MNSSHP I wanted to love it

This reminds me of a trip we took to Disneyland for the Halloween party. It was my family of four with young kids and my elderly parents. Needless to say my Dad is not a theme park fan. We had dinner reservations at Blue Bayou which was great and then we left the restaurant to do the Halloween Party. It was so crowded. My Dad actually offered my young kids $100 each to skip the party! My kids said no and in the end we all still had a great time. We still talk about the bribe offer today years later. I think I have it on video.

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We went to the party on a Tuesday (9/17) and like others have stated it was more crowded during the party than the normal park day. It was the only disappointment of our entire trip and made me briefly question whether or not Disney was worth it when corporate greed was on such obvious display in the overselling of the event. Thankfully the rest of our trip was great.

The party was definitely a one and done for us and not something that we’d do again

We attended twice this week (9/29 and 10/1) and once in August.

I agree with everyone that the event was very crowded. Both parties this week were sold out, with something like 30,000 attendees.

But, I’ll provide a few counterpoints. I think the party was still worth the money and I would do it again (and again). Boo to You alone is worth half the price of admission to me and my family. The second showing of the parade is way less attended and much easier to view. We caught the second showing right on main street on our way out with no one standing around us. Despite the crazy crowds, the ride lines did move fast. Pirates was 20 minutes, PP was 20 minutes, Space was 25 min. The fireworks show is just OK (it’s like HEA, but HEA is better), so we used that time to ride Space Mtn and BTMRR again with no wait. The candy lines were crazy before the first parade, but empty after the first parade. Once you know how the crowd flows, you can get a lot done by timing things around that. Personally, DS5 and DS2 loved it and we already plan to do it again next fall!

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Would love another trip report if you get around to it! Loved your last one!

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Thanks for following the last one! I did post a lot on a “live” basis in the daily thread starting 9/28, but I will try to get around to a thorough report :grinning:

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I’m a little freaked out that we won’t have a good time at our MVMCP.
@terp05 Any chance that you could synthesize some hints about what helps you navigate these parties?

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I can’t speak for MVMCP, but for MNSSHP, the crowds tended to be centered around the rides with holiday overlays (potc, space) and the trick or treating areas early on, from 7 pm til the first parade at 9:15. We did the dance parties and some shopping for party-exclusive merch during that time, things that had no lines.

Then watched boo to you. Best viewing area was near Frontierland, because that’s where the parade starts and therefore finishes first. That gives you a 15-20 min head start on doing other things. After the parade everyone migrated to the castle for the fireworks. We headed against the grain back towards splash and btmrr, where lines thinned out substantially. Then, darted to space and ride that before the masses finished with the fireworks.

Around 10:30-10:45 trick or treating lines died down a lot or disappeared altogether as families with kids started leaving. Ours are night owls, and they had no problem hanging til close to midnight.

We caught the second boo to you standing by the Main Street train station with no one in arms reach of us!

I would not go in expecting a DAH or EMM-like experience. But if you’re there just to enjoy the festivities, I think it’ll be a great time! You’ll have to let me know how MVMCP goes :smile:

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I got horribly sick as we were leaving MK and attempted to order a Minnie Van and it was a 40 min wait. We went to the bus stop instead, where we could see the vans and maybe saw a total of 3 appear before we got in our bus.

We will be at the 21st Oct party. Have done MVMCP before but never this one! Also going to be in the park all day. TP suggests it shouldn’t be that hard to get all of the rides with overlays, plus 7DMT, BTMR and TTA for the night experience, done and still see the shows/parade. Fingers crossed!

https://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=3834485

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We were at the October 1st MNSSHP. The park felt so uncomfortably crowded that evening that it was not enjoyable. Lines for rides were also horrible. I feel that they are now badly overselling this event. We’ve enjoyed it in years past but won’t be doing this event again. It’s just not worth it.

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I had mixed feelings on the MNSSHP but some of that was based on how our kids were feeling and getting bogged down in one area of the park. Between 5:00 and 7:30 or 8:00 it was great. I think my sun and I waited 5 minutes for Splash Mountain at like 6:30. Our problem was that we kind of got stuck over in the Frontier and Adventure Land areas. We planned to see the second parade but ended up watching the first one and that kind of threw everything off. Character wait times were fairly long and it’s a lot to just wait for 35 minutes or an hour to see someone. The hub for the fireworks show was a mad house. But I thought the fireworks and parade were awesome. Low ride wait times were great too. After the fireworks our kids were spent so we didn’t get to go back over to Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land to see what those areas really had to offer so that’s why I was most bummed. But I thought it was fairly cool. It’s expensive for a family of five but I would do it again.

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We got jammed up Christmas 2017 by the parade over between Adventureland/Frontierland, too, and it wasted a LOT of our time and threw us off. It was a hard lesson learned.

Yeah…it was odd how it happened but like you said, lesson learned.

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I was at the party this year on Oct 1, and found it to be crowded (sold out) but much more enjoyable than last year. Maybe that can be attributed to my lowered expectations though. I went in with just 2-3 things in mind that I wanted to do, and other than that I was just there for the atmosphere. We found a decent spot for fireworks just 25 min before they started (and that’s quite a feat for 16 people…let alone with wheelchairs). I enjoyed just being there this time. I had lowered expectations about how many rides we would ride, and how long the candy lines would be. I was pleasantly surprised to find some candy stations inside the ride lines, and I really appreciated the party guide/map that showed which rides had a “Halloween Twist.” After last year’s experience I swore I’d never go again, but I’m glad my brother twisted my arm to go this year, and I would definitely go again.

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Ugh… Leaving Saturday and attending the Tuesday party. Tried being tactical with my day-after-cbus-day choice but can’t help but lower my expectations.

Have been to MNSSHP at least once a year sine 2013 I think. Might have missed once though.

Did any other rides besides PotC, SM, and MHTP have a special twist?

Ummmmm. I think it was probably those 3 plus Monster’s Inc. I wish we had made time to do Monster’s Inc… I really love that one on a regular day, and I bet the Halloween twist was fun too.

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Yeah, those four, plus HM if you count the ghosts out on the front lawn - the ride itself is the same as always but thematically appropriate anyway!

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I will say this, if I do it again, I’ll probably try to do it on a Sunday earlier in September. It seems that crowds are lower on Sundays and my kids would be fresher than they would be on day four.

We’re going this day too…I’m nervous! Trying to keep an open mind about the crowds.