Considering MNSSHP - good fit?

[liamthompson]

I've never been to MNSSHP and read some reviews and can't decide if it will be a good fit for us.

My almost 5 year old loves what I call "halloween-lite". Pumpkins, friendly ghosts, smiling skeletons, and trick or treating of course. Favorites at MK are tomorrowland speedway and people mover. He could loop those and be happy. Likes to hug fuzzy characters, doesn't matter if he recognizes them or not.

With an afternoon nap, we could power through until 9-10pm.

I don't think we'll be interested in the hocus pocus show. Parades and dance parties are hit and miss. We might be maxed out before the fireworks and I really dislike being crammed into the area in front of the castle. These seem to be the special offerings of MNSSHP...if we end up skipping all of these, is MNSSHP "worth it"?

Are we better off with a regular day ticket? We're already booked for Disneyland this summer and I'm wondering if we should do Epcot instead since it's the very dissimilar.

Some context - I currently have the best problem in the world - flight credit and a booked bounceback stay that needs a date change. I was thinking about squeezing in an August weekend trip as one last hurrah before school starts. My other options are to try to book a weekend trip for late spring, book a week long christmas trip but I'm worried about crowds and would rather drive plus dates are excluded from bounceback, or go somewhere other than orlando.

 

[DWillowBay]

Hi. This answer, of course, is just my 2 cents and not to be considered as anything more than opinion. Our family has loved MNSSHP over the years. To your point, there is nothing 'scary' about it. Happy pumpkins and common representations of Halloween...but cute. However, for us, over the years, the park during party times has gotten so very crowded that it is difficult to accomplish more than 1 or 2 special events (a character meeting, trick-or-treating, stage show...etc.). Once we stood in line for almost 2 hours for a character meeting and nearly missed the parade (which is also extremely cute!). For the cost, we have started to realize that we can see all the Halloween decorations throughout the park and enjoy some of the Halloween treats (Main Street Bakery, other restaurants also have specialized treats) without having to be at the party. Some of the resorts have events on Halloween night as well...though certainly not as grand as Magic Kingdom. You can see by my signature, that I spend time in the parks and resorts...so I LOVE Disney World. The parties, though, have gotten difficult for us. This might not be your experience, but given some the things you outlined, maybe a future year would be better. I don't even like typing that, but the cost has gone up considerably and if you're not going to be able to enjoy what is important to your family.... Just wanted you to have that perspective. I am SURE others will disagree. And that's fine. Like I said, just my 2 cents.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We’ve done many MNSSHPs as my kids have a birthday that time of year. We were there last fall with a 5yr old boy and 7yr old girl and they loved it. Boy especially loved the fireworks - wasn’t really into rides, though the girl was!

I think the colors and some of the goings on in the party are unique and fun. The Headless Horseman and parade, the fireworks, the decorations, the characters and their Halloween dress, some of the themed food, the candy, and the music, etc.

Caveats are that it can be very, very hot and it can rain, as it did for us last year. No Headless Horseman and early parade was cancelled after a long wait. If you wear costumes I’d say stick with Tee shirts if you go in August, no one piece hot costumes like Buzz Lightyear and such.

 

[HopperFan]

As you can see from my signature we have done MNSSHP often, what it doesn't show is that until COVID we were doing two parties each trip. We LOVE Halloween!! DS#1 loves to Trick or Treat, loves Halloween, loves to dress up .... but he is an adult (functions as young child). Disney has been the perfect place for him to celebrate Halloween.

BUT as years have gone by, the price of the tickets have become quite high and the crowds at the party equally high. There is probably more than double what there was when we started. It is very difficult to do most the special things, the crowd in the HUB has made it almost impossible for him to handle seeing the projections and fireworks, long Trick or Treat lines, poorly structured & scheduled character meets and ....... it has become so much work that this year .... while we will be there in September I don't think at this point I can justify the price anymore. DS will be upset and I'll have to figure out a peace offering, but for that kind of money I might be able to find a few new things to do.

If you aren't planning the show, the parade, the fireworks, staying to end ..... other than Trick or Treat it's just another night in the MK. That is some expensive candy!!! As others say you can see some of the cute decor during the day, take some pictures and meet characters if he is fine with any. I would save your money until a time he can stay the whole party and enjoy the special things you are paying for.

 

[Joanna71985]

For me personally, if I wasn't going for the castle show and parade, the party wouldn't be worth it

 

[HeiHei2018]

MK during the day of a party day might be a better fit for seeing pumpkins and riding less popular rides. It’s way less crowded in the morning than during the party. The waits to see characters during the party can be really long.

 

[Disneylover99]

Personally, I’d skip it with a 4 year old. I’d wait til they’re older and can stay up later.
It’s too expensive just to go for a couple of hours. Wait times for characters are long and the longest lines for trick or treating are during the first few hours. I don’t think it would be worth it.

 

[FlyingDonut]

I'm not sure the party is an actively great fit, but an advantage that hasn't been brought up yet is that it gets you into the park in August at night when it won't be as hot. If you're not going to the opening night party, August is one of the cheaper times, so your $/hour in MK might be lower than a day ticket depending on what the ticket package would otherwise be.

I don't know what your ticket, hotel, or trip length situation is like. But if your family would enjoy adding on a smaller amount of park time to an easy resort day it could be an interesting option independent of the theming.

If you enter right at 4 and leave at 10, that's 6 hours in MK that might be a little more memorable than a standard day ticket and probably costs less. It seems like lines have gotten longer in recent years, but not as long as regular day (once party starts). One thing would be to check character meet and greets if that's important to you... Those will be different and possibly longer than a regular day.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Given your scenario I would skip MNSSHP yet visit MK on a party day to take advantage of lower crowds. We do this each year and it’s wonderful!

 

[sponica]

We've never gone to a party, but we went to MK on a party day last summer and it was the least stress I've had at MK in a long time. The crowds were so much lower, we bought lightning lanes but we probably could have gone without. If you just want the decor and rides, I would do that.

 

[liamthompson]

Thanks all for the helpful feedback and comments! Sounds like MNSSHP isn't a good fit right now. This past December, we had a day ticket to MK during a christmas party night and had a really wonderful time...the crowds did get crazy during the mix-in period and as we were leaving, the area in front of the castle was packed...it sounds like this may carry into the actual party time and we're better off with a day ticket again.

I'm back to the drawing board! Having to figure out when to move this bounceback stay really is the best problem in the world

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I'll go against the grain and say that it's absolutely worth it--we don't tend to do any of the shows, though we do watch the parade, but the real show is ALL THE PEOPLE IN COSTUMES! People go ALL OUT and it's SO MUCH FUN! You HAVE to dress up! The kids can do trick or treating at several locations and the fireworks show is really, really good.

It is hands down our favorite special ticketed event just for all family costumes.

 

[NickC]

We've done it a bunch. The first few times, it was certainly worth it as there were a lot less people. The first year we went, we loved it so much that we bought tickets to go another night. The way it is now, though, if we don't have a free day (no park tickets) we won't do it.

 

[lovethattink]

Sea World has a very nice “Halloween Lite” during daytimes of certain weekends, their Halloween Spooktacular. There’s characters, games, crafts, trick or treating, some things have a nominal charge. Might be worth looking into if you are there then. Sea world typically is a half hour away from Disney. Sometimes longer depending on traffic and construction.