Hello all! I am looking for some expert opinions as I’m trying to plan my family’s third trip to WDW (yay!). We’ve gone in February the past two trips but next year my husband’s family is having a family reunion in Orlando on 11/7. So we are thinking of going from 10/30 - 11/8 (with 10/30 and 11/8 just being arrival and departure days, not park days. 11/7 also wouldn’t be a park day). My dilemma is that my children will be six and eight and this throws a monkey wrench into trick or treating. A few questions:
How insane will the Not So Scary party be on 10/31? We can either do it on 10/31 or it looks like we can do it on 11/1, which I think might be a better idea?
Do the kids get to “trick or treat” and get candy?
Is it worth it to go? If I’m in the park I’d rather be doing rides, I don’t want to spend the whole time waiting in lines for candy!
Alternatively I could shift our trip so 11/1 is our arrival day and do the NSS party that night and try to squeeze in another park day on 11/8 and leave on the 9th. Usually I’m not so hung up on this stage of the planning, I haven’t even gotten to touring plans yet!!!
Or I could just take the kids to a trunk or treat in town before we leave. I do want to experience the NSS party and it looks like by going during this time frame we can also see the Christmas decorations, which my husband really wants to do. Any thoughts or feedback is greatly appreciated!
We went to the Oct 29th party this year and it was PACKED. It was the only time on our 8-day trip the crowds bothered me, but we had crowd levels less than 4 or 5 every day, and the parks were practically empty in the mornings.
You get candy, but for us there was no “trick-or-treating” experience. You wait in a line and a CM dumps a handful of candy into your bag, and then on to the next person.
It was fun dressing up and having a Halloween experience at Disney, but if you want traditional trick-or-treating, try to find an event at home before your trip.
From what I heard this year ALL of the parties were pretty busy. Ours in mid-September was the busiest one I’ve ever been to, including one on the last Friday before Halloween.
Another option for trick or treating (for free, even) is to go to Old Key West resort. We were there on Halloween last year and the staff do a golf cart parade near the main pool, and then they park the golf carts and the kids can trick or treat at them. They also had a couple of characters.
I’ve also heard that there’s a golf cart parade (by guests, I believe) and pretty good trick or treating at the campground.
#1 - Totally insane and not “worth it”. These are the two worst days to go as all the locals come out too. #2 - You will get more candy than you can handle - seriously… pounds of it. (Not “trick-or-treat” style - just handed out by CMs as you walk to each station #3 - If you could go late Sept / Early Oct. I’d tell you to definitely go, but IMHO I wouldn’t go, even for free, on those dates
Now… this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to WDW, I’d just not pay the extra to go to the overcrowded party.
Agreed! WDW has been pretty uncrowded in general the week of Halloween (and especially on Halloween day, though with it being a Saturday in 2020 I’m sure that will not hold) all 3 times we’ve been there then, actually. I don’t think we’ll be doing the Halloween party again any time soon on any dates… the larger crowds overall make it kind of miserable, especially when the party is easily twice as crowded as any other park or MK at any other time during that whole week.
I am going to be the other side here. MNSSPHP was very crowded this year, mostly because Disney got the crazy idea to make season passes available. For $300 people could come to any and all parties except for the one on Halloween. I do believe they realized their mistake, since they did not do this for the Christmas parties. I will say that the party for Halloween is always sold out. I am not sure about the one on theNov. 1. I do not think they will have the every party pass next year for MNSSHP. The Thing that I think will happen is that next fall there will be even fewer people because of the craziness this year. My guess is they will have fewer sold out than they have had for a long time because of this year.
Hi! We were in the World the last week of Oct/first of Nov in 2018. We attended the party on 10/30. It was crowded but we had priorities and a plan so it wasn’t terrible. Thanks to a liner tip, we watched fireworks from liberty square - amazing vantage point and no crowd. We watched the second parade from the hub and as soon as it ended we jumped out and followed the last float all the way down main street to exit.
Our kids were 4,5, & 7 at the time and they did not like the trick or treating. Sure it’s a ton of candy and they definitely enjoyed the party but the trick or treat part was take it or leave it. It didn’t satisfy the trick or treat “itch” it’s not the same kind of thing.
All that said, 10/31 was our Hollywood Studios day. The crowd level in that park (pre GE of course) was a one and it was glorious. We rode TSMM several times in a row with hardly any wait. Only real line that day was at SDD. We had our pick of JTA times when we arrived at 10:30 am! We were staying at BLT and when we arrived that night we got to watch party fireworks from MK right outside the lobby of BLT with music piped in. Then Peter Pan was randomly there coloring with kids in a little side room area off the lobby. All in all that Halloween turned out to be unexpectedly amazing and worth it to skip traditional Halloween for one year.
And in Nov 1 we were back in MK and overnight it was decorated for Christmas. Truly cool to see that quick turn. We also watched the Contemporary Resort build their gingerbread house
My experience is a bit dated (2018) but hopefully it helps some. We are planning to return Nov 2020! Have fun!
Not sure if it was mentioned yet. We were there for halloween this year. We went to the park in the AM and then our hotel had trick or treating there and a halloween party! The kids dressed up there was a costume contest and characters. The kids had a blast. And all free except for a few crafts they had and they had a fire pit with smores kits for purchase too.
I agree with others. MNSSHP was aweful! Super crowded and the worst part of our week there and the worst crowds. Wont be doing that again.
I would check the activities calendar if you are staying on property instead.
So we went to MNSSHP on Halloween this year and loved it. It was sold out so it was crowded, but it wasn’t as crazy as I expected. My DS wanted to do a lot of trick-or-treating which we did (the long lines moved really quickly and we ended up with tons of candy). We did some rides (focusing on the ones with Halloween overlays), saw the parade, stage show and fireworks and met Elvis Stitch. We thought it was fabulous. I think what might have made it better than other sold out parties is the party pass couldn’t be used on Halloween. So glad we went.
