MNSSHP 10/2: Thoughts from a first timer

[kabbie]

I thought that I would share my experience from this year's MNSSHP. I attended Monday nights party 10/2. I chose this night hoping that it wouldn't be less crowded due to the weekday. We arrived at the TTC at 6:45pm terribly late for our 7:00 ADR at LTT. The monorail system was down at the time so we had to depend on the ferry.

Park Closing at 7: There were a ton of people leaving the park when we arrived. That was a huge inconvenience for us. As we disembarked from the ferry there was a tight walkway that was bottlenecked with people coming and going. It took us 45 minutes to get into the park. Maybe it wouldn't have been an issue if we had arrived early.

Rest during the day: We made a mistake by going to Epcot that day. It was hot and we were all tired. We got back to our rooms at POR by 4:30 and took a very short nap. We all felt like a truck had run over us when we left. Don't ever go to a park on days when you're going to MNSSHP or MVMCP

LTT Character Dinner: I ran back to LTT and was still able to check-in and get a table. At this point it was close to 8 so I should have forgotten about the character dinner and enjoyed the party. ( a few months ago I had asked for advice about whether to do the dinner and people said no...I should have listened...always take the advice of the DIS) We had a slow waiter and the characters took forever to come around (Minnie,Goofy,Pluto, Chip,Dale) We actually had to ask a character handler if we could see the characters at 9pm because we were close to being finished and had only seen Minnie. All of the characters would go to break at the same time which makes no sense to me. Goofy walked by us a few times to go to the same tables over and over. I will probably never do this character meal again.

Overall the party was a bust for me. We got there too late. The transportation and crowd issues made us miss even more time.
Bottomline, when you go to one of the special events, always arrive early, eat beforehand, and don't ride any of the attractions. Just do the party activities. I will always be back to visit Magic Kingdom, but chances are that this is my last MNSSHP. And I didn't even leave Liberty Square/Frontierland. I did see the 2nd parade and parts of the fireworks (My 3 yr old niece is terrified of fireworks so we hung out in a shop.) It was disappointing for me, but I'm to blame.

Wanted to give you all my 2 cents to help you plan for the event if you haven't gone yet. I don't want anyone else to make the same mistakes.

 

[Harvest02]

Thanks for all the tips! Sorry you couldn't enjoy yourself! I plan to take my two kids next year for MNSSHP(Now I know NOT to go to a park during the day and just rest or go to the pool). These DIS boards are wonderful for planning and ideas!! On another note, noticed you stayed at POR. How was that resort? I really want to stay there next year and just want your opinion. Any feedback on that would be great!!!!

 

[MyGoofy26]

Sorry you had such a crummy time. We went the same night and were able to cover so much ground. We had a 5:45 ADR for Crystal Palace which timed out perfectly. We got to the park early enough to stop in the Emporium to grab a couple postcards (we were having the characters sign for my cousins) and then check in. The restaurant was closing at park close to we were among the last throng of people to be seated. Our half of the restaurant emptied pretty quickly and the characters came by and spent a few minutes doing pictures and signing the postcards. The CMs even came around to each table towards the end to ask which characters you hadn't seen yet so they could bring them over.

We finished and got out of there a little before 7. We walked through Adventureland, just taking our time and by the time we got to Frontierland they made the announcement to clear the park. We just sorta meandered, hit the trick or treat spot in Frontierland and made our way to Fantasyland. Practically empty. Peter Pan's Flight was a walk on. There were so few people there that empty ships passing because people couldn't make it through the queue fast enough. We hardly ever do Fantasyland attractions because they understandably have the longest lines. Not that night. We went from there to Dumbo (I think I've ridden once in the past 15 years) then to Snow White and Pooh. Hit one last trick or treat and we were done with Fantasyland within about 20 minutes. We walked through Toontown and took the path to Tomorrowland, which was a little thick but not too bad. I figured there'd be a mass of people in Tomorrowland but we had about a 5 minute wait for Space Mountain (most of that was the hike, LOL) and about the same for Buzz. Everything else was wide open for walk ons. We made our way to the castle for Villians Mix and Mingle, then found a great spot for HalloWishes on Main Street with about 15 minutes to go. We then just camped out at that spot for the 2nd parade. We did another loop of the park after those and then headed back to the hotel. We felt like we got so much accomplished, and could have done even more. We'd spent the day before at MK so there were a number of attractions we did then that we passed up during the party. We easily could've fit those in.

We didn't do any parks that day which also really helped. We slept in, laid in bed til we were hungry and went to the food court. Vegged in the room for awhile then laid by the pool. Went back to the room to shower and get ready to head to the MK. It was a lazy day and MUCH needed after a few days of park touring.

 

[lorilori]

Sorry you didn't have such a great time, but I greatly appreciate your advice to NOT go to a park the day of the party. I think now we'll probably just swim a little and ~hopefully~ take a little nap before we head out to MNSSHP. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Eoywin]

Thanks for your advice! We are planning on going next year.

I was planning on using the day we go to MNSSHP as a 'rest' day anyway, but now we are going to rest during the day for sure.

 

[karrit2000]

Just so you know, we had a similar experience at LTT on a regular night in September. The Character handler seemed to think that since we were a table of Adults only she didn't need to let the characters come to our table. Fortunately for us our waitress was able to get the characters over to our table. I can't tell you how many times Pluto passed us by because the handler kept moving him away from us. If we didn't want to see characters we wouldn't have gone to a character meal.

 

[lillygator]

I agree about the dinner, esp LTT. We dined there last year and even though we had an ADR for prior to the party start time we still had to wait, the service was slow and we missed the beginning parts of the party.

 

[LuvTigger]

I went to MNSSHP a couple of years ago, and we made an ADR (formerly PS) ahead of time, since LTT is the only place they would let you make an ADR. Our time was at 5:50, with MNSSHP starting at 7 p.m. We got into the park in the early afternoon because, at least during our visit, they would let you stay in the park as long as you had the wristband for MNSSHP.

We also experienced slow service at LTT, although the characters did a good job making their rounds. Fortunately, another server noticed that ours was a bit slow, and she helped out to make sure our drinks got filled, etc. We got out of LTT just as the party was starting.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I agree with your advice..we are going to the MNSSHP on Oct 19th, I picked that date because I thought a Thursday would be less crowded. We have dinner reservations at 5:40 at Chef Mickeys and then we will hop on the monorail to MK. I figure we will get there at 7.

No park for us that day. We will go to DTD for lunch and back to the POR to rest and get dressed for the party.

Sorry things didnt work out for you this trip but you will know to do things differently for the next time.

 

[kimmikayb]

First timer on 10/2 too!

I totally agree with not doing a park that day. We were exhausted and it was our last night. Get to the park early. Make sure you don't "have" to do any rides (we needed to, our last night and the kids hadn't rode some rides). Do the party activities. Enjoy the characters.

Keeping the park open till 7 pm was a bust, if you ask me. It wouldn't have affected my family as much except we wanted to purchase the party t shirts to wear for the evening and they wouldn't let us buy them before 7:45 so the non paying guests could leave I finally told a manager, I have a wrist band, let me get my t shirt! When the shirts finally came out....OMG! Frenzy of people. It was not nice.

We didn't get to see nearly enough of the party. If they are going to keep the park open that extra hour, I think they need to extend the party another hour.

Having said that, the fireworks, parade and decorations were wonderful. Wish I could have gone two nights.

 

[iluvepcot]

We scheduled our MVMCP for the night we arrived. We got AKL about 11 and the plan was to rest around the hotel. Due to our first day everyone was too excited to rest so we were exhausted having been up since 6 am to fly and too excited the nitght before to sleep. We did not get our group picture taken until later in the night and while we were in line, my 5 yo fell asleep. No one could wake him up for the picture, so he is sound asleep.

Another tip: never schedule these late night events on first day. Even if you stay at resort to rest.

 

[kldmom2000]

I just started my own post re: Oct. 2nd not even seeing this one... I should remember to scan down before posting!! LOL! I'm so sorry your night was no where as much fun as ours-what a bummer!!!! Hopefully the rest of your trip was memorable and fun!!!

 

[MouseFriend]

We were also there that evening and had a great time! The crowds we low, the lines for rides we practically nonexistant, and the atmosphere was wonderful. We would definately do it again!

We slept in kind of late that morning. Went to MGM around 11:00, had lunch at Scifi, rode a few rides then headed to tea @ GF. We got to MK around 5:30. We rode Jungle Cruise and CoP a cupple times before park closing. We got of Cop just as the park closed, and managed to go through the candy station in front with out any wait. We then rode Buzz, TTA and PoC. We caught both parades and the fireworks show, rode Splash Mountain, HM, IASW, and Pooh before closing. We then bought our souvies on the way out.

My advice is, if you choose to do anyhting else during the day of the party, just take it slow, and know your limits.

 

[ToyStory#1fan'sMom]

We were also there on 10/2. We arrived around 6:15 and noticed a lot of people exiting, that just made us more excited! We walked on to Haunted Mansion, POTC, and BT coaster (3 times). We hit about 4-5 of the TOT spots, had parade and firework seats to the left of Tomorrowland entrance and loved every second! We also ate a quick dinner at a very empty Peco's. Probably the best CS we had (probably because we weren't fighting for a table and trying not to spill on the way to said table). The parade was AWESOME! HM grave diggers got right in ds' face, scared the fire out of him. He is still talking about it (how cool it was). We are not much for fireworks (except IllumiNations, awesome!!) so we didn't care much for Hallowishes, but that's just us.

We will be eating the candy for weeks! Here's a tip, don't waste your time in those Goofy candy lines. You get a couple pieces of cheap candy and it's time you could be riding. Find a good spot for the late parade and you'll get TONS of chocolate as CMs walk around. Ds also got picked to play several games with the CMs while we waited, as well as dancing with a couple of them. So fun!

Honestly, the four hours we spent at the party were probably the best of the 6 days we had. Less crowded, the rides we wanted with no lines, candy, tasty food, lots of characters, GREAT parade, and fireworks. What more can a girl ask for? Oh and Jack Sparrow, DIVINE (again, in the parade).

Kate

 

[dw123]

Everyone mentioned minimal lines at the rides - how were the lines around 6:00 - before the party started?

 

[Amy&Dan]

kabbie: I am so sorry this happened to you and I hope that people will take your advice! I also love it that you posted this review in the way you did, as a negative experience that could have been better, which puts a positive spin on the whole experience. I cannot stress enough to people to follow this advice! If you do the party in its entirety, that is the parade, the fireworks, the rides and the trick or treating, its tough to get it all in during a five hour time frame. I hope you'll go again sometime because if you follow a different plan you will likely have a great time!

 

[MyGoofy26]

We were in Crystal Palace at 6, but coming into the park around 5 people were pouring out and there weren't that many people on Main Street. Judging by that small section of the park, there really wasn't much of a crowd.