It’s time to Trick or Treat with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Jack Skellington and a whole host of classic Disney Villains at The Happiest Place on Earth!
Although specifically this review is for the Mickey’s Halloween Party event, we’ll also give a significant amount of focus to Disney’s Halloween Time in general, with highlights of what makes it such a frightfully fun season to visit Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Mickey’s Halloween Party is a separately ticketed event located at Disneyland park that runs fifteen select nights between September 19, 2018 and October 31, 2018, including every Friday, Halloween night itself and many other staggered additional dates throughout the fall. For 2018, Mickey’s Halloween Party combines the seasonal attraction overlays offered daily as part of Disney’s Halloween Time with several exclusive nighttime entertainment offerings, rare character meet and greet opportunities, as well as most of your other favorite Disneyland attractions, including Indiana Jones Adventure, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy and of course, Haunted Mansion Holiday – typically all with significantly reduced wait times.
Unlike Walt Disney World, here seasonal attraction overlays are available daily to all park guests during Disney’s Halloween Time – not just those who purchase a ticket to the upcharge Mickey’s Halloween Party event.
Haunted Mansion Holiday
Pumpkin King Jack Skellington has been busy decorating the Haunted Mansion with frightfully festive touches inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Experience some of your favorite sights, special seasonal surprises—and scare-aracters from the movie. Sally, Oogie Boogie and other Nightmare nasties will be on hand to wish you “Season’s Screamings!”
The Haunted Mansion will forever be considered one of the quintessential theme park attractions of our time, and truly no visit to a Disney theme park is complete without riding it. But what if we told you this seasonal overlay is even better?
But that’s really the key – the term “seasonal overlay” in its purest form really doesn’t do justice to Haunted Mansion Holiday. An overlay, by its very nature is usually just that – something quick and temporarily designed to be a limited run attraction. And while, yes, Haunted Mansion Holiday appears for just a limited run each year (from early September through early January) – nothing about it feels temporary.
Haunted Mansion Holiday feels like an entirely unique stand alone attraction from the ground up. Its exterior is drastically transformed, porches and rooftops lined with flickering candles, glowing jack-o-lanterns and a multitude of warped Christmas decor. Inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, this attraction logically spans the holiday gap from Halloween through Christmas seasons each year, bringing us into its world as an entirely unique side story from the movie.
Jack Skellington has taken over The Haunted Mansion, decorating each and every scene with Christmas cheer – or, more accurately his understanding of what Christmas cheer is all about. Every iconic moment of the classic attraction is different, from brand new The Nightmare Before Christmas-styled stretching portraits to a festive holiday party replacing ‘a swinging wake’ in the ball room, complete with a massive, two story tall dead tree festooned with spiders and pumpkins.
The dining table features an elaborate gingerbread house, with each year being a completely unique design – and believe it or not, it’s actually made of very real gingerbread! Even Madame Leota gets into the holiday spirit, trading in her floating crystal ball for a shimmering over-sized ornament.
Scenic enhancements are everywhere, including custom lighting, physical effects, scents (you might just smell that gingerbread!) and multiple life-sized animatronic characters of Jack, Sally, Zero, and even the nefarious Oogie Boogie himself! It’s all wrapped together like a twisted Christmas present by a graveyard that’s covered with ghostly white snow, and a custom soundtrack that’s equally as catchy as the traditional and iconic “Grim Grinning Ghosts.” Haunted Mansion Holiday isn’t just the greatest seasonal attraction overlay of all time, but for four months each year, it’s arguably in the running to make the short list of “best theme park attraction,” period.
Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy
Brace yourself for eerie encounters with spooky star fields and menacing meteors. Space Mountain has once again been overtaken by an ominous and powerful phantom force bent on your destruction―but only during Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort.
As the universe’s newest explorer, you’ve been recruited to investigate a creepy cosmic phenomenon within the darkest regions of Space Mountain. But when your starship becomes mysteriously possessed by something sinister, your voyage takes an unexpected detour into a shadowy realm—an uncharted galaxy where haunted star clusters, supernatural supernovas and spine-tingling phenomena threaten you at every turn.
The Haunted Mansion isn’t the only iconic Disneyland park attraction to receive a spooky seasonal overlay; Space Mountain – already widely viewed as the park’s biggest thrill ride adds an extra layer of fright to its roller coaster ride through the dark abyss of the universe.
Although this overlay creates much less of the sense of “an entirely new attraction,” Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy remains a cornerstone of Disney’s Halloween Time. From the outside (during the day, at least) the attraction remains much the same beyond a slight modification to its entry marquee. However at night, the mountain’s shell becomes the canvas for a chilling projection mapping show full of spooky sights and sounds that is sure to create a bit of apprehension for the little ones in your group.
Once inside, the attraction’s queue is largely unchanged from that used in the regular version of Space Mountain, until reaching the loading area. Here, futuristic lighting shifts to an ominous, pulsing green glow and the large view screen above glitches and occasionally loses transmission all together as an unknown force approaches.
The ride itself is enhanced with a custom soundtrack and a number of new projection effects depicting the Ghost Galaxy as a nebulous monster that literally stalks rockets full of passengers as they hurtle through the blackness of space. Disneyland warns that Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy is more frightening than the normal version of the attraction, though in truth it isn’t really any more intense than Space Mountain itself, and at times it’s not even as dark thanks to all the added projection effects throughout the dome.
Unfortunately despite being a mainstay for a decade, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy is not scheduled to return for 2019’s Halloween Time season, opting instead to continue the Hyperspace Mountain overlay as a means of continued promotion for Disneyland’s newest land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark
Do you have what it takes to save Groot from crazed creatures on the loose?
Amid the chaos of the Guardians of the Galaxy’s rescue attempt, Groot got left behind. Even worse, the Collector’s Fortress is now mired in a total state of emergency—and overrun with menacing beasts.
Your objective? Team up with Rocket to return to the fortress, distract the monsters and escape with his little buddy in tow—but proceed with caution. With the Guardians of the Galaxy involved, the plan is bound to run into a few exciting ups and downs!
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! is a high energy re-imagining of the the park’s former marque thrill attraction, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Utilizing its high speed drop ride system, the new Marvel-branded version kicks the excitement up to eleven, adding multiple different rock and roll sound tracks – one for each of the six randomly selected drop sequence possibilities – seamlessly meshed together with the irreverent humor of the Guardians of the Galaxy film franchise. Guests are thrown into a wacky escape plan orchestrated by Rocket, to free his friends – the Guardians of the Galaxy – from their display in The Collector’s Fortress.
With its “standard” version running throughout the year, Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark serves a what might just be the world’s first sequel theme park attraction, picking up where the regular story left off. The Guardians are free – but in the process, the entire Fortress has lost power and all of the monsters in the collection are loose. And naturally, baby Groot has wondered off, getting himself caught in the middle of the chaos.
Finding success in, ahem, borrowing the talents of a tour group earlier in the day, Rocket again puts guests to work – this time as warm-bodied distractions to lure dangerous creatures out of hiding while he hunts for Groot. And with the gantry lift system still on the fritz, all that human bait will be shooting up and down the Fortress’ elevator shaft at high speeds, sometimes in total darkness.
Different from Mission: BREAKOUT!’s random profiles, Monsters After Dark only utilizes one single drop sequence, coupled with a brand new custom soundtrack that really packs an adrenaline-filled punch to tell its story. And while all show elements, lighting and video are completely unique for this seasonal overlay, it should be noted that the physical drop profile is not new; rather, Monsters After Dark borrows Mission: BREAKOUT!’s “Born to be Wild” sequence. That not withstanding, you’d likely never notice with how different and chaotic this special Halloween version is.
Interestingly, guests visiting during Halloween Time don’t need to worry about missing “the first part of the story.” Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! operates daily, from park open until typically around 4:00pm (depending on the length of queue at the time.) At 5:00pm, the Collector’s Fortress reopens its doors as Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark, then operating until park close. This mid-day swap effectively allows guests the opportunity to experience both versions of the attraction each day!
Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree
Don’t miss the down-home jamboree that’s tons of fun for all makes and models! Dying to do a spine-tinglin’ twirl? This fall, boo-step on over to Cars Land for Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree, a haunted hootenanny featuring high-spirited Haul-O-Ween music.
While tractor-trailer dance partners swirl Guests around the graveyard, Mater becomes the life of the party by crooning creepy country tunes with a Haul-O-Ween twist—including “Welcome to Radiator Screams,” “Monster Truck Smash” and other frightfully delightfully dark ditties. Ghosties beware… this junkyard-turned-graveyard is filled with tombstone grills that beckon you to “rust-in-peace!”
Don’t miss the jumpin’ JamBOOree that’s perfect for vanpires and wheelwolves alike, ‘cuz it’s only around during Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort!
Cars Land’s popular family spinning flat ride, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree gets into the spirited season of Haul-O-Ween with this delightful seasonal overlay. Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree features the same out of control spinning and swinging motion, combined with multiple brand new soundtracks custom recorded by the voice of Tow Mater himself, Larry the Cable Guy.
Mater’s junkyard features some modest decorations, including a spooky new attraction marquee and tombstones fashioned out of used car parts. An adorable baby tractor from the attraction, dressed in his mummy Halloween costume, acts as a photo op just outside the entrance. Unlike the attractions we discussed above, Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree hardly feels like “a whole new ride,” but that doesn’t make its seasonal overlay an any less endearing piece of the Halloween Time offerings.
Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween
Gather ‘round the Horn of Plenty for a frightfully delightful festa sure to keep brakes pumping.
Got monster mash-worthy moves? Head to Cars Land this fall for Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween, a ghoulishly grand song ‘n’ dance bash guaranteed to wake the dead… batteries, of course! While his kooky cugini (aka, cousins) give Guests a spooktacular spin around the dance floor, Luigi and Guido add a haunted twist to traditional songs and stories from the old country—including the “Terror-antella,” “The Chop Top of Carsoli” and more.
Both theme parks of The Disneyland Resort are already overflowing with atmosphere and charm – but for fans of the season of tricks and treats, Halloween Time kicks things up a notch. With entire fully decked out lands teeming with Halloween spirit, parts of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure become spooktacular new worlds waiting to be discovered.
At Disneyland, Main Street USA’s pumpkin decor and candy corn bunting leads toward custom carved jack-o-lanterns surrounding the iconic Partners statue – each one representing the various themed lands around the park. Residents of Mickey’s Toontown deck out their neighborhood with festive fun befitting Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and more.
And at Disney California Adventure, Buena Vista Street, and the park’s iconic Cathay Circle Restaurant are enhanced with vibrant black and purple bunting covered with fluttering bats. A menacing – and breathing – statue of the Headless Horseman becomes a popular photo spot. And Lightning McQueen, Mater and their friends transform the sleepy little town of Radiator Springs into Radiator Screams, home of the spookiest Haul-O-Ween decor this side of Carburetor County (all made out of used tires, mufflers and traffic cones, of course.)
During Mickey’s Halloween Party, Disneyland Park further transforms with elaborate image mapping projection down the entire length of Main Street USA – offering an entry “wow!” statement befitting of the premium event’s pricetag. Lighting enhancements throughout the park add to the flavor of the event, with the Rivers of America becoming a highlight thanks to its omnipresent billowing and glowing cloud of fog throughout the evening.
Meeting Disney Characters is always a popular pass-time at the parks, and on Party nights, a great mixture of classic favorites as well as several rarely-found faces come out to play. Beyond Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh and friends decked out in their own Halloween costumes, Jack Skellington and Sally, you might find scarcely seen characters like a whole host of Disney Villains lurking in the shadows.
But what’s Halloween without Candy? Mickey’s Halloween Party invites kids of all ages (yes, that means you too, adults) to come dressed in costume and Trick or Treat throughout the park. Candy hauls will vary from station to station – and you may find Cast Members a bit more generous later in the evening so there is less sugary treats to carry backstage once the Party ends. Don’t expect to receive any special “Disney” treats for free (though custom menus are available on Party nights throughout the park.) Much of what you’ll receive is standard Halloween Candy-fare, from M&Ms to small Snickers or Milky Ways.
Frightfully Fun Parade
Behold a spook-tacular group of Disney Characters on display—from Mickey and Minnie to the park’s most mischievous ghosts!
Beware of a pre-parade appearance sure to send shivers down your spine as the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow suddenly emerges on his eerie black steed. With a flickering jack-o-lantern in hand, his somber presence warns onlookers of the nefarious forces soon to follow!
Spirits lift when costumed hosts Mickey and Minnie step into the spotlight and lead a procession of Disney’s trickiest tricksters down the street. Cheer while waving to fiendish friends from Halloween Town as they pave the way for Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Soon the scheming Dr. Facilier and his Shadow Men arrive, captivating audiences with bayou music from the “other side.” The Grim Grinning Ghosts add to the fun and the parade ends with a very special surprise—Vampirina, the ghoulishly cool star of Disney Junior’s hit show, joins the festivities for the very first time!
And there’s likely nothing more iconic than the ride of the Headless Horseman, ushering in the Frightfully Fun Parade for his only appearance at the event. Trotting past at a brisk pace, the appearance of the Horseman is quick, but no less memorable.
The Parade-proper starts appropriately with a costume party for Mickey and the gang, before shifting themes between its various units, touching upon all of the content you’d expect to see at a Halloween Party. Elaborate floats from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas feature the two-faced Mayor of Halloween Town, the Vampires and, of course Jack and Sally. Things appropriately segue to the attraction taken over by the residents of Halloween Town, as many of the happy haunts from The Haunted Mansion itself, including all three Hitchhiking Ghosts “live, in the flesh,” bring their swinging wake down the parade route. From there, Dr. Facilier and his “friends from the otherside” usher in a celebration of Disney Villains, lead by a rare appearance of Ursula, Captain Hook, the evil Queen, and even Disney Junior’s Vampirina.
Surprisingly, this is one area where Walt Disney World surpasses a Disneyland offering. With a long and elaborate seasonal procession throughout the streets of Florida’s Magic Kingdom, Disneyland’s Frightfully Fun Parade is a bit short. That doesn’t make it any less detailed or well done, but with essentially just four different units making up this parade, it could benefit from a bit of added content.
Frightfully Fun Parade is listed as part of 2019’s brand new Oogie Boogie Bash, although as of this writing, we remain uncertain whether or not it will see any changes after making the transition across the Esplanade to Disney California Adventure.
Halloween Screams: A Villainous Surprise in the Skies
Your nocturnal delight kicks off with an eerie greeting from your “Master of Scare-emonies” Jack Skellington and his ghostly dog Zero—spirits from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
As Jack and Zero fade into the night leaving you to enjoy what’s to come, settle in and embrace the jump-worthy collision of sights and sounds—soaring flames, projections of rising ghosts and classic Disney villains like Maleficent and Ursula the Sea Witch—all set to a medley of Halloween-inspired songs… one showstopper after another.
Finally, as you reach the grand finale, there’s no need to be shy. Feel free to sing along—or scream along—as you watch sparkling choreography possess the sky.
Disneyland takes a popular favorite for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and, well, makes it better. Borrowing the majority of its soundtrack from Happy HalloWishes, Halloween Screams trades in the bad Ghost Host impersonator and cheesy puns for a full overlay courtesy of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
With Jack Skellington as host, he begins the evenings festivities by calling upon his faithful friend Zero – in what begins one of the single greatest “wow!” moments to be found throughout Halloween Time. While Disney fireworks spectaculars are often capped with a flight by a live-action Tinkerbell, Halloween Screams replaces the pixie with an elaborate, animated puppet of Zero the ghost dog. And rather than fly down the wire from Matterhorn Mountain, Zero actually flies up!
Like its sister show at Walt Disney World, Halloween Screams, remains one of the most impressive – and easily one of the most popular pyrotechnic extravaganzas to ever be performed above Disneyland park.
Perfectly in sync with the spirit of the season, Halloween Screams features a whole host of Disney villain theme songs, from Oogie Boogie with “Oogie Boogie’s Song” to Ursula’s “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and much more, naturally book-ended by “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” straight from The Haunted Mansion as well as “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Perhaps the biggest Halloween treat of all, for the first time, Halloween Screams play nightly for park guests, included with regular admission for the duration of 2019’s Halloween Time season!
It’s no secret that Halloween is our favorite time of year – and Disneyland’s Halloween Time has long been an iconic mainstay of things we look forward to. This is theme park Halloween done right – festive decor throughout and iconic attraction overlays so good we actually miss them when November arrives.
Unlike Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the vast majority of Disneyland’s special offerings are available to guests with regular park tickets each and every day of Halloween Time, which runs from the first week of September through October 31. Because of this, planning a visit to Mickey’s Halloween Party on the west coast is much less about the seasonal overlays.
A top notch, season-appropriate fireworks show and modest parade add further value to the event, while some will rave about the unlimited free candy. But for us, perhaps the biggest selling point is time in Disneyland with greatly reduced crowds. On the night of our visit, the longest lines in the park were – as to be expected – Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, and each never topped 30 minutes.
But that leads us to our good news / bad news situation: with the arrival of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland has opted to end Mickey’s Halloween Party, beginning with the 2019 Halloween Time season. It simply doesn’t make operational sense to close a park home to an expansion in such high demand by 6:00pm three or more nights per week for more than a month to host the parties. So that’s the bad news.
But the good news is far more exciting. A brand new Halloween event begins in 2019, to be hosted exclusively at Disney California Adventure: Oogie Boogie Bash. This upcharge offering promises everything that made Mickey’s Halloween Party great – festive characters and visits from Disney Villains, seasonal attraction overlays and significantly reduced crowds – plus the debut of Villainous – the first time a special version of the popular World of Color has ever been offered during Halloween Time. But it’s the last never-before-seen special feature that has us most excited – “immersive themed walk throughs” and treat trails. While it may seem crazy to think Disney might finally be ready to dabble into their own version of – dare we say it – a haunted house, you may be surprised to learn they’ve actually been doing just that for years at Hong Kong Disneyland. Could this unique feature finally be coming to an American Disney Park? Stay tuned – as we’ll be featuring a full review of Oogie Boogie Bash during Escape Authority’s own Halloween event this fall!
You can find an extended photo gallery from our night at Mickey’s Halloween Party in this exclusive album on the Escape Authority Facebook page! While there, why not give us a “LIKE” if you haven’t already? We’ll give you candy!
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Venue: Disneyland
Location: Anaheim, CA
Dates: Select Nights September 18 – October 31st, 2018
Hours: 6:00 pm 11:00 pm or 7:00 pm to 12:00 am depending on the day. Early entry begins three hours prior, and is included free with all tickets.
Cost: Prices range by date from $105 – 130. Annual Pass discounted price of $95 is available on select nights early in the run. This event often sells out.