First Time at MNSSHP

[Danielly103]

Hello!

It will be my first time attending MNSSHP. Any tips on costumes or general advice?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We like to have a rest in the morning of the party. Get to the park about 4pm. Eat at a quick service for dinner around 6pm like Cosmic Rays. Costumes wear something comftable! I just wear a halloween t shirt but many go in costumes. No face masks allowed. The trick or treat stations are fun. Even for adults. 7DMT is great at night! Got to do HM!

The parade is great. Get an early spot for that. Have fun! I know you will!

 

[Barbydoll8]

You didn't say when you are going but please keep in mind that October in FL is hot. Like 80 degrees still. So if you wear a costume not only should it be comfortable, it shouldn't be one that will make you sweat to death.

Don't miss the parade.

Get to the park by 4 and eat in the park (we did The Plaza and it was perfect imo). Do any rides early before the party actually starts. But do plan your attack. The party maps/guides are usually available online early. Get one and study it to find out what you want to do and when. It helps.
If you want to do the meet and greets, plan on getting to the one you want the most first and be prepared to wait. People start lining up an hour before their favorites.

Don't miss the parade.

Do stay for Hallowishes. It's worth it. Do Trick or Treat. Maybe more than once. Do the trick or treat area behind Tomorrowland. If you see along line, skip it and come back.

Oh, did I say don't miss the parade? Lol If you can do the late parade, less crowds. Next time I go, I might do both times. Yes it was that good.

 

[Danielly103]

We like to have a rest in the morning of the party. Get to the park about 4pm. Eat at a quick service for dinner around 6pm like Cosmic Rays. Costumes wear something comftable! I just wear a halloween t shirt but many go in costumes. No face masks allowed. The trick or treat stations are fun. Even for adults. 7DMT is great at night! Got to do HM!

The parade is great. Get an early spot for that. Have fun! I know you will!

Wasn't sure about the trick of treating for adults but now I'll give it a try! Thanks!

 

[Danielly103]

You didn't say when you are going but please keep in mind that October in FL is hot. Like 80 degrees still. So if you wear a costume not only should it be comfortable, it shouldn't be one that will make you sweat to death.

Don't miss the parade.

Get to the park by 4 and eat in the park (we did The Plaza and it was perfect imo). Do any rides early before the party actually starts. But do plan your attack. The party maps/guides are usually available online early. Get one and study it to find out what you want to do and when. It helps.
If you want to do the meet and greets, plan on getting to the one you want the most first and be prepared to wait. People start lining up an hour before their favorites.

Don't miss the parade.

Do stay for Hallowishes. It's worth it. Do Trick or Treat. Maybe more than once. Do the trick or treat area behind Tomorrowland. If you see along line, skip it and come back.

Oh, did I say don't miss the parade? Lol If you can do the late parade, less crowds. Next time I go, I might do both times. Yes it was that good.

Haha! I will for sure check out the parade. I'll be going in late September so I will definitely dress for the warm weather.

Thanks!

 

[Jedimike]

We went a couple years ago when my girls both in Elementary School. 7 and 9 years old ish. They were both early risers, and both early to bed, so we all went to the park in the morning, then took a nap in the afternoon and actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep, so we returned to MK for MNSSHP at around 6 PM and everyone was wide awake for the whole thing. It was FANTASTIC!! Agree with previous posters, enjoy the Parade and the Fireworks. We watched the second parade as well because we enjoyed it so much.

Lots of people hunt the hard to find characters, but my family didn't have much interest in that. We did like the photo op at the Haunted Mansion in the carriage, that was neat. We mostly took advantage of short ride lines, and we bought a ton of exclusive Disney Pins that were only for sale during the party. While we did do a bunch of trick-or-treating, we always skipped the spots if there was a long line. 1. you're going to get a ton of candy, and you don't want to carry 20 lbs of candy around all night and 2. you'll always find another spot with little to no wait.

Staying late is always fun, because the weather is usually much nicer, and the crowds really start to thin out after that second parade. That's when we loaded up on candy My wife and I had bags too, so the kids got a double helping of candy!

Oh, and don't forget to grab the exclusive Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom MNSSHP card!

 

[MrsSykes2014]

We are going next year and I like the tips here. Thank you

 

[purple figment]

There's a huge dedicated MNSSHP thread on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies board. The first page has an overview of the party and this year's party map. Starting on page 217 are posts from some who attended the first party on Sept 2.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/of...y-halloween-party-trick-or-treat-fun.3484819/

 

[HeyKoolaid]

Bring a backpack (or several) to carry away the TONS of candy you will get. No joking - the CMs were handing out double handfuls, and after spending a few hundred bucks to get in, we wanted to get our money's worth. Make sure you take a photo at the beginning when you are all energized and your costumes still look good. We tended to lose parts of our costumes over the course of the night (too hot). Super fun to see all of the parents and kids dressed up.

 

[Accident]

Advice:

- get a map when you walk in, it's a special map that shows party locations for trick or treating, characters, special merchandise and special holiday party only snacks you can purchase. (and the time table for when everything is happening). They only give 1 per family so if you need more, just keep asking other cms near trick or treating and they will get you another.

- if your doing the allergy trick or treating, you just ask the cm at the start of the line for the token so if nobody is getting candy there is no reason to get in line, you'll just be sent back to the first cm to get the token.
- if your doing the allergy trick or treating, in the bypass where you get your first bag and set of candy tell them you want the allergy option. It's a blue bag and you'll collect tokens and redeem them at the end from a choice of 10 different items with different allergy restrictions (including non-food items).
- If your a parent and you aren't going to get candy, get the allergy bag, the treats are basically gummi candies, hard candy, cookies, and the non-food is low cost ornaments. aka, snacks for the rest of the trip and way home. they are prepackaged. doesn't take long to redeem it. you get the same amount with 1 token and 100 tokens so don't go too crazy if someone runs out of tokens, you only need one. They basically point to the sheet and say, what can or can't you have and load up your bag.

- Disney cannot reuse candy they took out of the big bag. At the very end of the night, if you time it to be one of the last people to leave they will literally hand you as much candy as you'll take when you are about to pass the security stands. they throw it out for saftey reasons if any is left. (the big bags before they open them they can tell if they were tampered with, individual candy who know so they play it 1000% safe in this area).

- There is special popcorn buckets and drink cups for sale if that interests you. Popcorn buckets are at most popcorn stands, they are vampire mickey and zero in his dog house (dog from nightmare before xmas). The cup which tends to be at the stores selling the special holiday party treats is a poison apple (apple covered in a skull).

zip lock bags and backpack will help you carry extra candy, especially on a ride. if you really do trick or treating, 3-6 bags full of candy per person is not unreasonable. Also keeping the bag a little empty will help get more as they see your not near full, especially if little and having trouble carrying it.

And last.. Check the hourly forecast before you run over for it. A long ride line with a roof over your head is a good way to escape the rain in costume and knowing roughly when that might happen you can plan where you want to be or what show/parade you might want to catch.. Rain sucks, rain in a costume is worse. Might I recommend haunted mansion as being halloweenish, will generally have a good line +ride that takes abotu the time of the average florida storm to do.

 

[frodoandmax]

First timer here too- right now we have a reservation for Crystal Palace at 550 pm the night of the party- is this too late? Will we miss something?

 

[phillymummer]

I have only been to the party once, but to this day it remains my favorite day in Disney.

I would suggest having a plan. Figure out which characters you want to meet, which parade you want to see,which castle show you want to see, decide if you want to do that dance parties, and which attractions are a must. Then... plan it out. I'm normally not a "touring plan" type of person, but I did it for the party bc there is so much to do and I was so happy I did it.

Check out Kenny the Pirate's website before you go. He should have a list of the characters and their M&G spots. This will help you plan that part out. Usually the 2nd parade is less crowded.

When I went in 2012, we did the fireworks, the second parade, then one of the last castle shows all in a row. I think it worked out great. If my 8 yo wasn't beyond tired we cold have hopped on a ride or two after the show before midnight.

First timer here too- right now we have a reservation for Crystal Palace at 550 pm the night of the party- is this too late? Will we miss something?

You won't miss any party activities, but you will miss a lot of park time in general. If you want to meet any of the popular chars- like dwarfs or jack sparrow, people start lining up for them at like 5:30-6:00. I have read many people take their food to-go and eat in line while waiting for characters. In general, the suggestion is to eat QS on party nights.

 

[frodoandmax]

Not too worried about missing park time. We will be arriving at Disney the Saturday before and will have at least 2 days at magic kingdom before we even get to the Halloween party! So just don't want to miss important things for the party!

 

[phillymummer]

Do you want to meet any of the popular chars? If so, you will miss a lot of party time if you get in line for them after your dinner at CRT. The popular characters can have waits of an hour or more. Better to wait in line from 6-7ish than 7ish to 800 or later. Of course, if you don't care about meeting the dwarfs or jack sparrow (who else is extremely popular this year?) than it does not matter. I spent my dinner waiting in line for the TH princesses and princes. We were second in line. We were out of there by 7:10 and were on our way to Tinker Bell!