MNSSHP ~ tell me more

[aaronandterri]

MNSSHP
Were booked for Oct and im thinking sbout doing the MNSSHP , theres 7 of us so its quite a bit of money....is it worth it? anyone been tell me about it and what you thought, ive not done any of the extra parties before.

terri x

 

[popsynic]

Worth it? I'm not convinced it is worth the price they charge, but it is good fun.

Basically for the money you get

• regular park admission (from 4pm)
• special decorations (mainly inflatable and lighting effects)
• trick or treat stations dotted throughout park (and you can line up to them unlimited times - they give you each a bag, and you do end up with a lot of sweets/candy, but they are mostly cheap kinds)
• a special themed parade (twice each night)
• special themed fireworks
• themed meet & greet with characters (eg snow white & 7 dwarves / lots of villains, but lines are long for theseetc)
• a themed villains show performed in front of castle
• park stays open until 12pm/1am ish
• most rides stay open

Bearing in mind you get fireworks, characters, a parade or two on most regular park days, and most of the 3d decorations (pumpkins, etc) are up throughout the period, its a tough call whether what you do get is really worth that much money


Its fun, its a nice atmosphere, people dress up, Disney cast members get into the 'spirit' of it. But it is expensive - especially if you already have multi-day park tickets, as it means you are paying again to enter the park

We did it last visit, and really enjoyed it, and debating doing it on our next trip this October. We will actually be in Orlando on Halloween, but concerned that the party will be just too busy on that night to provide any value/fun

 

[aaronandterri]

yes were there from 24th October till november 9th so could do one of them, just cant decide if the cost is worth the extra as well already have annual passes or the parks and the little kids wont stay up very late.........



QUOTE=popsynic;44320285]Worth it? I'm not convinced it is worth the price they charge, but it is good fun.

Basically for the money you get

• regular park admission (from 4pm)
• special decorations (mainly inflatable and lighting effects)
• trick or treat stations dotted throughout park (and you can line up to them unlimited times - they give you each a bag, and you do end up with a lot of sweets/candy, but they are mostly cheap kinds)
• a special themed parade (twice each night)
• special themed fireworks
• themed meet & greet with characters (eg snow white & 7 dwarves / lots of villains, but lines are long for theseetc)
• a themed villains show performed in front of castle
• park stays open until 12pm/1am ish
• most rides stay open

Bearing in mind you get fireworks, characters, a parade or two on most regular park days, and most of the 3d decorations (pumpkins, etc) are up throughout the period, its a tough call whether what you do get is really worth that much money


Its fun, its a nice atmosphere, people dress up, Disney cast members get into the 'spirit' of it. But it is expensive - especially if you already have multi-day park tickets, as it means you are paying again to enter the park

We did it last visit, and really enjoyed it, and debating doing it on our next trip this October. We will actually be in Orlando on Halloween, but concerned that the party will be just too busy on that night to provide any value/fun[/QUOTE]

 

[queendisney]

I am also in the 'not so sure its really worth it' camp..

We did it one year and yes we enjoyed it but didn't think we got all that much extra for the added expense on top of our park tickets. We prob would not do it again. We don't have kids but had the nephews when we went and they all really enjoyed it. They all got dressed up and collected a suitcase size amount of sweets which is what they seemed to enjoy most of that evening!!!

 

[ukool]

Me and my brother went last year, and even though we really enjoyed it, i thought it was expensive for what it was. But the show, fireworks, parade, trick or treating and low que times made it a great night.

 

[2Tiggies]

For us it is absolutely worth it. We did a party in 2010 and loved it so much we booked two last year and both were, again, great evenings.

I think you have to ask yourself first:

Will you stay until the end of the evening (or close enough to it)?
Are you willing to focus on the party events, rather than be tempted to run for rides all night? (There is a common attempt to justify the cost of the event based on 'short lines' which although is fact for the most part, with parks being relatively quiet during the Fall season, it is not a heavy enough swaying factor on its own).
Would the atmosphere in the park on the party night (which is completely different to any other time) be seen by you as an added experience that would go towards backing the value of the extra expense on tickets?
Do you want to meet characters and have your photos taken/get autographs from characters who otherwise do not appear for meet and greets?

If you answer no to the first one, you may need to consider very carefully. But if you answer yes to that and any one of the other questions, I believe it is worth considering going to the party.

If you do decide to go, my advice to you is to keep up to speed with all the threads, blogs and posts on this year's party (which will be under way by the time you are ready to leave so you will have the benefit of some live and current reports). Do your homework. Have a wish list of things to do. Find out where everything is and have a plan. Take into account the usual 'rule' where parades make it difficult to cross Main Street for a period before, during and after they are running and plan accordingly if you intend navigating for example from Tomorrowland to Frontierland.

There are dance parties which are great fun, the Villain's Mix and Mingle is brilliant and the general atmosphere is absolutely intoxicating (and the party mood very contagious!)

If you are purchasing or have pre-purchased Photopass, make sure you know where to go for the special effect shots as these are great and you will only ever get them at the party. (I love photos so this is always an easy sell for me )

I can't tell you that it's worth the cost for you as there are only two of us, so I can see why you are weighing this up so carefully, but if you can afford it and you look at what you want out of it, I do think its something worth doing at least once.

 

[angelbaby29871]

We went in 2009 and loved it. We are going again this year, we are there from 6th to 20th oct. I agree it can be a lot of money on top of tickets already bought but I love the extra theming and getting to see characters not always usually out and about.

 

[~Piglet~]

We are hoping to go this year too and if the party dates permit we will try to buy a ticket for a day after our park passes expire, we will have three days 'spare' after our 14 day tickets run out.

Not bothered about going on any rides as we can do those anytime IYKWIM, I just want to experience the event itself as we probably won't go again at that time of year

 

[cazzie]

We have done it 4 or 5 times and whenever we go in September it's one of my must do's although DH isn't so keen and will say it's expensive for what it is. I love the Boo to you parade and fireworks and it's fun collecting the trick or treats; for me it's a good fun night and great atmosphere.

 

[RDP]

We have been twice and enjoyed it both times, we could do MNSSHP and MVMCP this year, but plan to go to MVMCP. They both have great parades.

 

[disneyholic family]

For us it is absolutely worth it. We did a party in 2010 and loved it so much we booked two last year and both were, again, great evenings.

I think you have to ask yourself first:

Will you stay until the end of the evening (or close enough to it)?
Are you willing to focus on the party events, rather than be tempted to run for rides all night? (There is a common attempt to justify the cost of the event based on 'short lines' which although is fact for the most part, with parks being relatively quiet during the Fall season, it is not a heavy enough swaying factor on its own).
Would the atmosphere in the park on the party night (which is completely different to any other time) be seen by you as an added experience that would go towards backing the value of the extra expense on tickets?
Do you want to meet characters and have your photos taken/get autographs from characters who otherwise do not appear for meet and greets?

If you answer no to the first one, you may need to consider very carefully. But if you answer yes to that and any one of the other questions, I believe it is worth considering going to the party.

If you do decide to go, my advice to you is to keep up to speed with all the threads, blogs and posts on this year's party (which will be under way by the time you are ready to leave so you will have the benefit of some live and current reports). Do your homework. Have a wish list of things to do. Find out where everything is and have a plan. Take into account the usual 'rule' where parades make it difficult to cross Main Street for a period before, during and after they are running and plan accordingly if you intend navigating for example from Tomorrowland to Frontierland.

There are dance parties which are great fun, the Villain's Mix and Mingle is brilliant and the general atmosphere is absolutely intoxicating (and the party mood very contagious!)

If you are purchasing or have pre-purchased Photopass, make sure you know where to go for the special effect shots as these are great and you will only ever get them at the party. (I love photos so this is always an easy sell for me )

I can't tell you that it's worth the cost for you as there are only two of us, so I can see why you are weighing this up so carefully, but if you can afford it and you look at what you want out of it, I do think its something worth doing at least once.

where are the dance parties?

i've never been to the halloween party, but i'm going this year with my sister - and maybe my mom as well.

we'll be in orlando for a conference in october.
the party is perfect, since we can just buy that ticket and go into MK from 4 PM (i'll actually come on on my own a week or two before the conference to get my disney fix )

so anyway, the halloween party is a must do - after all, my sister's birthday is October 31st. ....yup...she's a witch...literally (she really told me that when we were growing up...she's 6 years older than i am, and she would always tell me that she's a witch born on halloween - needless to say, when i was very little i believed her)

so where are the halloween dance parties? - i absolutely love dance parties when i'm there!!! so much fun!!!

 

[joolz1910]

I'm planning on doing MNSSHP and MVMCP when we go. I think it's a lot of money, but we are never going to be able to go again at this time of year. I'm looking forward to the atmosphere and characters.

 

[2Tiggies]

where are the dance parties?

i've never been to the halloween party, but i'm going this year with my sister - and maybe my mom as well.

we'll be in orlando for a conference in october.
the party is perfect, since we can just buy that ticket and go into MK from 4 PM (i'll actually come on on my own a week or two before the conference to get my disney fix )

so anyway, the halloween party is a must do - after all, my sister's birthday is October 31st. ....yup...she's a witch...literally (she really told me that when we were growing up...she's 6 years older than i am, and she would always tell me that she's a witch born on halloween - needless to say, when i was very little i believed her)

so where are the halloween dance parties? - i absolutely love dance parties when i'm there!!! so much fun!!!

There is the Villain's Mix & Mingle in front of the castle which is more of a show, but worth watching if you have the time. Everyone gets caught up i the party spirit on the night however and a lot of folk join in the dancing in front of the stage, but we found it to be very busy in this area as some of the Villains do meet and greets between the shows here and folk stick around to hold their place in the line.

There is also one in Tomorrowland (Stitch 626?) which is just to the side of the Carousel of Progress and another one in Adventureland which last year was in the building beside where the Fairies were doing their meet and greets. I am unsure of whether the new Fantasyland expansion, having opened certain parts of the newly developed section, will change this location. Below is a link to last year's map. They do change locations of a lot of the festivities and meet and greets from one year to the next so it's best to keep an eye on live reports and tips threads once this year's parties get into full swing. Fortunately as you are going to be there right at the end of the Halloween season you will have plenty time to learn from everyone else's mistakes and benefit from their tips. We are going to be there when the first parties begin running (never been so early) so I can give you our experience when we get back

http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/photos/mnsshp-map2.htm