downright laughable to these of you who’re mother and father of young children. We didn’t even scratch the floor there–or of how costly this will get for bigger events. The purpose is that there’s no one-size-fits-all reply. The most effective we will supply is the rambling evaluation above, and the hope that it gives adequate “meals for thought” such you could make a private dedication for your loved ones.
Ultimately, we all the time have an excellent time at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together. Not as a lot as we did again within the day (particularly with the associated fee in thoughts), however nonetheless sufficient enjoyable to proceed going 12 months after 12 months. At the same time as Annual Passholders who’ve finished the occasion dozens of occasions, we nonetheless stay up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together–the occasion is certainly not as “value it” to us because it was, however we hold going. As with different followers, the votes we could with our wallets most likely say much more than these few thousand phrases.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? When you’re concerned with studying extra about resorts, our Walt Disney World Inns Opinions web page is an effective place to begin. For the place to eat, check out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions web page. If you wish to get monetary savings on tickets or decide which kind you must get, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a novel take a look at unconventional issues you must take in your journey. When you arrive on the parks, our Walt Disney World “Trip Guides” are nice for figuring out what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of those subjects and a lot extra, the most effective place to begin is our complete Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information to profit from your expertise!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together at Walt Disney World within the final two years? What did you consider the crowds? Assume it was well worth the excessive ticket value? Ideas on the Boo to You Parade, Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, fireworks, or some other leisure? Another ideas, likes or dislikes? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
