What do you do pre-party?

[Mrspeaks]

we are hoping to attend our first mnsshp during our trip in September. My girls will be 5 & almost 3. They will ride in a stroller. I'm trying to decide what to do before the party. We have park hoppers and I like the idea of entering mk before 4:00. We will have a full day at magic kingdom earlier in our trip. My hope is to get a nap in for my youngest. My two thoughts are: 1 get up early for emh at Epcot. Do a couple of things and eat breakfast at askerhus, go back to hotel around 11:30, try to get a nap and head to mk around 3. 2nd idea is sleep in to 8ish - latest my kids would sleep, hang around the hotel maybe swim do a playground, nap and head to mk around 2. With the second plan I don't think an extra 2 hours is worth using a full days park hopper ticket.

What does a pre-party day look like for you? Anyone with similar aged kids have an option on on my plans?
Thank you!

 

[Disneylover99]

My kids would never nap at that age, so I would try to let them sleep in, have a leisurely morning, swim, begin to get costumes on at about 2pm and head to the park at about 3pm.

 

[pitpat]

if they will take one, a nap beforehand would be a great idea. 4YO daughter took a nap in the car on the way down, made it to MVMCP at 4 and she was still happy and smiling in pictures with Santa at midnight.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Common dilemma! No right or wrong path here, but here's what I do. DS has been 3-6 in my party travels with him to date. For party days, I don't usually plan anything. I am all about energy conservation/management for DS that day. We'll sleep late, breakfast ADR maybe, and usually just make it a resort day. Naps are a must. Maybe I'll go to a park and just do a couple of things and then back by noon (not a very good use of a ticket day, FWIW).

DS has grown out of naps but I still find he'll nap depending on how busy/active we've been in the days before. Even if he won't nap, we'll do quiet room time.

This is not a popular opinion but I do not utilize the 4pm-7pm hours with a party ticket. It can be blazing hot in the late afternoon in September and I find those three hours can be very crowded. If you have any kind of costume with paint or makeup, it can be surface of the sun hot if there aren't any afternoon clouds. I'm fine with not getting in line early for charachters or not utilizing that MK time, especially if we have another MK day in the trip, so I'm OK with "giving up" those hours.

I prefer to wait and time it so I'm arriving around 7pm. If I do go before 7, I'll spend the time at MK with an ADR at some place like BOG or Skipper Canteen where we can get a good, substantial meal.

Speaking of which, one mistake I made early on was not adequately thinking about dinner. My preference now is to eat a big meal 6ish that will keep us content for awhile, with a bit of party candy to "top off the tank" later in the night if you will.

Whatever you do, hope you have a great time! It's so fun!

 

[DWillowBay]

I would agree...for my family...that using a day's park ticket for only 2 hours is not a cost-effective use of that ticket. That's just us, but you may need to play it by ear. It's hard to plan for kids to "sleep in late" or "nap". I'd just have several acceptable plans based on who you know your kids to be and what they can manage. You want them to have a good time. That's the bottom line.

 

[scrapquitler]

we are hoping to attend our first mnsshp during our trip in September. My girls will be 5 & almost 3. They will ride in a stroller. I'm trying to decide what to do before the party. We have park hoppers and I like the idea of entering mk before 4:00. We will have a full day at magic kingdom earlier in our trip. My hope is to get a nap in for my youngest. My two thoughts are: 1 get up early for emh at Epcot. Do a couple of things and eat breakfast at askerhus, go back to hotel around 11:30, try to get a nap and head to mk around 3. 2nd idea is sleep in to 8ish - latest my kids would sleep, hang around the hotel maybe swim do a playground, nap and head to mk around 2. With the second plan I don't think an extra 2 hours is worth using a full days park hopper ticket.

What does a pre-party day look like for you? Anyone with similar aged kids have an option on on my plans?
Thank you!

On party day we do a park in the morning (HS is good for going to for a few hours), then back to the room to rest, and head to MK around 3.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

The one time we went to MNSSHP when the kids were young - we went to MK that morning and left after lunch. I think it was 1pm. Then the kids went swimming and napped.

When they woke up, we got ready and went to the party - we got there around 6pm. Just in time to eat something before the party started.

 

[Angel Ariel]

we are hoping to attend our first mnsshp during our trip in September. My girls will be 5 & almost 3. They will ride in a stroller. I'm trying to decide what to do before the party. We have park hoppers and I like the idea of entering mk before 4:00. We will have a full day at magic kingdom earlier in our trip. My hope is to get a nap in for my youngest. My two thoughts are: 1 get up early for emh at Epcot. Do a couple of things and eat breakfast at askerhus, go back to hotel around 11:30, try to get a nap and head to mk around 3. 2nd idea is sleep in to 8ish - latest my kids would sleep, hang around the hotel maybe swim do a playground, nap and head to mk around 2. With the second plan I don't think an extra 2 hours is worth using a full days park hopper ticket.

What does a pre-party day look like for you? Anyone with similar aged kids have an option on on my plans?
Thank you!

We've generally used the party to get an extra day on our trip - for example, if we had 4 day tickets (which we usually did as we got the special military rate tickets that were only 4 days), we'd use the party as a 5th day in the parks. This made for a full 7 day vacation, as we generally don't go into the parks on arrival day and departure day. Since we were using it to add a day to our vacation, we didn't go into a park before the party. We chose to do a family photo shoot with a local photographer (he's also a popular WDW wedding photographer) at one of the Disney hotels in the morning. The photo shoot was about 1 hr - 1.5 hrs at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. We went back to the hotel for lunch and nap time, and then entered MK at 4, when the party ticket allowed us to enter.

If I wasn't doing the photo shoot, I would probably do Disney Springs in the morning, have lunch and then go back to the hotel for nap/quiet time before entering at 4.

 

[Mrspeaks]

I guess I need to decide what my best chance for a nap is and if the amount of time we would go to a park is worth another ticket. We are doing 4 tickets, but could drop to 3 if we just do the party.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

If you are using your party ticket as your only MK, I would probably get there for 4pm. Otherwise, you won't be sorry if you wait a bit or arrive just early enough to have a nice dinner somewhere in MK. Sept really can be killer hot, and the transition hours with incoming party guests and lingering/exiting day guests tend to be very, very busy.

 

[melana]

well our one and only party we did on arrival day. We spent almost up until 230 at the park and went back to the resort to freshen up. Back at the park at 5pm.
Never again will I do this. we were so tired and miserable by around 9pm..

In October I am flying solo so I plan to spend the day at the resort and have a pool day (weather permitting). Then head to MK for the party.

 

[IrishNYC]

We'll be having a laid back day. DD will be 8. We're planning a late Bon Voyage breakfast, then going back to swim and relax, then getting dressed around 2, and be heading out to MK by 3.

 

[Farro]

We are going to rope drop Epcot in the morning and use fast passes there also. Eat at food/wine. Head back to Polynesian, relax. Eat quick service either at Polynesian, maybe Contemporary or at Magic Kingdom. We won't head over to the party until about 5 or later.

 

[Sparkly]

I was thinking visit Epcot in the morning, change into costume, go and meet Goofy dressed as him and monorail to TTC then MK, but I realised 1. It's going to be VERY hot still in September and I don't want my costume to be a sweaty mess by the party and 2. My costume will probably just go past the boundaries of Disneybounding into actual character costume, even though it'll basically just be a t-shirt and shorts. So my new plan is to do whatever, maybe a park, maybe Disney Springs, go back to the resort (BLT so very convenient!) to shower and change into my costume, grab some dinner at Contempo Cafe then walk to MK for the party.

 

[Accident]

When we were traveling we generally just went lazy and probably went to springs for a late lunch, then changed and went to mnsshp. We're always tired from the extra walking trying to squeeze in trick or treating around the different shows and parade.. we do more walking and less rest during the night parties than any full day in the park. We tried doing another park before it and it was too much for us.

As a local, I like cutting it closer to 7,especially if it's a hot and humid day. if work isn't in the way, we'll get dinner somewhere (usually on property and reasonable to get to mk after the meal). We also pay attention to weather very close on party day, there's a lot of times that it rains just after 4 and getting there a little later misses it. We find wet costumes make you grumpy much faster and hate it.

 

[Tia1977]

While DD isn't as young as your kids, we did our 1st MNSSHP this past Oct. Even having an AP and could technically get there earlier, we used our pre-party time as a half "lazy day" to ensure we were fully charged to enjoy the party as much as possible. We slept in super late, lunched at resort, relaxed by the pool, and arrived in time to be walking in right at 4. Checked in for the party, got in our 3 FP's and a quick CS dinner, then enjoyed the party til closing the place down to an empty Main Street. While I saw younger kids poop out early and their parents leave, I also saw a big handful of families with younger kids stick it out til the end with us.

While at Casey's getting (yummy) corn dog nuggets right after the last show of Hocus Pocus (started @ park closing), we sat next to parents with a 4yr old and 7yr old. The kids were still going strong, laughing/playing around. The mom said they did exactly as us earlier in the day (she said she planned naps for them to wake up in time to get dressed, then head in by 4), and felt it was worth the earlier lazy time for their kids to get the most out of the party.

Party tix are expensive. In my opinion, it's only worth the cost if the party is #1 top priority for that day. Not so worth it if you go too much and fizzle out early.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Our MVMCP party night was toward the end of the trip and we were pretty tired. We slept in late and grabbed a late lunch. We then hit the monorail resorts for Christmas decorations. DD was 5 at the time and barely made it to 11pm even with sleeping until 10:30 that morning. We even rented a stroller for the entirety of the day before to help her rest.

We entered at 4 on the dot and used 3 FP then lined up characters. We kept it pretty low key and really had a great night.

 

[Drummerdude1623]

Before we went to our MNSSHP (w/ a 13 month old) last year, we spent the morning sleeping in and relaxing at the resort, then did an early dinner at Chef Mickeys. We went straight from Chef Mickey's into the magic kingdom. I think we entered the park around 4:45pm. Was a nice relaxing start to a very late night in the park.

 

[DisneyHardin]

This past year before the Christmas party, we had a mid morning breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Then we went back to the resort and hung out by the pool until time to get ready for the party. We were waiting at MK when the party gates opened about 4 so we could get the most out of our party tickets. It was a great day.