MNSSHP was less than I expected.

[plutojudy]

We were at the September 22 party. We had a good time. My husband thought it was the best parade ever. (I like the MVMCP parade better.) The fireworks are always the best.
I was disappointed with the lack of decorations. Men were on ladders decorating Main Street when we entered at 6:00. It just did not seem special.
I am glad we went once, I would not go again. It was great to walk right on all the rides without waiting.
It seems strange to me that all those people would pay for tickets and then spend all their time in lines for "free" candy.
I only saw one mother having a hissy fit near Thunder Mountain because she was asked to leave the park because they did not have wristbands. I felt sorry for her children watching their mother's tantrum.
We enjoyed the Photopass picture taking opportunities, we ordered them all when we arrived home.

 

[civileng68]

Hi Judy, I agree with you.

Each person likes something different, which is why MNSSHP is great.

However, I've been and I personally think MVMCP is much better. I was never impressed with the decoration at MK at halloween. There's no doubt that there's more extensive decoration for the MVMCP.

To each his own but, I agree with you completely.

 

[CindyBella]

Sounds to me like you were getting there just as the party was "getting started". If men were on ladders decorating, that sounds to me like you must have been at the first MNSSHP of the year. We attended last year and I thought it was too much. Just fantastic!! I have also been to WDW during christmas time. Every store shelf is practicallly covered in garland an ornaments. I love Halloween but you can only go so far with the decorations.

 

[MyGoofy26]

I have also been to WDW during christmas time. Every store shelf is practicallly covered in garland an ornaments. I love Halloween but you can only go so far with the decorations.

I think this explains the difference in decorations. For Christmas the parks are already all decked out - party or not. Then a few more party specific signs and decorations are tossed up. For Halloween, the parks aren't really decorated so they just get the signage and lighting. I don't think there's a difference between (at least not much of a difference) MNSSHP decorations and MVMCP decorations - it's the existing decorations for the Christmas season that makes it seem like Disney is doing more for that party.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Also, there are no decorations for Halloween in the parks except for MK during he party. So they do most of the decorating with music and lighting and characters. And, of course, the parade.

So it's not like Christmas, when it takes days to get all the decorations put up and they stay up for weeks.

The Halloween party is more about the trick or treating, the parade, the fireworks, and the characters dressed up for Halloween.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We thought the parade and fireworks were worth the price of admission. They were awesome. The fireworks were better than Wishes and the parade was just under Spectro imo. We were over in Tunetown at 7 pm when it started so we didn't wait at all in that candy/character line. Also, the two big candy paths had lines for the characters, but it didn't last long for the candy at all. One thing I was disappointed with was the villains meet and greet. It wasn't much and if you were out to get a lot of rare characters in, you were left wanting. The show was good though. It was crowded there all evening. all evening. We had people that hit every time that night and at no time was there much access. We were able to hit the hub about 10 minutes before the fireworks and got right into the sweet spot. We then were able to get a good spot for the parade and see the villains show. The first parade was jambed even over in frontierland.

There really wasn't enough time to get everything in. The rides had low lines all night. Everything was about 10 minutes tops. We didn't do many because we wanted to do the other stuff. Having waited no more than 10 minutes the whole trip for any ride anyway, an extra $40 for that privilege didn't seem like a good use of money.

All in all, we enjoyed it and would go back. But what we really went for was to see a lot of rare characters. But that didn't materialize.

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

We attended the Sept 29 party, it was our first extra admission event at WDW, and we were underwhelmed as well. It was fine for about the first hour, hour and a half, and then it seemed to get extremely crowded. We were able to do a good amount of rides while the lines were low, but were unable to do much of the character greets/trails due to high traffic and crowds. They had technical difficulties getting Hallowishes started, I'm thinking that the anticipation must have ruined it for us, because we didn't think it was as good as others have stated. That being said, everyone is different and I respect everyone's unique opinions. We did like the Villains show and meet and greet, and it was a fun atmosphere. I'm just not sure if I would pay for it again. Next year's trip will be at MVMCP time, is this worth the ticket $?

 

[ReallyFunMom]

I was there the 29th too and mostly agree. We weren't even able to make it to the dance parties and such. I was glad to know it sold out, for future trips. I saw it at its capacity so could be no worse than that. To me its a good value if you enter at 4pm and do not have APs or MYW tickets that give you the run of MK all week. If you ever try a non-Disney trip (the horror) going to universal and/or sea world during a time when a MK party is offered, you might use the party as a way to get a taste of Disney on that trip. Then there is more value in riding the rides while there.

 

[hbehrman]

We attended the Sept 29 party, it was our first extra admission event at WDW, and we were underwhelmed as well. It was fine for about the first hour, hour and a half, and then it seemed to get extremely crowded. We were able to do a good amount of rides while the lines were low, but were unable to do much of the character greets/trails due to high traffic and crowds. They had technical difficulties getting Hallowishes started, I'm thinking that the anticipation must have ruined it for us, because we didn't think it was as good as others have stated. That being said, everyone is different and I respect everyone's unique opinions. We did like the Villains show and meet and greet, and it was a fun atmosphere. I'm just not sure if I would pay for it again. Next year's trip will be at MVMCP time, is this worth the ticket $?

We were there as well on 9/29. I think you had to time things correctly abot the crowds. Sure there were a lot of people, but it really wasn't that bad walking around. We did all things MNSSHP (in order of adventureland facepainting 7-7:15, 1st parade from Main street circle by Exposition Hall=got my pins while waiting, Stitch's Dance Party (9pm), Hallowishes (by Dumbo), Alice Treat Trail, Villian M&M (10:15pm), Adventureland Treat Trail, left at 11pm as 2nd parade ended aroudn the circle on Main street) and none of the rides (because we had spent the previous day there) and experienced none of the line issues discussed here or on other threads. Granted we did the Alice and Wonderland treat trail immediatley following Hallowishes and the Adventureland Treat Trail just prior to and during (we did it twice due to character shift change) the 2nd parade, hence absolutely no lines. For Alice it was a simple walkthrough and Adventureland treat trail was vacant, so vacant no one was in the building at all but us and maybe 3 or four families in line for Tarzan and Jane and they were the only characters with any line at all (others character queues were: 1st time- vacant, Rafiki, Tarzan and Jane; 2nd time- Orangutang from Jungle Book,Timon, Tarzan and Jane).

Besides if we wanted to do the rides we paid $36.95 each for my wife and myself, and $29.95 for each of our twins, Total $133.80. Considering this is for exclusive access to MK from 4pm to Midnight (8 hours) that is still quite a deal compared to 1 day tickets for all of us that would cost $246 for 12 hours of access to MK (assuming 9am to 9pm) with no low attendence guarantee.

I think the key for MNSHHP is that if you see a long line somewhere, go where there aren't any long lines, try back when a large event is happening (i.e parade) or the folks with small kids leave(at the end of the party). I have not seen any reports/complaints about long lines at the rides during 9/29 so there is always that as fallback activity. Personally I think my family got lucky just because we didn't go with the flow to the Castle/the Mountains/HM and the path we took (Adventureland Facepainting line (in line prior to 7pm) to Main Street Center to Tomorrowland to Fantasyland to Toon Town to Adventureland) seemed to be the path less traveled and focused on good spot for each activity we wanted to accomplsih for our kids(facepainting,parade, hallowishes). I should note that Stitch's Dance party and Villains M&M were totally spontaneous in each case we were headed for a Treat Trail, but saw each of these about to start on the signs and decided to participate and we adjusted our treat destinations accordingly based. It was probably the most relaxing time (and fun) that we had at MK.

Sorry for the length.

 

[welovedis]

We were underwhelmed as well, and we attended the first party on 9/15. I understand that the decorations for the Christmas Party will be more elaborate and we're looking forward to that. The entire time we were at the party (from start to finish) it was packed that night and it downpoured during the 1st parade. We kept going back to check some of the picture lines (like for Cinderella's coach) and waited in line a little after 11pm for about 20 mins to have our pics done--that was the shortest line for it that night.

While we enjoyed our time, it certainly was something that we'd say, been there done that, probably wouldn't do it again. And that's what is great about WDW there is something for everyone.

For the previous poster who mentioned exclusive access to the MK from 4-12, that is not exactly correct. You are allowed in at 4, but the day guests are still there until 7 pm (or when the CMs corral them out) so you have 5 hours of MK exclusive access not 8.

 

[hbehrman]

For the previous poster who mentioned exclusive access to the MK from 4-12, that is not exactly correct. You are allowed in at 4, but the day guests are still there until 7 pm (or when the CMs corral them out) so you have 5 hours of MK exclusive access not 8.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[plutojudy]

Forgot to mention a fun time we had with Mickey in Toontown. When we were next in line for a picture with Mickey, he spotted my husband's Chicago White Sox shirt and was very excited to see us. My husband now tells everyone the the Main Mouse, the Big Guy, is a White Sox fan. Mickey took my husband all around showing everyone his shirt. High fives, hugs and kisses for us both. Fun time!