Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

[klinkprincesses]

What's everyone's opinion on MNSSHP? I have two DDs- ages 3 and 4. Is this something they would enjoy? Also, I've heard the crowds are horrible. Are the activities worth the crowds? I would love some input from those who have been before!

 

[wdwgirl03]

I went to my first MNSSHP with my dad and sister last October, and we thought it was awesome! My dad thinks it's one of the best deals Disney has. I didn't think the crowds were bad at all...you can actually get your wristbands around 4:00 I believe, so we went early and were able to do pretty much every ride in Fantasyland, as well as some other things, before the party even started! Though once the party started it did seem that Fantasyland was the most crowded because of all the people with smaller kids. It also seemed that those were the same people who left after the first parade (it's a long night for the little ones!). I would recommend it- I had a great time, and would love to go again!

Hopefully, though, someone will respond who has been there with young children since it was obviously a different experience for us (my sister and I were 21 and 19).

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Maybe the folks that complain about the crowds went on a Fri/Sat/Sun or went very close to or on Halloween. We have gone every year for like seven years now and only had issue with the crowds when we attended on a Saturday night. We always try to go early in the week-preferably on a Tuesday. The number of people is limited and the main reason we go is because no matter how many people have attended, it is always less than the number of folks we encounter on a typical day in MK.

Everyone has a different opinion. I guess it depends on the reason WHY you go in the first place to tell if it is worth it. We like to get on all the rides with little or no wait. We love the trick or treating. We also never miss the special Halloween parade or fireworks show. Our whole family makes a big deal out of coordinating costumes too. Probably not the sort of thing for a commando type. Now normally we are commando types, but not for MNSSHP-that is our time to relax and take everything in. Our kids are 15, 13 and 2. Everyone has a blast and there's nothing scary about the party. I think its something, that if you can afford it, you need to try once for yourself and then make a judgement. We have never missed a year since our first time.

 

[beattyfamily]

Maybe the folks that complain about the crowds went on a Fri/Sat/Sun or went very close to or on Halloween. We have gone every year for like seven years now and only had issue with the crowds when we attended on a Saturday night. We always try to go early in the week-preferably on a Tuesday. The number of people is limited and the main reason we go is because no matter how many people have attended, it is always less than the number of folks we encounter on a typical day in MK.

Everyone has a different opinion. I guess it depends on the reason WHY you go in the first place to tell if it is worth it. We like to get on all the rides with little or no wait. We love the trick or treating. We also never miss the special Halloween parade or fireworks show. Our whole family makes a big deal out of coordinating costumes too. Probably not the sort of thing for a commando type. Now normally we are commando types, but not for MNSSHP-that is our time to relax and take everything in. Our kids are 15, 13 and 2. Everyone has a blast and there's nothing scary about the party. I think its something, that if you can afford it, you need to try once for yourself and then make a judgement. We have never missed a year since our first time.

Just an FYI...the Halloween parties have never been held on a Saturday night.

I agree though that the busiest nights are Fridays and the last couple of parties.

Love the parties and have had fun at every one I went to, even the one on Halloween night.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Just an FYI...the Halloween parties have never been held on a Saturday night.

I agree though that the busiest nights are Fridays and the last couple of parties.

Love the parties and have had fun at every one I went to, even the one on Halloween night.

I guess the memory is going on me at my age! I swore we went on a Saturday night in 2003...it must have been a Friday or Sunday then cause we have friends that are local to Disney and my girl friend complained the whole time that they NEVER go on weekends cause it is a zoo and what made me pick a weekend night! We had no clue at the time, but now we know better!

Okay...so I just went back in the photo album and checked...you had me thinking I am losing the old marbles! (Side note-DON'T get old!) Guess I am! We went FRIDAY October 24th 2003. Sorry, my bad!

 

[stich626]

I am soo excited! Halloween is my favorite holiday. Can't think of a better place to start celebrating. Trying to think of costumes and or cute shirts to get made.

I was just curious as to what time to get there.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I am soo excited! Halloween is my favorite holiday. Can't think of a better place to start celebrating. Trying to think of costumes and or cute shirts to get made.

I was just curious as to what time to get there.

They normally let you in for the party at 4pm, although the ticket says 7pm.

 

[Golden Rose]

Do you think it would be worth it for us? We are traveling with a 2 year old and already have a Magic Your Way pass for that day. (We just found out our planned trip overlaps the first night of it.)

I guess we have these options. We could leave our son with my mom, who is also traveling with us and definitely will not want to go. The three of us (me, DH, and DS2) could go, or we could just not do it.

Obviously we would have to pay twice for the day if we do decide to do it, which seems a little silly...

We've never done it before, if that matters.

So... worth it, or not?

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Do you think it would be worth it for us? We are traveling with a 2 year old and already have a Magic Your Way pass for that day. (We just found out our planned trip overlaps the first night of it.)

I guess we have these options. We could leave our son with my mom, who is also traveling with us and definitely will not want to go. The three of us (me, DH, and DS2) could go, or we could just not do it.

Obviously we would have to pay twice for the day if we do decide to do it, which seems a little silly...

We've never done it before, if that matters.

So... worth it, or not?

I think it depends on the reasons you are going to the party. Some folks go because of low or no lines-this is a biggie for us. We do not usually do MK for a day when we are attending MNSSHP because basically we can hit all of our favorite rides and then some during the party-makes doing MK during the day pointless for us. Our first party we just wanted to see what it was like and wanted to experience the dressing up, parade and special fireworks shows. Some years we kind of do a commando type approach to the party doing as many rides as we can-and we have shocked ourselves with the number you can get on in a good night. Other years we just chill out and do whatever floats our boat. We have AP's so we would not do MK on the day of the party-seems like overload. we normally will spend that day at a water park or AK. My opinion is that if you can afford to do it and you have never been before, you should give it a try at least once. Not everybody is a fan of the party, but most folks I know are. We love it-it's a family tradition and we have not missed a year since we first stumbled upon it. (Plus its the only time me and DH can dress up in costume and not have people look at us like we are weird-we take every opportunity we can to act like children)! BTW-we took my nephew last year and he was just a year old-amazing that even at that age they take a lot of it in. This year DN will be 2 and we definitely will have him with us. Either way, with our without little ones, it is very cool!

 

[Zoesmama03]

I've been to Disney in Sept/Oct and never had much lines at anything in the park.

Now I've never been to MNSHP but I'm wondering this same thing as my brother and I are thinking about a trip in Oct and dd will be 4. She loves dressing up for Halloween and has that part down. I think she would enjoy it though for sure. But I guess I need to see what "extra" activities are included??? Because I too am wondering what might make the price worth it.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I've been to Disney in Sept/Oct and never had much lines at anything in the park.

Now I've never been to MNSHP but I'm wondering this same thing as my brother and I are thinking about a trip in Oct and dd will be 4. She loves dressing up for Halloween and has that part down. I think she would enjoy it though for sure. But I guess I need to see what "extra" activities are included??? Because I too am wondering what might make the price worth it.

I need to travel with you then, cause we do October every year and no matter what week we have chosen we have the luck of always getting lines-granted they may not be long, but they are still there-some are ungodly long though.

Anyhoo...back to the point of the party itself-you sound a bit skeptical. Some people don't like it or feel its worth it-if your looking to view it as getting your moneys worth instead of being a fun activity, you probably will be disappointed-all I can say is give it a try. To be honest we never worried about the cost (and btw, we are not loaded), we just know it is a fun activity for our family that we thoroughly enjoy. If we were on a budget and counting our pennies, we probably would skip it.

Not sure what "extra" activities you are looking for. The perk of the party is low/no lines (pretty nice perk if you ask me to literally walk on just about every ride in the park), the theme and dressing up...it's fun...end of story. Activities are trick or treating (for adults and kids), dance contests, hula hoop contests, the Boo To You parade, the special fireworks show and seeing the characters in costume-definitely not any of the things you can experience with a normal every day visit to the MK.

 

[lenzs4]

We love it!!

For us it is a 40.00 ticket that gets us in the park for 8 hours (we would not go for longer than 8 hours during the day anyway because we would leave during the midday for rest and food...). We have non-expiration tickets that we do not have to use that day! We only go to MK on that evening and therefore save a ticket day for another trip or time! While in the park, the kids trick-or treat and end up with more candy than they can eat! They see a special Halloween parade and firework show, characters are dressed in costume and some characters are out that we do not normally see. My DD loves the face painting. We ride every ride we want to and some ride more than once and the entire park is deck out in decorations - it is picture heaven!
I think it is a winner in every way!

 

[idreamdisney]

Has anyone that has been to this had any really little kids (or seen any kids) crying or scared...say of the headless horseman, the disney villains, or the ghosts dancing down main street? Just don't want to give my turning-3 yo nightmares or anything! I'm sure he'd love the rides, the party atmosphere, and all the free candy, though!!!!

 

[NemoMOm]

We took DS at 18 mos then did P&PP at 2. We have had a blast! He loves the trick and treating. He was never scared of anything except fireworks and by then we were leaving because it was bedtime! The lines were slower than the were during hours we actually had a 5 min wait for Peter Pan which I've never seen before. Feel free to ask me questions and I'll try to answer them

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Has anyone that has been to this had any really little kids (or seen any kids) crying or scared...say of the headless horseman, the disney villains, or the ghosts dancing down main street? Just don't want to give my turning-3 yo nightmares or anything! I'm sure he'd love the rides, the party atmosphere, and all the free candy, though!!!!

I think your always going to have someone whose child may have been scared, although I don't really see that happening too frequently. My DS is almost 2 and he was not frightened of anything last year, but then he may have been too little to notice much. My other two were 7 or 8 when we started going and nothing phased them at all. If you blink, you may miss the headless horseman going by...he moves that fast. The ghosts dancing...they are so funny and friendly looking, honestly they make Casper look scary! The Disney villains...well, nothing is standing out in my mind...except that they are in the parade, but there is a reason it is called Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Its very tame and the total opposite of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights.

 

[Doc CW]

It is awesome!! The fireworks are really cool but the parade is better, it has the headless horseman and a HM float which has grave-diggers who drag their spades on the ground and sparks fly on the road its really cool.

 

[idreamdisney]

That's good to hear...you're setting my mind at ease. My son (2 1/2 now, will turn 3 on our trip in late Sept.) was totally scared by the Shamu show at Sea World last month....he started crying as soon as the very, very loud, dramatic music started. He calmed down once the really loud part was over. He seems to really not like super loud things, but is fine w/ dark, etc. It sounds like we should go just for the experience, candy and no lines for the rides.

One more piece of advice please...we'll be there for the Sept. 28 (friday nt) and 30 (sunday nt) parties. Which one would give us the smallest crowds? I had planned for the Friday night b/c my sister will be w/ us then, and hoping that it's still far enough ahead of Halloween to NOT be crowded. But if you think the crowds will be noticeably different, I'll change our plans to do it Sunday night.

Thanks!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Probably won't be a huge difference, but if I had to pick one date, I'd probably go with Sunday because the locals will tend not to flock to that as much when they have to go to work the next day.

 

[stavidt]

Hi -

Thought I'd let you know I had a similiar post several weeks ago. I am going with my 3 and 2 yr old in Sept. My husband and I talk about the halloween party weekly. We still haven't decided.

The resoonse I got from my posts were overall positive. The only thing that may be scarey are the villians in front of the haunted mansion...but you don't have to go that way if you don't want to.

I am leaning towards not going simply b/c of these issues:

Cost...it is a lot of money for us for one night and I would rather get them another princess dress instead (I know a little silly)

It is kinda late for my girls. I don't need any cranky pants the next day

A friend that goes every year said it is not scarey but sometimes the people (not castmembers) are dressed up kinda scarey. Castmembers try to limit scaery ones but some get by...there is only so much they can do



Having said all that...my girls have seen the party and totally want to go. Who knows....

Good luck

 

[workinmomof2]

For Idreamdisney

he started crying as soon as the very, very loud, dramatic music started. He calmed down once the really loud part was over. He seems to really not like super loud things, but is fine w/ dark, etc. It sounds like we should go just for the experience, candy and no lines for the rides.

My DS3 has very sensative hearing. A Thomas on Stage the train whistles really bothered him. He sat through the entire show with his hands covering his ears. Even the vaccuum is too loud for him. I bought him some ear muffs (not the winter ones) and now loud sounds are fine. He even loves to vaccuum now.