Halloween in the Wilderness 2015 Trip Report Index! (And here is the Pre-Trip Report!)



Day 9 - This Is Halloween
Boma – Flavors of Africa (TSB Breakfast) | Casey’s Corner (CS Lunch) | Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
October 31st, 2015

Today, back in time, was Halloween. This was the day I was looking forward to the most on this trip to Orlando because it was the day we had tickets for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

Since the party doesn’t start till 7pm, we had the rest of the day to fill. We drove over to Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House for breakfast at one of our favourite restaurants on Walt Disney World property – Boma: Flavors of Africa.


Boma is a buffet restaurant for breakfast, and dinner. We have eaten here for both meal times. The food has an African, and multi cultural influence, and is set out in sections, so you can go up to the buffet haphazardly, rather than having to line up.

The breakfast menu changes, but you can expect to see the carvery section with ham, turkey, or corned beef; omelettes made to order; African specialities like bobotie (my fave!), chakalaka, and pap; and there is a selection of African pastries too.

If you’re taste buds are not up to the African fayre, there is also “regular” breakfast foods – eggs, bacon, sausage, Mickey waffles, and Simba waffles, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, and breads.

When it comes to the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan at a buffet restaurant, you are entitled to one full buffet and one non-alcoholic beverage (usually refillable) for one credit per person.

The restaurant had some autumn themed decorations at the entrance – lots of pumpkins, and different coloured corn cobs which I thought was very cool. Boma was really busy, and we did have to wait a while for our table.


After paying the bill, we hung out at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a while. The Cast Members here were also having a pumpkin decorating contest, and the pumpkins here were very cool!


We took a look at the animals on the Savannah, and admired some of the artwork in the lobby. After Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge is my favourite resort for decor – it’s just stunning!


We then made our way back to Wilderness Lodge for chilling out, pool time, and to get ready for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

If you buy a ticket for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but do not have a ticket for Magic Kingdom, you can only enter the park after 4pm. If you have park tickets already, you can enter whenever you like! We aimed to leave Wilderness Lodge at around 4pm to take the boat over to Magic Kingdom.


We got ourselves dressed up – Steve wore a t-shirt that said “This Is My Halloween Costume”; Liam decided he didn’t want to wear the Halloween t-shirt we’d brought for him; and me, well, I wore a purple dress, my purple Minnie Ears, my newly purchased Disney Halloween necklace, and earrings, and some purple make-up. Not a costume as such, but definitely more dressed up than I would normally for going to the parks! I got several compliments about my dress though, and that was very nice!


I love Magic Kingdom when it is decorated for Halloween. We’ve seen it this way so many times now (as they start putting up the decorations at the end of August) that it’s hard for me to imagine what it looks like without them! Sadly, we didn’t get a single photo of us as a family between the pumpkin columns at the end of Main Street USA which is such a shame, as I have two of us from previous trips.


Liam was feeling hungry, so we stopped at Casey’s Corner to get him a hot dog and fries. I’ve haven’t got any photographs of that – quite likely because it was exactly what he has had before – so I’ll use that exact same photo!

Casey’s Corner is a quick-service/counter-service restaurant. The rules for the Disney Dining Plan are now a little different, but at the time…

When it comes to the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan at a quick-service restaurant you are entitled to one entrée, one dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage for one credit per person.


As for Steve and I, our lunch consisted of a Mickey’s Kitchen Sink Sundae from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street USA, directly opposite Casey’s Corner. This sundae is big enough for 2 or 3 to share, and no where near as big as the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream at Disney’s Beach Club, where it took 7 of us (4 adults, 1 teen, 2 tweens) to finish it off!

The sundae comes in a cute plastic sink, that looks like Mickey’s shorts! It makes a great take-home souvenir! We had three scoops of ice cream: Mint Choc Chip, Cookies & Cream, and Caramel, and it was topped with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, and cherries. We paid out of pocket for this, and with tax it was £15.97. You can add additional toppings for an extra cost if you like. After we finished it, we washed it out and popped it in our bag.


Whilst we sat and had our late “lunch”, we watched another showing of Dream Along With Mickey on the Castle Stage, the late afternoon run of Move It! Shake It!, and admired the wonderful costumes that people were wearing for the party. I wanted to buy ALL the Halloween merch, but refrained from spending any money on this occasion!


As the sun started to come down, we made our way down to the front of Cinderella Castle to grab a spot for the first outing of the parade, and for the stage show with the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus.

Priority for us was having a good viewing spot for Mickey’s Boo To You Halloween Parade, so we sat down on the kerb in front of Cinderella Castle. It meant that we could only just see the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular on the stage, as there were lots of people in front/behind us. Me being quite short, didn’t get much of a view to be honest, and I didn’t manage to see much of it, and the photos I did take are pretty pants, but I’ll share them anyway! Steve did video the show as best he could, and you can watch that below.


I honestly couldn’t tell you what the show was about, so here is the description from the Disney website:

The mischievous Sanderson Sisters from Disney’s Hocus Pocus return to the mortal world to throw a Halloween party.

With only a few hours to run amuck at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Winifred, Mary and Sarah decide to use their magic to host a decidedly wicked fun fest.

Enlisting the help of the Disney villains, the 3 sisters mix sinister shadows, terrifying nightmares and use the nefarious powers of their frightening colleagues to conjure the ultimate Hocus Pocus Party Potion—and cast a spell on everyone in Magic Kingdom park!

Look for appearances from Dr. Facilier, Oogie Boogie and Maleficent. Combine them and other great Disney villains with amazing dancers, wild visual projections and otherworldly special effects to make Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular a not-to-be-missed Halloween treat!

We then waited for the parade to start. THIS is what I had been waiting for! Before the start of the parade, the Headless Horseman rides by – but it was so dark, that a photo of him was impossible for me. Steve took a video of the parade, and you can see the Headless Horseman riding by – it was pretty spooky! You are allowed to sit on the kerb to watch the parade, but when the horseman goes by, you must have your legs up on the pavement and not on the road – Cast Members walk by and let you know, so allow yourself room to do that. Once the parade starts, you can put your feet back.


As with all nighttime parades, the lights do get dimmed, so keep an eye on children, and don’t let them wander around. Whilst the event is billed as Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, there are parts of the parade, that might give younger children a bit of a scare. Notably the gravediggers when they crash their spades to the ground, and swish them around creating sparks – it’s very cool to watch though – loved that part of the parade. The ghost dancers (or whatever they’re called) might also give younger kids a bit of a spook. If you’re thinking about going to the event with young children, and aren’t too sure, please watch my video – or any on YouTube of course – and you can then judge, or show it to your kids in advance.

Photos of the parade were a struggle for me – watching the parade in front of the Castle means that is very dark (compared with when we watched it at the top of Main Street USA), and my camera settings were just not having it! It’s what accelerated my want to buy a DSLR camera, so I really hope I can get some good shots this year to do the parade justice!

The parade was awesome, and we loved it! There were lots of fun floats, and the music is so catchy – you’ll be singing along in no time!


Not much to say here other than we watched HalloWishes fireworks, which were AMAZING; and the second viewing of Mickey’s Boo To You Halloween Parade, which we watched from the top of Main Street USA. You’ll also be able to watch the videos of both the fireworks and the parade!

Along the way, we saw some characters, did some Trick or Treating, and had some Halloween cupcakes.

We bought the Cupcakes at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and sat on the kerb eating them whilst waiting for the second rolling of Mickey's Boo To You Parade.

I can't tell you how much they cost, or if we were able to use a snack credit for them, because I don't remember, and don't seem to have a note down on my spreadsheet for them.

I do remember Steve managed to drop one (it was in a box) and the Cast Member gave him another cupcake for free to replace the mushed up one!


I managed to just get a picture of the Headless Horseman although, it’s still a rubbish pic! I really am going to try and get better photos of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party this year – we are going to two parties, so that means 2 chances for the HalloWishes fireworks, and 4 chances for the Boo To You Parade!


After the second roll out of the parade, the party was over, so we made our way out of the park. I bought a Jack Skellington balloon on the way, which floated in our hotel room until we went back home to the UK. I then deflated it and brought it back with me!

Staying at Wilderness Lodge was very handy after the party, as we were able to catch the boat direct back to the resort, without battling the huge lines for the Monorail, Ferryboat, and Buses!

And that is where we end day 9 of my Halloween In The Wilderness 2015 Trip Report, so I’ll close out with a few more photographs, including one of some of the candy from our Trick Or Treatin’ the next day.



Read about the day before:
Day 8 - In The Slow Lane:
Roaring Fork (CS Lunch) | Shopping | Artist Point (Signature Dining)

Read about the day after:
Day 10 - Waters Edge:
Trails End (TS Lunch) | Winter Summerland Minature Golf | The BOATHOUSE (Signature Dining)

Read ALL the days!

I love the CM decorated pumpkins - they look fantastic. We did MNSSHP for the first time last year and it was amazing! Your Halloween photos are lovely.

The family in the Star Wars costumes look absolutely amazing! You see some really great ones, I felt so out of place not dressed up.

They're fab aren't they?! we LOVE MNSSHP - going to miss it this year!


Don't they? I'll be writing up 2016's trip report after this one - but not at this pace as I'm only on about day 3 or 4 on my blog! My brother wore a fab costume - he turned a lot of heads!

AKL is my favourite Resort, and we have thought of buying DVC there, we spend so much on Disneyworld every year and this is our 13th that I suppose it would make sense

If you've been stay at WDW every time, then it probably would make sense! We decided to go for it after just 2 Disney Resort stays!

Another great day! MNSSHP looks great, we are there Sept/Oct this year, to be honest Ive never considered getting tickets for the boys as I thought they were quite expensive considering the cost of the park tickets. But you are making me think again

The Dibb is so bad for spending habits

It really is isn't it lol... so many extras we've added because we've seen them on The Dibb or online somewhere!

We LOVE MNSSHP - you do need to plan properly for it though, because you can't do it all. Week days are less busy so they say, so lines for characters might be a bit shorter, but we lined up for 2 hours in 2016 to meet Jack Skellington, and just got in to see the first parade showing!

Ooooh your breakfast looked lush! Was that scrambled egg on your plate or an african dish? I can't wait to have breakfast there when we stay at AKL this October.

We're also going to book MNSSHP. The parade looks great! Your pics are really good. The one towards the end of City hall with the people blurred in the foreground is brilliant. I need to learn how to do that with my DSLR. I have bought so many books to teach myself, but never get around to reading them.

Another great day. x