How crowded is a sold out MNSSHP?

[jolene63]

We went to a sold out party in late September last year. We will never do another party again! Lines for the rides were much longer than they were the Saturday evening before which was very frustrating. The candy lines were also ridiculous until late in the evening. We loved the parade and fireworks, but that's about it. We would have rather saved the money and just gone to MK for the day instead of going to the MNSSHP.

 

[rznhal]

We went to the first party last year...the crowds were crazy. I would def recommend a non sell out if you have the option. Meet and greets were totally out of the question....we would've been waiting for hours!! The parades were both packed...ride lines were long (30 min for Peter Pan)...fun night, but crowds were def a negative factor!!

 

[FoxC63]

It's both interesting and confusing when reading these posts regarding crowd levels and what to expect. I think specific dates would be very beneficial when posting. Another thing I find confusing is the "Sold Out" mantra, I thought all MNSSHP dates were sold out every year.
What takes place in September vs October from first party to the last party is very different.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

I agree with other posters who say it is crowded but manageable and still a lot of fun! We have been going to the last two MNSSHP for many years now, so always on Halloween and sold out. The crowds have gotten larger and the Hub and Main Street are where you feel it the most. It used to be the second parade was much better, but I don't really see that anymore. Last year we did the dessert party during MNSSHP. I know it is an extra cost in a hard ticket event which upsets some people, but we loved it. Watching the parade there was no one right beside us or behind us. Just bliss! We always do our trick or treating late like 11 pm and the lines are not long and we always come away with a lot of candy!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

We went to the first party last year...the crowds were crazy. I would def recommend a non sell out if you have the option. Meet and greets were totally out of the question....we would've been waiting for hours!! The parades were both packed...ride lines were long (30 min for Peter Pan)...fun night, but crowds were def a negative factor!!

We were also at that party and I think that a lot of the problem there was that they didn't clear the park well enough. While watching the fireworks we noticed that there were more people around us without wristbands than with. I also heard that it was a night where they invited bloggers and their guests in. So I think all in all there were just too many people there. It was really tough even getting through candy lines.

I agree with other posters who say it is crowded but manageable and still a lot of fun! We have been going to the last two MNSSHP for many years now, so always on Halloween and sold out. The crowds have gotten larger and the Hub and Main Street are where you feel it the most. It used to be the second parade was much better, but I don't really see that anymore. Last year we did the dessert party during MNSSHP. I know it is an extra cost in a hard ticket event which upsets some people, but we loved it. Watching the parade there was no one right beside us or behind us. Just bliss! We always do our trick or treating late like 11 pm and the lines are not long and we always come away with a lot of candy!

Because of our experience last year we are doing the dessert party this year, I was so stressed out last year by the crowds. We normally wait for the 2nd parade, but we were so exhausted and fed up that we just left after the fireworks. This year I'm hoping that the dessert party will remove some of that for us. We aren't interested this year in any characters, though I do want to get the Memory Maker magic shots if we can. So the plan is pictures, rides, dessert party, parade/fireworks and saving candy lines for last.

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

We were also at that party and I think that a lot of the problem there was that they didn't clear the park well enough. While watching the fireworks we noticed that there were more people around us without wristbands than with. I also heard that it was a night where they invited bloggers and their guests in. So I think all in all there were just too many people there. It was really tough even getting through candy lines.



Because of our experience last year we are doing the dessert party this year, I was so stressed out last year by the crowds. We normally wait for the 2nd parade, but we were so exhausted and fed up that we just left after the fireworks. This year I'm hoping that the dessert party will remove some of that for us. We aren't interested this year in any characters, though I do want to get the Memory Maker magic shots if we can. So the plan is pictures, rides, dessert party, parade/fireworks and saving candy lines for last.

I think you will be very happy with your decision to do the dessert party, especially with your experience last year. The dessert party will definitely remove the stress! Your plan is exactly what we do! I always have to get the magic shots too. Hope you enjoy this years party.

 

[Winniebell10]

We went to a sold out party last year. You mentioned not having meet and greets as a priority, that was all that I noticed at our sold out party that was crazy. My boys were all about the rides, so we didn't do any meet and greets. I wanted to do them, but with the kids not wanting to, we didn't bother. Those lines were long, but everything else was great. We rode lots of rides multiple times. Trick or treated a bit, not much though. The trick or treat lines moved fast, even if they are long. We watched the last parade near the exit/entrance to Town Square. It was a great spot.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

Special character meets are the only thing with "unbearable" waits. The only thing that is exceedingly crowded on a sold out night is traffic flow going up and down main street right after 7 when you have the crush of everyone without a party ticket leaving and everyone who didn't know you could get in at 4 coming in. And if you are there for the party (and not leaving after a low crowd MK day), you should plan to avoid that anyway.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I would say it's also about expectation. We have gone the past several years. The first year it was not crowded and really great, we got to do everything plus characters. Now, we've been to a sold out party and we're done. We also aren't super into characters and the lines for the rides were quite short but everything else felt insane. Especially the hub area, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. At one point, we were being literally SQUEEZED by the crowd. The lines for the trick-or-treating were ridiculous.

So for us, the crowds were stressful and too much. But we travel often in the off-season. For someone who regularly does summer, Spring Break, or Christmas? Maybe it would be just fine.

 

[DiannaVM]

I think you have to take responses with a grain of salt. In years past, sold-out still meant that the park was more than manageable on party night in regards to crowd levels. However, I do believe that in the last couple of years the party has been less exclusive and the capacity has been increased due to the demand, so essentially there are more tickets per party.
Then there is the issue that arose last year with the first few parties. Alot of the parties felt overly crowded because it turned out that alot of people that didn't buy tickets for the parties stayed in the park long after the park "closed". That certainly affected crowd levels alot.

The party I went to last year was on Oct. 12th. I thought for sure being a holiday weekend the party would sell out, but as far as I know it didn't. That said though, compared to the last party I went to before that (sometime around 2004 or so...can't really recall which year), the park was INSANE! It was our first night there too and DH was just about to go crazy with the crowd. I think I was taken back quite a bit to because based on my memory MNSSHP was a stroll in the park, without wall to wall people. Looking back to last year, I guess the crowd wasn't horrible, but it was certainly alot more than I expected (even with my low expectations due to the Holiday). I think they did a better job by then at making non-ticket holders leave the park, but I can't tell because we only got asked to show our wristbands twice the whole night.

I guess what I am trying to say is, keep an open mind and keep perspective that anything could change from one party nigh to the next. I would say anticipate a medium sized crowd regardless. We are going on Oct. 27th this year, and I am going with the mindset that my party MAY be sold out and that there will be a huge crowd. Except for Pirates and Haunted Mansion, we are only focusing on party-only activities so hopefully we will be able to manage.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I went to parties in 2012 and 2014, and, I believe, both were sold out. The great thing is that the rides are a walk-on all night, with the exception of Mansion, Pan, and 7DMT. Dwarves had a much shorter wait than usual. The first parade was too packed, because of all the shameless freeloaders who didn't buy a party ticket but stick around to see the exclusive parade. Because of these jerks, I would recommend the second parade of the night, when the parade route is much less full.

Unless things have radically changed in two years, I still recommend the Halloween party. It's a great value. But if you've been doing RD all week, schedule the Party for the end of your trip. Don't schedule any other parks for that day. Sleep in, and use the day for packing, relaxing, swimming, etc. Then you can stay up late for the party without feeling sleep deprived.

 

[rznhal]

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ya the sold out party we went to last year was pretty bad....the show at the castle was absolutely jammed packed. I had to lift my daughter up for her to have any chance to see anything (she was nine...my back was breaking lol ). The lines for the characters were 1-2 hours long, so we did none of those, the trick or treat lines moved pretty fast...but it was just people everywhere. The first parade was packed, so we went to the second, it was just as bad. we stood for the parade. at the end of the night, we witnessed a nasty altercation with a guest shoving off a cast member who was trying to keep him from cutting under the ropes at the end of the parade (i think it was parade...either parade or fireworks can't remember).....just a pain. having said all that...we are going back this year lol. My kids loved planning our family costumes, the trick or treating (even though we threw away 3/4 of the candy). we are hoping for less crowds since the show isn't "new" this year....i think i read somewhere later our party was the media night....we will see what happens!!!