Late dinner on MNSSHP night

[skojo]

HI. My family has a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:50pm on one of the MNSSHP nights. We don't have tickets for MNSSHP. My understanding is that we are supposed to be out of the park at 7pm. Do I need to cancel this reservation? I hope not. I see that the parade is scheduled to start at 8:15pm that night. If our dinner takes over 1 hour, it would be cool to have the dinner and as we start our way out of the park we get to see start of the Halloween parade. At least my family would get a glimpse of a nighttime parade. It's our first time at DW. I'm so disappointed about the MSEP end.

 

[demilu]

I went last year and asked the same question. My understanding was that if your reservation is before the 7pm cut off, you will be fine. You probably won't get kicked out Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but this was what folks said last year.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I thought I read last ADR was 6:30 without ticket.

 

[Dash7]

This year they have changed the policy about dining reservations on party nights, and are requiring reservations after a certain time to have party tickets. This is noted when you make the reservation and in your confirmation email.
"Your reservation occurs during a special event, which requires a separate admission ticket for park entry. Please ensure all members of your dining party hold tickets for this event."

 

[otten]

Have you checked the terms and conditions of the reservation? I thought on party nights they were specifically saying that you needed a ticket for reservations past 6:30? Might want to check if that's the case. In which case you would need to cancel or buy MNSSHP tickets.

 

[skojo]

Ok so I decided to call and find out to end the confusion. I was told that my reservation is valid without the hard ticket. Once finished a CM will escort us out of the park.

 

[skojo]

I may cancel the reservation anyway. I don't want to look like one of those families who tried to sneak their stay in, being escorted out of the park at 8ish. People paid a lot of money for those tickets and don't need sneaky families trying for freebies.
OR I'm thinking of maybe buying one less park day ticket and buying the MSSHP ticket. I can't decide if I want to attend. I hate crazy crowds and I don't know how my kids, DS 5 and DD 4, will handle it. I just can't make up my mind.

 

[beesly]

Is there no availability for you to move your ADR up to a slightly earlier time? I keep seeing quite a bit of LTT availability for our party date (10/2).

 

[skojo]

Is there no availability for you to move your ADR up to a slightly earlier time? I keep seeing quite a bit of LTT availability for our party date (10/2).

An earlier dinner wouldn't work. We have a lunch ADR at CRT for 2:15pm that same day. That is why I booked a late dinner.

 

[mom2rtk]

I may cancel the reservation anyway. I don't want to look like one of those families who tried to sneak their stay in, being escorted out of the park at 8ish. People paid a lot of money for those tickets and don't need sneaky families trying for freebies.
OR I'm thinking of maybe buying one less park day ticket and buying the MSSHP ticket. I can't decide if I want to attend. I hate crazy crowds and I don't know how my kids, DS 5 and DD 4, will handle it. I just can't make up my mind.

It's not sneaky. If they allow it, they allow it. Keep it. You just need to leave as soon as you are done. They will likely escort you to the front of the park after dinner.

I believe different restaurants have different cutoff times this year.

 

[beesly]

An earlier dinner wouldn't work. We have a lunch ADR at CRT for 2:15pm that same day. That is why I booked a late dinner.

Gotcha. Unless your heart is set on LTT and/or you change your mind about attending the party, maybe it would be a good night to explore Disney Springs and have dinner there.

 

[otten]

Ok so I decided to call and find out to end the confusion. I was told that my reservation is valid without the hard ticket. Once finished a CM will escort us out of the park.

That's good. For what it's worth as an experiment I tried to make a reservation for LTT on a party night and did not get any warnings about needing a special event. if you're allowed to do it I wouldn't feel bad about it.

 

[IrishNYC]

An earlier dinner wouldn't work. We have a lunch ADR at CRT for 2:15pm that same day. That is why I booked a late dinner.

In that case, I'd just cancel LTT anyway. Two sit downs in one day is a lot of food.

 

[skojo]

Gotcha. Unless your heart is set on LTT and/or you change your mind about attending the party, maybe it would be a good night to explore Disney Springs and have dinner there.

No I'm okay with cancelling LTT. We are on the dining plan. It jut fit in our plans to have a table reservation to use up one of our table credits. Definitely don't want to cancel CRT so I wouldn't use the MNSSHP for that night if we bought tickets.

That's good. For what it's worth as an experiment I tried to make a reservation for LTT on a party night and did not get any warnings about needing a special event. if you're allowed to do it I wouldn't feel bad about it.

Thanks, I'm not cancelling anything yet.

 

[cel_disney]

Wow! I wonder if the policy changed back again? I totally rearranged our plans to get an earlier dinner for a party night!

Op - the party is more expensive now than when we attended (3 times in the last 9 years) but or kids enjoyed it a ton when they were at that age! They are 6 and almost 10 now and still listen to the sound track in the car! The parade is amazing, fireworks are the best the MK has to offer all year, and we enjoy the character interactions and special castle show.

Your ticket can get you in at 4pm. We usually do quick service on party nights - eating in the parks around 6pm. You can make FP for the party to use between 4-7.

 

[mom2rtk]

Wow! I wonder if the policy changed back again? I totally rearranged our plans to get an earlier dinner for a party night!

My understanding is that it varies by venue.

 

[Lavitz]

Right now I'd say things are kind of in limbo. Before you were ok with reservations at 6:55pm or before. This year they are trying to get it down to around 6:30pm. How this is being enforced in practice, I have no idea. Do not rely on what phone CMs tell you, they are known to be wrong a lot of the time.

One thing someone brought to my attention is that individual places have different hours. For example, on Oct 13, a party night, BOG hours on their site clearly show dinner is from 4:00 PM - 6:15 PM and that Dinner (Special Ticketed Event) is from 6:20 PM - 10:00 PM (party ticket required after 6:20pm). Crystal Palace has unclear info, regular dining until 6:30pm and special ticket event dining from 7pm to 8pm (no idea what's happening from 6:30-7pm, you may or may not need a party ticket during this time). LTT shows that dinner is from 3:15 PM - 7:00 PM, which goes with what the policy used to be last year, come in before 6:55pm and you're fine.

In conclusion, as usual Disney has made their policies as clear as mud. Every place is giving completely different info.

 

[mom2rtk]

Right now I'd say things are kind of in limbo. Before you were ok with reservations at 6:55pm or before. This year they are trying to get it down to around 6:30pm. How this is being enforced in practice, I have no idea. Do not rely on what phone CMs tell you, they are known to be wrong a lot of the time.

One thing someone brought to my attention is that individual places have different hours. For example, on Oct 13, a party night, BOG hours on their site clearly show dinner is from 4:00 PM - 6:15 PM and that Dinner (Special Ticketed Event) is from 6:20 PM - 10:00 PM (party ticket required after 6:20pm). Crystal Palace has unclear info, regular dining until 6:30pm and special ticket event dining from 7pm to 8pm (no idea what's happening from 6:30-7pm, you may or may not need a party ticket during this time). LTT shows that dinner is from 3:15 PM - 7:00 PM, which goes with what the policy used to be last year, come in before 6:55pm and you're fine.

In conclusion, as usual Disney has made their policies as clear as mud. Every place is giving completely different info.

I really don't think it's that bad. Some locations stay open during the party so want non-party guests out of the way earlier. The ones not open during the party still want as many tables filled as possible before closing up for the night. If there's a time policy you need to be aware of, there will be a message at the time of your booking.