The time has come to don your Halloween finest and trick or treat with your Disney favorites — tickets for the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party are now on sale. This annual event is a family favorite, as the Magic Kingdom becomes a Halloween wonderland for children and Disney-loving adults.

From 7pm to midnight on select nights in September, October and November 2010, guests are encouraged to attend in costume and trick-or-treat through the park, sometimes alongside Disney characters (including rarely-seen villains). Many Magic Kingdom attractions stay open late for this special event, so if you’ve always wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion after dark, this is the event for you. Halloween theming throughout the park transforms familiar scenes into “happy haunted hollows,” which are great for fall photo opps.

But the best part of Not-So-Scary is the parade and fireworks. The parade gets off to its supernatural start with the ride of The Headless Horseman and continues with Haunted Mansion characters in attendance, plus a host of Disney Villains and classic characters in their finest Halloween attire. The night ends with Mickey’s finest fireworks, the special Happy HalloWishes show — this year, the Disney Villains trick-or-treat the skies!

The Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is a ticketed event, with admission separate from your regular park passes. Weekend nights — especially those closest to Halloween — sell out fast, so be sure to get your tickets now!

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party will take place on the following dates in 2010:

October 1, 3, 7,8, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31
November 1

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September 2010 saw more baby animal news in Sea World Parks. First, Busch Gardens welcomed the birth of their 7th Caribbean flamingo chick. The first hatched June 3, 2010, and the newest was born just this past Sunday, July 25, 2010. The babies are white and fluffy with downy feathers; they won’t turn pink until they start enjoying their diet of cartenoid pigments, conveniently available in the shrimp and algae they eat every day. The chicks join a flock of 125 adult flamingos — if you go see them at the park, keep your eye on the middle of the flock, which is where the babies tend to be kept by the protective adults.

Sister Park Sea World of Orlando is continued its efforts in the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife in need when the rescued an abandoned baby manatee from the waters near Daytona Beach. The weeks-old female requires round-the-clock care from animal care specialists. Every three hours, she is bottle-fed nutrient-rich formula that will hopefully promote weight gain so this little girl can grow strong enough to eventually be returned to the wild. She is being weighed regularly and her progress is being carefully monitored. She is under constant care and her condition remains guarded. If the picture below is any indication (featuring Sea World Animal Care Specialist Jeff Braso), she’s in extremely good hands.

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The country’s premier Halloween event has announced the 2010 dates and ticket prices, so get ready, horror fans — Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights celebrates 20 years of fear in 2010. This is THE event for horror aficionados and it is rumored to be better than ever. It’s not for the faint of heart and definitely not for younger children (stay tuned for a blog post about Disney’s Not-So-Scary Halloween event, coming soon), but if you want excellent haunted houses, creepy atmosphere and monsters galore, it is definitely the event for you. Get your tickets sooner rather than later, especially if you want to go on a Friday or Saturday night or close to Halloween itself — Halloween Horror Nights sells out early for high-capacity dates and will be crowded with both tourists and locals, who often buy Frequent Fear and Frequent Fear Plus passes so they can hit the houses once a week during the 24-week run.

Halloween Horror Nights is not included in your regular Universal Orlando ticket price, though you can get a Stay and Scream add on for slightly less than the regular HHN pass costs. HHN is a special event with its own tickets, starting at .99 base. Express Pass access is also available and it’s highly recommended — on weekend nights, you can find yourself waiting upwards of 90 minutes per house, and with an anticipated TEN houses this year, that’s a lot of line time. The HHN Express Pass is available for an additional fee, which ranges from .99 to a whopping .99 for high-demand nights (like the Saturday of Halloween weekend).

A great way to go is to take advantage of Universal Orlando’s Gory Getaway packages. Starting at 9 per person, this deal gets you:

* 3-Night accommodations at a Universal Partner Hotel
* 2-Day Base Ticket to both Universal Orlando theme parks – one theme park, per day
* Early Park Admission to Islands of Adventure before the rest of the general public
* 1-Night admission to Halloween Horror Nights
* Access to live entertainment venues at Universal CityWalk®
* One 5”x7” souvenir photograph

You can upgrade to an on-site hotel for an additional fee. For more information, go to the Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights tickets page.

There are discounts available for Florida residents and Universal Annual Pass holders, with savings of up for per ticket, making this option — if you have it — very worthwhile. For those of us without those kinds of options, though, it’s time to open the wallet wide. Think of it this way — you can practice your screaming as you pay for the tickets.

Halloween Horror Nights 2010 will run on the following dates:
September 24, 25, 30
October 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, 20-24, 27-31, 2010

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As of today — September 6, 2010 — enjoying the magic of a Walt Disney World theme park is going to make a bigger dent in your wallet. The theme park giant has raised ticket prices across the board, despite a still-precarious economy and their own recent trend of offering discounted packages and perks. From today, a one-day, one-park pass for all guests 10 and up will cost , up from . It’s for a one-day, one-park for kids aged 3-9 — luckily, it’s still free for kids under 3 years old. Multi-day passes and annual passes are also getting a price increase — here’s the breakdown, from the Walt Disney World blog itself:

Competing parks like Sea World and Universal Studios Orlando have not yet announced a similar increase in their prices. Let’s hope they stay that way.

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A vacation in Walt Disney World is all kinds of fun, but it can also cost all kinds of money. There’s the cost of the vacation itself (hotel, travel costs), tickets to the parks, meals, endless souvenirs, sunscreen, and snacks, to name but a few. But there are some free ways to entertain yourself in the Happiest Place on Earth too. Here are a five fun ways to spend part of the day or all of it, without dipping into your rapidly-thinning wallet.

1. Downtown Disney — as long as you can trust yourself to window shop and you avoid the tempting treats and restaurants, it’s actually very easy to while away some pleasant and cost-free hours wandering Downtown Disney. The Westside is more modern and more varied. You can find everything from candy bars to designer sunglasses and clothes, so window shopping is a must. There is also House of Blues, where live shows featuring top artists are a nearly daily occurrence and fans have been known to haunt the stage door in the hope of grabbing a photo and an autograph during daytime sound checks. Check out the other side of things at Disney Marketplace (once known as Disney Village). The shops here are more Disney-focused, notably the massive World of Disney. There is also a Lego store complete with huge, intricate Lego sculptures outside where you can feel free to touch and poke and take pictures. Inside the store are tables full of those iconic plastic bricks, where customers of all ages are encouraged to build and play.

2. Disney Hotels — Disney theming extends much father than just the theme parks. The Walt Disney World Resort includes 19 hotels, all beautifully decorated and well worth their own visits. This is especially true during the holiday season, when some of the hotels even offer special tours of the more spectacular sites. Take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom hotels, like the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian, or take a walk to the EPCOT resorts like the Boardwalk or The Yacht Club. The Animal Kingdom Lodge even has its own Savannah views, with animals that live specifically on the hotel’s property. A short walk from Downtown Disney is Hotel Row and are even more hotels whose grounds also offer a lovely way to while away from time. All the hotels — both Disney property and the Hotel Row properties (including The Royal Plaza and the Hilton — check out the turtles in the Hilton’s pond!) There are shops and restaurants in all of the hotels, so take your time and explore.

3. Boats and Monorails — The Disney Water transportation and monorails cost nothing to ride, though once you arrive at the parks you’ll need tickets to go inside, and while the rides are short, they can be pleasant and relaxing. The monorail in particular can be a great respite on boiling hot days; it’s always cool and comfortable inside the monorail! You can even request to ride in the front car along with the driver and you’ll receive your own pin when you’re done!

4. The Boardwalk — A short walk from EPCOT or just a Disney bus ride away is the Boardwalk, a line of shops and restaurants modeled after the classic East Coast boardwalks. It’s a quarter of a mile long and is on the border of Crescent Lake, one of the many man-mad lakes at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Boardwalk offers food, drinks, shopping and entertainment. It’s a great place to wander and people watch, and things definitely heat up at night with street performers, street vendors and entertainment. A lot of it is free, so take a walk on the Boardwalk and enjoy the sights.

5. Celebration — Take a Disney shuttle from the theme parks to Celebration, the planned community just minutes from the parks themselves and home to approximately 8000 lucky (and definitely upper-upper middle class and higher) home owners. Celebration has small-town atmosphere and a quaint downtown area that includes some great restaurants, interesting shops and a movie theater. There’s also the romantic and lovely Celebration Hotel, with a charming lobby reminiscent of early 20th century inns. Check out the piano bar, too.