So we are exit Big Thunder to a wall of humanity. The uninformed non-DISing masses arrive for
MNSSHP at 7:00 pm sharp and the crowds are now surging through the MK in numbers unlike anything we have seen. We see some lengthy lines for trick-or-treating already and decide to wait a while before we start collecting candy.
My “plan” for MNSSHP is to head to Fantasyland so away we go. The girls stop at the restrooms by Columbia Harbor House so DS and I wait and watch all the costumed cuties having their Photopass pictures taken at Cinderella’s carriage across the way. The setting was very cute but the line was a little prohibitive. TFI.
We hit Peter Pan, Small World, and Philharmagic with little/no wait despite the sea of people who are apparently not riding the rides tonight. I try to talk DS into riding Dumbo since there are only about a dozen kids in line but he’s just not interested. The little man loves Space Mountain and Rockin’ Rollercoaster......can’t be seen aboard the elephants.
We pass the dance party near Ariel’s Grotto where the limbo contest is in progress. DS is not interested since the average age looks to be about 3. Hard to beat the toddlers at the limbo.
I’ve tried to time it so that we hit Toontown a little after 8ish while everyone is thinking about getting to the first parade but it’s PACKED! The trail that runs between the Toontown train station and Space Mountain is a special Alice in Wonderland themed trick-or-treating trail with lots of candy stations. The line for said candy trail appears to begin roughly around the Toontown entrance.
We wait in a good sized line for the Barnstormer and then make our way through the crowds to tour Minnie’s house. We peek out in the garden to see Minnie’s cute self in costume posing for pictures with her fans who are waiting in a monstrous line.
We go back to the face painting station where the queue looks to be about 30-40 minutes long. The girls consider the face painting to “be” their costumes so they don’t want to come back later. We are doomed to wait.
While we are in line, I strike up a conversation with some of the other moms. How could the party BE so crowded? Was it the free dining? The mom behind me says, “What free dining?” You know, the
Disney dining plan? “Yes, we have the dining plan but how do you get it for free?”
Poor uninformed non-DISers.
When we finally get up to rope-maze part of the line, I go to sit on the bench with DS where he’s been making some friends for life. DH calls to say he’s not gonna make it….feeling rotten…poor guy. Around 9:00 I begin to worry about finding a place for the fireworks. Then a few rogue fireworks explode over the castle. Have I missed the timing? Nope!? Weird. The kids finally get into the face painting chair and it takes all of about 2 minutes to complete their faces.
We head back over to the rose garden via the Tomorrowland Bridge. We pass by Cosmic Rays and we are
starving. Still looks like there’s a crowd so we head on back to our fireworks spot from Tuesday night and hope that the Photopass guy is about to pick up his stuff and take off again.
We step into our prime fireworks spot to have our picture taken and then I ask the Photopass guy whether we can watch the fireworks from there. “No…I’m here til 1:00 a.m,” 1:00 a.m.? The party is over at midnight…? He thinks. “Oh, yeah. I know why I have to be here. Cause Disney
sucks the life outta ya!” Oh…OK?
And have I mentioned that it’s hot in Topeka? (legomom
) The air is so thick it’s almost visible and the heat is unbelievable for past 9 pm. We find a spot on the railing near Mr. Photopass and who should we see again but the nice family from Texas that we had watched the fireworks with on Tuesday night. We all laugh because they, too, had been there to jockey for the same awesome fireworks spot we had before. Now we wait for the fireworks to begin….and then we wait some more.
About 15 minutes beyond the scheduled time, the fireworks finally begin. They are spectacular but the timing seemed a little off and I was disappointed that the finale did not include the perimeter fireworks I had heard about.
Now my plan calls for the second parade in Frontierland so where do we go but through the hub. Do I not DIS? Do I not know better than to head into the eye of the storm? All these people are leaving though, right? WRONG! They are all headed back to Tomorrowland! It’s like gridlock on the freeway…with more people, wheelchairs and strollers than I have ever seen in one place. I hold tight to the kids.
We pass the Dole Whip stand….line is still too long. And right next to Aloha Isle is….a face painting station with about 3 people in line! I coulda had a Dole Whip and face painting! Sheesh. We finally get to Frontierland and I park the kids by the rope and head to Pecos Bills for some food.
We eat til the Headless Horseman comes by and then we watch the
parade which is very unique. Love the grave diggers and Jack Sparrow. There are candy giver-outers coming along the parade route with some of the floats so I finally break out the candy bags for Emily and DS.
DS holds out his little candy bag as far as he can and gets some candy but then he gets skipped. Then he gets skipped again. Emily gives me the what-the-heck look. DS doesn’t say anything though. Now the parade is over and our only mission is to get the candy! We hit candy stations in Adventureland, Frontierland, and Alice’s Trail to Space Mountain.
The kids ride SM, we hit the Tomorrowland candy stations and then on to Buzz! Now if you will recall from the frapped coffee incident earlier in the week that the flying-through-space tunnel is not Melinda’s favorite place. And where does the ride break down? Yep. We are stopped for some time (and my eyes are closed and covered) and then the lights magically come on. People, Buzz’s house is not-so-magically filthy.
Eeewww. The dust and dirt was an inch thick. They really need Utahmama and her Dyson.
Anyway, it’s almost midnight….on our last night…..and you know where I’m headed…..Dole Whip. One last trip to Aloha Isle and…….it’s
closed. Well, the kids will settle for some ice cream. Also closed….what? We jump on the bus back to POR and arrive around 12:45 am.
DO….consider MNSSHP carefully. The lines for the rides were short but there were more people in the MK that night than we had seen all week long or ever for that matter. IMHO the special events for the evening (dance parties, minor shows, face painting locations!) should be listed in the MNSSHP brochure or at least in a special times guide. For $200 please tell me what’s happenin’. Some people love MNSSHP and some do not, however the
reviews of the Sept. 29th party seem to be dramatically worse than the parties that followed. Not sure what happened that night. Just seemed way, way oversold to me.
DON’T….count on getting lots of candy. The kids got 1 or 2 pieces at each stop. We hit most of the candy stations and they had a couple of inches of candy in the bottom of their bags at the end of the night. Maybe the trick-or-treat stations were just being conservative since the party was sold out. DON’T wait to get your Dole Whip! Get in the line...no matter how long.
Thanks for sticking with me!
Kids!
.....
Looks like we're on the mend. Neary a warm forehead in the house. I've finally gotten caught up on your report. Keep em' coming.
DW is putting the little one to sleep now, and the older two are only a little while out from bedtime. 
really! ]
, however, their whole security crew
....like i got lost back in jan. 2003, trying to get around a
When we took our family trip last January, I had just herniated two disks in my back. The doc okay'd me for taking the trip, but she issued a blanket warning against any potentially problematic rides. Understandably, I ended up being a bit of a party pooper that trip.
