Walt Disney World Halloween 2011 Trip Report Part 2

Part 2 of my Walt Disney World Halloween 2011 trip report. Click here for part 1.

The plan for day 2 of the trip was to spend all day in Magic Kingdom and then attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at night. Normally I’m against spending extra money on a hard ticket event like MNSCHP but we decided to do it this trip for two reasons. One, now I can say I’ve done the party. Two, it was the only way to spend late hours in a park during our trip.

My biggest complaint about Walt Disney World has always been the park hours. With the exception of a few Extra Magic Hours nights, the parks in WDW always close way too early for my liking. By the time Jennifer and I are up and out of bed and ready to go it is usually around 11 AM by the time we  get in to the parks. The problem is, I don’t like being in the parks that early in the day, but I’m forced to because the parks close so damn early (Animal Kingdom at 5 or 6 PM, Epcot at 9 PM, etc). Back home for our weekly Disneyland trips we usually show up between 3 and 4 PM and then stay till park closing at Midnight. I know this is sounds like a nitpick, but it’s the way I enjoy touring the parks. I like to have stuff to do up until it’s time to go to bed. In WDW we always end up having to kill hours of time after the parks have closed for the day.

 Back to MNSCHP, we decided to buy tickets because it was the only way to stay in Magic Kingdom until 12 AM. None of the parks during our stay offered evening Extra Magic Hours. Luckily the park had very light crowds during regular park hours. Wait times were low during the day, but even better during the party.

Our first ride of the day was Splash Mountain (which had a posted wait time of 10 minutes. I’m a huge fan of Magic Kingdom’s Splash Mountain. I like Disneyland’s but the Florida version is a much richer experience. Also, we got to see the hopping Br’er Rabbit effect. This effect has never worked on any trip I’ve ever taken to WDW. Overall the ride seems in good shape, but nothing in the Laughing Place section of the ride was working. When going through the portion of the ride the music was playing but all the characters were completely motionless.

After Splash Mountain and a few other rides I told Jennifer I had enough and that it was time to experience the real reason why we travel 3000 miles to go to WDW when Disneyland is only 15 minutes away from our house. She knew exactly what I was talking about. The amazing Carousel of Progress.

No lie, Carousel of Progress is the best attraction in Walt Disney World. If it wasn’t for it and Spaceship Earth I would seriously reconsider our yearly visits to WDW. I love everything about it. Also, during our first of 4 visits to CoP during the trip, we were lucky enough to get stuck in the same scene twice! This quickly outraged the rest of the people in the rotating theater. But I loved it!

After a CoP and a few other rides it started raining so we hopped on the Peoplemover to relax for a bit. I’ve always loved the Peoplemover in MK and Disneyland (when it was around). Both offer great views of the park and chance to relax. I’ve always wondered why Disneyland’s Peoplemover had individual cars, each with their own cover. But MK’s Peoplemover has uncovered cars riding on a covered track. Either way, both a great and I appreciate their differences.

 After riding the Peoplemover we needed to eat because the Halloween party was set to start in an hour and we didn’t want to waste any time during the party. Continuing with our effort to save money on food during this trip we picked Cosmic Ray’s. We both got burgers and made use of their free toppings bar (which is fabulous). I must have eaten at least 50 mushrooms. Am I crazy or have the quality of the burgers in Magic Kingdom gone slightly up? I last had one 2 years ago and I remember it being worse. I know Disneyland has changed their burgers but I never read any news about MK changing theirs but it sure tasted like it.

 While we are changing in to our costumes the park quickly started to empty out. We were attending the party on the Friday before Halloween so I expected Disney to oversell the event to a point where it would be crowded but it wasn’t bad at all. A cast member told me that many of the ticket sales for MNSSHP are on the day of and if the weather is bad most people stay away. This could have been the case because it was raining on and off all day. Either way the crowed level was perfect and we had no problem finding a spot for parade/fireworks, and short waits on all attractions.

 Magic Kingdom’s incredible Haunted Mansion is even better during the party. Several of the cast members are painted up like ghosts (and they act the part). The exterior also gets a special lighting package which is not overdone or cheesy like the rest of the park is lit. I think WDW fans deserve to have a better Mansion than Disneyland, especially considering MK’s Pirates of the Caribbean is so awful.

I was eager to see the Boo to You parade because of how hyped up it is from people who have attended MNSSHP in the past. I was skeptical because I’ve never been a fan of parades but it would be stupid not to see it considering we paid almost $70 for tickets to the party. It was good, but what made it good was the amazing Haunted Mansion portion of the parade. The rest of it didn’t appeal to me but overall it was worth seeing once. The only major disappointment was the headless horseman was missing. A castmember came through to tell everyone to move their feet on to the curb because the headless horseman was coming. About 20 seconds later she came by again to announce he would not be appearing tonight. Bummer.

The party ended at midnight and we returned to our hotel rooms. We came back with a ton of candy. Partially because there were hardly anyone in the trick or treat trails and because Jennifer had her birthday button on. Castmembers were loading her up with candy all night. Overall it was a very productive day!

Come back Wednesday for the final part of our Walt Disney World Halloween trip report!