How crowded are sold out party nights?

[Kathryn777]

So I think this year we're Finally going to try the MNSSHP. I know for the week we usually travel that the party sells out. How crowded does that make it? What parts of the park are open? What are the lines like? We usually travel in Oct, so we're used to level 5-7 crowds . We likely won't wait in long lines for special characters unless they're princesses (sigh) as that's all my daughter cares about and my son never wants to meet anyone

 

[Robo]

So I think this year we're Finally going to try the MNSSHP. I know for the week we usually travel that the party sells out. How crowded does that make it? What parts of the park are open? What are the lines like? We usually travel in Oct, so we're used to level 5-7 crowds . We likely won't wait in long lines for special characters unless they're princesses (sigh) as that's all my daughter cares about and my son never wants to meet anyone

Virtually every area of MK is open (except for Tom Sawyer Island.)

Nearly all attractions will be open (except for a few that include Jungle Cruise, Carousel of Progress, River Boat, WDW Railroad, Hall of Presidents, and a couple more.)

The attraction lines at the parties, in general, will be less busy...
but if the party is "sold out,"
expect there will be plenty of guests doing about any open activity.

 

[slickpoetry]

if short lines for rides are the important thing for you, go on as many rides as you can during Hallowishes and during each parade. Lines will be very short while everyone else is distracted. Of course that means you miss the parade, which is a really awesome one.

Do not get in the trick or treat candy lines. complete time waster.

 

[LisaCM614]

Please don't skip the parade! It really is awesome! plan to get to the park around 4 - 4:30 when they start letting party goers in. Experience rides at that time. The kids really liked the path that takes you to tomorrowland behind the Speedway for trick or treating and we didn't run into any kind of line back there.

As far as how crowded is a sell out party? It is still less crowded then you would think - however the parade route and hub area for Hallowishes can be pretty congested and you will want to stake out a spot early.

It is such a fun party.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Well the last sold out party I went to, they let us in around 4, the park was about as least busy as I have seen it. Most everything was walk on and a couple were about 5 minutes. There were a lot of people that either didn't know they could get in at 4 or knew and didn't do it anyway. Meanwhile, because of the early closure, many people chose another park. They let us ride Buzz around 4 times in a row without getting off to give you an idea. So you can get a ton of rides in. If you need something to eat, I'd just grab something at the counter during this time as lines are very short. Once the party starts, it really depends on what you are doing. Characters were mostly a long wait, especially early. But we got in line for the most popular one we wanted to see and were there as the party started. It went to over an hour quickly. But having gotten there about 15 minutes before the party started, we waited just 10 minutes after it started. Once that one was in our rear view, the rest in that section came fairly quickly but also quickly built up behind us. Candy stations were usually crowded, but it didn't take long at all to get Candy. There were a couple of candy stations that looked like a long wait. But we just skipped them. There was virtually no wait along the candy trail between the train station and Tomorrowland. On that day, all the characters from Alice in Wonderland were out and there was little wait for any of them. We rode HM before the party walk on. But during the party, it went to about 30 minutes. But nothing else was even over 10. And most of it was walk on to 5 minutes. The only thing not open during the party was Tom Sawyer's Island. Main St. was packed the whole party. No let up. And when it wasn't packed, people were moving in or out. The hub was busy. But the further away from there you got, the less crowded it was. The first parade was crammed and you had to wait quite a bit to get a good spot. We skipped it, and walked over to the back right of the hub for fireworks. This isn't the prime spot. But it's a good one. The second parade was busy. But not nearly as much as the first. The less popular characters had slowed somewhat, but the most popular ones were still about an hour. At this particular party, the dwarfs weren't out. Bummer. The dance parties were a chance for the kids to see the characters and play with them like it used to be back in the day. But those particular characters do not sign. They just come out and dance and then go back and another one comes out. They were crowded but the characters mixed and mingled so the kids didn't have to wait long to dance with one.

You can't get every single thing in. There is just too much to do. But they are fun, especially if you like parades and fireworks.

 

[pmaurer74]

when does the Oct. 31 and Nov.1 parties usually sell out by?

 

[Missyrose]

If you avoid Main Street and the hub, a sold out party won't feel terribly crowded.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Even at the sold out parties, the great thing is that most rides will be a walk on all night, and even 7DMT will have a much shorter wait than usual. The lines for meet and greets and candy can be pretty long. Wait 'til the end of the evening to get some candy; tell them that you haven't gotten candy all night, so they will usually give you lots of it.

As for parade, it's an absolute must see. If you stake out a spot in Fronteirland, you won't have to wait long. You can grab a prime viewing spot 30 min. prior.

 

[Kathryn777]

Thank you! This is very helpful. We are planning to do the parade, I guess, I clearly need to look into it a little more as I didn't realize there was one

 

[alvernon90]

Please don't skip the parade! It really is awesome!

I read this sentiment so frequently on these boards, and I find it baffling. Personally, I think parades kinda suck. All parades. And that is true even if there were not the issues of fighting with rude guests for a vantage point that inevitably occurs at WDW.

Begging people not to miss the parade is like begging them not to miss an important NASCAR race or important soccer match -- this particular event may be an outstanding example of the genre, but if you think the entire genre is boring as all get out, it will still be boring. I once went along with watching a Christmas parade at DLR because it was part of a tour, but I won't be doing that again.

Frankly, I'd rather be loading up on candy than standing around waiting for some parade to start. I might stop to watch a couple of minutes if there was an empty spot on the curb and the parade was already in progress, but for me and plenty others like me going on rides with no lines is infinitely superior to watching a parade.

 

[nkereina]

We attended s sold out party in late September once and found crowds and wait times to be similar to what they are during the day that time of year. Not terrible by any means but I was expecting virtually walk on and that was not the case.

 

[JimmyBean42]

The only M&G's that had a long wait last year when we were at the party were for Jack Skellington & Sally and for the Genie. Most others were no longer than 10 minutes or so, including rare ones like Lotso, Jafar and Tarzan / Jane / Terk.

 

[HulkBuster]

I read this sentiment so frequently on these boards, and I find it baffling. Personally, I think parades kinda suck. All parades. And that is true even if there were not the issues of fighting with rude guests for a vantage point that inevitably occurs at WDW.

Begging people not to miss the parade is like begging them not to miss an important NASCAR race or important soccer match -- this particular event may be an outstanding example of the genre, but if you think the entire genre is boring as all get out, it will still be boring. I once went along with watching a Christmas parade at DLR because it was part of a tour, but I won't be doing that again.

Frankly, I'd rather be loading up on candy than standing around waiting for some parade to start. I might stop to watch a couple of minutes if there was an empty spot on the curb and the parade was already in progress, but for me and plenty others like me going on rides with no lines is infinitely superior to watching a parade.

I dont think that advice was meant for the 'I think all parades suck" demographic lol

 

[crostorfer]

I don't know why people keep saying that most rides will be a walk on, that hasn't been our experience at all. The last sold out party we went to was the Friday of Columbus Day weekend last year, and no ride was a walk on all night. The 7DMT stayed at a steady 70-90 minutes all night, and was still 60 minutes at the stroke of midnight. The HM never dipped below 45 minutes. BTMRR and Space Mountain were at 45-60 minutes all night. The park was more crowded around 5pm that night then I have ever seen it.

We moved our trip up a week this year and are taking our 7th grader out of school for three days, just to avoid a repeat of that experience.

 

[MataHari22]

Thank you! This is very helpful. We are planning to do the parade, I guess, I clearly need to look into it a little more as I didn't realize there was one

Here are some links that may be very helpful for you, so you can see what all is at MNSSHP:

http://www.kennythepirate.com/2012/09/13/mickeys-not-so-scary-halloween-party-characters/

Look towards the bottom for MNSSHP magic shots:
http://capturingmagic.me/photopass-magic-shots

Other sites for tips:

http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/events/mickeys-not-so-scary-halloween-party

http://www.disneytouristblog.com/mickeys-not-so-scary-halloween-party-review-tips/

http://www.themouseforless.com/walt.../events/mickeys-not-so-scary-halloween-party/

https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/tips-mickeys-not-so-scary-halloween-party-with-kids/

I am not into candy, don't really eat it, and we are two adults without kids, so we did not do trick or treat. We rode rides, watched Hallowishes, watched the second parade, and I only wanted to meet Jack Sparrow, which I did, with hardly a wait. We went on a sold out night. I happened to think the parade was great, and that the Halloween fireworks, were better than regular Wishes. The Headless Horsemen rides through to kick off the parade, and I thought the ballroom dancers from the Haunted Mansion were very cool, and the gravediggers with their shovels sparking on the ground were really neat. I wouldn't say the rides were walk on, but there was minimal waits for most rides, especially after 7 and later in the evening. The hub, parades, and fireworks will feel crowded. The waits for Jack & Sally, and the 7 Dwarfs was very long.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

ETA: I was there on 10/28.

 

[Robo]

The Headless Horsemen rides through to kick off the parade,

I don't know why everybody says, "See the Headless Horseman."
I find it baffling. Personally, I think headless people kinda suck. All headless people.
And, that is true even if the horse was nice. (He isn't.)

So for me and plenty others like me who have heads, and LIKE heads,
the Headless Horseman is infinitely inferior to people with heads.
(Even NASCAR drivers.)

 

[MataHari22]

I don't know why everybody says, "See the Headless Horseman."
I find it baffling. Personally, I think headless people kinda suck. All headless people.
And, that is true even if the horse was nice. (He isn't.)

So for me and plenty others like me who have heads, and LIKE heads, the Headless Horseman is infinitely inferior to people with heads.

But, actually, headless people cannot suck, since they have no mouths......

 

[kathy884]

Well we did a sold out party and it felt pretty crowded to me, similar to a crowd level 7 would be my guess. The frozen presentation at the castle and parades and fireworks were packed. People were packed in like sardines. The line to get some hot dogs on mainstreet at that little hot dog place took about 35 minutes before we ordered. One person in our party was able to grab a table (very lucky for us). Rides like Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan were 15 to 20 minutes. Pirates was walk on. The first two times we attempted mine train lines were over an hour and we would have missed the castle frozen show and the second parade respectively, so we skipped it. We did this after the second parade and had to wait about 40 minutes. Then we ran over to Space Mountain and rode once in a 15 minute line and then walked on for the last ride of the night. After midnight we did the mainstreet USA gift shops till 2 a.m. and we were there with lots of other shopper, but that was pretty fun. For attractions I think doing rope drop is more effective than doing the party, just my opinion.

 

[lmtravis]

For those that have been and are commenting, could you let us know roughly when you attended? Like middle of september or late october, etc. I think that could really make a difference.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We were at the Friday, Oct 24th party. It was sold out and the lines for the characters and for 7 Dwarfs were both long. My daughter kept checking the wait time for 7Dwarfs and it never went below about an hour long. We left around 10:30pm so we don't know how the lines were after the second parade. They had a very short wait for Splash Mountain and the water was turned off so they didn't get wet. The event was more crowded then I expected it to be.

We really enjoyed the parade and the fireworks. We are planning to ho back again and this time we will know more of what to expect. I didn't get to see the stage show last year and this year I don't plan to miss it. It is supposed to be the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus.