Moonlight Magic not so Magic

[dawne98]

We had a great time we went on 2/25!
We did all miss the ice cream but the food was good and FREE IS FOR ME!
We only had a wait on Peter pan, haunted mansion and pirates of the Caribbean... we did see long line for the seven dwarfs ride but a little wait for Pooh but we walked on little mermaid, dumbo it's a small world....
Nothing is never as good as the 1st time and they did out do them self last year!

 

[SeaPic]

It was a non park trip for us so I really appreciated the free event (2/24). I didn't manage mine or my families expectations and so we all felt meh about the event. I'm just sharing our opinions to help others have a great time.

What worked for us:
Checking in at the hotel took no time and they had maps so we could look at them on the boat ride over.
After bag check a CM with a mobile megaphone directed us to the line for banded folks and we walked right in at about 8:15.
CMs directing members "Welcome Home" the back way behind Main Street.
Getting in early so my kids could ride Carousel of Progress for the first time (up until now they haven't appreciated the history).
The welcome at 10pm by Ken Potrock
Unique characters - we didn't wait for any but it was cool to see them anyway.
Fireworks.
Transportation back to resort - bus was right there and I saw another pull in as we left.

What didn't work for us (managing expectations)
The food - We had dinner and aren't folks who eat a meal at 10pm anyway. I ended up waiting in a crazy mess for soda, water, a cookie and a couple apple slices. Yes I would have paid for a Mickey bar if available.

We did not experience any walk on rides - most felt longer than a Halloween or Christmas party.

Before Park close we did C of P, People Mover (longest line I have ever seen - probably because of the 100s of DVC members being funneled that way due to folks already lined up on Main Street) and Winnie the Pooh.

After 10pm we did IASW, Peter Pan (moved steady but felt long), Mine Train (also steady but long) and Pirates. Honestly it was wonderful on the other side of the park. But it was 12:45 and my crew just wanted to leave.

If I had to do it again I would have done CoP and gone around to the other side of the park. Then made my way back to Fantasyland later when lines might have been shorter.

 

[stormer]

Do you know what was the attendance on 2/25?

We were at the event on 2/25 and a CM told us there were 15,000 people allowed in.
We had a great time and really enjoyed it. We love characters so we waited for three, but the character lines were really long, as we expected. We waited 30 minutes for Bowler Hat Guy, 30 minutes for Chicken Little, and 15 minutes for Genie and Abu.

 

[bumbershoot]

Before Park close we did C of P, People Mover (longest line I have ever seen - probably because of the 100s of DVC members being funneled that way due to folks already lined up on Main Street) and Winnie the Pooh.

People mover had been closed. It was when we came in! So you probably got hit with the line as it was back up and running.

I ended up waiting in a crazy mess for soda, water, a cookie and a couple apple slices. Yes I would have paid for a Mickey bar if available.

They also had chicken nuggets that my cousin said were VERY good. I had a veggie burger from tomorrowland that was delish.

 

[kittylady1972]

This was our first DVC event and it was just my 14yo daughter and myself attending at the very last minute. I have to say I really enjoyed it overall.

We had been in airports and on planes most of the day, so arriving at the park at 8:30pm and then eating dinner at 10pm worked for us. I liked that we could get real food but yes I also would have preferred a Mickey bar over cookies. We got in line at Cosmic Rays RIGHT at 10pm and waited about 15 minutes or so for food. We didn't try to get any food anywhere else later in the evening.

Loved seeing the unique characters but didn't want to wait in line for them. Daughter really wanted to do rides with just 3 days at the parks for us.

I think we waited in line for SM about 20 minutes at just after 9pm. We were in line for the TTA when it stopped as we were at the bottom of the ramp and about to go up. We had to leave the line when they closed the ride. We went back later in the night to ride though, probably between 11pm and 12am.

LOVED that Mickey and Minnie were dancing at the dance party! So much fun to watch. LOVED the music playing in the streets. Loved that it wasn't crowded or didn't seem like it and at just 10 minutes before fireworks we could move around easily in the HUb area, get a quick photo done and sit on the curb to watch the fireworks. LOVED the fireworks!

We skipped out on 7DMT because the line did look long, but we did ride Pooh, the Carousel and the Speedway as well as BTMRR. I thing BTMRR was about 20 minutes when we rode it right after the fireworks.

We had intended to do Pirates after that but it was close to 12:30am and line looked long and we didn't want to wait that long. Instead we went to Haunted Mansion instead and we were the ONLY ones in line for it. Yes...ONLY ones to walk all the way through the interactive queue, only ones in the stretch room. The CM told us it was the only time we could take flash photography so we had her take our photo in an EMPTY stretch room. BTW the only time the HM ride is scary...is when you are the ONLY ones on it!

That was our last ride before the park closed and I must say I'd definitely do it again just because it was such a unique experience.

 

[KBoopaloo]

We went to the 3/3 Moonlight Magic and had a great time. It was actually less crowded than I expected (once we got past the crowd of everyone entering for the party passing everyone leaving from the regular day). We arrived around 8:40 and made our way to behind the castle to watch Wishes (my favorite spot to watch).

I didn't see anyone else mention this but there was a small fire behind the bathrooms by Gaston's right after Wishes. No big deal and I realize it happens somewhat often in that area after fireworks but hearing the sirens and smelling and seeing the billowing smoke was a bit odd! LOL

The biggest crowds we encountered were for the free food. We only got cookies, apples, chips and drinks because no one in my group was interested in eating chicken nuggets or hot dogs at that time of night. I would have guessed it would be cheaper for them to provide free ice cream bars and popcorn than to have to staff all of these quick service locations with people actually preparing hot food but I won't complain about free snacks!

We did not bother with any of the characters (not our thing) but we enjoyed the festive atmosphere and loved walking down a nearly empty Main Street on our way out. It was a great night for us anyway.

 

[Amw1064]

We went to the 3/3 Moonlight Magic and had a great time. It was actually less crowded than I expected (once we got past the crowd of everyone entering for the party passing everyone leaving from the regular day). We arrived around 8:40 and made our way to behind the castle to watch Wishes (my favorite spot to watch).

I didn't see anyone else mention this but there was a small fire behind the bathrooms by Gaston's right after Wishes. No big deal and I realize it happens somewhat often in that area after fireworks but hearing the sirens and smelling and seeing the billowing smoke was a bit odd! LOL

The biggest crowds we encountered were for the free food. We only got cookies, apples, chips and drinks because no one in my group was interested in eating chicken nuggets or hot dogs at that time of night. I would have guessed it would be cheaper for them to provide free ice cream bars and popcorn than to have to staff all of these quick service locations with people actually preparing hot food but I won't complain about free snacks!

We did not bother with any of the characters (not our thing) but we enjoyed the festive atmosphere and loved walking down a nearly empty Main Street on our way out. It was a great night for us anyway.

We saw that!

 

[recmouse]

I asked a CM on the way in on 3/3 and they told me they had 18,000 people registered. I agree with others that due to the large crowds, it didn't have that 'special' feel.

When I was discussing the wait times with my husband he said the same thing another poster stated here... that Disney probably bumps them up to get people out of the park.

We stopped a few times for snacks... the celery and carrots with the dip were great as were the apple slices. That was good because we just grabbed them and were on our way. We got chicken nuggets and hot dogs after the fireworks (now it was Saturday so we could eat meat!) There was barely a wait. The chicken nuggets were surprisingly good but the hot dog just wasn't cooked enough for me.

All in all, I truly appreciated this event from DVC. This was the first trip in a while that I felt being a DVC member got me some extras. Pretty much everywhere we went we were asked if we had any discounts. We took advantage of it several times at restaurants and with merchandise. I definitely notice that DVC is putting an effort into it's members and the perks.

 

[ProgressCity]

I actually came to the Dis Boards today to see what people were saying about the Moonlight Magic event. We loved it! I brought some friends who don't get to go the parks regularly. They were amazed at everything that was included in this free event. As soon as I saw that there weren't Mickey bars, I told them, "I would bet you anything there are people online right now complaining about there not being Mickey Bars," and they looked at me like I was crazy. They insisted I was joking, that people couldn't be complaining about there not being free Mickey Bars when there were free hot dogs, chicken nuggets (that were more like nugget sized tenders), cookies, chips, apple slices, veggies, and soda. They couldn't believe that when given a free event to spend hours in the park and watch a very expensive fireworks show that people would be miffed at not getting a free ice cream that is normally $4.25.

I'm glad so many people got in and could enjoy it! I believe they said 15,000 people were there. The fireworks really surprised me with how good they were. I thought it would be a token fireworks show, just something little, but this was really good and a nice change since I've seen Wishes so many times. We found that the lines looked long but ended up being short waits because of how they had the queues roped. We rode BTMR and SDMT which was a real treat because the lines are usually too long. It was only our second time riding SDMT and I had completely forgotten what it was like.

It was a night to remember for us!

 

[cobbler]

I had a great time. I went on 2/25 and missed the fireworks because I had just flown in that morning and also was doing the 10k the next morning. I did get a survey about it and did state I thought it was great. Free entrance to the park, free food, unusual characters, great fireworks (or so I hear) show.... Something they don't even have to do but did.

 

[Ansky]

Was anyone able to attend both events on 2/24 and 3/3 for a comparison of the two?

 

[mj2vacation]

Was anyone able to attend both events on 2/24 and 3/3 for a comparison of the two?

We went to both. They were the same. Crowd levels, fireworks. Food were all identical. Only thing we noticed was that the fireworks started about 15 minutes late on the first night.