So booking is now open for MNSSHP 2020. I’m taking a trip to Orlando almost entirely just to attend this event, having seen (online) the significant upgrades to the fireworks and parade made last year.
Me being me, I’m looking at the extra up-charge options — the dessert party for the fireworks, and the party for the 11 o’clock parade. At MK, the dessert parties have always seemed like no-brainers for me and you’re unlikely to talk me out of booking the Plaza Garden party for MNSSHP.
For MVMCP I also booked the parade-viewing party but I’m wondering how necessary it will be for MNSSHP. (Doesn’t MVMCP only have one? Whereas MNSSHP has two, improving the odds of finding a decent spot.) So I could be talked out of booking this.
I have had terrible luck with the seasonal parties. I’ve done MNSSHP once and MVMCP three times. Three of those four suffered from some degree of rain; one was so bad that Disney refunded my ticket and dessert party.
I’m vaguely tempted to book two as an insurance policy against rain.
Some rants …
For some reason I cannot find any option to book online for either this event or DVAH. There’s just a box that says “call to book”. I’ve not experienced this on previous occasions.
The terms and conditions of the event are quite aggressive. They essentially say “we can cancel everything and you’re not getting a bean back”. Yet I got a full refund of everything in December when the event was a disaster with torrential rain.
I’m assuming crowds will make the whole thing a nightmare. But I do love me them projection shows. And I missed out on the headless horseman the first time I did MNSSHP (because of rain — I told you, I have no luck at these damned events) so I’m keen to see that.
Kind of desperate to book it all now, although there’s really no point doing it this early.
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Question —
Would you book one MNSSHP plus dessert party, and hope the weather is in your favour and get great firework viewing, …
Or, book two MNSSHPs with no dessert party, and give yourself two shots at decent weather, two shots at the fireworks, and four shots at decent parade viewing?
FWIW, it didn’t rain a drop when we were there for a week in November. However, the time I went in October there were torrential downpours everyday.
I mean if you book two and get to enjoy two awesome parties if it doesn’t rain, why not?
It’s a glitch. I got that the other day with something similar. Checked back later and the book now button was available.
We did the MNSSHP last year on Oct 21, no rain. We did the dessert party & enjoyed it, and saw the 2nd parade. We had no problems getting a front row spot right in front of the Hall of Presidents for the 2nd parade. There was a ton of open areas along the tape. We went straight from the fireworks to hold a parade spot, and were going to walk back closer into frontier land but with all the front row areas open we stopped at the hall of presidents and didn’t feel we needed to go any farther.
Good luck!
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I wasn’t going to come back and read anything here on TP but that darn Disney blog told me about MNSSHP tickets and here I am.
Do you think a dessert party during party hours is worth the Extra extra?
With your luck, the important bit is to post your dates here so everyone else can pick different dates! 
When we went last year, our party didn’t seem as crowded as it seemed some of the parties were. We could easily have found a place to watch the fireworks without needing the reserved setting right before the fireworks started, albeit it would have been at the back of the pack. That being said, we did have a 4 and 8 year old with us and if we hadn’t done the dessert party, they wouldn’t haven been able to see very well in the general crowd. If we were adults only, the crowd would have been fine.
Also, even in the reserved area it is very hard to see Jack Skellington’s puppet at the base of the castle. He’s just too low to the ground to get a good view from back there. The view of the fireworks were great though, with a few lightpoles spoiling the view a little but not much.
In this picture, you can see 3 of the lightpoles, and see the tops of people’s heads and imagine why it was hard to see Jack Skellington. We were positioned at the front railing of the reserved area. We got to our spot about 30 minutes before the fireworks, all the spots along the back railing that Liners prefer were already taken at that time.
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I forgot to mention we did really enjoy the desserts at the party, and were happy all around we did the party. However, it was a one and done for us so we can experience a different upgrade on our next trip.
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Sorry, found one more picture that shows the view (along with the lightpoles 
) This was taken with our camera held overhead
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I was happy with the dessert party also, hard to go wrong with a great view. I think it depends on what your objectives are - if you want to get a lot accomplished during the party time then two different days would be more relaxing and not as rushed, if the priority is the fireworks and parade then it’s hard to go wrong with the add on viewing parties.
Are the dates or suspected dates for the Christmas party out anywhere yet? Specifically the first party
