What it means when the calendar lists a “special ticketed event” at Magic Kingdom

For most people, a visit to Walt Disney World centers around its parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach (water park), and Typhoon Lagoon (water park).

In general, you can visit those parks during operating hours using a “normal” park ticket.

However, sometimes there are events that require you purchase a special ticket in order to attend.

These are often referred to as “special ticketed events”.

So, what exactly is a special ticketed event and how could it affect your Disney World trip?

Read on to find out…

What are “special ticketed events”?

In short, a special ticketed event is any event at Disney World that requires you to purchase a special ticket in order to enter the park.

We can’t emphasize this enough: These events can not be attended with just a normal park ticket.

If you want to go to one of these events in the parks, you’ll need to pay extra.

Usually, the special ticketed event takes place outside of normal business hours, however, some of the events may cause the parks to close earlier than normal and only people with tickets to the event will be allowed to stay past closing.

Special Ticketed Events

Some examples of special ticketed events that are available (or have been previously) include:

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom
Disney’s H2O Glow Nights at Typhoon Lagoon
Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom
Early Morning Magic at Magic Kingdom
Star Wars: Galactic Nights at Hollywood Studios

All of the events mentioned above except for Early Morning Magic occur in the evening. For these evening events, guests with event tickets are able to use their special ticket to enter the park a couple of hours before the start of the event.

Early Morning Magic works a little differently, though.

This event allows guest into Magic Kingdom an hour and 15 minutes prior to regular park opening and gives guests the opportunity to ride a few select attractions as many times as they would like before they open to regular park guests. In addition to getting to ride a few attractions before the parks open, guests attending Early Morning Magic also receive breakfast.

But, because it overlaps with the opening of the park for regular hours, standard park admission is also required for this ticketed event.

How does this affect planning park touring?

The two main events that could affect when you choose to tour the parks are Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP).

These events happen several times a week from August through the end of December (August – October for MNSSHP and November – December for MVMCP).

These two parties are longer events and require Magic Kingdom to close several hours earlier than on non-party nights (typically 6 pm).

If you have Park Hopper tickets, visiting Magic Kingdom on these days could be a positive because in general crowds are lighter due to the reduced regular park hours.

It would be easy to visit Magic Kingdom for the first half of the day to enjoy lighter crowds and then hop to a different park for the second half of the day. This could also be a good option if you have a longer trip and want to build in a short park day.

If you have a shorter trip and do not have Park Hoppers, you should try to visit Magic Kingdom on a non-party day so you can take advantage of the longer park hours.

Interested in attending a special ticketed event?

Check out the links to the different events above for more information. You can also find information on the currently scheduled events on Disney’s website.