To attend the Halloween party or not

[mastermind307]

We have a trip planned for October 10-17. It will be me, DH, and DD9. My inlaws will be there as well, but we aren't doing everything together. We have never been to the Halloween party and I would like to go once. But it would cost almost $200 for the three of us to attend, based on prices from 2014. I'm thinking it would be better to put that money toward other things. For around the same amount of money DD9 could do BBB, we could get memory maker (split cost with inlaws), and do a carriage ride. I'm trying to keep cost down and doing everything on this trip just won't be possible. My DH doesn't care and isn't helpful when it comes to deciding what to do, and DD wants to do it all. We will return to Disney sometime but probably not for a few years. Decisions, decisions, what should I do?

 

[matheke]

The choice is totally up to you. Just some thoughts.

1. Carriage ride would be how long? The party is 8 hours if you take advantage of the 4PM entry.
2. BBB. Most of that will be gone in a day or two when she showers or gets caught in the rain. Then you will have an overpriced dress and some pictures and some memories. But with your daughter being 9 and not knowing when you will return again, this may be your best time for BBB as she may be too old in 4 years to do this.
3. Memory maker is a nice choice but does anybody on the trip have a camera? Is what you paying for with MM worth that much more that what you can do yourself?

I am a fan of the Parties and would always recommend attending one if you have never been. We mostly try to go on an arrival day or make it a non-park day and hang around the pool or DD on a party night.

 

[kate2961]

Sounds like a tough choice. Personally, I love the Halloween Party. It's my fave fireworks and parade so I never miss it if I'm there. On the other hand, I agree with PP, you have to consider whether BBB is a must do and whether this will be your only chance.

Magical wishes for your vacation.

Kate

 

[Disneylover99]

Do the party!!!

 

[minniemous]

Hmmm. I am not a fan of the party. I think it is not worth it for the price. However, I will most likely be giving the Halloween party another chance this year since the first time it did not go according to plan because of our fault. We are on the fence about going again because or original thoughts were.....never again.

The decorations are the same in the park during the day so you can totally experience that atmosphere on any given day during the Halloween season. In regard to the decorations only though. There is definitely an exciting vibe for the party night.

1.) I find the candy lines a waste of time. Some people are into them. I do not understand spending time waiting for candy. My Daughter was to into that either

2.) the first parade is very crowded. Second parade is much less crowded.

3.) I can not comment of the rides because this is where we got messed up and did not get to take advantage of that aspect. From what I understand you can get a lot of rides in during the night. However, I have never seen (during the time of year we go) the haunted mansion so crowded. In fact it is the only time we actually had a somewhat long line for it in some time.

4.) there are special characters and if you are into meeting hard to meet characters then that is a plus. We like Characters but were not so excited about waiting on lines to meet additional characters. When we normally wait to meet a character we will never wait on a long line so paying extra to wait on fairly long character lines is not our idea of fun.

5.) The Halloween parade is very cool. Wish we got a better spot to view it. The parade to me is the big selling point of the evening.

6.) from what I am understanding also with the new party within the party some of the characters that were normally viewed at the regular party are not present anymore. I am not sure about this and I would check out some threads that discussed that aspect.

If you are trying to keep costs down in my opinion I would say consider doing something else because our reaction was it was such a waste of money. However I know so many people LOVE these parties so it is such a personal thing.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We have a trip planned for October 10-17. It will be me, DH, and DD9. My inlaws will be there as well, but we aren't doing everything together. We have never been to the Halloween party and I would like to go once. But it would cost almost $200 for the three of us to attend, based on prices from 2014. I'm thinking it would be better to put that money toward other things. For around the same amount of money DD9 could do BBB, we could get memory maker (split cost with inlaws), and do a carriage ride. I'm trying to keep cost down and doing everything on this trip just won't be possible. My DH doesn't care and isn't helpful when it comes to deciding what to do, and DD wants to do it all. We will return to Disney sometime but probably not for a few years. Decisions, decisions, what should I do?

We've done everything on your list except the carriage rides.

- We (DH, DD, and I) all enjoyed MNSSHP. It was fun getting to see everyone dressed up; the lines for candy were almost non-existent when we went (so people got as much candy as they wanted with minimal wait); we all liked the parade (especially the Headless Horseman); we got some magic shots only available at the party; the villains dance party was fun (and allowed people to meet characters not normally available); we got to meet other characters who don't normally appear at the parks (like the Seven Dwarves); etc.

I think you should consider whether your daughter would be able to stay up for the whole party (plus time to get back to the room). We saw a lot of tired, fussy kids toward the end of the evening. Even though we liked the party, it'd feel like a waste if you had to leave at 8 pm.

- DD LOVED her day at BBB, and we got some incredibly adorable pictures. Since you're looking to save money, take along your own dress since that'll save a lot of the cost. I made sure to watch how they did DD's hair, and I was able to copy the hairstyle using the tiara she got at BBB on the subsequent days of our trip (just remember to take along some hair gel, small hair bands, and bobby pins). (Tip: DD wore cotton shorts and a tank top under her dress so she could take her dress off easily if she got hot or went on a water ride).

- We always pre-purchase Memory Maker. We don't like carrying things around the parks, so hauling around a camera would feel like a burden. (Plus, we don't have a nice camera, anyway.) Our phones take decent pictures, but that also uses up precious battery, and you'd have to ask strangers to take pics of the whole family. The photopass pics have always come out well for us, and we especially like the magic shots. Additionally, we stop for pics at most photopass opportunities, so went end up with several hundred photos.

- A carriage ride looks like it's $45 for 25 minutes. I personally wouldn't pay that, especially considering so many cities have carriage rides for a lot less. Paying $45 for 25 minutes is a lot less bang for your buck than $200 for 8 hours of fun (as mentioned above).

 

[ShaunaG14]

Does anyone know the 2015 dates for the MNSSHP? DH and I are hoping one will be on the 29th of October so we can partake in it before our cruise the next day on the Disney Dream.

 

[sarahkate60120]

The Halloween party was one of our favorite things we did this last trip. I would definitely do it again. We did BBB that afternoon before the party. We only do the hair, nails and makeup so that saves a bit of money.

 

[tbia]

I would say under no circumstances go to the party, because if your DD is like my 3, they will ask you every day for the rest of your life when they are going to the Halloween Party again.

OK, with the semi-sarcastic opening sentence out of the way....we loved the party. IF that is what you decide, then a few tips.

Try to go on Tuesday night....usually there is a party on Tuesday...much less crowded than the weekend ones

Get there at 4. Because of the early closing for non-party guests we got 3 hours of a crowd level one. This was last year on 10/21.

Don't think you have to hit every TorT line. The anti-party post was right. For the most part, it was a waste. HOWEVER, definitely hit the path between the Barnstormer and Space Mountain. There are about 5 stops on that path, there is next to no one on the path, and we got about a pound and a half EACH in about 4 minutes.
​

I am not going to lie, but the Memory Maker is nice also. But, as someone said, everyone has a camera now.

And lastly, maybe I am in the vast minority, but my 3 DDs (11,5,3) have little interest in BBB. As DD5 put it "We can play dressup at home, let's go do something"


Good luck in your choice, I agree it is a tough one. I would do the party.

 

[MommyMK]

The Halloween party is by far the best bang for your buck of all the things you listed with the possible exception of BBB depending on how into that your daughter would be. And BBB can be done for a lot less than $200.

We have a trip planned for October 10-17. It will be me, DH, and DD9. My inlaws will be there as well, but we aren't doing everything together. We have never been to the Halloween party and I would like to go once. But it would cost almost $200 for the three of us to attend, based on prices from 2014. I'm thinking it would be better to put that money toward other things. For around the same amount of money DD9 could do BBB, we could get memory maker (split cost with inlaws), and do a carriage ride. I'm trying to keep cost down and doing everything on this trip just won't be possible. My DH doesn't care and isn't helpful when it comes to deciding what to do, and DD wants to do it all. We will return to Disney sometime but probably not for a few years. Decisions, decisions, what should I do?

 

[mastermind307]

Thank you for all the replies. DD has done BBB twice before and says she only wants to have the makeover, not dress up this year. The only reason I'm debating on whether letting her do it again is because next time we come she'll be too old. I believe BBB is for 12 and under. We have also done the carriage ride before, once at POR and Ft. Wilderness on our last trip. We really enjoy these and DD loves horses. This year we are staying at the Wilderness Lodge and plan to walk over to Ft. Wilderness to eat at Trails End and have a carriage ride. I've always ordered photopass and enjoyed having everybody in the picture. We usually have our own camera too.
The 2 things that concern me the most about the Halloween party are I would buy the tickets in advance and then if the weather doesn't cooperate, we're out of luck. And we are not night owls. At home we are usually in bed between 8:30-9. Even on weekends we don't stay up late. So I doubt we would make it till midnight. But being able to ride rides and meet some different characters would be nice.

 

[SLamott1973]

First mnnshp was in 2014, we all enjoyed being able to dress up and enjoy the party vs only one of us since adults aren't allowed to do so. Having pictures of DH, DS8, DS18 and I in costumes in front of the castle or with our favorite characters was great for us. We did some Trick or treatin but those lines were longer than the ride lines. The second parade is better,the crowds tend to leave after the fireworks.
It depends on you and your families preferences. I would say if you don't think you can stay all night for the party irs not worth it $$ as it took us all night to do what we wanted and justify the cost

 

[mom2rtk]

I've done all of those things. And I vote Halloween party!

You will likely be back to Disney, but will it be at the right time of year to do the party?

 

[Sugart]

We do the party but take a day off of our tickets. Last year instead of a 4 day hopper we did 3 and the party. Morning was spent at the pool and DTD. Arrive at the party at 4 and it's still an 8 hour day. I'm not going to lie the park was packed, but the lines for rides were short. 7d was the longest at about 30 minutes. This was on Tuesday 10/28. From what I've read though the closer to Halloween the more busy the party, but I'd imagine most are sell outs.

 

[Missyrose]

Thank you for all the replies. DD has done BBB twice before and says she only wants to have the makeover, not dress up this year. The only reason I'm debating on whether letting her do it again is because next time we come she'll be too old. I believe BBB is for 12 and under. We have also done the carriage ride before, once at POR and Ft. Wilderness on our last trip. We really enjoy these and DD loves horses. This year we are staying at the Wilderness Lodge and plan to walk over to Ft. Wilderness to eat at Trails End and have a carriage ride. I've always ordered photopass and enjoyed having everybody in the picture. We usually have our own camera too.
The 2 things that concern me the most about the Halloween party are I would buy the tickets in advance and then if the weather doesn't cooperate, we're out of luck. And we are not night owls. At home we are usually in bed between 8:30-9. Even on weekends we don't stay up late. So I doubt we would make it till midnight. But being able to ride rides and meet some different characters would be nice.

You have to be honest with yourself, if you don't see yourself staying past 8 or 9, you won't get enough value out of a party ticket. If the parade/fireworks are rained out, Disney will typically offer folks who stop at guest relations tickets to a party on a different night.

 

[avic77]

We LOVE the Halloween party and feel like it is 100% worth the cost! Here is what I did instead of BBB:

Go to Clair's or something like that and get a cute crown hair comb, a fake hair ponytail thing (sold at beauty supply places, claire's and party supply shops). Buy some glitter spray, some glitter makeup, and some glitter nail polish. On Party day give your princess a Fairy Momma make over. You will spend far less. I did this for my DD when she was 9 (she is almost 16 now) and she got TONS of compliments in the park. One cast member told her she had one of the Best Fairy Godmother makeovers she had ever seen. DD proudly told the CM her Fairy Mommy did it for her.

 

[siskaren]

Does anyone know the 2015 dates for the MNSSHP? DH and I are hoping one will be on the 29th of October so we can partake in it before our cruise the next day on the Disney Dream.

The dates won't be officially announced until probably late April (the tickets typically go on sale in early May), but the September hours have been released, which gives a pretty good idea when the parties will take place that month, since MK closes at 7:00 on party days. The October hours should be out by mid-March, which would indicate what dates the party takes place that month.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Do you buy a park ticket plus a party ticket, or just the party ticket?

 

[siskaren]

Do you buy a park ticket plus a party ticket, or just the party ticket?

You only need a party ticket unless you want to enter the MK before 4:00, which is when they start allowing people in for the party.

 

[cindyfan]

Another vote for MNSSHP!!! LOVE... LOVE... LOVE this party! And I will say .... in general... I am NOT a fan of Halloween itself!
but.... MNSSHP...... The castle show is GREAT! Parade is GREAT!! All the extras.... ALL GREAT! the candy... don't really care about that..... and yes, best to see the later parade (not as crowded). But IMHO.... the BBB is a total waste! Your DD9 will love MNSSHP!!