Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!: Thrillography's Great Floridian Expedition Trip Report - Part VII

Boo to you!

Welcome to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

.....

well, almost. The party is tonight!

Right now we're at Magic Kingdom for rope drop! Let's go!

The park is open!

Running of the bulls!

The park looks amazing for Halloween.

HEY! YOU CRANE!

Leave.

You are not wanted here.

First order of business! Doing rope drop means walking through Seven Dwarfs' queue without wasting half a day there. 

There's cute activities in the queue, like this gem sorting game. 

Musical water fountain!

Spinning gem barrels!

Spin the barrels to reveal projections of dwarfs on the ceiling. 

Rumor has it that spinning all 7 at the same time reveals Snow White. ;}

After Snow White we caught up with Erin and Emma on small world.

:}

Next is Mad Tea Party!

Like the car driving at the Test Track pavilion, Emma loves "driving" the tea cups. She's obviously not strong enough to turn the wheel, but she likes to pretend.

Meanwhile I'm trying to take pictures and not throw up on my camera,

Ok just kidding. After I gave the ride an initial spin, I stopped to take pictures and no one in the tea cup elected to spin more. 

Seven Dwarfs in action.

Magic Kingdom finally feels like it has their answer to Matterhorn (if not in terms of intensity, then at least in terms of location).

Confession: The Christmas light crane was in this picture but I photoshopped it out because I liked the shot too much. 

Let's take a peek at the Big Top.

Yum :} Hand crafted goodies almost too pretty to eat! 

There's no going past Dumbo without going for a ride.

Emma is unsure of the egret.

Later tonight this spot is going to become very popular!

Some Barnstormer action! This ride reminded me that I haven't ridden Disneyland's resident kiddie coaster, Gadget's Go Coaster, in a long time. I should fix that!

Let's make a quick visit to Frontierland

Big Thunder still looks great despite being down for the count. 

Woo! Splash Mountain time!

I love being able to photograph this part of the ride. It's largely invisible to pedestrians at Disneyland. 

Fun fact! Splash Mountain's drop technically takes place on Chick-A-Pin Hill.

Magic crane is hard at work.

A local bird enjoying the water. :}

Was able to snag a much-coveted Peter Pan's Flight FastPass!

I'm used to boarding Peter Pan's flight on the rooftops of London. Here, we're already in Neverland. :}

You could say that Peter Pan's Flight is downright Pan-tastic! :}

***EXCITED***

Emma looks excited.

Family park, guys. Family park. 

It's now been over 20 years since Disneyland's Goodyear-sponsored WedWay Peoplemover graced the world with its presence.

Though it uses different vehicle design and means of propulsion, Magic Kingdom's Peoplemover boasts much of the same charm as its California predecessor.

Everyone wave to the poor man's Autopia. 

Disneyland's Peoplemover was propelled by a series of tire drives spaced out along the track (hence the Goodyear sponsorship). The Magic Kingdom installation features a more conventional electric railway system and is currently sponsored by Alamo car rentals. 

Additionally, the 4-vehicle Peoplemover trains for the Anaheim ride featured pivoting roofs that protected riders from the sun. In an effort to better withstand Orlando's sporadic and unforgiving climate, Magic Kingdom's installation came with an entirely covered track. Orlando's weather also played a roll in the change of propulsion; tire drives don't mix well with rain. What little downtime the Anaheim Peoplemover had could be attributed to insufficient tire traction amid rainy spells. 

While the Disneyland ride was replaced with the ambitious and ill-fated Rocket Rods, the cost prohibitive nature of making any attempt at reimagining the Magic Kingdom ride has helped protect it over the years.

IT'S SPACE MOUNTAIN TIME!

The original Space Mountain is quite the rambunctious romp. It's technically akin to Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds, and at no point is this more apparent than about 1/3 of the way through the ride, wherein the ride's gradually increasing speed and Arrow Mine Train-esque profile leads to about 40 seconds of unrelenting spinal readjustments.

Still an amazing ride, the Magic Kingdom Space Mountain is extremely rough and tough by the standards of other Disney family coasters; it's only a matter of time before it reaches such unpleasant levels of roughness that they'll have no choice but to do a complete overhaul, a la Space Mountain Anaheim. 

Matterhorn's two halves are not officially named (although they are identified as the Tomorrowland track and the Fantasyland track by many); Space Mountain Orlando's two halves are Alpha and Omega.

I never set out to ride this ride, but I always seem to end up on it at every Disney resort anyway. I say bring back the Delta Dream Flight ride it replaced. ;}

Oh well. At least it looks nice.

Looks like rain from here!

Tomorrowland still has a sunny outlook, however. 

Self portrait. 

I will never not be entertained by the egrets around the park.

We took a break at the hotel to recharge and then returned in our Halloween best!

Look, ma! No crane! 

Looks like we've escaped the rain for now.

Our first order of Halloween business is Liberty Square. Can you guess what it is?

:}

This is my favorite painting in the stretching room. She's such a diva. 

Managed to snag a few good peeks inside the Haunted Mansion.

We had a fairly long pause in the middle of our ride. which gave me a shot at some clear pictures in the hallway.

The number of little details in the ride is incredible.

Going through the hallway is usually a swift experience, but today we get to stop and admire some of the little touches. 

Lighting fixtures on point!

Back to Fantasyland, wherein we will be spending most of our party time.

Can you guess what's next?

Snow Emma on the carousel!

Carousels are Emma's favorite thing in the world.

Emma's extra excited to ride the carousel in her Snow White dress.

She's getting good at waving to the camera. :}

So the rain did eventually come, though it wasn't for too terribly long.

Good thing there's lots of indoor trick-or-treating to be done!

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party isn't cheap, but boy do you get a lot of candy!

Wardrobe check!

LOOK!

This rainbow's pot of gold is Fantasyland. :}

It's nice not having the crane there. One of the many perks of attending Mickey's Halloween Party. :}

No crane to photoshop out of this steamy shot!

I adore the way this scene from Snow White's Scary Adventures was integrated into Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. The installation at Shanghai Disney doesn't have it. :}

Twilight at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party means the tricks and treats are soon to kick into high gear!

The dueling Dumbos have summoned us for a very special Meet & Greet!

Halloween Daisy and Donald!

And Halloween Minnie! Minnie is Emma's favorite!

So we're walking back toward the carousel

AND SUDDENLY! 

The sudden fireworks everywhere startled Emma, so we decided to step inside for some princess visits. 

Emma finds this satisfactory.

She was very excited to meet Aurora!

And Cinderella!

And even the Dwarfs made a cameo appearance. :}

We made ourselves comfortable in Liberty Square for the fireworks; a nice, safe distance away so that they wouldn't be too loud for Emma.

The exclusive Disney Villains-themed fireworks show is quite the delight. :}

Lots of good music and cameos from various villains!

Up next is arguably the best-reviewed Disney parade!

Boo to You!

Everyone's favorite characters are out for a wild night of trick-or-treating! 

Everyone looks fabulous in their Halloween costumes!

The floats for this parade are amazing. Here we have the extra-scary Peter Pan float.

Hook and Pan are having a serious standoff!

Captain Hook's ship makes a nice segue into the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN FLOAT!

Captain Jack Sparrow is up there doing his thing. 

Cute little tombstone float. I bet you can guess what's coming next!

Grim grinning ghosts are out to socialize! 

HAUNTED MANSION FLOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's not forget that Halloween time is also harvest time! Here's Clarabelle with her grain silo.

Chip, Dale, and the Country Bears are out to celebrate a bountiful harvest!

I'm not sure I know who this is. Maybe related to Panchito of the Three Caballeros? 

In addition to ghosts and grains, Halloween time also means lots of CANDY! Right, Ralph?

Vanillope Von Schweets stole the show with her incredible candy factory on wheels.

The float churns out the sweet smell of halloween candy!

The parade finale is a culmination of everyone's most loved (or hated) villains! I think the evil step sisters from Cinderella are among the worst! 

The last float is led by the undisputed queen of all villains, Maleficent! 

The other side of the float features the Magic Mirror and the Evil Queen!

That's a wrap! I'll have the Boo To You theme music stuck in my head for weeks!

The air is filled with smoke as guests begrudgingly make their way out of the park. 

Mickey sure knows how to throw an amazing Halloween party!

BOO! :}

  


Thrillography wishes everyone a very scary Halloween! :}


Post Halloween party festivities will resume with our followup visit to Epcot, featuring a detailed look at one of *my* new favorite rides, Frozen Ever After! 


See you soon. :D