OMG! We had SO much fun! I could not have dreamed of everything going so perfectly. Total opposite of my
MVMCP experience!
DF and I got to MK around 5:30. We hit most of the rides in Fantasyland, ate dinner at Cosmic Ray's, rode Buzz, and right when we got off Buzz it was 7pm. We hit Star Traders early and I'm glad I did, I got the party t-shirt I'd been coveting and there was only one on the rack in my size! Now originally I had planned on avoiding candy lines until the end of the night as most of you suggest, but my fiance is a candy FREAK so that idea went out the window.
We wound up starting the party by hitting every single candy spot in the park, and it only took about an hour! The candy lines moved FAST! I surprised myself by having so much fun simply collecting free candy! I really enjoyed having that trick-or-treat excitement over a decade after I was last able to participate in that tradition! The treat walkthrough in Toontown was particularly fun.
We took the frontier land bridge to bypass the HUGE crowd during the first parade and walked right on to BTMRR during it. It could just have been our giddy mood, but we both swore that the ride was operating at a higher speed than usual! We've never had so much fun on it, and best of all, when we pulled back into the station and some folks said "boooo, again!" the CM actually let anyone who wanted to stay on for another ride! So much fun!
After that we rode stopped for a Dole whip, then rode HM, and then headed to the castle. We jumped onto Maleficent's character greet line just as the show was actually starting (second in line!) and this was a really good vantage point for the show! And I FINALLY, FINALLY got my picture taken with my favorite Disney character of all time, thanks to the info I read in this thread!
After that it was time for Hallo-Wishes, which was amazing! We went on the carousel after that and then decided to head to Liberty Square for a spot for the second parade. Which couldn't have been a better decision; it was only about 25 minutes before the parade start when we got there, but there were so many empty areas! We picked up a popcorn bucket (YAY, haunted mansion bucket! The popcorn buckets are one of my favorite collectibles, we use them to serve snacks at home!) and sat on the ground right behind the rope. The folks in our little taped-off area were all other couples and adult families, which was very nice, and they were very pleasant. I've never had such a good view of a parade, and what a parade it was!
All in all we had a fantastic time, we know we got lucky at some parts, but it was a magical night and we definitely felt we got our money's worth! Thanks so much for all the helpful tips and encouragement!
The only positive was DS has no idea how much he actually missed out on. 
