MNSSHP - Going Overboard on Dates?

[JerseyJanice]

I think it stinks that there are so many dates. It annoyed me last year, but for some reason, this year, it is 3 nights out of the 7 we'll be there. Last year, I think it was 4.

 

[goofy4tink]

Two a week until late Sept would be fine, after that, do as many as they want. But, here's the thing. Late Aug into Sept is a fairly low season. The parks aren't crowded. So, Disney wants people in it's resorts and in the parks. So, they are starting to get earlier and earlier with the parties. I don't buy the whole 'park closing two hrs early argument. It closes when it closes...Disney's choice. And I haven't seen MK be any busier on party days...until around 4:30ish!! The cost of these party tickets is getting ridiculous. Not that many years ago, they were under $50 each, and Disney sold fewer of them. The parties were a lot more fun then. Now, they schedule twice as many parties each week, and sell at least twice as many tickets. Yes, it's a business, but it seems like a blatant money grab! But, I feel that way about many of the special ticketed events at Disney lately.

 

[UnderTheRialto]

I'm done going in party season after the last two years. So now it's a bigger chunk of the year I'm not going to WDW. I've never even been to a party but hate the crowd effects. Halloweeen in august is ridiculous. Why not extend the Christmas party through march while they're at it?

 

[Amelia :)]

I think it's overboard. 32 MNNSHP dates vs: only 21 for MVMCP ??

Doesn't make sense doesn't it?!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This event has started to represent the definition of utter stupidity as defined by Merriam Webster

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Two a week until late Sept would be fine, after that, do as many as they want. But, here's the thing. Late Aug into Sept is a fairly low season. The parks aren't crowded. So, Disney wants people in it's resorts and in the parks. So, they are starting to get earlier and earlier with the parties. I don't buy the whole 'park closing two hrs early argument. It closes when it closes...Disney's choice. And I haven't seen MK be any busier on party days...until around 4:30ish!! The cost of these party tickets is getting ridiculous. Not that many years ago, they were under $50 each, and Disney sold fewer of them. The parties were a lot more fun then. Now, they schedule twice as many parties each week, and sell at least twice as many tickets. Yes, it's a business, but it seems like a blatant money grab! But, I feel that way about many of the special ticketed events at Disney lately.

People need to start holding the line on this...the park days are being divided and double sold for these types of things at an alarming rate.

The "after hours magic" is the canary in the coal mine.

I see "the park would close at 8/9 anyway that time of year" defense a lot.

With 50+ mil people going through the gates and no dead months anymore? BULL!!!

They are reselling the same car...and the more the customers accept it the worse it will get. Resist!!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Wow. That's a lot of days.

It's undeniable that the ever-expanding party seasons are a takeaway for those who buy a set of regular tickets. The more the seasons expand the more it takes away. It makes the non-party nights worse, and limits your planning options.

If they could sell double tickets for the MK every day of the year they would

 

[Amelia :)]

I do think they have too many. Starting too early too.
That said, I think we'll end up going to one of the first 2.
So, while I do think they have too many, since they do have them, and we'll be there for my birthday, we'll probably go

Lol this is probably exactly the same as my response Angi "Halloween in August?! That's stupid!". But if I was there in August... I'd definitely go

 

[Astryd]

Lol this is probably exactly the same as my response Angi "Halloween in August?! That's stupid!". But if I was there in August... I'd definitely go

Not only party days in August, but November 1st as well.

 

[AngelDisney]

Lol this is probably exactly the same as my response Angi "Halloween in August?! That's stupid!". But if I was there in August... I'd definitely go

When I told DH that I might be attending the Halloween party at Disney (before the dates are released), and he responded, " I thought you were going in August. Isn't Halloween in October?!" I agree that it is ridiculous, but when you can only visit WDW in the summer and you have read about these fun parties on Disboards, you just can't resist to go to not just one but two of them on your trip! This can be the only time that MNSSHP is in August. A coin always has two sides! I am super excited to be able to go!

 

[GillianP1301]

It's only 1 week earlier than last year, but Aug 25th sounds so much earlier than Sept 1st, when it's really not.

Is end August a bit of overkill? Maybe, but given the popularity of the 9/2 party last year, it's not that much of stretch to move it up a few days. It's a very popular event. We travel to WDW that last week of August into Labour Day each year and I was thrilled last year to catch my first party, so I'm happy that I get the opportunity again and in fact can go to 2 parties this year.

Also consider that the final days of August are traditionally lower crowd times so moving this party up could help draw some more people into that week (same argument for moving up Food & Wine). That part doesn't thrill me, but I totally understand why they would be doing it.

 

[LilyWDW]

People want the parties. There is a demand for it. It's not like Disney makes these decisions without thinking it all through. It's not done in a vacuum. They see that there is enough call for it from visitors to push it earlier.

Seriously, it is NOT hard to plan around them. I have done it multiple times as I normally go in October (for Food and Wine) and have never felt like I was inconvenienced by them. Yes, if you want to do evening fireworks it can be a bit busy, but you simply plan for it. When I go I will plan to only do the nighttime stuff that day. It won't be a full park day (due to crowd levels). I will leave that for another day, especially a party day since crowds are so much lower. Also... I have never been to a party and don't plan on doing so.

 

[Lynn57]

The Halloween theme in August is less of an issue for me. I mean, we are talking about a theme park that says "here you leave today, and enter a world the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." When 1/2 of the little kids walking around are dressed up in February, the Halloween argument goes out the window.

For me, the issue is the number of nights the Magic Kingdom is not open to regular guests. I would not be interested in paying an additional $90, so then my nights in the Magic Kingdom would be drastically limited if I was traveling in September or October. On top of that, all the other guests like me not willing to pay for the party, are stuck with the same days. Park attendance goes up on those few evenings, making a not-as-magical experience.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If anyone happened to be following the MNSSHP 2017 thread it was being predicted for quite a while that August 25th would be the start date based on MK closing times of 7pm..obviously that's not a fool proof way but it was pretty good indication given the time of year and that they started the event September 2nd last year (not meaning people needed to follow that thread at all just giving some info).

Out of 8 park days (5 at WDW and 3 at USO) it's impacting 3 of them. Back in 2011 it impacted 2 (5 days at WDW 3 at USO still) though I went starting in the middle of September back in 2011. HHN is impacting 2 (in 2011 it impacted 2 as well) and one of those we will actually be at Universal this year (at least that's the plan at this time) where Studios closes at 5pm but we'll go over to Islands of Adventure at that time til it closes at 7pm.

I was trying to avoid Food & Wine and MNSSHP but have Halloween decor up. As soon as they announced when Food & Wine was I gave up that hope and figured MNSSHP would also overlap the more preferred week I wanted in September (ETA: also assumed since they started last year September 2nd that they would start around that time as well if not earlier).

The fireworks situation is a good point to bring up though.

 

[pbb322]

Universal has 34 Halloween parties this year. Although they do not start in August, they run three days later into November. I don't see people calling that a money-grab... everyone expects it, Universal makes a ton of money off Halloween Horror. The park there closes early on those nights as well, with no reduction in daytime ticket prices, and the Halloween Horror tickets are not much less than MNSSHP. Personally I think there is a LOT more for your money at MNSSHP than at Halloween Horror so I think it is a better value if I am going to spend money on a Halloween party. People love Halloween and the parties have been super crowded the last several years, regularly selling out. If they can sell more, good for them, Disney is a business. Lots of people like us will not go to a park on the day of a party, thus we avoid feeling like we are paying double on admission. If you just want to see the fireworks without crowds, hop on the monorail and go have dinner at one of the monorail resorts and watch from there.

 

[Disneylvr]

I wish they had gone "overboard" in September 2015 when we were there at that time of year. They didn't start MNSSHP until mid September that year.

 

[Lee Matthews]

I dont the see the problem? You don't have to attend the august/ September parties if you don't want to. It's allowing people like me who's going late august to experience it and if to boot, ticket prices and crowd levels are going to be a lot lower, I'm all for it

 

[brockash]

People need to start holding the line on this...the park days are being divided and double sold for these types of things at an alarming rate.

The "after hours magic" is the canary in the coal mine.

I see "the park would close at 8/9 anyway that time of year" defense a lot.

With 50+ mil people going through the gates and no dead months anymore? BULL!!!

They are reselling the same car...and the more the customers accept it the worse it will get. Resist!!

I couldn't agree and unfortunately I don't see it changing any time soon or ever. At the end of the day ppl. just don't care and are willing to be what I would consider taken advantage of and pay whatever amount Disney tells them to pay for however many hours and whatever services Disney says. I keep reading all these ppl. talking about going to multiple parties during their stay and I just can't even imagine. I mean they're already paying for the vacation and the regular tickets, oh and possibly park hoppers, and possibly park hoppers and water parks, since Disney now requires both and on top of that they're willing to pay another $70/$80 a ticket for a "special event" during a time that used to be included in your regular ticket. Yes, now generally speaking Disney tends to close MK at 9/10pm in early Sept., however it wasn't that long ago that in early Sept. we were walking around MK at 2 and 3 in the morning during EMH's, which means the parks regular closing time wasn't until midnight. The money grab is just disgusting in my opinion. On the upside if you invest in Disney stock...woohoo...def. going in the right direction for you.

 

[brockash]

If anyone happened to be following the MNSSHP 2017 thread it was being predicted for quite a while that August 25th would be the start date based on MK closing times of 7pm..obviously that's not a fool proof way but it was pretty good indication given the time of year and that they started the event September 2nd last year (not meaning people needed to follow that thread at all just giving some info).

Out of 8 park days (5 at WDW and 3 at USO) it's impacting 3 of them. Back in 2011 it impacted 2 (5 days at WDW 3 at USO still) though I went starting in the middle of September back in 2011. HHN is impacting 2 (in 2011 it impacted 2 as well) and one of those we will actually be at Universal this year (at least that's the plan at this time) where Studios closes at 5pm but we'll go over to Islands of Adventure at that time til it closes at 7pm.

I was trying to avoid Food & Wine and MNSSHP but have Halloween decor up. As soon as they announced when Food & Wine was I gave up that hope and figured MNSSHP would also overlap the more preferred week I wanted in September (ETA: also assumed since they started last year September 2nd that they would start around that time as well if not earlier).

The fireworks situation is a good point to bring up though.

The problem with that line of thinking is that just a couple years ago, that is how ppl. thought and planned and it burned them. 2 years ago, Disney had 7pm closings that ended up not being MNSSHP's and they extended the closing times, so as with many other instances, ppl. have learned that their calendar is NOT reliable.

 

[edk35]

We there Oct. 15th for 7 days and there are 4 parties. WOW!!! All I know is that it will be crowded on MK days sandwiched between parties because it was last year. So if you plan on going to MK on one of the sandwich days I would arrive at rope drop then get the heck out of dodge after lunch.