MNSSHP $$$$$

[MakiraMarlena]

I guess I'm just not that interested in Wishes, having seen it a number of times. Or I can see it outside the park. I try to stay out of that park when everybody else is there. Like in October at night (pretty much all of October)

 

[Mitzicat]

I'm hoping maybe they announce some new benefits or for those that one them...character meets.

 

[Violet Parr]

Yes, but WE cannot add a day to our tickets because they are discounted through my husband's work. So for us, we would have to buy a full 1-day ticket...which apparently would be about the same price as a 5-hour party ticket! Madness.

Not to be argumentative AT ALL, but our family never spends more than 8 hours at the parks in one day. Considering you can arrive at the parks with your party ticket starting at 4pm and stay until 12pm, it ends up being the same value as a regular park day, EXCEPT, we get tons and tons of candy, special parade (really the best one at Disney, IMO) and a lot of holiday fun.

Again, not trying to argue, but for some perspective, in the case of our family, they haven't crossed the cost-benefit value threshold into overpriced for us just yet. Expensive? Yes. Absolutely. They were expensive before the price hikes. Still a decent value for us. Last Halloween trip, we only did the party and then did all of the non-park Disney things we say we are going to do but never get around to. We did Winter Summerland (omg, so much fun) and spent a LONG time at Disney Springs. Visited resorts we never visit and had great meals there, etc.

Just our family's POV.
VP

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I don't think the price increase is going to deter people at all. People will pay the price, I did. Mind you I'm Sept 2nd so cheaper night, but if I were going in October, I would pay what they're asking. And I know I'm not alone because I tried to call in today to cancel another Pirates & Pals (putting that $ towards the Halloween Dessert Party) and the hold time was close to an hour and I'm sure that is with MNSSHP people either trying to get tickets or to sort out their lack of confirmation emails that seems to be a problem this morning.

I agree with previous posts about this being a pretty basic supply/demand exercise and IMO, the tiering in the price based on date is a direct result of supply/demand, they are likely not trying to decrease attendance, but they could be trying to even out the attendance. Only time will tell if/when we start to see sellouts.

What I would love to know and likely never will, is if they are selling fewer tickets per event this year than previous years (I'm assuming yes because of more dates and because of the % of price increase).

A surprising number of parties sold out last year, so in not surprised to see such a big increase in prices. If DAH had been more successful, I think they would have been more expensive. We don't think MNSSHP is worth it anymore, but in the FB groups I participate in I am in the minority. I do think you might see people shift their party days from weekends to weekdays though.

I don't think Disney will lower the cap on attendance though, so any decrease in crowds will be the result of the ticket increases.

 

[PrincessV]

Well, for the first time in many years, we're out. We've been going to MNSSHP on Halloween for almost a decade, but no more: the price has officially outpaced the value of the party for us. It's been a fun ride, Mickey, but we've hit out limit.

 

[HatboxHaint]

Not to be argumentative AT ALL, but our family never spends more than 8 hours at the parks in one day. Considering you can arrive at the parks with your party ticket starting at 4pm and stay until 12pm, it ends up being the same value as a regular park day, EXCEPT, we get tons and tons of candy, special parade (really the best one at Disney, IMO) and a lot of holiday fun.

Again, not trying to argue, but for some perspective, in the case of our family, they haven't crossed the cost-benefit value threshold into overpriced for us just yet. Expensive? Yes. Absolutely. They were expensive before the price hikes. Still a decent value for us. Last Halloween trip, we only did the party and then did all of the non-park Disney things we say we are going to do but never get around to. We did Winter Summerland (omg, so much fun) and spent a LONG time at Disney Springs. Visited resorts we never visit and had great meals there, etc.

Just our family's POV.
VP

I think the operative word is "can" in the "you can stay until 12pm", you "can" but really will you? At a party that hands out candy and tout's that it is not-so-scary, I would think there would be a lot of small kids that "can't" make it that long.

My only experience was during a crowded party in 2014, so take this with a grain of salt. If you have children, they basically charge the adult price, and many kids (not all) will be doing good to make it through the fireworks before being ready to exit the park or ready to be carried out more likely.) Yes there are the people who will emphatically tell you their 4 yr-old stayed up till midnight and so forth.) So before the party is crowded, yes you can get FP+, but there is no party atmosphere or low ride times before 7pm, its just normal if not even busier than normal park time. (A normal park day would include the ability to be there at rope drop and see the benefits of 1-3 rides with short lines, the only way to achieve that with the MNSSHP is to stay past fireworks, hard to do with littles) Then at 7pm you get 1hr of trick or treating and ride time. Then you need to run to a parade spot. Then you can see the castle show. Then run to a fireworks spot and with little ones and granma that is about it, exit stage left. Last year we got in line for 7 dwarves M&G before the party started, but not much before and we did not get done till after the first parade. We saw the castle show, fireworks and stayed thru the 2nd parade, which my 3 yr old son slept thru. I was looking forward to a re-do with more trick-or-treating but it's become hard to justify.


Your argument that you get candy is invalid. It's not made of gold and it's handed out by CM's with rubber gloves not Mickey himself. No amount of normal candy is going to balance out a $110 ticket. It isn't even branded with disney characters or anything unique.

I will concede the parade is special and invokes all the feels.

Fireworks are great too, but can be eyeballed from outside the park.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Woo-hoo! Party tickets. I'm happy the September date we chose is still cheap. This works out well for us.

 

[mgpan]

Yes, but WE cannot add a day to our tickets because they are discounted through my husband's work. So for us, we would have to buy a full 1-day ticket...which apparently would be about the same price as a 5-hour party ticket! Madness.

Remember, to make crowds heavier for those going on party days, ticket holders can get in at like 4, so it's more like 8 hours. Still, yes, madness. But if folks have the money and want to spend it, guess they will and Bob will smile all the way to the shareholders meeting.

 

[epcotty]

I predict definitely not as many will pay the party prices now and far fewer parties will be sold out. Any value they had is gone now

 

[Cupcakesmum]

We had originally planned to go but now we'll weigh the benefit. An extra park ticket would be sooooooooo much cheaper for our family. We've been twice including the slightly crazy first party last year. Also with tiered pricing the cheaper day wasn't our planned party day so it slightly messes up our tentative plan. I agree with a PPer. Disney has made planning this trip a ride of its own!

 

[laura3773]

We're out this year. Going in October with military tickets means we can add water parks to our 3 tickets for the cost of one Halloween ticket... And we'll use two water park allotments if we do that.

 

[Huff]

The very first year we went we bought tickets day of for $40/ea. Seemed expensive then but looking back guess it was cheap! We didn't mind paying it because of the entertainment and back then at the parties ride lines were non existent. We walked on nearly everything with an occasional 5 minute wait on some.

When they now charge $90-$105 and ride wait times aren't all that short the value drops considerably. Sure there is the parade and fireworks but there are great parades and fireworks other nights too. Are the party versions enough to warrant the high price? This will be the last year we go to MN$$HP. Going because of kids only chance to go.

 

[Oswin]

It would be really nice if the price point did bring down the crowds at the parties. I went to 6 of them across September and October last year and they were all packed to the point it felt like any other operating day/time.

OP, if you really want to watch the Halloween fireworks, go to the dock at the TTC or the beach at the poly and watch them. The trick or treating is fun, but the lines for every candy station were so long last year that you didn't get as much as in years past so it wasn't very fun. You'll be better off buying a big bag of $10 candy at amazon, having it delivered to your resort, and then doing your own version of dumping candy in bags for your kids from wherever you're watching the fireworks.

 

[Huff]

Not to be argumentative AT ALL, but our family never spends more than 8 hours at the parks in one day. Considering you can arrive at the parks with your party ticket starting at 4pm and stay until 12pm, it ends up being the same value as a regular park day, EXCEPT, we get tons and tons of candy, special parade (really the best one at Disney, IMO) and a lot of holiday fun.

Not many people just buy a 1 day ticket for WDW. Locals often have AP's and vacationers buy multi-day. We will be paying $47/day for our park tickets, not the $91 that MS$$HP costs.

 

[minorthr]

Don't forget to add the desert party for another $74 per person

 

[Pesky]

First timers will typically always go. This will cut down on the repeat visitors who aren't head over heels in love with the parties. So...it could marginally reduce crowds at parties that didn't sell out or barely sold out before.

Yep, we are first-timers (well, the kids anyway) so we are going to splurge for this. Prices were higher than I anticipated but still within budget. I certainly understand the disappointment though at the pricing.

 

[HatboxHaint]

It would be really nice if the price point did bring down the crowds at the parties. I went to 6 of them across September and October last year and they were all packed to the point it felt like any other operating day/time.

OP, if you really want to watch the Halloween fireworks, go to the dock at the TTC or the beach at the poly and watch them. The trick or treating is fun, but the lines for every candy station were so long last year that you didn't get as much as in years past so it wasn't very fun. You'll be better off buying a big bag of $10 candy at amazon, having it delivered to your resort, and then doing your own version of dumping candy in bags for your kids from wherever you're watching the fireworks.

Haha I love this, wdwprepschool should make a graphic with those exact instructions...how to save a family $400 on their next wdw trip.

 

[HatboxHaint]

Don't forget to add the desert party for another $74 per person

Oh yes we must do that! Pass me that $75 minicupcake while I peek around the terrace roof at an off angle view of the castle!

 

[HatboxHaint]

Yep, we are first-timers (well, the kids anyway) so we are going to splurge for this. Prices were higher than I anticipated but still within budget. I certainly understand the disappointment though at the pricing.

First Timers should go! No regerts!

 

[MolonLabe]

I can never wrap my mind around the "candy" thing. It's just bizarre seeing people walk out with pillowcases full of candy.. I don't get it. Way cheaper to just buy the candy, lol.

Anyway, we've done MNSSHP a few times now. Hit a couple of TorT lines but never made a point more than that.

The Halloween party is by far my favorite and I was planning on doing it again this year... was anyway. Sort of like the AP's, there comes a point when doing other things becomes a "lets do that now" instead of "yeah lets do that one day.".

I would pay higher prices but only if Disney was selling less tickets. They aren't. Last year I think virtually every party sold out. So it makes sense to raise prices. Heck we went last year we were going to go on Sunday initially but they sold out and I remember thinking "glad we didn't do this one. We went on a Tuesday in the middle of Sept and that party sold out as well. On top of it no Villain mix and mingle either?

Disney is going to succeed at making folks like me into once every few year visitors. They don't want repeat guests and every single step they've taken over the last 2~ years has proven that.