"Official" 2015 MNSSHP thread

[disneyfantotheend]

I can't see most of the pictures posted. I have to try on my computer at home. Can it have something to do with my settings?

 

[pcbianchini]

Thanks to all who have posted on last night's party. It is going to be a big help when I attend on Sept. 27. It will be my first MNSSHP and we are beyond excited.

 

[ShinyRedGloss]

Does anyone know if Disney streamlines subsequent parties? I mean since the first party seemed chaotic, does Disney make changes to things like traffic control?

Our party is October 27th (Tuesday before Halloween) and these reports are troubling. I had assumed that later parties would have larger crowds and limited merchandise, but it sounds like the merchandise won't even make it to October and a sold out crowd isn't different from a normal park day. Lining up at 4 for Jack and Sally? Really? Well, I guess I'm going to have to rethink our itinerary.

 

[kmrada]

Think about it. It would take 10 people purchasing the Hocus Pocus shirts at the maximum 30 allowed to sell out, if there truly are 300. I would say no chance of getting those shirts unless you want to pay lots of money online.

For those of us going later who will luck out on those "limited run" park shirts maybe you could try and get yourself one of these limited edition ones from the Disney Park Online Store:http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...-parks-online-store-from-september21-27-2015/

 

[smitch425]

Where in Frontierland is the best spot to sit for the 2nd parade? Thanks!

We sit across the street from the pretzel cart. If you plan to take pictures, you'll want to sit anywhere on the same side as CBJ and Diamond Horseshoe to avoid some of the bright lighting.

 

[disneydude365]

Does anyone have a link to the party magic band? I doubt it'll be around for Halloween night, haha.

Here you go I had same debate due the 27th oct so I figured play it safe and order one early (little more $ but worth it to me since I've really been hoping to get one!)
http://www.yourwdwstore.net/Disney-...ot-So-Scary-Halloween-Party-2015_p_38339.html

 

[ldymcbth]

I appreciate hearing all of the stories from the opening party - look forward to reports from upcoming ones. I think for now, I've decided not to purchase tickets for a second party.

 

[shameless3]

I was there last night as well and enjoyed myself....but...I was disappointed in the crowds. I was at a sold out MVMCP party last year and thought the crowds were worse last night. I did not do character meets, very few rides and still had a hard time fitting everything in. It took a very long time to move anywhere even away from main streer/hub area. The treat lines moved pretty fast (except for Stitch area), the problem was the adults who were getting 4+ bags filled at a time, and not for their kids, I guess they were desperate to have a snickers bite sized treat?

I think the projection show was exactly the same as a normal day at the park, at least from what I remember. The parade and hallowwishes were amazing. I did think that most of the crowd would disappear after the fireworks (or at least ones with small children) however most people stayed until the bitter end. It took about 80 min to catch a resort bus back home at 12:30 departure, getting to bed around 2 am.

One good thing was the "extras" I received from cast during the night. Since they loved my costume I ended up getting a bunch of fast passes to use wherever I wanted, free pins and even free food from the snack carts

 

[smitch425]

We got our magic bands today! We used our MNSSHP costume names as usual...


Come on October 15th!!! Lol

 

[Disneymom1126]

We got our magic bands today! We used our MNSSHP costume names as usual

We used our costume names too and I'm going to decorate them when they get here...should ship around the beginning of next week!!

 

[rhondag508]

We got our magic bands today! We used our MNSSHP costume names as usual...View attachment 124183


Come on October 15th!!! Lol

Ours came today too!!

 

[tchrrx]

We used our costume names too and I'm going to decorate them when they get here...should ship around the beginning of next week!!

Ours came last week. DD didn't want her costume name, but DH and I put Flynn and Gothel on ours.

I just received an email that our costumes have shipped!

We are going to Disney on Ice this weekend to celebrate 25 days until Disney!

 

[crostorfer]

so were the crowds REALLY that bad? Does anyone know how long the wait was for the dwarves and if it got short during the parade or fireworks? I think that's the only special characters he'd love to meet (he recently discovered them after watching snow white)

We are going next Tuesday and I'm hoping the crowds aren't like they were last night. I'm hoping the media was the large part of last night's crowd.

I am thinking it will be rides, candy, and fireworks and catching the parade if we pass by it.

The Mine Train was broken the majority of the night. Anyone that bought a party ticket to ride that ride in particular was out of luck.

 

[crostorfer]

I'm sorry but I have to laugh at people complaining that the parade line was three people deep. I honestly don't understand how this is insane.

You have to understand the context of the complaint. Those of us who started going pre-2011, it didn't use to be this way. The party sold fewer tickets and it was a more exclusive event. 3 people deep, especially in Frontierland, would have been unheard of in September. Each year I have watched this event grow more and more crowded, with less to do, and it is surprising that it was as crowded as it was last night.

 

[crostorfer]

For those who were here yesterday, did the Hocus Pocus shirts go on sale at 4pm? I would really like one of those!

Our only 3 must dos are the first parade, the first or second show, and meeting Pooh and friends. We'll just have to find a way to make that work!

Those shirts were a test limited to 300, and people were buying armloads at a time. If they are still there after this weekend I'll be surprised.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I was there last night as well and enjoyed myself....but...I was disappointed in the crowds. I was at a sold out MVMCP party last year and thought the crowds were worse last night. I did not do character meets, very few rides and still had a hard time fitting everything in. It took a very long time to move anywhere even away from main streer/hub area. The treat lines moved pretty fast (except for Stitch area), the problem was the adults who were getting 4+ bags filled at a time, and not for their kids, I guess they were desperate to have a snickers bite sized treat?

I think the projection show was exactly the same as a normal day at the park, at least from what I remember. The parade and hallowwishes were amazing. I did think that most of the crowd would disappear after the fireworks (or at least ones with small children) however most people stayed until the bitter end. It took about 80 min to catch a resort bus back home at 12:30 departure, getting to bed around 2 am.

One good thing was the "extras" I received from cast during the night. Since they loved my costume I ended up getting a bunch of fast passes to use wherever I wanted, free pins and even free food from the snack carts

80 minutes for a resort bus? I assume you had to wait in a long line for the bus?

 

[melana]

I really hope things work themselves out before my party night of 10/25..but then again it is Halloween week so I am sure we are doomed.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

OK. Here is my review of the first

We dressed as Baloo and Don Karnage from Tale Spin. Most CMs thought I was someone from Teasure Planet...now I need to watch that.

We arrived around 5 on the bus from AKL.

There was a lot of people waiting for wristbands once we entered.

We got our candy bags, they have Aladdin on one side and The Good Dinosaur on the other.

We got our special party sorcerer's cards first thing. There was someone outside the firehouse handing them out, they made a mark on our wristband with a marker.

We had a FP+, then we decided to eat at Columbia Harbour before the party. We were done eating around 6:30 pm. We walked towards the circus area, the dwarves line looked like a monster, and I mean like a scary Dracula type monster, not like a cute Mike Wazowski monster.

Jack and Sally's line was very long, but they had started to meet earlier so it was moving. They are back in the empty circus tent by the train station. We had to ask several CMs where certain characters were meeting until we found Donald's line. Donald, Daisy and Minnie meet in the circus splash area (the water is turned off, the sound is not and is super annoying). You first meet Minnie, then you meet Donald and Daisy together. But they all had the same line. We were second in line at about 15 til 7 pm. The characters came out right at 7, but Donald had a problem with his pumpkin and turned right back around. We met Minnie and Daisy and were luckily allowed to wait a few minutes until Donald came back. He ended up leaving again 2 minutes later. Goofy meets somewhere near Barnstormer in his regular, everyday daredevil outfit. So if you want to see him, see him before the party starts.

We were done with them at 5 minutes after 7. Cruella meets at the train station, so we got into her line which was probably a mistake. She was incredibly chatty with everyone and take took a 15 minute break around 8, so we didn't meet her until 8:15. She was a very fun meet though. Lots of dalmatian puppies in her line. Thought they'd be running away from her, not to her.

The whole Storybook Circus area was packed. The lines were all very long and there were plenty of people just kind of wandering around or standing around.

We headed to the Alice characters, who had two separate lines near the tea cups. The Queen of Hearts was meeting by herself and had one line which was a manageable looking line, but she was leaving for the first parade and we didn't think we'd make it so we moved on. Alice and the Mad Hatter met next to her and had their own, very long line. I think the White Rabbit was supposed to be with the Queen, but he wasn't there when we went by.

At that point the 7DMT had a listed 30 minute wait. We were on our way to Adventureland but saw Snow White meeting by the castle walls in Fantasyland. Her line was decently long, but she is the same as she is before the party, so meet her before or a different day (unless you have a Snow White costume, of course).

The 7 dwarves line was still insanely long. Anna and Elsa's line said 20 minutes, but I'm not sure of the accuracy of that.

The HM area was packed with people and it was hard to move, so we kept going (we never did manage to make it back).

Jafar was out meeting, but he was leaving soon for the parade. We found the Tarzan characters, they were under a roof but we ended up moving by the Treehouse, so not exactly sure where they will end up meeting. Tarzan and Jane were going to have a 15 minute break, but the CM let us all stay in line if we wanted them while Turk met with the people who only wanted to meet her. The interaction with those 3 was very good, but the line moves very slowly because the characters take their time interacting. Jack Sparrow's line seemed very long and there was no special Pirate Radio music playing.

At this point it was 930 and we headed towards the castle for fireworks. There was actually a bit of space inside the FP+ area. I think people are trained to know they can't go in there, so there was space to go in and sit down. We saw the castle projection show which was the same as it was when we saw it the other night. Hallowishes was great as always, but it kind of seemed shorter. Not sure if that is true or not.

After the fireworks we split up to look for parade spots. There was actually plently of space on Main Street at that point, but we sat in Frontierland next to the Country Bear Jamboree scrim. We were in place about 45 minutes before the second parade, and good thing. In the areas that had space we saw the people were 5 rows deep. I know some posters are laughing at this and saying no big deal...but I've been to many MNSSHPs before (some of them sold out) and I've never seen anything like that in Frontierland for the second parade. Maybe you got 2 rows deep, but this was insane.

I went to buy a pin at the Frontier shop while my boyfriend saved our spots. The store was very chaotic. There were weird, snaking lines for the registers and no one knew where to go and it was just crazy. I finally ended up getting my pin and went back for the parade.

The headless horseman was awesome as usual and rode about 5-10 minutes before the parade. Fun fact, the headless horseman's horse is either named Kahn or Chief, we went to visit the stables earlier in the week and got to meet both the horses.

The parade had differences. No graveyard caretaker and dog (maybe they were just sick for that parade?) No candy was handed out. Oogie Boogie is in the parade this year walking at the end. No crocodile from Peter Pan.

At this point there was only half an hour left in the party. I think the pushed back times really negatively affect the usually emptier time at the end of the night. We followed the ropes behind the parade and were lucky to be first in line to meet the Snow White hag at Hall of Presidents when she returned from her break. She came back at 11:45. We were first to meet her, her handler said that Lotso was staying out until midnight so we raced back to try to see him. His line closed at 1150 and he ended up leaving 5 minutes early at 1155. We ended up hopping on the TTA and then seeing most of the last Hocus Pocus show. A lot of other people also stayed to watch the show. Main Street was packed with people getting pictures and photopass pics and shopping on Main Street. I always thought the shops closed at exactly midnight previous years, but this year the Main Street shops stayed open. The Hocus Pocus shirts were gone by that time.

We did a couple treat trails and some places only gave one piece of candy. We saw some very long treat lines.

We left the park around 1230 and had to wait for 4 buses for AKL. I don't know why but the AKL must have been jam packed with people, our bus line was spilling out of the queue and way back along the walkway.

My overall impression of the party was not good.

We've been going for about 5 years now. Every year they seem to cut things and just increase the price. If they didn't increase the number of tickets this year I'll eat my left foot. We were at sold out parties last year and they weren't this bad. But then again, it could have seemed like more people since there were less special party events like characters to meet and dance parties.

We got the least done at this party than any other we've ever been too. All the character lines were very long (probably because so many characters have been cut from the parties). I also think the different timing of the parades and fireworks takes away from that last, usually empty, golden hour of the parties.

I'm not judging the people who go to the party for short ride waits, and I think they had a good time during the first party. Personally, I do not pay extra for these events to go on rides or meet characters that are available every day. I was disappointed in the number of special characters. The villains that are available are: Lotso, Jafar, Cruella, Snow White Hag,Queen of Hearts and Gaston (who is available to meet any day). Then there are special rare characters who aren't villains: 7 dwarves, jack and sally, jack sparrow, the tarzan group, mad hatter. Then the characters in costume are: Minnie, Donald, Daisy and the 4 Winnie the Pooh characters.

There was only one dance party, the Monsters Inc dance party at Tomorrowland.

Basically characters that have been cut in the past 2 years are: Prince Charming, Prince Phillip, Flynn Rider, Snow White's prince, Frollo, Dr. Facilier, the Tremaines (though they do meet every day), Radcliffe, Evil Queen from Snow White, Maleficent and probably others I forgot.

Anyway, I've been rambling. Bottom line for us: the party was too packed. People who were just there for rides or the fireworks probably had a good time. But we go for the special characters, the ambiance and the Halloween events and we left disappointed. Just my personal opinion, I'm sure others had very different experiences. Every year we look forward to this event and at this point...we wouldn't plan another trip just for this event if this is what it is going to be like now.

 

[Feralpeg]

My daughter and I attended last night's party. We had a great time despite the high crowd level. We attend the party each year (usually the first party of the season). There were a few things I noticed about last night that were different from other parties in prior years.

We sat down along Main Street to watch the crowds enter, check out the costumes and snag a place for the parade. We sat down about 6:45. Yes, my backside was in pain by the time the parade was over, but the street filled quickly.

In prior years, at and a little before 7 pm, we would see CMs encouraging those without party tickets to leave. We heard numerous announcements that the park was closing for day guests without party tickets. Last night, I only heard one announcement. It indicated the party was a sell out. While there were CMs on the street asking people leaving to stay to the right, I saw none of them encouraging non-party guests to leave.

While sitting for all that time, only once did I see one CM ask people to show their wristbands. Sadly, after the parade, I noticed a lot of people wandering the park without wristbands. I'm sure they couldn't get on rides, but they could watch the shows. Not sure why there was such a lack of policing bands this year.

After the parade, we decided to watch the Hocus Pocus Spelltacular stage show. By the time we walked to the hub area, the crowd was huge. We couldn't see anything due to the tall people standing in the front, the many children on shoulders and the cameras being held overhead. We stayed there for a few minutes and decided to give up. We decided to walk to Liberty Square. As soon as we got to the left of the stage (facing the castle), we had an unobstructed view of the show. The majority of people were directly in front of the stage. If you want to see the show, try going to the sides!

Amazingly enough, we got into a table service restaurant without an ADR. We are locals and rarely get ADRs since we have no idea what we will be doing in advance. My daughter really wanted to eat at Tony's. Even though I thought it was a long shot, we went in and asked if they were taking walkins. We had to wait a bit, but we got in. It probably helped that there were just two of us.

All in all, we had a really nice time.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

So, one line and you get 3 pics? I'm assuming seperate M&Gs?

One line, but Daisy and Donald meet together.

Is it moving quickly she's the only meet and greet I want to see

It moves slowly, she interacts a lot with everyone. Which is nice when it is your turn, and bothersome otherwise. If she is your top meet, get in her line about 630.

Goofy' regular daredevil outfit?

Yep. Who knows why.

Thanks for the report. This will be our first party and we are going on Halloween, which is already sold out, so I guess I can expect huge crowds. We probably will not wait in line to meet any of the characters or trick or treat until very late. May try to see parade/fireworks may not. We primarily want to just experience the party and ride a bunch of rides so hopefully that won't be too bad. Hoping Disney didn't decide to make this the year to sell a bunch more tickets for the event.

If you just want the rides, you will probably have a very good time. You can always try watching fireworks from Fantasyland, they will probably be very cool from there.