WDW Magic Kingdom

Without a doubt, fall is my favorite season, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I especially love seeing the fall decorations come out at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The fall wreaths of Mickey Mouse and various pumpkins on the roofs of Main Street make me want to have hot apple cider and plan my Halloween costumes.

The best way to enter Main Street USA

Spooky decor (and some surprises)

But my favorite part of Halloween at Walt Disney World is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This hard ticket event is the perfect way to get your spooky on with a special parade, fireworks show, and stage show starring my favorite witches, the Sanderson Witches from the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus.

Casting a spell (Photo by Oh My Disney)

They’ll put a spell on you! (Photo by Oh My Disney)

The witches sing, cast spells, and have some special Disney villains join them on stage! I can’t wait to see the Sanderson Sisters again this year.

The parade and fireworks during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party are also a great way to celebrate the season. Not only will you get the theme song “Boo to You” stuck in your head (in the best way possible), but you’ll also get to see some of your favorite Disney characters dressed up in their Halloween best. My personal favorite is seeing the Headless Horseman ride down Main Street at the beginning of the parade, representing one of my favorite Disney shorts, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The gravediggers from the Haunted Mansion, scraping the pavement with their shovels is always a treat as well!

Gravediggers! (photo by WDW Shutterbug)

The Headless Horseman (photo by WDW Shutterbug)

But the part my kids like the best about attending Mickey’s Not so Scary? The candy! There are various treat stations set up all around Magic Kingdom where your candy bucket will be filled with lots of sweets. Check the park map as you walk into the park to see where these candy stations are located.

Will you be going to Magic Kingdom to see the decorations? Do you want to go to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Let us know in the comments below!

Since it is time for Epcot’s Food & Wine Fest, I thought it was a perfect time to write about our 2016 Fest experience. My husband and I went to the Fest during the last weekend of the festival. It was a last minute decision because we had already had a vacation in 2016 (see blog about Alaska) and we had not planned to go to the festival in the same year as our Alaskan cruise.

My husband is somewhat of a foodie, and the festival is something he had expressed a desire to experience “some day”. Once the decision was made to go, I was able to snag a Pirate room at the Caribbean Beach Resort. We thought the decor was fun!

We purchased the dining plan, so we made our first night’s dinner at Boma in Animal Kingdom Lodge, featuring an African flavor. We arrived early so that we would be able to enjoy the decor of the Lodge and go outside to view the animals housed on the grounds. The food was excellent at Boma.

After dinner, we went to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. The tickets are an additional expense, but I am a Christmas nut and I was very much looking forward to the party. Main Street U.S.A. was all decked out for Christmas with lights, wreaths, music, and it even ‘snowed’! We went on a few rides, enjoyed the free hot chocolate and cookies, shopped a bit and then watched the parade. The Disney characters were all dressed up for Christmas. The music, the lights, the smells……oh, how I loved it!

The following day we went to the Food & Wine Fest. I had done a little research and knew that we could use our quick service for some of the food (one quick service will get you 3 samples of food but must be used at the same booth). I figured that we both could pick up food at different booths and share. The booths all have a menu posted by them so it is easy to see what they each serve. Below are photos of one of the booths and a sample of food. I took many photos of booths and food and, looking through them, I wish I was back there!

During our trip, we enjoyed Mickey’s Party at the Magic Kingdom at night, two days at Epcot’s Food & Wine Fest, one day at the Magic Kingdom, and one day at Animal Kingdom. For a last minute trip, we were able to do all the things we wanted and even a few things we didn’t expect to do! We had a few fast passes but, when we did not have fast passes, we were still able to ride other rides without too long of a wait, with just a few exceptions. Since we did not have any little ones with us, if we chose to do a long wait, it was do-able.

Three tips: 1) instead if purchasing a dining plan, a quick service plan would do; 2) I would not recommend going on the last weekend of the festival. It got extremely crowded, especially after 4 o’clock or so; and 3) I recommend doing research before you go to find out which booths serve what foods so you can make a daily food plan.

If anyone was considering the Food and Wine Fest and/or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, I would definitely encourage them to do so!

Claudia Eggenberger