Pirate and Princess Party - worth it?

[Callalily6]

Anyone attend this recently? Just wondering if it was worth it.

We went to MNSSHP and the kids LOVED it. Should expectations be on the same level? What do you think?

 

[karajeboo]

We were just there on Saturday! OK, here's my take on it. Now keep in mind that we live 2 1/2 hrs away and went to Disney just for P&PP this weekend! That said, I LOVED it! We stayed Friday and Saturday night at Disney and entered the park at 4pm on Saturday, just like I read on these boards. Here's where we made our mistake, however. Because we were ONLY going to MK for P&PP, we made the mistake of touring just like we would tour MK any other time, and it's not worth it if that's all you want. We can go to MK any time, and in fact are coming back for a week in May, but we haven't been in 2 years so we "had" to hit certain attractions, right? NOOOOO!

If you go to P&PP, go to P&PP, NOT to MK. Does that make sense? Take advantage of all that P&PP offers, but visit MK another time. Yes, do hit the attractions that you enjoy, they were WALK ON for us from 7pm on! We hit Space Mountain around 9pm and rode twice in 15 minutes!!!!

Do not miss the parade OR the fireworks, and make sure you view the fireworks from in front of the castle - Disney has some "trickery" ups it's sleeve! Do visit the characters that are only out for special events like this. We saw Genie, Abu, and Meeko, plus of course Capt Jack!!!!

Do let your kids dress up! I think there were more pirates than princesses at this party (and I had a beautiful Belle princess with me!). Plus, lots of grown ups dressed up, too.

The treasure hunt was all plastic bead necklaces or paper pirate/princess hats. Nothing to get excited about. But maybe your child just enjoys the "hunt" for the X? That would be fine, too! Our DD6 just wanted to get as many necklaces as she could, so we hit the treasure spots (there was never a line so why not?).

The only princesses that we saw were Jasmine in Adventureland, and Ariel in her grotto. We weren't in Fantasyland too much so I don't know if they were all out with their princes. That is what we really missed. DD REALLY wanted to see a prince or two!

It's hard to explain how this party is different than any other time in the park, but just the feeling in the air was different. The parade really got me in the pirate spirit, as did the "battle" that went on during the INCREDIBLE fireworks! Instead of just fireworks over the castle, it was Fireworks 180!!!! They were all around!

We weren't as prepared as we should have been, so we wasted too much time (like eating dinner at 7:30 - what were we thinking? ) trying to figure out where to find characters and still hit the attractions, and juggle it all around the parade and fireworks.

But since we just moved to the area and are now only a couple hours away, instead of 8 hrs that we used to be, I plan to take the family to EVERY special event party that Disney has, including P&PP again!