Villians Sinister Soirée

That's to bad that you didn't enjoy yourself. Do you think you would have enjoyed if more if it wasn't for the run around. Did anyone trick or treat after the soiree. I am just wondering if any of the lines are closed by that time. I am also wondering how much space is in the reserved viewing area. Did everyone get up to the rope?

I do think we would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't had to run around. There was plenty of area in the reserved seating area. It was nice not to have to defend your spot. It was after 11 when we left the soiree, we were so tired we left the park. So I don't know what was opened at that time. Sorry.
I really think Disney needs to do a better job with informing their CMs & organization when it comes to the VSS. It was nice. But not worth the money for the hassle. I think we'd rather trick or treat or ride more rides next party.
 
So sorry you had a negative experience. I am sure since this is a new event it isn't running as smooth as it could. I am not going until 10/28, so hopefully if will be much smoother. We are attending the party again on 10/30, so I won't be unhappy with the fact the soiree took south time away from the party. I live the thought if not having to defend a spot and protect my daughter just to see a parade. My last few party experiences were great with that. That was a big selling point for me. Excited for the characters too, but not going into if looking forward to the desserts though!
 
So sorry you had a negative experience. I am sure since this is a new event it isn't running as smooth as it could. I am not going until 10/28, so hopefully if will be much smoother. We are attending the party again on 10/30, so I won't be unhappy with the fact the soiree took south time away from the party. I live the thought if not having to defend a spot and protect my daughter just to see a parade. My last few party experiences were great with that. That was a big selling point for me. Excited for the characters too, but not going into if looking forward to the desserts though!

We will be attending on 10/28 as well, do you have the 1st or 2nd seating? We have the first but have been trying to change it to the later but it's full... I wish they would have given me the option when I originally booked.
 
We are going to the first seating. I decided to add the second party might as I don't think we will get enough done, but I just think the second seating is to late for us.
 

How much time is there actually between the parade and fireworks? Is there time to run for a snack or even a ride? A ride is probably pushing it too much, but maybe SH for a waffle, but then I wonder will lines be horrible then. How about after the fireworks and before the earlier soirée? Would there be time to do a Fantasyland attraction? And what if you show up late to the soirée? Anyone who has been to the soirees seen people come in late, or leave early? My biggest struggle with making my moms up is if I want to miss out on the rest of time in the park…
The parade started at 8:15 then the Villains Dance party at 8:55 followed by the castle show at 9:15 and fireworks at 9:30. You can duck in an out for a snack, but Sleepy Hollow always had a line. If the parade stalls, it can throw the timing off. On Tuesday there was no 8:55 Villains mix and Mingle. There seemed to be a problem with something down the line in the parade that backed things up and since you can't have villians on a float on main street and also at the castle show, they canceled it. Sadly we didn't get to see teh show because of the next one was at 10 and we had the soiree and we didn't go to see the 7:45 show so that we could actually meet a few characters. We didn't show up to the VIP area till right before the Horseman. The crowds make it hard to get back and forth around the hub as the night goes one and you also have to remember they close off part of Fantasyland for fireworks. There is only one entrance to the viewing area on the tommorowland side an it can be difficult to get back and forth through the families waiting for fireworks. They do keep a path clear so if you come from that side you should be able to get in the are easily. I was happy they had a big sign of where to go.
We also saw people leave early and come in a little late to the soiree. Depending on the line you could probably squeeze in a ride post fireworks pre-early seating but as Disney is tweaking things as they go, you'll want to keep an eye on crowds. We waited in the VIP area and had the CM's escort us to CRT, another poster mentioned that is was like swimming upstream for them trying to get there without help.
 
Im curious as to the second seating organization. I mean the first seating gets escorted but as the parties continue through the month and there are more crowds later at night will it be as easy to navigate if you have never been to crt to know where to go in the commotion? Just curious
 
Im curious as to the second seating organization. I mean the first seating gets escorted but as the parties continue through the month and there are more crowds later at night will it be as easy to navigate if you have never been to crt to know where to go in the commotion? Just curious

Actually there are LESS people as the night goes on. Some leave the park entirely and others go do rides/trick or treat areas and other things after the first parade. It's usually recommended to view the 2nd parade for just that reason.
 
We went to the 11:45 party on Tuesday night.

We arrived at the parade viewing area at 8pm and easily got a front row spot. They gave us cold bottled water which was awesome. There did not seem to be a limit on how many we could have. I chugged several of them. The area was uncrowded and when the parade backed up for several minutes the characters kept dancing around and we were able to get some selfies with some of them. They had been dancing around the same chunk of space for awhile interacting with people to the point where it was almost awkward lol.

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There were photopass photographers in the viewing area taking magic shots that are only for Soiree goers. Here is what it looks like. (The area was uncrowded enough where we moved off our front row spot a few minutes before the parade started to take the special picture and it was no problem getting our spot back).

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After the parade we left the viewing area to go to the trick or treat spots for 30 minutes. We arrived back at 9:15 as the castle projection show had just started. There was plenty of space and more bottled water. I can see what Pete means where the castle blocks some of the fireworks but we enjoyed the view from there. They still exploded around the castle.

After Wishes finished we walked around for about 1.5 hours and went on rides, checked out a dance party, and got a bunch of candy. All the rides were a walk on except 7DMT was 20 or 30 minutes when I saw it. We went on everything we wanted to go on and did not feel pressed for time. We got an absurd amount of candy. (Bring your own large size bag). They get very generous with it towards the end of the night and if you say things like "We love candy!!" when walking up they give you extra.

We arrived at CRT at exactly 11:45. The Queen of Hearts and the step sisters were mingling with everyone in the lobby area. Everyone who wanted to talk to them or take pictures with them had ample opportunity.

We were then sent up to the restaurant. From what I could see every table was taken but they didn't fill each table. Like we were a party of 2 at a 6 top so I was glad we didn't have to sit with other people.

The cheese plate was good. They didn't take the plate when they brought the dessert. A little while later we asked them to take it. The servers were really good. The desserts were pretty good but we couldn't eat them all. They gave us a box to take it home.

All the villains except the host lady came to our table. There was plenty of time with them. We didn't feel rushed. This was actually our first experience with character dining and to us it was all a little bizarre. Maybe just not our thing to meet characters. We booked the event for the parade viewing area, to see inside the castle, to see what character dining was like, and to get to stay at MK a bit later. So, in that sense it was worth it to us. But for the most part, I had no clue who these characters were so the event was fun but not really that exciting for us.

If you like characters I think you would love this event. They were really interactive. Every time one came to our table there was a guy dressed in black offering to take our picture.

I have no clue how anyone could think this event was rushed. It was not rushed. It was a solid hour. We actually left a little early. I heard the host lady singing again as we were going down the stairs.

The park was completely empty when we walked out. I got some really nice photos. The CMs did not seem to mind me stopping to take pictures

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Thanks for the review SarahSummer
We are doing the second seating on Halloween night and can't wait :cool1:
 
We were there last night at the early seating (had originally scheduled the later one but was worried that the kids wouldn't make it). It was awesome!!!!! Just a couple of quick things because we are heading out the door to AK, but I will post more later:

Parade viewing was amazing. We all had tons of room to spread out. I think everyone who wanted to had a spot by the rope...there was that much room. My daughter had at least 15 characters come right over to her and interact with her during the parade. She was loving it!

They were giving away free bottled waters and suckers throughout. There were about 3 PhotoPass photographers in the area, but they disappeared for a while when it started drizzling. We did eventually get our shot though. My daughter was asked to pretend like she was holding something from between her fingers. Maybe a spider? I will update this once I get a chance to view it.

After the parade a few people left the area so there was even more room. We moved back a bit and found a spot along the rear of the rope right in front of Walt's statue. We had a stroller with us. We spread out and sat in the ground. There was NO ONE in front of us. We had maybe three groups of people off to the sides of us (some others were along the sides of the rope towards the front). It.Was.Awesome.!!! We watched the projection show (which gets me every time, and it was the most amazing view).

Then we stayed put for the fireworks. I'm so glad we did. Again, we were literally spread out like we were having a picnic. My husband laid down at one point. The people outside of the ropes were crammed in like sardines all around. Having that much room to ourselves was priceless IMO. And the view...I know that people have said that it is obstructed (and maybe it is a little bit), but we thought it was great!!!!! Some fireworks were behind the castle, but even those it was just the middle that was blocked...they burst around the sides if the castle, and it looked beautiful. There were lots of fireworks that were all the way above the castle too. And the 360 degree ones of course were so cool. We loved watching the projections on the castle and the color changes as the fireworks went off. Honesty...it was an amazing spot. I think the naysayers might be being a tad overly picky on this issue. The view (which was very good albeit not 100% perfect) coupled with the ability to spread WAY out was priceless to us. :)

Afterwards the CMs escorted us to the castle. It was a little chaotic (we had to wait for the crowd to disperse before they moved us, but they didn't really do a good job of explaining what was going on so a lot of people were confused). We made it though. They walked around and checked everyone in outside at the same time (I'm not sure if this is because we were running a little late because the parade was delayed a bit because of the drizzle?) and then let us all in to mingle downstairs. The stepsisters came around and joked with everyone for awhile. They did a good job of moving around the crowd, and they were hilarious. Then they ushered everyone upstairs.

And then...to be continued...I really need to head out the door now. ;)

Finally getting a few minutes to finish up the review (we just got back from Ohana breakfast and need some time to digest, lol). As I said, we were all downstairs mingling with the stepsisters, and then they ushered everyone upstairs. It was a little chaotic...it's such a tiny staircase and there were tons of people trying to smash up it at once. But...we eventually made it upstairs. (Someone asked about the bathroom situation. People were breaking off from the group going up the stairs and heading to the bathroom, but it's a small bathroom and there was a line. We decided to wait until we were seated and then head back down when the crowd dispersed a bit, and that worked well.)

As soon as we walked into the main dining room, we were asked to show our reservation card, and we were shown to our table. The table setting was great! The Maleficent cups are substantial and filled with candy (which the kids liked). They also hand you carryout bags at the end of the night which include lids and straws for the cups. My kids have been using them ever since. The cheese plate was in the center of the table, and we each had small rectangular plates. The cheese itself was good! I really like the brie, and my DH loved the fondue. He also really like the salami; you could tell it was aged and not just stuff from the deli counter. The kids didn't eat any of the cheese, so it was kind of nice that they could munch on the candy during this time to keep them busy (hey...it's Disney...candy all the time!). The drinks with the apple light up cube and stirrers were pretty. The kids thought they were cool. They are really sweet though, so it was nice that they also had water to drink.

During this seating time, Captain Hook and Frollo were walking around. They stopped at tables randomly and took pictures with people. We never did see the Queen of Hearts...someone mentioned that she was at the top of the staircase as you came in, but she wasn't there when we first walked in, and she didn't ever enter the dining room to my knowledge.

When most people were seated, the "show" began. Lady Tremaine was a fabulous host. She sang a few songs and then mingled throughout the room with the rest of the villains and the stepsisters. All of the villains were wonderful. They were completely in character, and they looked great. We met each of them, and they stopped to take pictures. I got so many great shots!!! I will try to post some when I get home. They also seemed to be very aware of/conscious of little ones. They knew when to back off (my 2 1/2 year old DS was scared of a few of them, especially Dr. Facilier), and they would then just hover over him in the background so that I could at least get a good picture. My 4 1/2 year old DD was loving everything though, and they all made sure to stop and chat with her.

We thought the desserts were interesting, well-themed, and tasty. The rhubarb in the apple has been replaced with cherry. They must have had some negative feedback on the rhubarb. It was actually my DD's favorite, and she almost ate the whole thing. My DH and I both liked Dr. Falicier's tarot card the best. It was delicious! We felt like it was MORE than enough to eat...honestly, we all left at least half of each dessert on the plate at the end of the event.

Once we had finished, our server brought around take out bags and asked us if we wanted anything boxed up (we didn't). We were told to take the Maleficent cups, ice cubes, stirrers, and the menu. People had already started to head out by the time Lady Tremaine sang her final song. We thought it was MORE than enough time; we didn't feel rushed at all (although we have little ones, so we don't usually like to linger).

Afterwards, we hit up a few more rides and then headed home around midnight. For us, this event was SO worth it. We really, really enjoyed the VIP viewing for the parade and fireworks. We would never have waited around for those spots otherwise. Even my DH (who about fainted when I told him the price and then just rolled his eyes in defeat, lol) said that the event was great overall.

I would say that the only negative for us was the lack of organization/communication in herding us over to the castle after the fireworks and in getting the group inside the castle and up into the main dining room. It seemed disorganized, but I am thinking that they will tweak this as time goes on.

Also, we are going to MNSSHP again on Friday night (tomorrow), so we plan on doing more trick or treating/characters/rides then. I'm not sure how I would feel about taking up so much party time if we weren't doing two parties. I am glad that we switched to the earlier party time though...I think it was much better that way for the kiddos.

Overall, we had a wonderful night and felt the whole thing was very well done. :goodvibes
 
Here is another magic kingdom shot. I took several nice ones. They didn't seem to mind at all that I was stopping to take pics. I wished I had brought my better camera rather than just cell phone pics. I ended up thinking it was a good idea that we left the party 5 min early so we walked out all alone. So there was no one in the pics and the CMs probably didn't worry about rushing us out bc they knew there were others still to leave the party.

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Here is another magic kingdom shot. I took several nice ones. They didn't seem to mind at all that I was stopping to take pics. I wished I had brought my better camera rather than just cell phone pics. I ended up thinking it was a good idea that we left the party 5 min early so we walked out all alone. So there was no one in the pics and the CMs probably didn't worry about rushing us out bc they knew there were others still to leave the party.

Good review and good pictures, thanks for both! CMs will let you take all the time you want, they just won't let you proceed deeper into the park.
 
We went to the 11:45 party on Tuesday night. We arrived at the parade viewing area at 8pm and easily got a front row spot. They gave us cold bottled water which was awesome. There did not seem to be a limit on how many we could have. I chugged several of them. The area was uncrowded and when the parade backed up for several minutes the characters kept dancing around and we were able to get some selfies with some of them. They had been dancing around the same chunk of space for awhile interacting with people to the point where it was almost awkward lol. There were photopass photographers in the viewing area taking magic shots that are only for Soiree goers. Here is what it looks like. (The area was uncrowded enough where we moved off our front row spot a few minutes before the parade started to take the special picture and it was no problem getting our spot back). After the parade we left the viewing area to go to the trick or treat spots for 30 minutes. We arrived back at 9:15 as the castle projection show had just started. There was plenty of space and more bottled water. I can see what Pete means where the castle blocks some of the fireworks but we enjoyed the view from there. They still exploded around the castle. After Wishes finished we walked around for about 1.5 hours and went on rides, checked out a dance party, and got a bunch of candy. All the rides were a walk on except 7DMT was 20 or 30 minutes when I saw it. We went on everything we wanted to go on and did not feel pressed for time. We got an absurd amount of candy. (Bring your own large size bag). They get very generous with it towards the end of the night and if you say things like "We love candy!!" when walking up they give you extra. We arrived at CRT at exactly 11:45. The Queen of Hearts and the step sisters were mingling with everyone in the lobby area. Everyone who wanted to talk to them or take pictures with them had ample opportunity. We were then sent up to the restaurant. From what I could see every table was taken but they didn't fill each table. Like we were a party of 2 at a 6 top so I was glad we didn't have to sit with other people. The cheese plate was good. They didn't take the plate when they brought the dessert. A little while later we asked them to take it. The servers were really good. The desserts were pretty good but we couldn't eat them all. They gave us a box to take it home. All the villains except the host lady came to our table. There was plenty of time with them. We didn't feel rushed. This was actually our first experience with character dining and to us it was all a little bizarre. Maybe just not our thing to meet characters. We booked the event for the parade viewing area, to see inside the castle, to see what character dining was like, and to get to stay at MK a bit later. So, in that sense it was worth it to us. But for the most part, I had no clue who these characters were so the event was fun but not really that exciting for us. If you like characters I think you would love this event. They were really interactive. Every time one came to our table there was a guy dressed in black offering to take our picture. I have no clue how anyone could think this event was rushed. It was not rushed. It was a solid hour. We actually left a little early. I heard the host lady singing again as we were going down the stairs. The park was completely empty when we walked out. I got some really nice photos. The CMs did not seem to mind me stopping to take pictures

Great review thanks awesome pictures
Now I can't wait to go :-)
 
Finally getting a few minutes to finish up the review (we just got back from Ohana breakfast and need some time to digest, lol). As I said, we were all downstairs mingling with the stepsisters, and then they ushered everyone upstairs. It was a little chaotic...it's such a tiny staircase and there were tons of people trying to smash up it at once. But...we eventually made it upstairs. (Someone asked about the bathroom situation. People were breaking off from the group going up the stairs and heading to the bathroom, but it's a small bathroom and there was a line. We decided to wait until we were seated and then head back down when the crowd dispersed a bit, and that worked well.) As soon as we walked into the main dining room, we were asked to show our reservation card, and we were shown to our table. The table setting was great! The Maleficent cups are substantial and filled with candy (which the kids liked). They also hand you carryout bags at the end of the night which include lids and straws for the cups. My kids have been using them ever since. The cheese plate was in the center of the table, and we each had small rectangular plates. The cheese itself was good! I really like the brie, and my DH loved the fondue. He also really like the salami; you could tell it was aged and not just stuff from the deli counter. The kids didn't eat any of the cheese, so it was kind of nice that they could munch on the candy during this time to keep them busy (hey...it's Disney...candy all the time!). The drinks with the apple light up cube and stirrers were pretty. The kids thought they were cool. They are really sweet though, so it was nice that they also had water to drink. During this seating time, Captain Hook and Frollo were walking around. They stopped at tables randomly and took pictures with people. We never did see the Queen of Hearts...someone mentioned that she was at the top of the staircase as you came in, but she wasn't there when we first walked in, and she didn't ever enter the dining room to my knowledge. When most people were seated, the "show" began. Lady Tremaine was a fabulous host. She sang a few songs and then mingled throughout the room with the rest of the villains and the stepsisters. All of the villains were wonderful. They were completely in character, and they looked great. We met each of them, and they stopped to take pictures. I got so many great shots!!! I will try to post some when I get home. They also seemed to be very aware of/conscious of little ones. They knew when to back off (my 2 1/2 year old DS was scared of a few of them, especially Dr. Facilier), and they would then just hover over him in the background so that I could at least get a good picture. My 4 1/2 year old DD was loving everything though, and they all made sure to stop and chat with her. We thought the desserts were interesting, well-themed, and tasty. The rhubarb in the apple has been replaced with cherry. They must have had some negative feedback on the rhubarb. It was actually my DD's favorite, and she almost ate the whole thing. My DH and I both liked Dr. Falicier's tarot card the best. It was delicious! We felt like it was MORE than enough to eat...honestly, we all left at least half of each dessert on the plate at the end of the event. Once we had finished, our server brought around take out bags and asked us if we wanted anything boxed up (we didn't). We were told to take the Maleficent cups, ice cubes, stirrers, and the menu. People had already started to head out by the time Lady Tremaine sang her final song. We thought it was MORE than enough time; we didn't feel rushed at all (although we have little ones, so we don't usually like to linger). Afterwards, we hit up a few more rides and then headed home around midnight. For us, this event was SO worth it. We really, really enjoyed the VIP viewing for the parade and fireworks. We would never have waited around for those spots otherwise. Even my DH (who about fainted when I told him the price and then just rolled his eyes in defeat, lol) said that the event was great overall. I would say that the only negative for us was the lack of organization/communication in herding us over to the castle after the fireworks and in getting the group inside the castle and up into the main dining room. It seemed disorganized, but I am thinking that they will tweak this as time goes on. Also, we are going to MNSSHP again on Friday night (tomorrow), so we plan on doing more trick or treating/characters/rides then. I'm not sure how I would feel about taking up so much party time if we weren't doing two parties. I am glad that we switched to the earlier party time though...I think it was much better that way for the kiddos. Overall, we had a wonderful night and felt the whole thing was very well done. :goodvibes

Awesome review thanks :-)
 
Thank you both so very much for the reviews. Amazing to see the pictures and to hear different points of views from actual guests/Dissers not just bloggers.

I am super psyched now :woohoo:
 
Oh I would definitely try to use get out 5 minutes before the rest tip! What time was it before the party is over - is it about 12:45?
 




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