A Disney Parks Blog Not-So-Scary Soiree

A couple of weeks ago, the Disney Parks Blog posted a sweepstakes for readers to try to win a spot in their next meet-up at Walt Disney World. It would take place at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on September 14th and include tickets to the new Villains’ Sinister Soiree hard ticket even within the party. I caught the window of the sweepstakes just in time and threw my name into the hat and surprising won a spot! I was thrilled because I probably wasn’t going to make it to the party this year otherwise, plus I was able to take my mom to her very first Halloween party!

The following is my recap of the event with a little review of the special ticket event. Also, check out the Disney Parks Blog recap with much better pictures!

CheckIn

The evening began at 4:00 PM when we were able to check in and receive our party credentials. After that, unlike previous meet-ups I have attended, we were pretty much free to enjoy the party as we wished. At least until 11:45, which was the assigned dessert party time for all meet-up attendees. The Villains’ Sinister Soiree includes a dessert party in Cinderella’s castle and there are two seatings per night. Ours was the later seating.

Credentials!
Credentials!

First order of business was to get some dinner before the party started at 7:00pm. Our go-to counter service meal is usually Columbia Harbour House so that’s where we headed. After that, we rode a few rides with little wait.

At 7:30 we were able to enter the reserved viewing section for the first Boo-To-You parade. This section is reserved for anyone who buys tickets for the Villains Soiree and is located in the Hub in front of the castle. If you’ve ever had a Fastpass+ reservation for the Festival of Fantasy parade, it’s that same area.

Once we showed our credentials and got into the area, we were offered to take water bottles from the ice coolers. They were the small, kid-sized bottles, but we were able to take as many as we wanted which was welcome given how humid it was. Then a lovely cast member from New Zealand asked us if we wanted to know what the best spot for the parade was. Of course we said yes, and he led us over to the Liberty Square side of the Hub, right in front of the bridge. This way we could see them coming head-on and then make the turn to go in front of the castle.

Our View
Our View
Jester Goofy behind us
Jester Goofy behind us

The spot was great and my mom loved her first parade experience – especially the Haunted Mansion section! Here are a few of the pictures I took.

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Next, we had to decide if we wanted to stay on the reserved section for the fireworks. I was worried we would be too close to the castle, but we opted to stay since we had plenty of space to move around. We also caught the Villains Mix and Mingle show while we waited. It ended up being fine and we had a great view.

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We then had a couple of hours to kill before the dessert part so it was time for trick-or-treating. If I’m not mistaken, there are few more treat stations this year. The party wasn’t crowded at all so the cast members were being very generous with their handouts! At one point we decided to sit in the relative coolness of the Tomorrowland Terrace and rest a bit, Our timing was good because we ended up being able to see a little bit of the second parade as it travelled down Main Street!

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Candy!
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Cadaver Dans!

Soon it was time to head to Cinderella Castle for the main event: the Villains’ takeover. Once we were let into the lobby, the Queen of Hearts and Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine were meeting. If no one went up for a picture, they would heckle the crowd. For example, I was wearing a villains t-shirt that did not include the Queen of Hearts. She was not pleased! I was also wearing Maleficent Mickey ears and Drizella told me about Maleficent being her and Anastasia’s babysitter when they were little and let them have all the candy. Ha!

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Finally we were let up to the main dining room. We had assigned tables and footmen led us to them. We got a table by the windows! On the table was a personalized menu, an autograph card, a Maleficent cup filled with candy, and a plate of cheeses and meats. We were also given a drink named after Captain Hook named the Captain’s Not-So-Poisoned Potion. It was pretty sweet, but I thought the poisoned apple glow cube was cute.

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Around this time, the villains made their grand entrance and presented their themed desserts. They also made their rounds at the tables. This was definitely the highlight. Great interaction with all of the villains! At one point, Lady Tremaine and her daughters performed a musical number for us: a mash-up of Sweet Nightingale and Royals by Lordes. Hilarious! I wish I had a good video of it.

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The desserts themselves were awesome in their presentations and just okay in taste. Nothing really stood out.

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Soon, it was time to leave. Keeping in character, Lady Tremaine basically just kicked us out! We were given parting gifts of posters and a hitchhiking ghost from the Parks Blog (these things do not usually come with the Villains’ Sinister Soiree ticket, but everything else I’ve mentioned does).

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Cute vinylmation

We walked out to a pretty empty Magic Kingdom since the party had been over for almost an hour. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I didn’t have to get up for work the next day!

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I had a really fun time at this meet-up. So grateful to the Disney Parks Blog for hosting us, with the help of some pretty cool villains.. I know the big question is whether or not the Villains’ Sinister Soiree ticket is worth the extra cost on top of a party ticket. Honestly, it probably depends on what you want out of it. For me, it wouldn’t be. The reserved spots for the parade and fireworks are really worth much, especially at a party that isn’t very crowded. The party in the castle is a lot of fun, and being in the castle is special and the atmosphere with the villains is awesome, but for me it wouldn’t be worth the $99 extra. And if I were buying a ticket, I would definitely want the later seating so I could still enjoy most of the party. If you really want to spend some quality time with these villains though, it might be worth it for you.

Have you been to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party? Would you or have you attended the Villains’ Sinister Soiree? Who is your favorite villain?

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Guardians of the Galaxy – A Disney Parks Blog Meet-Up

On Sunday, July 27, I was lucky enough to attend a Guardians of the Galaxy movie screening hosted by the Disney Parks Blog.

Poster

When this meet-up was first announced I wasn’t completely sold on the movie, but I’ve enjoyed all other Marvel movies a lot so I figured I’d give it a shot. Plus blog meets are always a lot of fun. To begin with, I have to apologize for the lack of photos in this post. Our phones were confiscated (more on that further down) so the only pictures I have are one from before we went in and afterwards.

We were told that check in would begin at 10:00 at the AMC Theatre at Downtown Disney. Knowing how crazy parking is at Downtown Disney these days, we planned to arrive by 9:30. When we arrived, there was already a pretty good sized line forming by Bongos across from the theater. Unfortunately, most of the line was in the blazing sun.

The balloon occasionally did a good job of blocking the sun for us.
The balloon occasionally did a good job of blocking the sun for us.

Finally, they began leading small groups of people over to the theater to check in. They checked our names off on the list, we got one of four different color wristband (we would later find out what those were for) and vouchers for popcorn and a drink. We were also handed 3D glasses, very very cool 3D glasses which were themed to the main characters.

Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket Raccoon Glasses

Then the first surprise of the day – we had to check our phones! We were instructed to turn over all our electronic devices. They put them in a baggie and gave us a raffle ticket to use to pick them back up after the movie. They also had a really strict bag check at the entrance to the theater. Disney definitely did everything they could to prevent piracy for this screening.

Once we got to our seats (which were saved for us by our awesome friends), we passed the time by comparing/trading 3D glasses and lamenting on the fact that we couldn’t take selfies. Soon, people from the Parks Blog came out to speak to us. They started out by introducing some of the attendees that came dressed as their favorite superhero. Of course, the Guardians, Star-Lord in particular, were popular choices. We were then told that the wristbands that we received at the entrance would allow us to pick up a toy from the official Hasbro line once the movie was over! There were four different toys and each wristband corresponded to one of them.

Then the movie started. Watching a movie at one of these meet-ups is always a fun experience. The entire crowd is into it with clapping and laughing, and in the case of this movie a little singing and dancing in our seats. Seriously, this soundtrack is killer. The movie is so fun and I love the characters! I won’t go into a full review because that will be covered in another post. I will say, as someone who knew nothing about the story or characters going into it, if you are on the fence about seeing it – go for it! I don’t think you’ll regret it. I can’t wait to see it again.

Once the movie was over (no bonus scene after the credits for the screenings – boo), we lined up to retrieve our phones and toys. Everyone seemed really excited over the toys – they are pretty awesome! There was some trading going on, but we were happy with the ones we got.

Our toys and 3D glasses
Our toys and 3D glasses

Another fun Disney Parks Blog Meet-up was in the books and I think a good time was had by all. Are you looking forward to seeing Guardians on the Galaxy or have you been lucky enough to see it already? Do you have a favorite Guardian?

 

 

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