Feel like Halloween yet? Well, it's Halloween already at the Walt Disney World Resort, where Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party kicked off tonight with its earliest-ever start.
The August 16 start is the first of 36 nights for this year's after-hours, hard-ticket party in the Magic Kingdom, which runs through November 1 this year. And also for the first time this year, Disney is offering a season pass for its Halloween party.
The new Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Pass costs $299 plus tax for adults ($284 for kids) and gets you into 35 of the 36 event nights. (One-night prices rage from $79-135 prices, for context.) The ticket is available by calling 407-939-4295 or at Disney World ticket booths, and yes, you can upgrade a one-night ticket to the season pass, but quantities are limited.
And for the "35 of 36 nights" thing, guess what the one ineligible night is? That's right, the actual Halloween — Oct. 31. But with 35 other nights to play like it's Halloween, maybe you can spend the "real" one trick-or-treating in an actual neighborhood instead?
This year's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party features a new fireworks show, Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular, hosted by Jack Skellington.
The event also includes Mickey's Boo-To-You Halloween Parade, a DescenDANCE Party in Tomorrowland's Cosmic Ray's, Storybook Circus Disney Junior Jam in Fantasyland, Halloween music and lighting on Mad Tea Party, live pirates inside Pirates of the Caribbean, and a completely dark Space Mountain, plus unlimited, all-ages trick-or-treating throughout the park, including a new treat trail at Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.
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As was written: The ticket is available by calling 407-939-4295 or at Disney World ticket booths, and yes, you can upgrade a one-night ticket to the season pass, but quantities are limited.
Quantities are limited, being the key.
This is a fantastic deal! Getting up to 35 nights of free candy and short lines on attractions for $300 is amazing. I am shocked that Disney is offering something this good, honestly.
Of course, you'd have to be an Orlando local to take advantage of more than a handful of dates. And this only includes Magic Kingdom, so even a hardcore fan might get a little tired after the 5th or 6th time going. Plus, you basically would have to ensure you don't have work the next morning. And you already have to be an AP holder, or you're paying for parking.
Still. Awesome deal.
My question is how much shorter will the lines really be if Disney sells single night tickets as they currently do plus an unknown number of MNSSHP season pass holders shows up on any given night?
Right. So for instance, if they usually sell 10,000 single-night tickets, but they sold out of their 1,000 season passes, it'd make sense that they'd only sell 9,000 single-night tickets.
That's my two bits.
If that’s the case it would be far less revenue than what they would have received in the past, and that is very un-Disney-like.
Surprised there's been no discussion here on Walt Disney World adding discounted admissions with their Mid-Day Magic Ticket...considering these after 12pm admissions makes for a relatively good value and applies to multi day, allows for FastPass+, isn't a resident offer, and has a park hopper option- seems like several of our eegular posters here would directly benefit. As opposed to the limited appeal of this Halloween pass.
@Dave Bakas I agree, I was wondering that too... @Robert Niles you may want to write about this next...
@Gabriel and twobits - I also think it's odd that Disney is providing this option when the MNSSHP appears to be getting more and more crowded year after year (despite the assertion from Disney that tickets are "limited"). I think it's a fair question to ask whether Disney is reducing the number of tickets they sell for each party because of these new "season passes" to prevent potential overcrowding. In the end, I think Disney is trying to capitalize on the similar passes sold by USF for HHN, and I expect their supply (assuming it is just 1,000) to be sold out very quickly.
The Mid-Day Magic ticket is definitely an interesting admission media. Parks around the world have been offering "twilight" or other discounted admissions for late arriving guests for decades, but to see Disney take this tact is quite interesting. Honestly, I think WDW admissions are already too complicated, and adding another option is just going to further confuse guests. However, I do think this is an interesting value proposition, especially since guests with this ticket still have access to the FP+ early reservation system. Part of the appeal of the current FP+ system is that if guests didn't want to get to the parks at rope drop, they could still ensure getting on 3 pre-selected rides with minimal wait. This new ticket allows guests that want to sleep in the same advantage at a lower price, and in affect undercuts those that may have already purchased full day tickets with mid-day FP+ reservations not intending to arrive at the parks until later in the day anyway.
These both really seem like panic moves by Disney to reverse what is a declining attendance trend at the resort (and around the world in general within the industry as a whole). However, selling Halloween season passes and mid-day tickets during a time when most guests planning a trip to WDW have already bought their admissions is not really going to change much. Disney got too aggressive with their pricing at a time when many guests are running out of disposable income (with a Recession likely on the horizon). If Disney wants to really reverse this trend, they need to freeze admission prices and be more reasonable with hotel rates and other incidental costs while visiting WDW (souvenirs, food, tours, etc...). Until then, WDW attendance will not grow commensurate with the level of investment Disney is currently making (meaning executives will think twice about green-lighting future additions to the resort).
It just seems so early for this! But it does gives them 2 & a half months.....so it looks like they'll maximize it as much as possible.
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I always thought that the number of tickets sold were limited in these after hours parties. If there is a season ticket for all these parties (Except one) how are they going to control a potential night of over crowding?