i am confused about MNSSHP

[reedycreek]

ok, i am sure this has been asked before but i am very confused about something with MNSSHP.

say i go to MK with my AP and stay all day. but i dont leave at 6pm. i understand the park closes at 6pm and reopens at 7pm for the party. how on earth do they clear the park out in an hour and how on earth do they know if someone just hung around the park from 6-7 and didnt pay for MNSSHP??? couldnt someone just sit on a bench from 6-7 and then be in the park for the party??? and what is this about arriving at the park at 4pm for the party? how can you do that if the park closes at 6pm?

can anyone make sense of this for me???? thanks.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

As I understand it (having never gone to nor worked one of the MNSSHPs), party attendees scan their party tickets in the turnstiles at the entrance, and are given a wristband that identifies them as a party attendee. I don't know that there's anything to prevent people from hanging in the park after 6, but the CMs will be checking wristbands, and will ask those without to leave. (or they may be escorted out)

 

[lovethattink]

I haven't been there this year, but in the past we've always spent time at MK a few hours before MNSSHP. What they've done in the past was have guests go to a special holding area inside the park. (There was always something to do there.) I think last year we went to Fantasyland. They had a place to get wristbands without exiting the park. Only drawback, was that alot of CM's were not informed where to send the guests. I suggest asking guest relations inside the park how it will be handled.

 

[kilee]

The park closes at 6pm to all guests w/o MNSSHP tickets. All guests w/ tickets are wristbanded and sent to a specific area from 6pm- 7pm. In the meantime all guests in the park w/o wristbands nicely sent towards the exit. They check those wristbands for quite awhile into the party. From 6pm-7pm there are CM's in the "quarantined" area (usually tomorrowland) checking for wristbands as well. They are very efficient at removing person's who don't have a MNSSHP ticket.

As for allowing MNSSHP ticket holders in at 4pm. Even though the party doesn't start until 7pm, your MNSSHP ticket only will get you through the gate at 4pm or later. WHY?? Well-- I don't really know. Maybe it's an added bonus. Maybe it's to allow people in the parks early to eat dinner. Maybe Disney is just being nice. However, once you enter at 4pm w/ your MNSSHP you are wristbanded.

 

[reedycreek]

cool thanks for the answers, that seems to make senese. thanks!

 

[MartDM]

We'll be at MK on 10/31 but are not attending the evening festivities. From what I've read, am I correct in assuming we don't have to be outside the gate right at 6pm? In other words, we could see attractions until closing time & if we stopped at a shop or two on our way out, that wouldn't be a problem even if it was a little after six?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to take advantage, I just want to get the most of my day in the park and also want to stall a bit as our dinner reservations at the Contemporary aren't until 8 and it would be nice to be able to take our time exiting the park so we don't have to fill two whole hours.

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by kilee
As for allowing MNSSHP ticket holders in at 4pm. Even though the party doesn't start until 7pm, your MNSSHP ticket only will get you through the gate at 4pm or later. WHY?? Well-- I don't really know. Maybe it's an added bonus. Maybe it's to allow people in the parks early to eat dinner. Maybe Disney is just being nice. However, once you enter at 4pm w/ your MNSSHP you are wristbanded.

A cm posted that the reason is the security check. They started the early entrance after 9/11. Before that, they did completely clear the park and you could only stay if you were having dinner. If everyone arrived at 7:00pm, it would be a mess. By allowing entrance after 4:00pm, it spreads out the security line.

We'll be at MK on 10/31 but are not attending the evening festivities. From what I've read, am I correct in assuming we don't have to be outside the gate right at 6pm? In other words, we could see attractions until closing time & if we stopped at a shop or two on our way out, that wouldn't be a problem even if it was a little after six?

I believe they close the shops between 6:00 & 7:00. I think if you are in line at an attraction before 6:00, you will be permitted to ride.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We have tickets for tonight's MNSSHP. We have APs also. I figure on arriving sometime around 4 p.m., or shortly after.
It will be interesting to see how it works and transforms.

We will also be there Oct 31.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Debbie B you are correct on botth accounts

We usesd to clear the entire park making ALL guests leave and Party guests would have to re-enter (unless you had a dining reservation then your ticket was validated at the resturant and you were held there until 7pm when the gates opened). But after Sept 11, when they started the security bag check it was determined that it was too much for security and the lines at the entrance waiting to get in were way to long and congested (because everyone now had to come through the middle, you couldn't form lines at each turnstiles). So they decided to start allowing party guests in with just the party ticket anytime after 4pm. If you call and ask they will tell you the party starts at 7pm, if you ask CM's when booking the tickets they will tell you 7pm this way they don't have an onslaught of people at 4pm, that way the 4pm is more word of mouth and luck of the draw and it spreads out the entrance better.

At 6pm they will have all the party guests (you have to exchange your ticket for a wristband) go to Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, where rides are open, wait until the park is cleared of non party guests and then the party will begin. The rest of the park will do what is called a "Hard Close" everything shuts down AT 6pm including the stores and everyone that is not there for the party is sent to the exit. If you are dining and your dinner runs later they will escort you to main street where you are past off to security and escorted out of the park. It really is a pretty intense process of making sure only party guests are in the park.

*** One thing I want to point out since it was an issue we had with a guest the other day*** If you are already in the park from earlier in the day and you want to exhange your party ticket for a wristband (meaning you used a seprate ticket to be in the park and did not enter on your party ticket)... ALL members of your partry MUST be present to exchange for the wristbands... It is a one for one exchange, they will not allow one person to exhcange 4 tickets...this way you can't lose a wristband from point a to point b. Tickets are turned in and the wristband is directly put on the persons arm... Sorry had to add that as I got yelled at for that the other day

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by LibertyBelle
Tickets are turned in and the wristband is directly put on the persons arm... Sorry had to add that as I got yelled at for that the other day

Are you saying we turn in our tickets and cannot keep them? I've kept them before. Is it because I entered with my party tickets at the gate? Also, we had to show our tickets when we got our picture taken.

I'm confused.

 

[All Aboard]

But, it's really quite hard for them to enforce.

Especially during MVMCP when the weather is cold and everyone is bundled up in coats and other heavy clothing. Wristbands are not always visible. So, many non-paying guests could be roaming around enjoying the party, but not going on any rides.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Originally posted by beattyfamily
Are you saying we turn in our tickets and cannot keep them? I've kept them before. Is it because I entered with my party tickets at the gate? Also, we had to show our tickets when we got our picture taken.

I'm confused.

If you enter through the turnstile, having your ticket run through the turnstile for entry you will be able to keep your ticket. If you are already in the park from earlier in the day you will have to exchange your ticket (physically turn it in to the CM) for your wristband. The tickets that are turned in will be brought to City Hall and validated. If you would like to have one for your scrap book you can stop by City Hall on your way out and they will give you one back but you will not be able to keep your original in that scenario. Pictures do not require a ticket (if they ask for one you just have to tell them you turned it in for the wristband) because there are so many people that will not have one.

Gcurling: Having worked MK for 9 years I can tell you it is not that hard to enforce and we rarely get people that are sneaking in for the parties (or erides for that matter). We can ask you to show your wristband... and for the most part people will get tired of asking for it to be shown that they will make sure it is showing.

 

[Terry S]

Just wanted to add a few things from my experience the a few weeks ago.

At 4:00 only a few of the turnstiles will be set to work with the MNSSHP tickets. The other ones will still work regular tickets.

We mistakenly arrived at 3:45 with our AP's and our MNSSHP tickets in hand, hoping we would be able to get in the park with our AP's but still be able to get wristbands by showing our tickets so we wouldn't need to be bothered with it later. They said that at the time they couldn't give us our wristbands because they didn't have them yet and none of the turnstiles would work with the tickets anyway. We ended up waiting around for the 15 minuntes. They turned those two turnstiles off for a few minutes and reset them to accept MNSSHP tickets only and then swiped our MNSSHP tickets.

The other thing I did want to mention was that somone came around while we were eating dinner at LTT at around 6:30 and asked to see our wristbands.

 

[MartDM]

Thanks for the info guys...I guess we'll need to plan on filling those couple of hours between park close & our dinner with some other activity! I appreciate the clarification of what to expect!

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by LibertyBelle
Debbie B you are correct on botth accounts

You were the cm I quoted

Thanks for all the info you give!