My family loves Halloween.
This is usually exactly when the person I’m talking to or chatting with on Facebook says/writes “Oh, we do, too!”
No. You don’t understand the level of our Halloween craziness. Your $50 worth of 100% real juice fruit snacks for the neighborhood rug munchers (I once called toddlers that and my friend Lucinda immediately started laughing and informed me that I was using the wrong term but I’m sticking with “rug munchers”, damn it) and traditional delightful kitty cat costume isn’t really the same thing. Bless your heart.
We used to live in a gated community in Texas where lots of young families lived. Halloween was fun and festive and busy. We’d answer our door and give the little rug munchers candy (not that fruit shit, damn it, it’s Halloween, people!) for about an hour, then we’d leave the huge bowl of future diabetes and death on our porch and the Honor System would reign while we took our kids around the neighborhood for their turn at the chocolate. Or fruit snacks. Bastards.
When we moved to Alabama, we chose an older home in an older neighborhood. Newsflash: 80 year olds don’t like to trick or treat. Our first Halloween here sucked. It sucked so bad I think I would’ve taken those fruit snacks.
As the next Halloween was barreling down on us, I looked into going out of town, specifically to Disney World for their annual Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This after hours, ticketed event happens during select nights in September and October and families are encouraged to dress up in costume.
I also discovered during that time that Universal Orlando was celebrating the 20th anniversary of Halloween Horror Nights. It is also an after hours, ticketed event held on select nights in September and October. Costumes are not allowed due to their Scare Actors, haunted houses, etc.
Our first year at Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) couldn’t have been better due to the 20th anniversary. They brought several of the marquee “bad guys” back from previous years in celebration and it was mind blowing. We had found our people.
Here are some pictures from our first HHN. We really didn’t take that many because we were so overwhelmed by the event.
Our first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) was also quite the event but much more family friendly. We decided it would be more fun to go in themed costumes so with the popularity of Alice In Wonderland that year, we went with it.
Landon initially refused to be the Mad Hatter so we called a family conference. I talked to Gracie beforehand and told her that we were going to offer him $20 to go as the Mad Hatter. She was all in. He rejected our $20 bribe and Gracie immediately slapped her hand on the coffee table and said “Okay, 50 bucks”! without consulting us. He agreed to the $50, E and I noted that Gracie was a really shitty negotiator and have since elected not to include her in any costume bribery.
Landon turned out to be the hit of the night. There were a few other Mad Hatters but none better than he was. He stole the show from all of us (and that wasn’t the last time he “stole” our Disney thunder but more on that in Part 2) and he enjoyed every single minute of it. Here are a few pics from that night.
We have returned for both events ever since. This will be our fifth year of celebrating Halloween week in Orlando and we are just as excited for it as we were the first time.
This year’s costumes are a secret and there have already been a few incorrect guesses from friends on Facebook. I will reveal the costumes, with us in them, on October 30th, the night we attend the MNSSHP.
This will be our most epic year ever for costumes but before I get too far ahead of myself, I will be doing blog posts on each year we’ve attended the events and also include pictures of all our past costumes.
Stay tuned! And return those 100% real juice fruit snacks to Walmart. I mean it.
Steph On The Rocks 
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