We attended our first ever MHP last night, and I wanted to report back in case the info could help others in the future. We had a party of 8 -- DH, myself, DS(6), Grandma, SIL and BIL, and nephews DN(9) and DN(10).
Let me start by saying that our group was very mixed in that DH, DS(6) and myself have AP's, and have had them for the past several years. The rest of our group only visits once/year at the most, and sometimes not even that. This made our priorities very different -- DN's really wanted to go on rides, as they never get to visit the parks. We wanted to stay together, so we mostly stuck to rides and trick-or-treating. If my immediate family had been there on our own, we would have spent a lot more time on the things that make MHP unique.
DH, DS and I arrived at 1:00, and headed for the lockers outside the gates. The medium and large sizes were already sold out, so we rented a small locker for $7. We stashed jackets and a few other items in there, and then entered DL. It was hot (for us), and seemed moderately crowded. We grabbed SMGG fast passes (standby was 60 min, our FP return was at 5:15) and then rode Star Tours (posted wait of 25 minutes, actual wait about 17). We then rode BTMRR (also a posted wait of 25 minutes, with an actual wait of 20 min). We walked to Indy to see if DS could finally ride, but no such luck -- he missed by about 1/4 of an inch.
DS really wanted to ride TSMM, so we decided to hop over to
DCL for a little while. DH grabbed FP's for Goofy's Sky School (only had a 10 minute standby, but we grabbed the FP's anyway...return was for a half hour later). The posted wait time for TSMM was interesting. Otto said 30 min, the board in DCL said 45 min, and the posted time at the ride was 25 min. Our wait ended up being about 20 minutes. We then rode the swings (no wait) and used our FP's at Goofy's Sky School.
The rest of our group had arrived for MHP, so we headed back to DL at 4:45. The line to get in was very short, with perhaps 5 people in front of us. We met our group after their Matterhorn ride, and then wanted to use our SMGG fast passes. The problem was...3 boys and only 3 FP's. I know the rules, and my 6 year old is not old enough to ride alone, so we had a problem. I decided that honesty is the best policy, so I took the boys to the FP entrance and told the CM I only had 3 FPs and wondered if the boys could ride alone (knowing that they couldn't). The CM said "Oh, I can fix that. Would you like one more FP? Here's one now." Yay for a little pixie dust! The boys were ecstatic, as the standby wait was 75 minutes at that point (5:20ish). Note that DH had gone to get FP's for Indy or BTMRR at around 5:00, but they were gone for the day.
After SMGG, we took the train from Tomorrowland to TT for the pre-party. It was not the fastest way to get there, but it was still pretty warm and we wanted to minimize the walking a bit for Grandma. We arrived in TT at around 6:15, and rode Roger Rabbit with no wait. We had agreed ahead of time that we weren't going to trick or treat until later in the night, but the boys couldn't resist. We went on the treat trail by Donald's boat (no wait), and then rode Gadget's with no wait. The line to meet Mickey & Minnie was 45 minutes long, so we did not do that. We did the treat trail through their houses, and there was no wait there. With just a couple of trails, we already had way too much candy.
A few minutes before 7:00, we decided to have dinner. On our way out of TT, we stopped to ride IASW (no wait). We ate in Tomorrowland so as to satisfy those who wanted chicken/burgers as well as pasta/pizza. We caught a little bit of the Monsters Inc party while we ate.
After dinner, half the group went to Nemo subs (no wait) and the other half to Star Tours (no wait). When I say no wait...I mean no wait. We thought Star Tours was closed because there were NO people around it! SMGG only had a 10 minute wait, but we didn't want to repeat it because there was so much more to see. We did Buzz (no wait) and the Phineas & Ferb treat trail because DS(6) is a huge fan. They gave out chocolate covered Craisins at the start of this trail, and we ended up meeting Agent P.
The older boys wanted to ride Indy (the longest wait of the night, probably close to a half hour), so they went over there while my family went to the AP treat trail. We collected our Big Hero 6 backpacks and special treats, and DH and I gave ours to our nephews so that all 3 boys could have one. DS and I watched the villains for a while while DH dumped everyone's candy in the locker (it filled the small locker, and the CM's were laughing at DH because of the amount of candy he was trying to stash). We then hopped on the train to New Orleans Square. We met up with our group at Pirates, and there was a 2 minute wait; I think the line was particularly short because the fireworks were on at this time. We took a break for Mickey beignets, then head to HMH. There was no posted wait time that we could see, but the CM said it was about 30 minutes. We got in line, but the boys decided they didn't want to wait and we bailed after just a couple of minutes. The older boys went on Splash (no wait, so they rode over and over without having to get back in line), and DS went on Pooh a couple of times. We then hit BTMRR...no wait. We also did a few treat trails here and there as we were walking from ride to ride. We never encountered any lines or crowds on the trails, but maybe we didn't do the "popular" ones? The trail by Splash and Pooh had a lot of healthy treats, such as Pirate's Booty and Pretzel Goldfish.
It was 11:20, so we worked our way out to Main St for a little shopping. We did the treat trail in the theater, and also the one in the square (that one was congested, but still no real wait).
The line for the trams was really long. The CM's were saying "there's another tram further down", so we walked with our exhausted boys. When we got down to the 2nd tram area, we found the crowds were much worse than the first area. It was disappointing to be directed there only to find the lines much longer. We walked back to the first area, and were able to get on the 3rd tram to arrive.
The attached picture shows just DS(6)'s candy. We did not try hard to gather candy, but still ended up with around 9 lbs of it between DH, DS and myself. DS did a good job of asking CM's for Skittles, his favorite
The CM's were very willing to give you the candy of your choice, so feel free to ask if you like something in particular.
Overall, we had a fun time at the party. As an AP holder, I wish I could have gotten to do more of the things unique to the party (Cavalcade, fireworks). But I have to say that I REALLY enjoyed not having to wait in line at the rides. I have no idea what Fantasyland was like, as we never made it back there...we just didn't have time. But in regards to the areas we visited, the park did not seem crowded to us at all. People were friendly and in a good mood, and we didn't encounter any rowdy kids. If we were to do it again next year, we would eat dinner before the party started -- probably instead of the TT pre-party -- so that we could have more time to see things.
Hope this helps!
-- but, from what I could see, most of the people who replied to the person who started the thread were doubtful and skeptical.
Maybe I can make one haha
