Went last night to the party. This was a bit of a bucket list thing for our family. We attended the Christmas party 5 years ago and loved it. My daughter made us awesome Monsters t-shirts so we were ready! We took some fun photos at the start of the evening and arrived early for a fp ride. I heard our night was not a sell out but I thought it was so overcrowded. I had a TP for the night but it was difficult to use with the added lines for candy and characters. They had treat lines beside lines for purchasing snacks. We always had to ask what the line was for. We had hoped to ride more rides or meet a few characters but the lines/wait times were longer than we expected. We tried the gingerbread milkshake and Lotso burger and thought they were terrible. (We have loved the food we have eaten in the parks on other days). The haunted mansion overlay was not ready until 7:30. There were a few bright moments in the evening like the parade and being the last family to get a photo with Jack Sparrow. Overall though, we noticed such a difference between the crowds 5 years ago and last night. Sadly, I will never go to another party again. Last night made me think this might be the end of our Disney trips. It’s time for new adventures for us.
This is the view from last night… I totally get it.
Personally, I’d wait until early Sept. before going. All the locals come out for the earliest and final few parties. A lot of ppl were also there to get the $299 unlimited MNSSHP passes being offered this season. (I can only imagine that will add to the insanity this year)
I think they are overselling these events and this is what they are becoming. I’m sorry you had a disappointing time.
Definitely oversold. On Aug 16, the ride waits were like CL2 but the streets seemed CL9, which is really challenging when it is dark and you are trying to keep track of your kids.
I still own an apology to an unidentified lady that was sitting on the curb and got accidentally smacked in the face by a dangling foot from the unconscious DS7 I was carrying. His legs didn’t used to be that long, I swear!
How disappointing…
Makes me nervous for my Oct 20 party day
that looks awful… i’m having some slight regret on buying tickets… we will attend on oct 3rd… it has been a bucket list item for me as well… but that photo looks anxiety inducing… only been to WDW once and paid for after-firework dessert party strictly do avoid that mob… i’m thinking we may watch the fireworks somewhere else and just chalk a view of the projections up as a loss.
I tried the Lotso Burger ($16) & the Berry Blast mock-tail ($5). Both were legit bad in my opinion. The branded bun was decent, but nothing could make up for the fact that it was a food service burger patty hidden under a ghastly amount of oddly flavored cream cheese & chewy bacon. If there was brie involved, it was not measurable without scientific instruments. The “blast” was a small cup of watered down powerade served luke warm with a couple raspberries on a swizzle stick. The meal was the only blemish on an otherwise week of great dining. It’s rare to see Disney fail to that degree.
Crowds change from party to party. Some nights are better than others. We were thinking of going this year on Oct 3 but found out the prices go a lot higher after the Oct 1 party.
We went last night, too, and I was also disappointed by the wait times to meet characters. Moana 1.5 hours at 7 pm. We didn’t follow the TP I printed, but I don’t think we could have managed all the things listed with the waits I saw. Because we veered left early in the night to find Moana (we circled back after the first parade for only a 30 minute wait), we never saw the other side of the park.
That said, my three 6 year old kids LOVED it. We ate corn dog nuggets at Casey’s after burning a couple of FPP in fantasyland and buying light up bubble makers for the 2/3 who still had money to spend. Rode the magic carpets, picked up candy, rode PoC, candy, candy, Haunted Mansion, parade, Moana, carpets, (my crazy kids felt watching while atop the carpets was perfect, if not my choice), tail end of fireworks from near crystal palace, at hotel by just after 11.
I think the real sweet spot would have been rides between 6-8 pm. Ride waits didn’t look crazy, ever, and I would have stayed later, but little ones needed home to bed.
Sad to read…What is the price for a 2019 MNSSHP ticket? Does the price vary depending on the evening?
But also, I could rephrase this with “Hollywood Studios.” I wanted to love it, but just didn’t. Everything is very crowded without any of the extra magic I remember from my trip over spring break 2011 (also crowded).
Definitely want to hold of on the character meets until later. We got inline for the 7D’s at 5:35. At 6pm we were told there was a 60 minute wait. Didn’t get out until 7:40pm. The line was down to the 40 minute mark by the time we left.
We will be attending that party and I’m now a bit nervous as well.
I did splurge on the dessert party for garden view fireworks so at least I’ve got that taken care of. That $299 for the unlimited is great for locals. I wonder how many of those they are selling? Did it ADD to the number of tickets to be sold of subtract?
We sacrificed fireworks at Christmas for Moana and our wait wasn’t too bad. 30 minutes, maybe? And that was with a break for her to go check on Pua. Fireworks and Parades are the best time for characters unless it’s a character that is IN the parade.
Last night was supposed to be 10th least crowded as well.
Kinda makes me nervous considering I just added this to our trip in September.
this makes me nervous too, I’m going on tuesday 
We are there that night too and also doing dessert party!!
Yes it does. I think it is $84 before the 3rd of Oct and then jumps to $110. The closer you get to Halloween the higher the price will be.
I’m not going to stress about it. I just saw on DFB that they cap ticket sales at 20k visitors. MK evidently gets to or over 100k a few times a year so I think it feels busier than it is. Probably because everybody is in the same areas.
We’ll just play it by ear and see how it goes. I’m sure the kids will dig it.