We flew into Orlando International Airport (MCO) on Thursday, August 13, with a 2-year-old, a stroller reservation, and a cruise leaving in less than 48 hours. I was also well past 20 weeks pregnant, because this whole trip was doubling as a babymoon before our second little boy arrives. If that sounds like a lot to squeeze into two days, it sure was!
It also went better than I expected, and most of that came down to one decision I almost talked myself out of. We did not do a park day before the MNSSHP event.
I am going to walk you through the whole thing. Where we stayed, how the Disney transportation buses actually worked, the stroller rental that made the trip, and then the party itself minute by minute, because I wrote it all down as we went, like the weirdo I am. If you are planning a Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party event with little ones and you want to know what it really looks like instead of what the marketing photos look like, this is that post!
Arrival Day: Blizzard Beach Instead of Sitting Around the Resort
Our flight got us in on Thursday morning with an entire afternoon to spend. A lot of families burn that first half-day at the resort pool; there is nothing wrong with that. We used our Cool Kids’ Summer water park day at Blizzard Beach instead, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
If you have not heard of it, Cool Kids’ Summer gets you a free water park day on your check-in day at a Disney hotel. Check-in day is exactly when you have a weird half-day to fill and nothing booked. The timing could not be better!
Tike’s Peak is the toddler area, and my son, Gem*, had an absolute ball. It is scaled down, it is partly shaded, and it is the rare Disney water spot where a 2-year-old is the target audience instead of an afterthought. He did not want to leave! We got a real activity out of a half-day that could have been a nap and a whole lot of nothing.
PRO TIP: If you are landing early, a water park half-day is one of the best uses of an arrival afternoon with little kids. Low stakes, no reservations to stress over, and everybody sleeps well that night. Ask whether the Cool Kids’ Summer promotion is running for your dates, because it turns that half-day into a free one!
We Skipped the Park Day Before the Party. Here Is What We Did Instead.
Party tickets get you into Magic Kingdom starting at 4:00 PM, and the party itself runs 7:00 PM until midnight. That is a long night for anybody, and it is a very long night for a toddler.
So Friday morning we did not go to a park; we went to Disney Springs instead. We took pictures at the PhotoPass spot, walked around the shops, and then went back to All-Star Sports for an afternoon nap. All three of us.
That nap is the reason my feral toddler made it to almost 10:30 PM in a good mood. If I could only give one piece of advice from this whole trip, it would be this one: protect the afternoon of your party day! You are not wasting a day. You are buying yourself the back half of the night.
Staying at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
The buses
Easy and convenient, and I say that as someone who was fully prepared to complain about them. We used the buses for everything and never once wished we had a car.
The longest wait we hit was heading TO the Halloween party, and that was somewhere in the 20 to 30 minute range. Worth knowing if you are trying to hit that 4:00 PM entry window. Build in more buffer than you think you need on party day! Everyone’s got the same idea.
The room
We were in the Surf’s Up! building 1 section, and we got pixie dusted with an upgrade to a preferred room. Very nice, and very convenient to be close to both the pool and the food court. I am not going to pretend that is something you can plan for, but I will say the location made the whole stay easier with a stroller and a toddler.
The food court, honestly
Not bad at all. I always go in with low expectations and come out fine. For a value resort with a fast turnaround between park days, it did the job.
PRO TIP: Book the luggage transfer, and know before you book! All-Star Sports is one of the Disney resorts where your luggage can go straight from the airport to the resort. We did not know that when we booked, which meant we hauled everything ourselves. Ask about this BEFORE you pick your resort. It is a small thing that saves you a genuinely annoying hour.
Renting From Kingdom Strollers
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This is the part I want every family with little ones to hear, because it changed the trip.
We rented the City Mini Single from Kingdom Strollers for our Orlando stay. They met us right in the lobby of All-Star Sports. The people dropping off the strollers wear bright neon, so they are impossible to miss. They also walk you through how to open and close it as well as review any extras you ordered.
The rental came with a cooler bag, a rain cover, and a parent caddy for our drinks. The only thing we added on was the child snack tray, because our son is forever eating and I was not about to fight that battle in a theme park.
That rain cover earned its keep on our party night. When the downpour hit at 5:50 PM we were already under cover in the Winnie the Pooh queue, so we never needed it over our son. But the stroller was sitting out in stroller parking with all of our bags in it, and we had thrown the cover on before we got in line. Everything stayed completely dry. If you have ever come back to a soaked stroller and a soggy diaper bag, you know exactly how much that is worth!
Total was around $75 for the three days, including the add-on. Return was equally smooth. We handed it back the morning of our cruise and got on with our day.
For comparison, dragging our own stroller through the airport, gate-checking it, and hoping it survived the trip would have cost us more in stress alone. And a rental stroller is a real stroller, not the hard plastic park rental. Our son slept in it, ate in it, and rode through three treat trails in it without ever complaining or getting out.
The Party: Our Actual Night, Minute by Minute
I tracked our times as we went, so this is not an estimate! This is what we did in real time and what the posted waits said.
The 4:00 PM early entry is 1000% worth it. I want to be direct about that, because it is the single biggest lever you have. In the first two hours, before the party even officially started, we rode six attractions and barely stopped walking.
| TIME | WHAT WE DID |
| 4:15 PM | In line for park security. Strollers/bags take a while to check. |
| 4:30 PM | In line for Haunted Mansion. Posted 15 minutes. |
| 4:40 PM | Already in the stretching room and boarding our Doom Buggy. |
| 5:05 PM | Walked over to “it’s a small world.” Posted 10 minutes, but we basically walked the queue. |
| 5:25 PM | Peter Pan’s Flight. FIVE minute standby. Honestly the highlight of my night. I still do not know how that happened. |
| 5:40 PM | Walked onto Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. |
| 5:48 PM | In line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Posted 25 minutes, which we took on purpose because rain was coming and we wanted cover. |
| 5:50 PM | Downpour. We were already under cover in the queue. Whew! |
| 6:05 PM | Riding Pooh. Dry. Very smug about it. |
| 6:09 PM | Rain down to a light mist. Got in line for Mad Tea Party. Posted 10 minutes. I think we waited two ride cycles before getting on. |
| ~6:30 PM | Started hunting for dinner and a parade spot. |
| 7:00 PM | Claimed a park bench right on the route in Liberty Square. Ate dinner there. |
| ~7:30 PM | Powerline Max’s pop-up stage show went up in front of the Hall of Presidents, right next to our bench! We did not move an inch. |
| 8:15 PM | Headless Horseman rides by. Front row, from a bench, without standing up. |
| 8:30 PM | Boo-To-You Parade, the earlier of the two showtimes. |
| 8:55 PM | In line for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Posted 15 minutes, essentially walked the queue. |
| After Buzz | Three treat trails in that area, then Dumbo at a 5-minute wait, which was really a walk-on. |
| 9:54 PM | In line to meet Donald and Daisy in their Halloween costumes. |
| ~10:15 PM | Called it. Rode Under the Sea on the way out, then hit the Emporium for party exclusive merchandise. |
| 11:08 PM | Walking to the bus. Our son was fully asleep in the stroller since before we started shopping. |
| 11:27 PM | Back at All-Star Sports. Stroller to bed transfer with zero wake-ups. |
| WHAT MY TIMELINE TELLS YOU: Six attractions between 4:15 and 6:15, before the party officially started. One planned queue during a rainstorm, which kept us dry and kept us moving. One bench claimed at 7:00 in Liberty Square, which bought us dinner, a full Powerline Max stage show, and a front-row parade. We never stood up. One 2-year-old who made it to 10:30 PM and then slept the whole way home. |
What We Ate
We ate dinner while we held our parade spot, which is my favorite kind of multitasking.
- Hamburger spring rolls and pizza spring rolls from outside Adventureland. If you know, you know!
- Doom Buggy Dumplings, a party exclusive.
- The Graveyard Hot Chicken and Waffle from Sleepy Hollow, also party exclusive.
Nothing here was a sit-down meal and TBH, nothing needed to be. On a party night with a toddler, the food you can eat standing up while holding a bench is food that works!
The Parade Was the Whole Point
We prioritized the parade over everything else, because I wanted my son to see all the characters in one place without standing in a single meet-and-greet line.
We took the earlier showings. Headless Horseman at 8:15, Boo-To-You at 8:30. We claimed our park bench in Liberty Square at 7:00, more than an hour ahead of schedule because I wanted to experience both in peace.
An hour sounds like a long time to sit around and wait; I promise you it was not! Two things happened: we ate our entire dinner on that bench without fighting a crowd for it and then Powerline Max showed up. We also used the bathroom, took turns with some PhotoPass shots, and took in the not-so-scary spooky vibes.
If you have not seen him, Powerline Max performs a pop-up stage show during the party in his yellow Powerline outfit from A Goofy Movie, backed by the Powerline Party Pack, a group of dancers in bright 90s costumes. It is a whole thing and it is wonderful. Great energy, super fun!
The performance occurred right in front of the Hall of Presidents, which was directly beside our bench. We did not move. We did not fight for a sightline. We sat exactly where we already were and got a full stage show, and then a parade, without standing up once.
If you take one strategy from this post besides the afternoon nap, take this one: claim your parade spot around 7:00, eat your dinner there, and let the entertainment come to you. With a little one, a parade does more work than four separate character lines ever will, and the stuff that wanders by while you wait is free.
PRO TIPS: A bench in Liberty Square near the Hall of Presidents is ideal and won’t be as hard to secure as Main Street U.S.A. It is on the parade route, and the Powerline Max stage went up right in front of it. One bench, two shows, zero standing. I do not know whether that stage lands in the same place every party night, so treat it as a bonus rather than a guarantee, but the parade sightline alone is worth the 7:00 claim. As for the parade: take the earlier Boo-To-You. There are two showings. Taking the 8:30 instead of the late one is what let us do Buzz Lightyear, three treat trails, Dumbo, and a character meet afterward and still leave by 11:00. If you have a toddler, the early parade is not a compromise; it is the whole plan!
Our Costumes
We went as the Hundred Acre Wood crew. My husband Matt was Eeyore, our son was Tigger, and I went as Winnie the Pooh. I am absolutely round this pregnancy and decided to lean all the way into it!
Group costumes are worth the effort at this party. You get better photos, cast members go out of their way for you, and other guests will stop you. Ours also had the advantage of requiring almost no costume construction on my part, which at this stage of pregnancy was the entire point.
PRO TIP: Comfortable shoes and breathable fabric matter more than accuracy. August in Florida is brutal, and you are going to be in this outfit from 4:00 PM until you leave. Pick a character you can wear/Disneybound as for seven hours, not one that photographs well for ten minutes.
Treat Trails: We Had No Strategy and It Was Fine
I went in thinking I would map the treat trails. I did not, and I do not regret it.
We walked through the ones we passed later in the night, mostly in the Buzz Lightyear area, and we did three of them. The best part is that Gem stayed in the stroller the whole time. Cast members hand the candy right to you by the shovel. Nobody had to be unbuckled, nobody melted down, and we still came home with plenty.
If your kid is old enough to want the full trick-or-treat experience, plan for it. If your kid is two, they mostly want to be in the stroller. Let them.
What We Skipped, on Purpose
We did not see the fireworks. We did not see the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. Both are party exclusives, both are things people rave about, and we skipped both without a second thought.
Here is the trade we made: our son was fading by 9:54 PM when we got in line for Donald and Daisy. We could have pushed him another hour and a half to catch a show and a fireworks slot… and we would have gotten a meltdown and a miserable bus ride out of it. Instead, we rode Under the Sea, shopped the Emporium, and he fell asleep in the stroller before we hit the exit.
If your kid is older, absolutely see the fireworks. If your kid is two, you are allowed to leave early. The party does not owe you a complete checklist, and you do not owe it one either!
Three Things We Would Change, and One We Would Not
1. Book a resort with airport luggage transfer, on purpose
All-Star Sports offers it, we just did not know that when we booked. Next time, it is on my checklist before I pick anything.
2. Order groceries ahead of time
Snacks, diapers, all of it, waiting at the resort when we arrive. We used real luggage space on things I could have had delivered for a few dollars. With a cruise on the back end of the trip, that space mattered even more.
3. Build a bigger bus buffer on party day
Twenty to thirty minutes on the party-night bus was fine because we were not cutting it close. If we had been, it would have eaten into the best two hours of the night.
The one thing we would not change: renting the stroller
Kingdom Strollers was perfect. We 1000% will be doing it again, every trip, for as long as we have a kid who needs one!
Is Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Worth It With a Toddler?
Yes, with conditions.
It is worth it if you protect the afternoon, if you get there for the 4:00 PM entry, and if you go in accepting that you are not going to do everything. We did not see the fireworks. We left before the party ended. We skipped most of the treat trails. And it was STILL one of the best nights of our trip!
The version of this night that goes badly is the one where you do a full park day first, arrive at 7:00 PM with a fried toddler, and try to cram in every parade, show, and character. PRO TIP: Do less! Sit down for the parade. Go home when your kid is done.
COMING UP: The morning after the party, we returned the stroller and headed for Port Canaveral to cruise. My next blog post covers our 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing on the Disney Treasure, which was a brand new ship to us.
Planning Your Own Disney Halloween Trip?
This is what I do. I am an authorized Disney Vacation Planner with Genie Travel Company, and I filter through the noise so you don’t have to!
Party dates, resort choices, which nights sell out first, whether a park day before the party makes sense for your family. That is my job, and it costs you nothing! Disney and my agency pay my commission, so my planning services are complimentary to you.
Ready to start? Contact me here and let’s build your family’s trip!
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