DAH Vs. MNSSHP

[kimmyg26]

I am heading to the World mid September for 6 days and taking my mom and my teenage nieces.

I’m torn between two parties/event. My original plan was MNSSHP on September 21st. But now I realize that there is a DAH night on the 20th. I can’t decide on which one we should attend. I have only been to MNSSHP once. We can get an annual pass holder discount with our family member who is willing to go to whatever party we want which helps with the cost.

MNSSHP

- Cool and unique meet and greet opportunities. This may be the more for me than the girls.

- Awesome parade with way too catchy lyrics.

- Special fireworks

- Unlimited candy….yes, for the girls they can go as often as they want

- Fun photo pass spots

- Early in the season so it shouldn’t be horribly crowed but it is a Friday night.

DAH

- Empty park

- Priceless pictures on Main Street with virtually no one else around

- Ability to ride quite a few rides in a short period of time.

- All the popcorn I can eat. This makes me happy as I do not eat sweets or desserts.

- Last DAH of the year and could draw in a lot of folks hoping to try it out.

In my perfect world, things will work out and we will just go to both events!

Help me decide which one to go with! I am so on the fence and want to make sure the girls have a blast. Truth be told, they are just excited to be going back to Disney in general and riding FOP. I think it’s their big kid aunt that wants it to be extra awesome. I go every year so I’m flexible either way.

Ugh…it’s such a hard decision!! I know I need to make a decision sometime soon as we are less than 60 days to our trip.

 

[sharonabe]

- All the popcorn I can eat. This makes me happy as I do not eat sweets or desserts.

- Last DAH of the year and could draw in a lot of folks hoping to try it out.

I'm going to go for DAH because of my comments on just these two points.

1. You get all the popcorn you want and the girls get all the ICE CREAM they want, so that's a win win.

2. Even if they sell out for DAH, it will still be the lowest crowds you've probably ever experienced at MK. The cap for this event doesn't even compare to the number of MNSSHP tickets they sell.

 

[kimmyg26]

I'm going to go for DAH because of my comments on just these two points.

1. You get all the popcorn you want and the girls get all the ICE CREAM they want, so that's a win win.

2. Even if they sell out for DAH, it will still be the lowest crowds you've probably ever experienced at MK. The cap for this event doesn't even compare to the number of MNSSHP tickets they sell.

Thanks for the feedback! But I do worry that they won't see such a great parade. This is a drawback for me.

Has anyone ever figured out what the max amount of people is for this event?

 

[Ashley Marie]

I'd go to both!

Otherwise, it depends what's more important to you -- a pretty much guaranteed walk-on to any ride (with minor waits at Mine Train) or the Halloween entertainment?

 

[stace1214]

I'd pick DAH. How awesome to ride and re-ride tons of rides in an empty park! Throw in all the popcorn and ice cream and it's a win!!

 

[leebee]

MNSSHP. We love the Halloween party, love to dress up, trick-or-treat, the parade, the fireworks, etc. We don't usually do character meets so no worries about standing in those lines. Last time we went to a party, they let us into the park at 3:45 (on our party ticket). I made 3 fast passes to use before 7, and then the party started. We had an amazing time!

 

[OhhBother]

I'm doing both in September. We love both events. If you can't do both, it depends on what you value most. Ride lines are pretty non-existent at MNSSHP, so you can ride a lot at both events. If you want the coolness of any empty park, do DAH. If you want the parade, fireworks and pounds of free candy, do MNSSHP. This will be our third DAH and our millionth (slight exaggeration) MNSSHP. They're our two favorite events at Disney, hands down.

 

[kimmyg26]

I'd go to both!

Otherwise, it depends what's more important to you -- a pretty much guaranteed walk-on to any ride (with minor waits at Mine Train) or the Halloween entertainment?

It sounds greedy but if we can swing it, I would LOVE to do both! Can you imagine the fun we could have back to back? We weren't planning on going to the parks on the day of the Halloween party so at least if we did DAH, we could recoup in the am.

 

[kimmyg26]

I'm doing both in September. We love both events. If you can't do both, it depends on what you value most. Ride lines are pretty non-existent at MNSSHP, so you can ride a lot at both events. If you want the coolness of any empty park, do DAH. If you want the parade, fireworks and pounds of free candy, do MNSSHP. This will be our third DAH and our millionth (slight exaggeration) MNSSHP. They're our two favorite events at Disney, hands down.

I'm so jealous that you are doing both!!

There is something about going and the park being empty. I just seems so cool to experience. The free candy can be fixed by the girls having endless Mickey bars!

 

[kimmyg26]

I'd pick DAH. How awesome to ride and re-ride tons of rides in an empty park! Throw in all the popcorn and ice cream and it's a win!!

I think this is honestly what I am leaning towards. Last year when my then boyfriend and I did MNSSHP, we got a ton of candy and just brought it home for both of our offices. It was fun to trick or treat but that wasn't a make or break for me. I did like some of the super cool photo pass ops.

 

[reluctantredhead]

I'm doing both in September. We love both events. If you can't do both, it depends on what you value most. Ride lines are pretty non-existent at MNSSHP, so you can ride a lot at both events. If you want the coolness of any empty park, do DAH. If you want the parade, fireworks and pounds of free candy, do MNSSHP. This will be our third DAH and our millionth (slight exaggeration) MNSSHP. They're our two favorite events at Disney, hands down.

We are doing both too on the 20th and 21st!

OP, I say go for both if you can! I figured it was fate that it's the only September DAH and that we just happened to be there anyway for the AP TSL event and MNSSHP!

 

[Ashley Marie]

It sounds greedy but if we can swing it, I would LOVE to do both! Can you imagine the fun we could have back to back? We weren't planning on going to the parks on the day of the Halloween party so at least if we did DAH, we could recoup in the am.

I did a long weekend trip with my husband and went to two DAH events. It was worth it. We did those as our MK time instead of buying regular park tix.

 

[MomOTwins]

The waits are very small during MNSSHP too. Not non-existent, but not enough to make a real difference. I would just MNSSHP because the party is so much longer than DAH I think you'd be able to ride a lot with now waits, especially because if you were planning on staying up late anyway, you can catch the second parade and ride walk-on rides during the first parade.

 

[GillianP1301]

Obviously both is ideal, if you can find a way to swing it.

To me, it comes down to how much of a priority the rides are to you during either event. If rides are the priority, then DAH is the way to go. Otherwise, MNSSHP has so many cool things that you can't see any other time in MK so much so that I barely go on any rides when I do that party.

 

[Bowen Family]

We had this very same debate for our upcoming WDW and Universal trip in the last week of August: MNSSHP on Aug 28 or DAH on Aug 30?

MNSSHP won primarily because its simply more time in the park. Even with MNSSHP's early 4pm admission, eight hours is on the short side of our typical marathon MK days. But the (hopefully) shorter ride times should offset that.

DAH on the other hand maxes out at six hours total. I know that would feel too rushed for our only MK visit this trip. If we had more MK days planned, we'd probably feel differently.

 

[kimmyg26]

Obviously both is ideal, if you can find a way to swing it.

To me, it comes down to how much of a priority the rides are to you during either event. If rides are the priority, then DAH is the way to go. Otherwise, MNSSHP has so many cool things that you can't see any other time in MK so much so that I barely go on any rides when I do that party.

Oh, I'm trying to work both in I have a feeling my mom/Grammy will want to spoil the girls with tons of extra since the cool Aunt is paying for a nice stay at the Yacht Club.

 

[kimmyg26]

I love all the replies. I am truly grateful for the help. Its very interesting and helpful to hear multiple perspectives.
With our trip being less than 60 days, I would like to make a decision soon. I'm kind of thinking that we will book the priority one next week and then maybe (fingers crossed), we add in the other party.

This is the first time that we don't have a full day planned in MK. The girls enjoy it a lot but there new favorite park is Animal Kingdom. I figured with doing some of the parties, it would give me more time in my happy place. My mom is in her 70s and enjoys MK the most. Each event has so many positives which makes it so much harder to decide. If we couldn't get an annual pass holder discount, I would likely choose MNSSHP as my first choice simply because of money!

I wonder what the likelihood of the DAH party selling out really is?

 

[Selket]

The MNSSHP is just one of my most favorite things ever at WDW - the characters, fireworks, parade, trick-or-treating (as an old person it's especially fun for some reason..lol!). If I could only do one, and never having done at DAH - I'd be very torn - but would still probably do the party. I enjoy riding stuff and it would be cool to see the MK with very few people but... I can always ride those rides and I've ridden them many times before. If your main focus is on the rides then the DAH is best. I'd rather see the MNSSHP! I think it may be cheaper than the DAH too. I'd say if you go to the party - don't do it for the rides though - go for all the special stuff you can't see at any other time!

 

[Melanie230]

I would do MNSSHP. September parties generally have a much lower crowd. The tickets are cheaper and you get more time in the parks. I LOVE MNSSHP and have done it 6 times and going again this year.

 

[kimmyg26]

The MNSSHP is just one of my most favorite things ever at WDW - the characters, fireworks, parade, trick-or-treating (as an old person it's especially fun for some reason..lol!). If I could only do one, and never having done at DAH - I'd be very torn - but would still probably do the party. I enjoy riding stuff and it would be cool to see the MK with very few people but... I can always ride those rides and I've ridden them many times before. If your main focus is on the rides then the DAH is best. I'd rather see the MNSSHP! I think it may be cheaper than the DAH too. I'd say if you go to the party - don't do it for the rides though - go for all the special stuff you can't see at any other time!

Last year was our first MNSSHP. It was only adults in our group and we loved it. We watched the parade, got a crap ton of candy, did a variety of magic shots and met a few characters. We actually didn't ride more than 3-4 rides. Which brings me back to the quandary of what to do. My nieces and I LOVE the rides. My mom could take or leave it. With that being said, if the party isn't overly crowded, we may be able to still accomplish a lot.