Meet & greets are a preferred factor to do through the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion. This character information for MNSSHP covers the place to seek out every spot, common wait instances, priorities & technique, and when to do high-demand M&Gs. Technique is necessary, as a result of character M&Gs will be very time-consuming, with lengthy strains losing hours of the occasion. (Up to date August 6, 2024.)
The very first thing you want to know is that it’s necessary to plan forward. That’s at all times the case with Walt Disney World, however it’s significantly necessary for characters at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion. For those who merely arrive at 7 pm when the occasion formally begins, seize a celebration map, and head to a meet & greet, you’re going to be at a definite drawback.
It is because Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion really begins earlier than 7 pm, a number of characters meet previous to then, most strains kind earlier than then, and the occasion map doesn’t even listing which characters seem the place. That’s the unhealthy information…for the common attendee of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion. That’s excellent news for everybody who reads this, as you’ll have a couple of hours headstart, throughout which the primary factor to do is meet characters at MNSSHP…
Earlier than we get began, there’s extra “unhealthy” information. You can not probably meet each single character at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion in a single evening. You’re going to need to make tough selections when it comes meet & greets, since you merely can’t do all of them. There are air quotes round unhealthy above as a result of this can be a considerably good downside to have–partly brought on by there being so many characters.
However it’s additionally partly brought on by lengthy strains at a number of of the uncommon characters, which makes the time dedication too lengthy to fulfill all of them. So it’s considerably of a blended bag. In any case, we suggest skipping any characters that you could possibly meet throughout a standard day in Magic Kingdom, or at one of many different Walt Disney World theme parks. Talking of which, for all the pieces you want to learn about this occasion–past characters–see our Final Information to the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion!
August 6, 2024 Replace: Walt Disney World has shared a primary take a look at the brand new characters and costumes that’ll be showing at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion when it kicks off later this week.
Mickey & Minnie are debuting all-new costumes this yr, that includes a neon spider net design. Whereas these costumes have been redesigned and look fairly good, they comply with a well-known method and don’t actually reinvent the wheel. As such, we wouldn’t anticipate notably longer strains after the primary couple of events.
Extra importantly, the areas for Mickey & Minnie don’t change. This caught us without warning, as we anticipated Mickey and Minnie Mouse to lastly meet collectively once more. They won’t. Mickey will greet friends at City Sq. Theater and Minnie continues to look in Storybook Circus.
The even greater addition to the 2024 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion is that friends will even have the ability to meet Bruno alongside Mirabel within the Fantasy Backyard. That is the primary time each Encanto characters shall be doing a meet & greet collectively at Walt Disney World.
Oogie Boogie Bash has had Bruno for the previous few years, and he’s a surprisingly good face character for meet & greets. We’re not the largest followers of Encanto, however actually have loved assembly him on the occasion–he’s a enjoyable character with a sly persona who’s nice for amusing interactions.
Since Encanto stays standard and that is really a new-for-2024 addition to MNSSHP, we’re anticipating this to be one of many highest demand meet & greets with common wait instances round 60 minutes. Attributable to logistical difficulties, we don’t anticipate this being one of many meet & greets that begins earlier than Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion formally begins. Nonetheless, these are simply educated guesses at this level–and might be fallacious. We’ll replace accordingly as soon as events begin and extra is understood about optimum methods, and many others.
Talking of technique, let’s speak you thru the evening. You need to be sure you’re in Magic Kingdom along with your costume as near 4 p.m. as potential. That’s the earliest you’re allowed to enter Magic Kingdom for the pre-party “mix-in” along with your occasion ticket, and the road to enter the park often varieties round 3 p.m. (We suggest arriving no later than 3:30 p.m.)
For those who’re already in Magic Kingdom previous to this, we extremely suggest going to one of many wristband stations within the park reasonably than exiting and re-entering. Not solely will the road be shorter, however this offers you a definite benefit for those who’re planning on doing the preferred meet & greet on the very entrance of the park on Major Road.
Talking of which, right here’s an inventory of all of the character areas for the reason that Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion map supplied by Disney doesn’t listing them…
Major Road USA
- Sally & Jack Skellington – City Sq. Theater (Tinker Bell Line)
- Mickey Mouse – City Sq. Theater
Fantasyland
- Ariel and Prince Eric – Prince Eric’s Village Market
- Belle – Close to Enchanted Tales with Belle
- Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore – The Thotful Spot close to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Alice & Mad Hatter – Mad Tea Occasion
- Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum – Mad Tea Occasion
- Queen of Hearts – Mad Tea Occasion
- Drizella and Anastasia – Fantasyland (Roaming)
- Mirabel & Bruno – Fairytale Backyard (NEW)
Storybook Circus
- Seven Dwarfs – Pete’s Foolish Sideshow
- Witch Minnie, Princess Daisy & Pumpkin Donald – Dumbo
- Pirate Goofy – Barnstormer
Adventureland
- Abu and Aladdin – Agrabah
- Genie and Jasmine – Agrabah
- Jafar – Close to Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- Captain Jack Sparrow – Close to Pirates of the Caribbean
- Max Goof as Powerline – Throughout from Pirates of the Caribbean (Pop-Up Dance Occasion)
Frontierland
- Nation Bears – Walkway Close to Nation Bear Jamboree (Roaming)
Tomorrowland
- Elvis Sew – Sew’s Nice Escape (Close to Entrance to Tomorrowland)
- Timon – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Occasion)
- Vamprinia – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Occasion)
- Doc McStuffins – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Occasion)
- Fancy Nancy – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Dance Occasion)
- Max Goof as Powerline – Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Pop-Up Dance Occasion)
Longest Traces for Characters
- Jack Skellington and Sally – 90 Minutes to three Hours
- Seven Dwarfs – 90 Minutes to 2 Hours
- Elvis Sew – 45 t0 90 Minutes
- Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore – 45 to 60 Minutes
- Mirabel & Bruno – 45 to 90 Minutes (Predicted)
- Witch Minnie, Princess Daisy & Pumpkin Donald – 45 to 60 Minutes
- Mickey Mouse – 10 to 60 Minutes
We can’t stress sufficient the diploma to which the above are estimates. Even those with large ranges. For instance, we’ve waited lower than 10 minutes for Jack Skellington and Sally, in addition to the Seven Dwarfs on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion nights up to now. That’s an excessive instance, as these had been dates that had been impacted by extremely wet nights and/or hurricane scares…however that’s changing into an more and more frequent phenomenon, so don’t depend it out.
On different events, we’ve waited much less time than the ranges above due to extraordinary timing. Both we jumped in line at simply the appropriate time initially of the evening, or on the finish of the evening. However it’s not all excellent news. We’ve additionally averted strains that had been really longer than 2-3 hours on the excessive finish, with staffing shortages, significantly sizzling climate, or colossal crowds skewing the wait instances for standard meet & greets above the aforementioned averages.
Characters That Meet Early
- Jack Skellington and Sally – Roughly 4:30 p.m.
- Seven Dwarfs – Roughly 6:20 p.m.
- Elvis Sew – Roughly 6:30 p.m.
- Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore – Roughly 6:30 p.m.
Once more, these are approximations. Since they’re unofficial and unpublished, they’re additionally topic to vary. Truly, it’s not simply these characters who’re topic to vary. Each different character is meant to come back out at 7 p.m., however that doesn’t at all times occur.
One among our go-to meet & greets is Witch Minnie, Princess Daisy & Pumpkin Donald, and there have been instances once they’ve come out at 6:45 p.m, and different events once they haven’t proven up till nearly 7:15 p.m.
Clearly, we don’t attend each single Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion. That will rapidly get ridiculously costly! Nonetheless, we’ve been doing this yearly since 2007, and attended over a dozen events in 2019 alone. From that, we’ve realized a ton…however there’s nonetheless a variety of inconsistency and variability.
Simply one thing of which try to be conscious as you propose the characters you need to meet–and all the pieces else you’ll do throughout MNSSHP. You might be able to accomplish far much less–or rather more–than is listed in our 1-Evening Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion Plan! With that in thoughts, right here’s our optimum method to characters through the occasion…
What’s This? What’s This? There’s Folks In every single place! – Jack Skellington and Sally meet in City Sq. Theater beginning round 4:30 p.m., which is why it’s extremely advantageous to get your occasion wristband early and “beat” the occasion mix-in friends arriving through the entrance entrance. For those who will be within the foyer of City Sq. Theater proper when the road opens at 4:00 p.m., you may be out of right here by 5:30 p.m. or earlier.
For those who don’t get into Magic Kingdom till 4:15 p.m. and line up then, it’s potential you gained’t be out of line till round 7 p.m. for those who get unfortunate. Significantly, quarter-hour will be that a lot of a distinction.
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho It’s Off to Storybook Circus We Go – For those who’re too gradual for Jack Skellington and Sally, you’re actually actually quick and are out of there early, otherwise you merely don’t care about Nightmare Earlier than Christmas characters, the Seven Dwarfs are a very good various first choose.
These characters meet in Pete’s Foolish Sideshow, which is within the deepest nook of Magic Kingdom. On account of that–and the meet & greet not beginning fairly as early–the road sometimes doesn’t kind as quick. (If it’s a sizzling day, the road can be slower to kind as a result of the wait begins outside within the solar.) You’ll be able to arrive right here round 5 p.m. and nonetheless be advantageous–probably even 5:30 p.m.
The one factor you completely don’t need to do is line up for Jack Skellington and Sally or the Seven Dwarfs between 6 pm and seven pm. That’s when the strains shall be at their longest, and also you’ll find yourself ready in line for a number of hours of occasion time.
Pooh’s Posse – For those who begin with the Storybook Circus characters, it’s straightforward to then bounce over to the Pooh line by the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in Fantasyland. That is additionally probably the most standard meet & greets at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion.
All 4 meet collectively, they usually solely take one picture per visitor. It felt much less like a meet & greet and extra like a “picture meeting line.” On the plus facet, the wait wasn’t practically so long as it has been up to now.
Donald & Daisy and Minnie – Additionally again in Storybook Circus, you’ll discover Donald & Daisy, and Minnie Mouse carrying particular Halloween costumes for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion within the Dumbo queue. That is one other good possibility after you end up with the Seven Dwarfs.
You can too discover Pirate Goofy again right here by the Barnstormer. As Goofy meets by himself, he tends to have a considerably shorter wait than the opposite characters in the course of Storybook Circus.
Notice that that is sometimes an both/or scenario. You can not sometimes meet Pooh’s Posse *and* Donald & Daisy, Minnie, and Pirate Goofy. Select one of many two units of the 4, and both save the opposite for the tip of the evening, or skip them solely.
Skip the Traces! – For those who comply with the above technique, it’s most likely going to be someday between 7:30 p.m. and eight p.m. once you’re lastly completed. That is the purpose within the occasion when the character meet & greet strains are longest. So, except you’re a hardcore hunter of characters, it’s time to do one thing else. (Or you may stick to characters, however you threat burnout.)
One possibility is to as a substitute hit up the dance events and areas of Frontierland and Fantasyland which have free-roaming characters to “skip” the strains and nonetheless get your character repair. For those who do see free-roaming characters, go work together with them! They sometimes don’t get very lengthy waits regardless of once you go and they’re, and will be tons of enjoyable.
As for dance events, there’s Max Goof’s Powerline “Stand Out” Pop-Up Occasion that occurs in Tomorrowland and Adventureland, the Disney Junior Jam in Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland, and the Zom-Beatz Bash on the Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland.
Publish-Fireworks – We don’t suggest anybody skip Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade or Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks. For those who watch each, that’s going to occupy you from round 8:45 p.m. (assuming you don’t wait till the final minute for a parade spot) till 10:45 p.m. After that, you may resume character searching.
One good possibility right here is making a beeline to City Sq. Theater after the fireworks. For those who watch from the tip of Major Road close to the Prepare Station and are quick, you may probably catch the road for Jack Skellington and Sally when it’s shortest. That is additionally a very good time for Mickey Mouse for those who’ve already knocked out a lot of the extra standard characters.
Now can be a very good time for the Aladdin characters and Captain Jack Sparrow in Adventureland or the royalty in Fantasyland.
Final Name for Uncommon Characters – Not like points of interest, you can’t line up for characters till 11:59 pm. Most strains for uncommon characters get reduce round 11 p.m., however it actually varies based mostly on crowds and demand (Disney’s objective is to have the final friends out of line as near midnight as potential–however that usually runs over).
Accordingly, you actually need to be in line for any of the ‘longest strains’ listing by 11 p.m. There have been instances after we’ve had luck leaping into line as late as 11:15 p.m.; on different events, we had been denied shortly earlier than 11. We’re followers of doing Elvis Sew as our “final name” character, and in our anecdotal expertise, his line tends to die down later within the night. Winnie the Pooh and his posse typically have shorter strains–most likely as a result of these characters skew youthful.
Earlier than Midnight, Meet Mickey – After 11 pm is the perfect time to go to Mickey Mouse. For those who decide to observe the second parade from Major Road, you may often race right here, beat the gang, and nonetheless arrive earlier than his line is reduce. No matter once you do that, don’t do it as a part of the ‘wave’ of friends exiting after the parades or fireworks–that’s when the road is longest. You both must beat these exodus crowds, or keep away from them solely.
Closing Countdown – The final efficiency of Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular begins at midnight, which supplies you a “bonus” 20 minutes on the finish of the occasion. It is a good approach to lengthen Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion, however even this remaining exhibiting is crowded. Clearly, this isn’t a personality meet & greet–only a piece of recommendation we’re including since you’ll most likely be performed with characters by midnight and there’s a very good likelihood you didn’t see this earlier for those who had been aggressive with the character searching. Take pleasure in this satisfying finish to your night!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion? Which character meet & greets are your prime priorities? Did you meet Jack Skellington & Sally or the Seven Dwarfs…or had been these strains too lengthy for you? What about Elvis Sew, Pooh’s Posse, or different uncommon characters with extra reasonable strains? Do you disagree with something in our 1-night MNSSHP character searching plan? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
