Just Back! Weather was great, crowds manageable, loved MNSSHP!

[discorsner]

Just back! We stayed 9/29 - 10/8 at Port Orlean's Riverside in a newly refurbished mansion room. We loved the resort. We have completed all moderates now and this was our favorite.

Weather was beautiful. We were 8 days into our vacation before we saw one drop of rain! We have never had a trip so rain free before.

This was our first MNSSHP and our second! We attended the party twice on 9/30 and then on 10/6. We loved the party. We thought the crowds were not that bad. When we saw the first party was sold out we were worried but it was not bad. The second one we did was better though as far as crowds go.

The first MNSSHP we did we were in line for dwars around 6. Waited the full hour and got them done. We watched the first parade but did not have a great view. We watched the fireworks as well. My older son and DH attended 2 of the villains shows. While the rest of our group did some other things. My son was able to get pics with Facillier after one of the shows. We also got pics with Jafar and Gaston that evening as well as Jane and Terk, trick or treated a bunch, and rode Splash, Space, Buzz, and TTA. We thought we had plenty of time. We left about 11:15 and had to wait quite awhile for the POR bus.

The second time we went to the party we were in line for Pumpkin Duffy right at 7 and then headed down Main street to get a better spot for parade. We sat on the curb for about an hour to wait for the parade. Although my feet fell asleep and it was uncomfortbale the wait was worth it. The parade was great. After the parade we got pics/autos from Tiana and Naveen, rode teacups, got pic/auto with Alice, rode Space and TTA, trick or treated some. We also watched 2 villain shows in there somewhere and were able to get pics with Queen of Hearts, Evil Queen from Snow White, Malcificent, and Frollo. Again we left at 11:15 because we were beat. We had driven over this time so we needed to ride the ferry but it wasn't too long a wait as one was just arriving as we walked up.

Besides MNSSHP we also enjoyed the Wishes Dessert party on 10/3 as one of the highlights of our trip as well as attending the 40th Anniversary presentation on the 1st.

The anniversary in MK was the only day we thought crowds were crazy so we just watched the presentation and then got out of there to enjoy some time back to the resort.

If anyone has any questions just ask! We attended all four parks, but no waterparks this time.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Sounds like you had a great trip! You got to see so many of the characters, which is super awesome!

We are going next Oct and planning on 2 evenings at MNSSHP as well

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this to our trip report board board.

 

[martyshoney]

For MNSSHP did you see a lot of people there with no wrist bands? Did you get checked for yours? I am not happy about all the posts that that is even a problem this year, we pay a LOT of money for those tickets and to have people allowed in that did not pay just does not sit well with me. I know "all" they can do is stay on Main St. but that is still more congestion. We are attending the Nov. 1st party and we are looking so forward to it!!! Glad to hear you had such a great trip, hopefully we will, too!!

 

[kr105]

We were there at the same time.

The crowds on Sat (the 40th Ann.) were horrific! The lots were closed due to overcrowding and at fireworks time you could not move. Some of the cast members stated they had never seen it this full before. We were stuck on the bridge by the Crystal Palace and you simply could not take a step in any direction, there were so many people. Forget about trying to get into a store or going to the bathroom -- you simply were not able to move.

Diney finally opened the cast member exits for the crowds to leave and we left by where the garbage is stored (fragrant to say the least.)

The entire first weekend (30th, 1st & 2nd) lines for rides were routinely 30 -90 mins long. By noon most of the good fast passes were dispensed. For several days we tried to get the 6 year old into the Jedi Academy and was unable to. Finally we were at Hollywood Studios at opening and ran for the registration line. He made it into the 4:45pm show.

It was an "interesting" vacation to say the least.

 

[discorsner]

We thought the 30th and the 2nd were manageable. The 1st was awful. We went in, stood body to body for rope drop song for about an hour, walked down main street, saw the 10 am presentation for which we had to stand body to body for about an hour again (we were near the front though). Afterwards we came down Main Street a bit and sat in front of the plaza restauarant debating what to do and we said let's just get out of here. We left and were on the monorail about 11:30 or so (we had driven over from the resort).

We went back to the resort and hung around the room a bit, went swimming in the pool (it was chilly but doable for us NYers.) We went to our ADR at Chef Mickey's at 5:15 and were grateful that we hadn't picked an ADR that was in the park for that night. Then we went to Downtown Disney for awhile before going to bed.

We were disappointed to miss the 40th special fireworks but we decided we just couldn't do it.