Help... what to do day of and day after MNSSHP

[BellaO]

So we are super excited to do MNSSHP, but I can't figure out how to be productive with our time the day of, and the day after?
I am traveling with a 12, 11, and 4 yr old. The day of... do we go to a park? Relax at the hotel?
And if we're there until midnight the day of, what happens the following day? Do we just skip the whole morning part of the day to sleep in? I thought about going to Animal Kingdom the following day, starting the day at 10am, not going back to hotel for naps or anything and just making it a shorter park day?
We are going the first week in October (if that makes any difference)
Thank you in advance!!

 

[Pkltm]

We will be there then too! We are doing a pool day they day off, with a decent meal before we go. Then the day after we generally start a bit later, right now it looks like we will be going to epcot. Last year we made it to the parks around 11ish.

 

[DynamicDisney]

I am in the same planning dilemma. In addition, my DD12 (at the time) and I will be the only ones on the trip - and we are running the 5K on Friday. Our party day will be the last party - 11/1. We arrive 10/31. My plan is to sleep in on 11/1 (even though it is our first full day of the trip). We will have early flight to get there on 10/31, so I know we will be tired even on day of arrival. So, we will sleep in party day, probably hit the pool and spend time at the resort. I am going to plan for a later lunch 1-130pm, probably somewhere on the monorail loop - then hit the party. The following day is supposed to be our low-key day before the 5K anyway, and we will have to get to WWOS for the race expo, so, we will do that and then probably Disney Springs. No park day. If not for the race though. I think we would do as you mentioned, sleep in the morning after the party, and then head into the parks later morning. I would play the evening by ear, and see how tired you were, and then plan to leave the park before meltdowns! This is the first time we are incorporating a race into our trip, and our first MNSSHP, so it's throwing a wrench in our usual touring style!

 

[leebee]

The last time we did a party, we slept in on the day of, had a late lunch at The Wave, changed into our party shirts in the bathroom, and were in line at MK by 3:35. They let us in at 3:45, which was good as our first FP+ was at 4:20 for Peter Pan. Our next FP+ was 5:45 for Splash and 6:45 for BTMRR. That left us plenty of time after PP to do other FantasyLand rides and HM before heading to Splash. We stayed at the party until they threw us out and were back in the hotel, in bed, by 1am. We got up around 8am and were on our way to a park by 10am. Now, DD was 22 at the time, but that's pretty much how we've always done parties, even when she was 10. Seven hours of sleep is enough when we are at WDW!!

 

[abnihon]

Planning on a late character breakfast then back to room to rest/change. And definitely planning for low-key morning the next day.

 

[Flynnismine]

DD (8) and I will be there the first week of Oct also. We're doing a party on Oct 1st and Oct 3rd. We are probably in the minority but we don't sleep in the day of or day after. We always make a PPO ADR the morning of the parties, ride what we can get in by noon, then head back to the resort and hang at the pool until 3, then get our costumes on and head to MK at 4. The day after, we are up and out, hitting rope drop. Luckily DD is a morning person while at Disney and wants to be in the parks from sun up to sun down.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Sleep in and sleep in

 

[LucyBC80]

We always relax before a party. Late breakfast, a little Disney Springs then back to the hotel to change and arrive at MK around 3:15PM so we can get it as soon as possible when 3:45pm rolls around.

 

[Ava]

We've only done the party once, but the day of we slept in & had a late character breakfast, then hung out at the resort until 3ish when we got our costumes on and headed to MK. My younger DD was only 16 months old so we wanted to make sure she had a good nap that afternoon. It was also the last night of our trip so the next morning we just slept in then got ready to leave.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

What we did last year was not buy a day pass for our MNSSHP day. We lounged around the pool, had a leisurely day, etc. Then we got to MK around 3:30. They normally let you in at 4:00, but sometimes they're generous and you can get in a few minutes early. Which was important because a party ticket still allows you to get 3 fps up to the 7:00 official party start time. So, we got 3:15 - 4:15 SM, 4:15 - 5:15 7DMT and 5:20 - 6:20 Pan. Finished there around 5:35, we went over and rode POC then had 6:20 reservations for Skippers. When we finished eating, they had cleared the park and we went to see the Hocus Pocus show then the parade, then we went off to ride HM and a few other things, then the fireworks. We got a great spot in the hub in front of the castle, and when they roped the street off for the parade we were directly in front for the parade, overlooking the castle. Be sure to catch the Headless Horseman!

 

[Daisybell911]

We are going to the Sunday, 9/12 party. We are going to sleep in a bit (in Disney terms that is) an go to brunch at 10:10 at Cali Grill. We'll go back and get in the pool for a while. Our plan is to get to the park at 4, hang out, eat dinner at BOG at 5 and then hit the party. A leisurely, relaxing day! The next day is we have an 8am ADR at akershus. I'll certainly need a large coffee that morning!

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

We always rope drop a park the day of, take an afternoon rest, then go to the party. We are fine until midnight when the party's over. (My son was 9 our first party and is now 13, not sure how that would go for younger kids). We then relax the next day -- usually go to Typhoon Lagoon. It works great for us.

 

[Accident]

sleep in and plan for a late lunch/early dinner. If doing costumes, it'll be more like 2ish lunch somewhere and then getting ready.. We also take the time to get some prepackaged food (or even get a food delivery to the resort) that will keep and fit in the fridge so we have a meal after the party when everything else is closed and we're too tired to go to it anyway. It might be a bad day to pool it, the idea is converse energy for hte trick or treating the kids will want to run aroudn and do until late at night (and all that sugar to help them achieve this!).

I also rarely plan to go there for 4pm and I aim for a little later.. in full disclosure I"m also a local now so it's no big deal to not have the extra 3 hours in the park.. If your trying to get a balance of holiday party and rides, getting there at 4 and concentrating on rides until 7 is a plus as the party isn't long enough to really do a little of everything avialable during it. I personally like just going into MK to do the party things. I think it makes it a better trip to the park that isn't normal things we would do. We limit rides to fitting for the night like haunted mansion and maybe we'll do something else we just enjoy but other than that, we're doing mnsshp.