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It's really Not so Scary!

10/18/2018

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Boo to you and you and you! This week we're so excited to continue on our Halloween adventure with one of our favorite places in the world: Disney World! Every year Magic Kingdom transforms overnight into a Halloween fantasy! And on select nights, the Kingdom closes early to park guests and offers an upgraded event called Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! Most of our readers are probably familiar with MNSSHP and have either already attended or plan to in the future, but we wanted to share with you some of our highlights from this year.
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Mickey's not-so-scary varies in price depending on the night you choose to attend, but generally it gets more expensive the closer it gets to Halloween. The event offers exclusive shows, meet and greets with certain characters and villains, the Boo to You parade, trick-or-treating, and HALLOWISHES (the best firework show ever)! There are also exclusive spooky snack options across the park which you KNOW we were all over! Park guests also get pretty creative with their Halloween costumes. For a list of okay attire for the event check Disney's website here. 
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Boo To You Parade
Hallowishes
So, why is Hallowishes so great? Honestly, I don't know how to answer that because there are so many reasons! For one, the show itself is entertaining and filled with all of your favorite villains and Disney characters. I mean, who doesn't want to hear Poor Unfortunate Souls while watching fire explode in the sky?! Secondly, the fireworks are HUGE and literally light up the entire sky over MK. I don't want to spoil too much because seeing Hallowishes for the first time without knowing just how big and unique they are is part of the magic. But, here's a video of Oogie Boogie's part because everyone loves Nightmare Before Christmas.
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Meet and Greets
Here's a list of all of the characters you can meet at MNSSHP and where to find them:
Town Square Theatre
  • Mickey Mouse
Adventureland
  • Jasmine, Aladdin, Abu, Genie
  • Jafar
  • Tarzan, Jane, Terk
  • Moana
  • Capt. Jack Sparrow
Liberty Square
  • Jack and Sally
  • The Gravediggers
Frontierland
  • Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox
Fantasyland
  • Cinderella's Ugly Step Sisters
  • Cinderella
  • Cruella DeVil
  • Donald and Daisy
  • Alice and The Mad Hatter
  • The Queen of Hearts & Tweedles
  • Belle and Gaston
  • Ariel and Prince Eric
  • Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet
  • Minnie Mouse
  • Tiana, Elena, Rapunzel
  • The Seven Dwarves
Tomorrowland
  • Lots-O Bear
  • Stitch
Food!
There were a ton of great food offerings during the event.
​Some of these are offered during the day as well, but some are exclusive to MNSSHP.
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The not-so-poison apple from the Main Street Bakery (aka Starbucks). This cupcake was SO good. Although the "apple" looking part on top is all icing so it's a bit much. But, if you scoop it to the side and just use some of it, the actual cake part is delicious. Spiced apple with pecan crunch. YUM
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Candy Corn Milkshake from Auntie Gravities in Tomorrowland. We were fans of this shake. I think it was even better than the Millennial pink shake. It's marshmallow flavored ice cream, topped with cotton candy, and a marshmallow Mickey. Once again, VERY sweet, but overall it was good!
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The Maleficent Dessert from Storybook Treats. It's lime soft serve in a black waffle cone with chocolate Maleficent horns. This was not our favorite treat at the party. The soft serve wasn't bad, but didn't mesh well with the chocolate horns. And it melted way too fast and started leaking out of the cone. :(
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The Madame Leota Tart from Liberty Square Market. This was hands down our least favorite item of the night (and maybe entire trip). It's a tart filled with marshmallow pastry cream and candy pearls. The clear hard candy on top of the Leota printed candy is cool to look at, but the taste was just not worth it for this one. 
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Hades nachos from Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn. Nacho chips topped with buffalo chicken and cheese sauce. These weren't bad by any means, but the CRAZINESS that was Pecos Bill's made it almost not worth it. We waited a solid 25 (maybe more) minutes to get these. And event night means no mobile ordering :(
​If you can get them at a reasonable time, I'd say go for it. But, don't wait as long as we did for them.
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Hitchhiking Ghosts Cream Puff from Aloha Isle. This was the last treat of the night, and we ended on a high note. This black cream puff is filled with cookies and cream mousse. And it's adorable, of course!
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*Bonus. I'm hesitant to even post about these because they were the feature of the month loaded fries from Casey's Corner for September. Meaning, sadly, they're gone. They weren't exclusive to MNSSHP by any means but they were just SO good, I wanted to share a photo of them. I don't really like posting about things you can't order anymore, but maybe this will inspire you to try the flavor of the month next time you stop by Casey's!
Entertainment
There are several shows and dance parties to see and join in on while at MNSSHP. There's the Cadaver Dans Barber Shop Quartet which you can hear singing ghoulish medleys in Frontierland. There's the Storybook Circus Junior Jam Dance Party in Storybook Circus. There's the Monstrous Scream-O-Ween Dance Ball in Tomorrowland (video below) where you can dance along with your favorite monsters.
And then there's the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular! This show is the main event of the entertainment lineup and is SO much fun. The Sanderson sisters host the show and invite all of your favorite Disney villains along. Although I was a fan of the old villain show, this Hocus Pocus show BLOWS it out of the water!
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Other Fun
In addition to the shows, parade, fireworks, and meet and greets, don't forget you can also enjoy trick-or-treating across the entire park, all of your favorite rides, and exclusive Halloween merch! Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party runs on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays through October 31st starting at $99. Let us know in the comments if you've attended this year's Halloween party, or if you plan to! Until next time, Boo to You!
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fright Fest 2018

10/4/2018

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Welcome to the official start of Halloween! (Because it's not Halloween until theme parks turn spooky!) We have been having so much fun already visiting several parks for their Halloween events, and we still have more to go! This is one of the best times of the year to visit amusement parks because not only is the weather much more enjoyable, but you also get all the regular rides, special food and drink offerings, and OF COURSE- haunts! 
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We're going to kick off our Halloween blogging season with Six Flags Fiesta Texas' Fright Fest. Seeing as how this was one of (if not the) first parks to start their event this year, it makes sense to start with them.
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Although Fiesta Texas kept a lot of the same themes and houses as previous years, we still got an overall feeling of newness this year. For the past two years SFFT has been recognized by Amusement Today for having one of the best Halloween events in the country, but this year they really stepped it up. 
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*NEW for 2018 Front Entrance Plaza Scare Zone:
​Soul Harvest
The front plaza area scare zone has been themed to Chupacabras for the last few years (which if you live in San Antonio you understand the scare, but if you don't you might be confused).
But, this year, the park went with the broader theme of Soul Harvest.
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Photos really don't do this guy justice. He is HUGE and honestly terrifying. Props to Fiesta Texas on this one.
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From what we gathered walking through and reading online, this scare zone is "we polled 100 people and these were the top 5 things that scared them the most".
It's got a demon pumpkin man, werewolves, scarecrows, witches, and more.
​Overall, it's a big step up from Chupacabras!
Wicked Hollow Scare Zone
Located in Sangerfest (aka German area) this scare zone is filled with evil gypsies, witches, and dolls. 
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*New for 2018 Midnight Museum of the Macabre 
Fiesta Texas' newest haunted house is located in Spassburg and themed to all things dark and creepy. This morbid museum offers plenty of artifacts to look at as you walk through the cluttered halls.
But, be careful when studying these items too closely, the house also features great scares from
​The Elephant Boy, The Oraculist, and plenty of other sideshows.
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This was hands down our favorite haunted house of the event. Actually of any park event in Texas. We do recommend doing this haunt twice if you have the time.
​There's just so much that you can miss if you rush through it! (And sometimes you can't help how fast the rest of your group goes through).
Aftermath Scare Zone
It's the end of days in this scare zone!
Wander through this post-apocalyptic themed human wasteland and try not to die a Mad-Max style death.
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Blood Bayou
Voodoo, swamp monsters, and zombies oh my! This haunt takes you through the Gully Washer queue to an abandoned campsite. This repeat house is honestly not our favorite, but it's worth checking out if you have the time.
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Slaughterhouse 6
This haunt, located under The Roadrunner Express, is entirely too short in our opinion.
​The theme is good enough (The Hills Have Eyes meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre) but it's just not long enough to actually get scared of anything. 
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Photo Credit: fiestatexas.com
Buried Alive
This haunted house isn't new but it was new to us. This was definitely our second favorite house. It was the right length, added some cool texture and elevation elements, and had a pretty creepy ending scare. 
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Zombie Apocalypse Scare Zone
Located in Rockville, this area features- you guessed it- zombies! 
RockKill High School
These two areas go hand in hand to me. RockKill zombies are inside RockKill High School. We liked this house overall. It's the longest haunt in the park and it gave us a few good scares. But, zombies are zombies, if that makes sense. It's been seen and done a thousand times. That being said, you can't beat a classic!
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CarnEvil 3D
Creepy clown alert! The next two sections are all about demented clowns, so scroll fast if that's your phobia! 
The CarnEVIL 3D Haunted House is a returning favorite this year. Clowns are always kind of creepy and there's a whole added 3D element here. Black lights, circus theming, and optical illusions. This house is a definite must-see. 

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Circus Berzerkus Scare Zone
This zone is located on the boardwalk and right near the CarnEvil house (go figure haha).
​We witnessed some good scares of park guests from these creepy clowns, so we're fans! 
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FOOD

Six Flags stayed in theme by renaming food across the park to fit in with the Halloween festivities. Although the food wasn't unique to this event, it was still cool to see them make an effort.
Examples: Slime Burger (Burger topped with guacamole), Creepy Crawly Fingers (Loaded Fries), Boo!Rito (Burrito), etc.
​In addition to changing names of already existing food items, the park also offered 4 seasonal deserts!
​Of course, we were all over it!!
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We tried the cheesecake and LOVED it!
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I apologize for the bad lighting and overall quality of this photo, but I promise this fried cheesecake was AWESOME. We would (and probably will) get it again this season!
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We also tried the fried pecan pie. Not as good as the cheesecake, but not bad. Admittedly, we could only eat a few bites before we started feeling really bad about ourselves.
But, if you love pecan pie or sweets in general, then this would be the dessert for you.

Shows

Fiesta Texas features 4 shows during Fright Fest. Monster Boogie, Monster Mash Bash, Rock Apocalypse, and House of Bones, all of which are singing/dancing shows. We saw House of Bones since it was new for 2018. 
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In addition to shows, scare zones, and haunts,
​ the park also still operates most of its rides! 
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As mentioned above, this is part one to an unknown number of installments in our Halloween Theme Park journey! We love this time of year and we love hearing from all of our readers!! If you've been to Fiesta Texas' Fright Fest or plan on it, please let us know in the comments or on our social media pages!! Until next time, happy haunting!
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    Authors

    Parker and Brittany Ruhmel- Lovers of all things food and theme park related! 

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