MNSSHP $$$$$

[Sevey13]

But then, like my travel week, it squeezes all the day guests (who want to see MK at night or regular wishes) into 3 nights.

I'm confused by this, and forgive me if I am misunderstanding. But if you wanted to do maximum time in MK, why would you plan to go during any party period?

 

[Delirium]

We decided last night not to buy the tickets this year. We have a 12 night stay with a 10 day hopper, and were planning on doing the party on one of our 'off' days. But, the cost is too prohibitive. We liked the party in the past mainly because it allowed us to spend time in MK at night, which is hard to do with all of the other party days. Yes, the parade and fireworks were cool too, but it truly was the touring at night with reasonable crowds that was the draw for us. We'll bag a little more resort time this year, which is something we've not done much of in the past.

 

[Disneylover99]

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.

It has nothing to do with being able to buy candy cheaper outside the park. For us, it's just part of the Halloween experience. Some people like the shorter ride lines, fireworks, parades or character meet and greets best. We just happen to enjoy the trick or treat candy lines.

 

[Delirium]

I'm confused by this, and me if I am misunderstanding. But if you wanted to do maximum time in MK, why would you plan to go during any party period?

For us, it's when our kids are on fall break, we can both get off work, and the resort costs are cheaper. I wish we were able to lounge around all year with nothing to do but go to Disney, but life just didn't work out that way for us.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

This October will be our last Party. I'm going to buy tickets only because I told my daughters over a year ago we would go this year. We have gone to the Parks at least 2x a year for the last 10 years but this is the last trip for a while. The frequent, large price increases have left me feeling disenchanted.

 

[Lucius Best]

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.

You are correct, and we did something similar a few years ago, had a quick weekend trip and bought party tickets instead of park tickets. We were there from 4pm to 12am and the party tickets were cheaper than if we had purchased 1-day MK tickets so it was good value for us. Of course, that's not saying much, given how expensive a 1-day ticket is.

It's a different story for the many visitors on vacation for the week. If you have 7-day tickets, that's an average $50+ per day, it's a lot cheaper to add another park day for only $10 than to add party tickets for $72-$95. Similarly, knocking a day off your multi-day ticket is not going to save as much money as it will cost to add party tickets. I can see how some people might not see the value of adding party tickets on top of their multi-day tickets.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

This is all very subjective. The price difference from last year September is minimal and folks are still freaking out. It's all about budgeting. Budget budget budget. Your stress will melt. Or just stay home and do the Dells. Cheaper... Dirtier... Not Disney.

 

[Lucius Best]

I'm confused by this, and me if I am misunderstanding. But if you wanted to do maximum time in MK, why would you plan to go during any party period?

With all due respect, I think you are misunderstanding because you might have misread the original post. OP said they are going first week of October because that's their fall break. They might not have the luxury of going whenever they want. Also, no one said they were trying to "do maximum time in MK". Given OP's MNSSHP ticker, I'm guessing the party is a big part of the trip.

I can sympathize with OP's dilemma. They can bite the bullet and shell out a small fortune for the MNSSHP. Or they can save some money and skip the party, but that means getting kicked out of the MK at 7pm four nights out of the week, and huge nighttime crowds at MK on the non-party nights.

 

[gap2368]

Why are they so expensive!!!! I would like to watch the halloween parade and trick-or-treat with my kids, but I don't see that it is worth $600+ for my family of 6. We will have plenty of opportunity to see the fireworks from our hotel if we want. They went up about $30 a ticket so for us that's $150-200 increase and we probably won't stay till midnight to ride the rides. They kind of screw you over during that first week of Oct (which is our fall break) as a week long vacationer since they have a party on Sunday/Tuesday/Thurs/Fri of that week, so magic kingdom is only open past 7pm for guests with normal park tickets on Monday/Wednesday/Saturday. In my mind I wanted to go to a party because it's another night at the best park, but it's too costly. I was planning on this as a part of our vacation but now I'm thinking not. I will already be paying north of $2000 for week long tickets, I don't know why they would want to gouge me again. Maybe sales will be poor and they will discount tickets.

How are you getting 150 when Disney website say it starts at 72

 

[GillianP1301]

It has nothing to do with being able to buy candy cheaper outside the park. For us, it's just part of the Halloween experience. Some people like the shorter ride lines, fireworks, parades or character meet and greets best. We just happen to enjoy the trick or treat candy lines.

I agree with this and I admit I'm looking forward to the trick or treat lines because I know at Disney, as an adult, I can dress up and trick or treat just like a kid and right along side my son and it's perfectly acceptable - what's not to love about that?

 

[Lucius Best]

How are you getting 150 when Disney website say it starts at 72

You are exactly correct, prices start at $72. However, first week of October when OP said they are going to be there, depending on the day, adult price could be $85, $91, or $95. OP is exaggerating the $30 increase, it was probably more like $15, which is still ~20% increase. For a family of 6 they are likely paying around $100 more than they would last year.

 

[TwoMisfits]

This is all very subjective. The price difference from last year September is minimal and folks are still freaking out. It's all about budgeting. Budget budget budget. Your stress will melt. Or just stay home and do the Dells. Cheaper... Dirtier... Not Disney.

The lowest price difference is 6% - the highest is 28%+. After 10% increases last year, in 2 years of 1% inflation, Disney has raised the price of the party from 16% (for the lowest ticket) to 36% (for the highest one).

That's an enormous price increase to eat over 2 years for an event where you take on all the risk (since it's non-refundable) and Disney takes on none. If it rains and they cancel most of the special events, you get nothing back. If you get sick and can't go, you get nothing back. Etc, etc...

 

[cedricandsophie]

I guess I don't understand the economic issue. When we go to after hours And we do the very merry Christmas party almost every year we just don't go to any other park that day. So to me the cost of the party is still less than a day at the park. If you use a full day ticket plus a party ticket to me that would be a bad use of money. But I do realize we're lucky and go to WDW a couple times a year and may go to the parks one day out of ten days we are there

 

[mom2rtk]

I guess I don't understand the economic issue. When we go to after hours And we do the very merry Christmas party almost every year we just don't go to any other park that day. So to me the cost of the party is still less than a day at the park. If you use a full day ticket plus a party ticket to me that would be a bad use of money. But I do realize we're lucky and go to WDW a couple times a year and may go to the parks one day out of ten days we are there

Do you typically buy one day park tickets? I see this comment a lot, but it's really only valid when compared to the price of a 1 day ticket (or very short multi day ticket). Those visiting 4 or 5 days (or longer) can typically add another day to their ticket for just a few dollars more. We like visiting the MK on party day so we are deep into the park well in advance of party crowds arriving. We completely avoid Main Street from 4-7. And it costs very little to do that.

 

[HatboxHaint]

I'm confused by this, and me if I am misunderstanding. But if you wanted to do maximum time in MK, why would you plan to go during any party period?

When you have 4 school age kids you gotta pick the lesser of the four evils...xmas break, spring break, summer or fall break.

 

[HatboxHaint]

This is all very subjective. The price difference from last year September is minimal and folks are still freaking out. It's all about budgeting. Budget budget budget. Your stress will melt. Or just stay home and do the Dells. Cheaper... Dirtier... Not Disney.

The Dells are also 12hrs away from my house. Did I miss something and everyone else on the dis lives in Wisconsin?????

 

[HatboxHaint]

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

Hey there big spender, let me hold a dolla!

 

[HatboxHaint]

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.

Yeah I can get in at 4...the most crowded time of day! Hooray! Have you ever come into the park on a party day? you have to walk sideways down mainstreet and carry your stroller over your head.

 

[HatboxHaint]

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.

It is sad that they continue to take away things and charge more and still sell out. Pretty soon it will just be a decorated main street and spooky music and they'll be charging $150 a ticket.

 

[HatboxHaint]

We decided last night not to buy the tickets this year. We have a 12 night stay with a 10 day hopper, and were planning on doing the party on one of our 'off' days. But, the cost is too prohibitive. We liked the party in the past mainly because it allowed us to spend time in MK at night, which is hard to do with all of the other party days. Yes, the parade and fireworks were cool too, but it truly was the touring at night with reasonable crowds that was the draw for us. We'll bag a little more resort time this year, which is something we've not done much of in the past.

Very reasonable opinion!