Last year you could get into the party using only your party tickets at 4pm.
My advice is if you are going to eat counter service, eat BEFORE the party actually starts.
We went to Cosmic Ray's around 7pm last time and they had switched over to a "special events" menu which seemed rather limited (i.e. burgers, chicken fingers and not much else).
We prefer not to do a TS right before the party (we did in 05 before
MVMCP) because we were too full - it made for a slow moving night and I definately found the first couple of hours of the party to be the least crowded (ride wise).