Mr. and Mrs. Halloween

Can you imagine anything more magical than spending the happiest time of the year at the happiest place on earth? 

It’s always been on our bucket list to visit a Disney theme park around Halloween season. Unfortunately, the month of October is packed with things to do, and we’ve already maxed out our Halloween spending budget on decor, costumes, and things that were just too spooky to pass up. 

So what’s a ghoul to do when you’ve got a yearning for that Disney magic, but you can’t make it to the park? You brew up the magic yourself at home! 

One manic Monday, we were scrolling through Instagram and experiencing some serious FOMO. Post after post, we saw people posing in front of The Haunted Mansion… or biting into a Mickey-shaped seasonal treat… or dancing along to the Boo-To-You Halloween Parade. We wanted to celebrate our favorite time of the year at a Disney theme park too, but it just wasn’t in the cards for this season. After a little brainstorming, we began planning out ways we could recreate the atmosphere and sensation of Halloweentime at Disney in our own home. 

In order to capture the feeling of being at the park, we knew we’d need to appeal to our senses: smell, sight, sound, and most importantly, taste.

Recreating the Scents

We’ve written before about how much we love indulging in particular scents for Halloween season. To recreate the signature seasonal smells of the theme parks at Halloween, we knew we couldn’t just light a pumpkin candle and call it a day. We needed to be more specific to capture the park’s unique scents. We found just what we were looking for with the Magic Candle Company. 

Let me preface with the disclaimer that we are NOT sponsored by Magic Candle Company. We just happen to love their products and their mission to bring the vacation to you. 

The Magic Candle Company lets you experience the scents of various resorts and attractions in your own home. For our party, we chose 3 fragrance oils: Haunted, Pumpkin King, and Poison Apple. 

Haunted “features a ghostly combination of cedar wood and classic vanilla that is beloved by all happy haunts,” Pumpkin King “features a sweet, creamy combination of pumpkin puree blended with warm notes of butter and sweet vanilla cream,” and Poison Apple “combines notes of crisp, blood-red apples, a hint of cinnamon, and a base of caramelized sugar that just might put you into a deep sleep.”  

We loved each of the three scents, and they set the mood perfectly for our themed party. 

Recreating the Sights

Our house is always decorated with a touch of Halloween spirit, but for this party, we wanted to take inspiration for our decor from locations and attractions within the theme park. 

For our party’s color palette, we were influenced by seasonal decor that transforms the park each Halloween. We chose oranges and reds from the garland and wreaths that greet you on Main Street. Our lighting- a mix of purples, blues, and neon green- was inspired by the otherworldly glow characteristic of The Haunted Mansion. 

The gigantic Mickey Mouse Jack-O’-Lantern (stretching 12 feet tall and weighing almost 3,500 pounds!) that greets guests at the park’s entrance is a trademark of Halloweentime at Disney, so we knew we had to include one in our decor. To represent the interior of The Haunted Mansion, we added a gothic candelabra and faux flame candles. We finished the serving table by adorning the edges with orange, blood red, maroon, purple, and black artificial flowers.

Recreating the Sounds

The theme parks have specific music for designated areas and attractions within the park that we wanted to use to create the soundtrack for our party. We also wanted to pay homage to the darker Disney films and the notorious Disney villains we all love to root against. 

In the end, we compiled a playlist of music that set the mood for the party with selections from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Haunted Mansion attraction, and other Disney Halloween favorites. 

You can follow our Not-So-Scary Disney Halloween Party playlist on Spotify! 

Recreating the Tastes

With the house smelling like a theme park and the music getting us into the villainous spirit, it was time to whip up some treats to fill our table. 

Disney imagineers create seasonal snacks and sweets each year that send guests flocking to the theme park to get a taste of fall that only comes once a year. We knew we wanted to recreate some of the park’s most delectable offerings, but we also wanted to create some inspired dishes of our own. 

We decided to recreate the Mickey-shaped Halloween Cinnamon Roll, a mouse-eared cinnamon bun striped with orange icing and topped with a chocolate spider web.

Our second copycat recipe was Hades Nachos, a Halloween Party exclusive dish of black bean chips topped with buffalo chicken that’s offered at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café. 

For our own concoctions, we first wanted to showcase the setting and characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. We created Oogie Boogie Bread using canned croissant rolls and blue corn tortilla chip edges.

Our next creation was a nightmarish take on cheese pizza with a spiral hill design.

As one last tribute to The Haunted Mansion, we created a Haunted Punch of green apple, lemon lime soda, raspberry sorbet, and fresh blackberries served in a glass rimmed with boysenberry syrup and purple sugar. 

We had so much fun celebrating the sights, sounds, scents, and flavors of Disney at Halloweentime. Although you can’t always hop in the car and head to any destination you wish, it’s a joyful thought to know that, with a little imagination, you can recreate some of the magic in your own home. 

Have you ever been to a Disney theme park for Halloween? 

Comment below, and let us know! 

Visit Mr. and Mrs. Halloween for horror news and Halloween treats throughout the year!

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Disclaimer: We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates. All Disney parks, attractions, lands, shows, event names, etc. are registered trademarks of The Walt Disney Company. The ideas in this post are not meant to refer to any specific destination, person, resort or attraction owned by any corporation.

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