We were at the party last night and had a great time!
Just me and my college-age daughter, and over the years we've gotten all the character photos we're interested in and aren't interested in candy, so that's very different from most people's party intentions, so this may or may not be helpful.
Parked and at the gates at 3:30. The turnstiles on the right side were lined up with party-goers, the first lines on the left (of the right turnstiles) were for paper tickets, the rest for magic bands or carded tickets. We were through the turnstiles, got our wristbands, and on Main Street at 3:50.
We'd made FP+ as close as possible and I'd written off our first one 3:05-4:05 thinking we wouldn't make it, but we did! (Big Thunder).
We then rode Pirates and crossed back over to our 2nd FP at Space at 5:00 (4:05-5:05) and then back through Fasntasyland (7DMT was closed/down for unknown amount of time) and over Haunted Mansion for the third at 5:30 (5:05-6:05). Once we'd knocked out our FP+ ride times, we stopped in at the Frontierland Post for the party pin.
We wandered back up Main Street taking photos and then popped in to get out Sorcerer's card. (They mark your party band with an S at that point so you don't get duplicates.)
We stopped for a snack and to people watch, wandered, came across the dance party starting up with the Monsters at the stage near Space Mountain.
Back around through Fantasyland, checked 7DMT, standby at 40 minutes, so decided to wait that out. Hopped on walk-on Pooh instead and back to Haunted Mansion to watch some of the performance and get our special photopass with the ghost driving the horseless carriage. That line is on the right of the FP line area at HM.
Our plan was to be in the back corner before the first parade started to ride Splash. Walk-on with our own log.
As we came out, we came across the three hitchhiking ghosts set up and got in what we thought was the line behind the photographer while she worked with the group. Another group of about 12 people came up behind us at which point she turned and said "guys, my line is over here" -- basically the other side of the round planter from where we were. So the big group flips around and now we're behind them. And it starts to rain. Great. Thinking we'd just missed our shot, as she said to the big group in front of us, "we have to do this quick, I can't shoot in the rain." But they were actually two families together who needed two sets and one of the guys put an umbrella up over her. So we pulled ours out and sort of passed it around while she finished up them and us before it really got going. She moved her gear off under the covered porch area and we went with her to pull out our ponchos. After we'd suited up, she was standing there with a man who I assumed was her manager and I decided to ask if she knew where we could get the poison apple special shot. She didn't know, but he did and said, "You can do that." He pulled out a guide and helped her get the settings and we took it under the porch while the rain was pouring. We're in ponchos and my daughter joked it would be ala Breaking Bad with meth hazmat suits for the poison.
After that we tromped off into the rain, trying to get through the bottlenecks of people who were trying to take cover. It had started up just before the first parade should have gotten going, and there were still some in Frontierland trying to hold their spots, but most were all under the covered porches. We tried getting into Columbia House, but they were just closing (?) with the woman at the front doors trying to keep anyone else from entering.
So we went over to Pinocchio's Village House and grabbed a bite. Still raining when we came back out, so we headed for Main Street. Everyone had abandoned their parade posts by that point, no one on the curbs at all, but the rain was clearly letting up, and our feet were tired, so we staked out a place and, sure enough, about 10 minutes later we heard the announcement that the parade would be starting in 10 minutes! The first parade got to Main Street at 9:50.
After the parade we went to the hump in the middle of Main Street and stood. Sure enough, announcement that Wishes would be starting soon. So everything had been delayed but nothing cancelled. Not really crowded at all. After the fireworks, we moved forward to the other side of the Partners statue with the slightly raised vantage point of the Castle stage. At this point, it seems like all the folks who hadn't bailed for the rain had clued in that things were going again on Main Street, so this was the most crowded it had been around us all night.
Still enjoyed the show and then cut back to Fantasyland after it was over, at around 11:15 7DMT was a walk-on!
We walked-on to Peter Pan after that!
Since this was a single one-day trip for us, getting to ride all our favorites rides with no waits, as well as the parade, fireworks, and show in one evening was exactly what we wanted, even with the hour of rain issues.
As we were leaving Fantasyland we realized the second parade was coming across the bridge from Liberty Square, at midnight! I was surprised they ran it a second time so late. The last castle show geared up after that. We sat outside and ate our sundaes (got the Poison Apple cup -- it's HUGE! Be sure to share) and watched the show from afar. Got the animated photopass shot done on a pretty quiet Main Street while the show was finishing up and got the the monorail in the sweet spot between all the folks who left after the parade but ahead of the final show crowd. No wait for the monorail or the tram at the TTC. We'd gotten there early enough that we were parked in the Heroes lot while it appeared the later party drivers were directed into Villains. The Heroes tram area was sparsely populated compared to the wait for the Villains tram.
(We checked out our Photopass pictures before heading for bed and it looks like I need to send in a note to get the poison apple stuff added. Right now, we're still standing there holding and reacting to air. Not sure if they can do it, but worth an ask.) All the other shots, including the animated one, were there.
Don't know if that helps anyone planning for upcoming parties, since our interests didn't include any of the special character meets or Trick or Treats line.
Great time!
