It felt similar to a crowd level eight day to me and was more crowded than I expected. We wanted to do the MK on our last trip, weren't doing any other Disney park, and had a relatively small number of attractions we wanted to hit. Also, we wanted to see a parade and fireworks. We ended up doing the party as it was $70 pp instead of a regular day because that was $100 pp. In addition, with all the ticketed events and early closure for regular guests, crowd predictions were pretty high on the days there were not parties for us, due to so many guests picking the day the parks were open later for non party ticket guests. // The party seem to have the most appeal for people who really like the characters, as they have lots of special ones there. We're not into that, though. I think if you are into the characters it might be worth it -- get a picture with Tinkerbell -- all seven of the dwarfs are there, and on and on.
Popular attractions like the new seven dwarfs mine train had an hour long wait for most of the evening. We waited until after the second parade and that cut our wait down to about 40 minutes. We hit Space Mountain after that and were able to ride twice -- walk on just before closure at midnight. It was the last thing on our list, and we did fit everything in, but barely due to heavy crowds. Rope drop on a regular day I think works better if you are just looking to do attractions with lower crowds. // We were there till 2 a.m., hitting mainstreet gift shops after attractions closed. To get everything we wanted to do in we didn't have time for that till then.
We got there at 4 and left at 2 and this is all we hit (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Anna and Elsa -- super crowded, Counter Service dinner at that mainstreet hot dog place -- huge lines, pirates, peter pan, philharmagic, voyage of the little mermaid, and it's a small world, second parade and fireworks, seven dwarfs mine train (we actually wasted time and went over here both before Anna and Elsa -- thought we would miss Anna and Elsa with an attempt, so skipped, during first parade -- heard lines are short then, but were concerned we'd miss fireworks and second parade // that was the inefficiency of our night), two rides on space mountain were our last attractions, and then we did main street USA shopping (kind of fun -- lots of people there doing this at midnight).
I mean we had a pretty good time. But not sure if it was the party, my age with crowds appealing to me less and less, where I am in my life, the age of my son (19 and in college) or the fact that I've just gone a lot (38 trips to Orlando since 1970), but ever since the party for the first time in a long time, I have no interest in coming back to Orlando, and for example this year went to New York City, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and will be going to Rocky Mountain National park. Usually an Orlando mini trip makes it into my budget, but it didn't make the cut for 2015 even though it made it all of the past seven years. And Orlando is not making the cut for 2016. It's getting bumped by New York City instead again (doing another mini trip there with monies I'd typically use for Orlando) and our bigger vacation is going to we out west (South Dakota this time).
We are doing it for the parade, fireworks, a couple of rides and the dwarves. Maybe princes if they are around! I think it's attainable. Anything extra will just be a bonus.
