Tuesday night I attended Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The park closes at 6pm and the party gets rolling at 7pm. There are character greets, special treats, entertainment, access to a majority of the rides and a Halloween parade.
It was definitely more crowded then I remember. We went a couple of times to the party years ago but I don’t recall the park feeling so packed as it was Tuesday night. It could be my memory playing tricks on me though…
I do remember why I’m not exactly a fan of these parties. Wow! do you need to wait in a lot of lines. Now, don’t get me wrong, the lines for most of the rides are short. You can practically walk on every ride (except for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train). The lines I’m speaking of were for the candy stations and the character meet-n-greets. I get the characters, some of them only appear in the park during the party, but for candy? As my daughter told me, what is Halloween for except for the candy… ha
And you can forget about the parade. People start standing/sitting in their spot for the parade up to sixty minutes before the start. I wasn’t going to waste all my time at this event standing around and waiting. I did watch part of the parade as I was going to my next ride. It hasn’t really changed.
I wanted to photograph the Hocus Pocus Villian Spelltacular show on the center stage in front of the castle. I arrived 40 minutes before the start and the closest point for me was near the curb of the hub. It wasn’t a bad spot as it is a high point and I was able to easily shoot with my camera over every ones head. Of course, I only brought my 50mm lens (because it is a f/1.8 lens) so my images are not as close as I would have liked. The other shows throughout the night were just as bad (even the midnight show was packed!).
I had a good time. I was able to get a few good images. Will I go again? Probably not.
Two Sides of Cindy Nikon Z6 II, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S, 1/8s, f/5.6, ISO 800
Mayor of Halloween Nikon Z6 II, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S, 1/500s, f/1.8, ISO 6400
Pirates of the Party Nikon Z6 II, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S, 1/20s, f/4, ISO 800 {4 images pano}
Hocus Pocus Nikon Z6 II, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S, 1/320s, f/1.8, ISO 10000
My first park day was at the Magic Kingdom. With early entry I was exploring before 8am. Although we were contained within the hub, there was plenty to see and photograph. I made the most of it. A large portion of the guests lined up at the entrance to Fantasyland next to the Mad Tea Party ride for a race to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
After grabbing my images I sat on a bench along the bridge from the hub while we all waited for the 8:30am rope drop. As everyone lined up for Seven Dwarfs I walked over to Peter Pan’s Flight. I enjoyed the queue and was on my pirate ship within 10 minutes. Later in the day you wouldn’t be able to get a ride without an hour wait.
It was a Halloween party night and the park was relatively empty. By 9:15am I had not only enjoyed Peter Pan’s Flight but visited the 999 happy haunts in the Haunted Mansion and traversed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice! Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise were completed before 10am. This was all while I was happily capturing images of everything. I played Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (only scored 317,000) while I watched my boarding group time approach for TRON Lightcycle/Run (great ride!).
My favorite artist, Larry Dotson, would be signing his work at The Art of Disney store in Disney Springs later in the afternoon (last day of a week long stay). I left the Magic Kingdom around 2pm after a great time doing almost everything I wanted to do. The line in front of the train station with the photo pass photographer was basically empty so I asked if I could grab a “people free” image. I generally wait in line like everyone else even though I’m not getting my picture taken.
Disney 100 Nikon Z6 II, NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S, 1/160s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 100
My first night in Disney was a flurry of running around the Magic Kingdom. The park was open until 1am and I walked through the gates around 10pm. There were a lot of night images I had in my head that I wanted to capture. This image out in front of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was near the top of the list. I had tried to capture this on previous trips but the process to do it properly had eluded me. With the new techniques I had learned in the year since my previous visit and some added patience I was hopeful I would be able to do it justice.
Dead Men Tell No Tales Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, (10, 25, & 30s bracket), f/8, ISO 200
