Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween

Disney during the fall time... literally the most wonderful thing imaginable!

So I went to Disney for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this past Sunday and I wanted to make a post about my experience! (PS Daniel also uploaded a vlog from this day if you would like to see more of what we got up to! https://youtu.be/VwdZesywFN8 )

So, to start off with, I think one of the best parts was seeing everyone dressed in costumes. My friend Daniel and I decided to do a more low key option, which I think was a great choice, but there were many people there who were FULL out and I loved it! Sometimes I would think people were in line to meet a character when actually it was just someone else visiting the park, the costumes were THAT good!

Here is a picture of Daniel and I in our costumes in front of Cinderella's castle! He was Cruella and I was Minnie Mouse.

We really lucked out on Sunday because it was raining the entire time we were driving there and when we made it to Magic Kingdom it stopped raining and the weather was amazing the entire rest of the time. I highly recommend going to this event if you can because it is absolutely amazing and well worth the money.

A few things about the event itself: You don't have to buy a park pass for the day if you are just going to the event then you only need to purchase a ticket to the event which saved me a ton of money honestly. Also, unless you pay for the event you have to leave the park by 7 p.m. which is when the event "starts" however, they will let you in the park early so we ended up arriving around 5:30 and were allowed in.

One of the best parts about this event is the park decorations. There are pumpkins everywhere and the cast members all have halloween themed outfits on as well. It made it a completely new experience for me. This was my third time at Disney this year and it felt like my first all over again because everything was so different! Even down to the music! Throughout the park they played Halloween themed Disney music and it added to the feel of the event and it was so much fun to have the villains get their moment to shine.

This is an example of the types of pumpkins they had EVERYWHERE around the park! I thought it was so cute!

The biggest part about this event is definitely the different fireworks and shows and parades! They had a "Boo to You" Parade which featured normal Disney characters decked out in costumes as well as featuring the villains and also Haunted Mansion ghosts. The parade was not very well lit however because of the nature of it and so I didn't get to take really good quality pictures of it. However, I did get a few pictures of the Castle during HalloWishes and the new Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular show! I have to say the Hocus Pocus show and Hallowishes were absolutely more than I could have imagined! Disney did such a great job with both of these and I was over the moon the entire time I was watching them! They also have trick or treat stations all around the park and you receive a "goody bag" when you get into the park to collect the candy. You can go through the lines as many times as you want and you can fill up as many bags of candy as your heart desires!

This is a picture of the castle during Hallowishes! It was amazing and they not only had fireworks but they also displayed images on the castle during this show which were little ghosts and pumpkins.

This is a picture during the Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular, The Sanderson Sisters were wonderful and of course they included hightlights from the movie within this show and it also featured a gang of villains to help them with their potion.

Something else that is noteworthy is the timing of everything. When you go, there is only one showing of Hallowishes, however there are two showings of the Hocus Pocus show and also the Boo to You parade so Daniel and I chose to see the later showings of both to go on rides during the others and there were NO LINES. For Big Thunder Mountain it was a 5 minute wait but honestly the 5 minutes was how long it took to walk up the big hill to the ride. We rode that twice in a row and the second time there were only two carts for the whole ride filled. We also got to meet Elsa and Anna and the wait for that was only 20 minutes. It was amazing because not only are you getting to experience Disney during a fun time of year but you also get short wait times and you get to ride more rides than you would on a normal day!

If you want to meet villains however I do suggest you go talk to a cast member and find out where they are going to be because the lines for special characters, such as Cruella, are longer. When we met Cruella we waited about 45 minutes which wasn't too bad but the lines for Jack and Sally and the seven dwarfs were longer.

This is me meeting Cruella and Daniel and I meeting Elsa! They were both really great and Cruella was so much fun!

Overall it was a wonderful experience and I definitely want to go back every year during this time to experience the magic during Halloween.

Have you ever been to Disney during Halloween?! Leave me comments and let me know!

xoxo Jess

My first Disney World experience

At the beginning of January my best friend and I decided to take a trip to the magical world of Disney. The first thing you should know about me is that I LOVE Disney. The princesses, the movies... when I was little I would always have on a Disney shirt, or shoes, I had every Disney character in a stuffed form (yes of course they all slept in my bed), my first bike was Lion King... you get the point. For some reason my parents never took me there when I was younger and as I got older I just never really thought about it so this trip was something I was very much looking forward to.

We only spent two days in Disney parks but two days was enough to seal the deal. I was hooked and my life would never be the same. Today, I wanted to share my top 3 experiences while in Disney!

1 The characters. This was probably my favorite part honestly. Getting to meet various Disney characters and having them interact with me made my inner 6 year old squeal with glee. Growing up my favorite princess was Aurora (or Sleeping Beauty) so getting to meet her was so much fun. We also met various other characters as well. Every time we would be close to the front of the line I would get SO nervous and it made my best friend giggle because she thought I was being silly but I was so overwhelmed by everything it just made me want to pass out from excitement! Getting to interact with characters for the first time that had become a part of your life is a BIG DEAL!
Below are some pictures of us meeting various characters!

 

 

2 The shows. By this I mean the night time light and fireworks shows. They were so emotional for me. I literally cried watching Celebrate the Magic and Wishes for the first time (both times lets be honest). They were truly something to see. You can watch tons of videos of them on YouTube but nothing beats being there in person and watching Tinkerbell fly from the castle and having the music surrounding you and just being in the moment. It was truly amazing. This again made me feel like I was 6 again and I honestly could have watched it a million times over and still not have gotten sick of it. 

I took a few shots during Wishes and goodness Cinderella's castle is gorgeous! 

Celebrate the magic video (Here is a little link  to a video someone made if you want to watch the Celebrate the Magic shows that we watched while there)

We also got to see Fantasmic, which was honestly SO cool. This show followed the plot line of Mickey having a dream and showing you how your dreams can come to life. Watching it just gave me chills because of how they bring everything to life in such an amazing way. They had lights displayed on water shooting out of the ground and fire works and it was just something to experience. Seeing so many of my favorite characters in one show just added to the emotions I had (Yes okay I cried during this one too).

3 The atmosphere. This is definitely a big part of the Disney magic and the experience that you get when you are there. The people who work in the parks are all so friendly and wonderful and it makes the trip so nice when you have workers who actually look like they love their jobs. They were all so happy and would greet you with warm smiles and a cheery hello and it just added to the enjoyment. 

The parks themselves also added to the atmosphere. Everything you see such as the artistry that goes into even the smallest things makes it so magical as well. I remember we were walking through Cinderella's castle and the walls on the inside had little marble murals of the story of Cinderella and other princesses. It just made that such a memorable moment, just walking through somewhere. 

Having settings and places come to life that you have only seen in Disney movies is such an amazing thing to experience! You see things like Rapunzel's tower, Ariel's grotto, the Beast's castle... it is all just so amazing how they bring all of those magical places to life! 

These are a few pictures I took of various areas in the park. The first is when you are walking through Cinderella's castle, the second is inside the Beast's castle, and the last one is Rapunzel's tower.

There were so many things to see and do and we obviously only got to do a few of them but I will forever remember this trip because it made me fall in love with Disney even more than I already did and okay yes I watch videos of the shows almost weekly because I get a little sad that I'm not there at that moment. We spent most of our time in Magic Kingdom (because why wouldn't you) but we also ventured into Epcot and Hollywood Studios as well! 

This experience has made me only want to continue to go back again and again and create even more memories in the most magical place on earth!

If you have ever been to Disney what was one of your favorite parts? Who was your favorite character to meet? Do you have any funny stories? I would love to hear about your experiences!

xoxo Jess