The special after-hours Halloween party at DCA has returned this year with a new name – Mickey’s Trick or Treat Party. It’s being held on 11 nights in October, with the final night on Halloween itself. We attended on the first night, Friday October 3.

We had a good time, but as far as I could tell the party itself is pretty much the same as last year – the biggest difference I saw was new signs with the new name.

The October 3 party was supposedly sold out as of several weeks ago, but Disney was still selling tickets at the ticket booths that evening. I’d have to say that this party seemed a bit more crowded than others I’d attended in the past – though the crowds were NOTHING like Disneyland, where we went for dinner before the party, which had its typical busy Friday night activity.

For any of you who aren’t familiar with the party…activities include trick-or-treating at treat stations all around the park, pirate games and crafts for the kids at Pirate Wharf, DJ-led dance parties at Candy Corn Acres, Pirate Wharf, and the Bat-Lot Bash, character meet and greet areas throughout the park, and the Mickey’s Trick or Treat on the Street character cavalcade (because it’s too short to call it a parade) at the end of the evening. One of the big draws is that *anyone* can dress in costume – even those of us who are grown-up kids! Normally you can only go to park in costume if you are age 9 or under (chronologically – your mental age doesn’t count! 😉 )

Most attractions in the park are open, including Toy Story Mania. I was hoping smaller crowds might mean shorter lines for that…while the line was ~15 minutes about 45 minutes after the party started, it was 40 minutes at 10:40 p.m., and the party ended at 11:30. We rode it twice – and we both keep getting better at it. (Attractions that are NOT open: Grizzly River Run, Maliboomer and all of the shows.)

It’s always fun to see the characters themselves having fun at the dance parties – we saw Goofy and Pluto at Candy Corn Acres, Chip & Dale (in pirate attire!) at Pirate Wharf, and Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone at the Bat-lot Bash. In fact, one of my favorite moments of the party was watching the Incredibles dance with each other.

It’s also a lot of fun to see all of the costumed Cast Members dancing, interacting with guests, and just looking like they are having a blast. I would hope that the parties are fun for them, too – they sure make it look like they are enjoying themselves as well!

The wisecracking scarecrows are back at the entrance to “a bug’s land” – they were having a good time just “hanging” around…You might think they’d be down to their last straw, but even if their job is for the birds they were still very down-to-earth – no stuffed shirts here! You could even say that they are outstanding in their field! 🙂

They had MUCH better candy this year – last year it was mostly what I consider “junk” candy – Laffy Taffy, Lemonheads, Starburst – and hardly any chocolate. There was a lot more chocolate this year – Butterfingers, Baby Ruth, Clark Bars, Nestle Crunch, Kisses, etc. Early in the evening they were giving out candy by the handful, though around 10:00 they decided they were running low and held it to 2-3 pieces/person after that. (And there were a few stations that ran out of candy before the end of the party.) I found one treat station that had Ghirardelli chocolate squares – unfortunately I didn’t find it when they were giving it out by the handful! 🙂 The lines at the treat stations were never too bad (and they got shorter), but the lines at the treat trails, particularly the one in the Animation Building, got very long, though that one improved by 10:00. (On the other treat trails, if you just walked past a long line and went to the next treat station it wasn’t too bad.)

We thought there were more adults in costume this year, though I’d still say that more people don’t wear costumes. We went in our Belle and Jedi costumes again this year. The CMs actually got my costume this year – last year several called me “Alice” or “Dorothy”, but this year those who commented on my costume got it right. 🙂 Lee’s costume again got rave reviews, though a few kids were disappointed that his light saber didn’t *really* work. 🙂

I always enjoy the decorations at the Trick-or-Treat party. They do it more with lighting than anything else, except at Pirate Wharf, which has more elaborate decorations. But considering they only have 1.5 hours from when DCA closes until the party starts, I think they do a good job!

It always looks like huge spiders have been at work around the park – Grizzly Peak is covered with a huge spider web, as is the Orange Stinger, the side of the building on Pacific Wharf, and the Tower of Terror, among others.

And there are projections all over the sidewalks – they whirl and spin and get bigger or smaller – there are pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, or phrases like “BOO!”, as well as the party logo. I’ve noticed that the kids enjoy running along with them. 🙂

A few projections that I had not noticed before:

The skull and crossbones on the side of the Pacific Wharf:

Bat eyes in the “Bat-lot” area:

And these flying ghosts on the water wheel at Grizzly River Run:

The Mickey ghost and pumpkin lights are always fun:

And they also decorate with those blowy air-filled things. (Though they had one set up in the villains meet-and-greet area that was out of control and kept “attacking” the CMs standing near it. 🙂 )

The lighting around Paradise Bay is always beautiful – but its normal colors are oranges and yellows so it’s already “Halloweenish” to start with. I was happy to see the smiling jack-o-lantern back on California Screamin’ this year – it was absent last year because of the Toy Story Mania construction.

They have a lot of backdrops set up for the various character meet and greets – at the end of the party after the characters have gone these are nice places to pose your own photos! This smiling Mickey pumpkin is in front of Playhouse Disney:

I wish they would do more with the parade…it takes maybe 5 minutes to pass by, so if you blink, you miss it. (It does have three longer performance stops, though.) At least it has its own catchy “Trick-or-Treat on the Street” theme song, though. I don’t suppose it will ever be as elaborate as Mickey’s Boo to You parade at Magic Kingdom’s Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party – but on the other hand, Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat Party is about half the price of that one!

I have posted more party photos in two photo galleries on AllEars:

General Photos
Parade, Party Activities, Characters

And you can find more information on the party, including dates, times, and ticket prices on the Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat Party page.

If you’d like to share your comments on the party with others, please visit our Rate and Review section.

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