As a local and AP holder, I don't attend the parties for rides. In fact, I rarely try to ride anything on a party night. I buy the party tickets for the parade, stage show and fireworks.
I have attended
MNSSHP every year except one since inception. I missed the 2013 party because I was undergoing chemo. This was, by far, the most mishandled and disappointing party in my experience. We almost always attend the first party of the season and have always thought crowd levels to be very manageable until this year.
The non party guests in attendance was a huge problem, but I saw other things that were very disappointing and different than prior years.
There seemed to be fewer CMs on Main Street prior to the parade. Last year, they were policing where people were sitting and continuously checking bands. I saw very little of this. No one came by to tell people they couldn't sit in front of the trash can. Only once, did I see a band check. The team that played with kids prior to the parade didn't come out until very late and there were only a few. Just seemed like this gs were really scaled back.
The selling of party merchandise prior to the start of the party and the sale to those without party wristbands made it very difficult for those who paid to attend to see and obtain the special event merchandise. I was very lucky to be in the right place and did obtain the Hocus Pocus shirt, but it was dumb luck and before the party started.
I also saw people purchasing large numbers of the merchandise pieces. I saw one woman who must have had 30 of the official shirts at a register. No doubt in my mind that they ended up on ebay. I think there should be a reasonable limit on the number of each item that can be purchased per location. It wouldn't stop these people from mass purchases, but at least they would have to work harder to clean out the special event stuff.
I know Disney can do better.
nothing about since they weren't there!
