Yesterday's show - agree with Pete

I will NEVER go to another party ever again. One time was enough for both.

Furthermore, I'll NEVER go in October ever again.
 


I went once. It was in 2017. It was okay but quite crowded. We gave up and went back to the hotel. We said we would go again but not every year.
 
Parties are just another way for Disney to squeeze more money out of us. Same goes for “early morning magic” and “after hours” events. I’m at the point I don’t enjoy parades, who wants to sit on the curb for 2 hours prior? I never did and never will. As for fireworks I’d rather watch them from the top of the world at the Contemporary with a cocktail in my hand. Being crammed like a sardine and herded like cattle at a Halloween or Christmas party? No, thanks, I’ll pass. They really should cap off capacity at these parties to a decent amount where you feel it’s worth it: short wait times and less crowds.

I’m going in 2 1/2 weeks and never have I ever seen parks close so early in the month of August. Point is we’re paying more yet getting less; for hours that used to be included now you have to pay for those early morning and late nights! What are you REALLY getting at these parties? A special parade? Special fireworks? A cookie? I’m starting to see it for what it is...and unfortunately it’s not so magical :worried:
I completely agree. It’s too much now. Too many people. Too many price hikes. Too many extra charges. And I know it’s Disney and I am prepared to pay more than I would on other vacations. I’m okay with that. But it’s getting out of hand.

You used to be rewarded for staying on site with extra magic hours included. Now they want you to pay a crap ton of money for it. For a family of 4, it’s not feasible, nor worth it based on how crowded these “parties” get. It’s $500 extra for one night of the party. At Christmas. FOR ONE NIGHT!

I’ll give them a couple of years to figure it out, or I’m out.

At least staying on property.

If I stay off, I can pay half off site. Put up with driving and parking and deal with it. Cook my own meals in a crock pot or whatever, and deal with it for about 1/3 the cost.

Time will tell, but I feel like I’m at the verge of getting maxed out with how much they expect me to take.

Sorry for the rant. I’m currently planning for a close to Christmas trip and the park hours are so short, we are screwed. Unless we want to pay $500 for just one party night for our family. With massive crowds at those parties. No thanks.

It needs to be corrected. Soon!
 
I went the past two years (1st night in 2017 and 2nd night in 2018).

2017 was okay. It was extremely crowded, but after about 930, we could basically walk on Attractions, and it made it worth it. It was way to overcrowded, but once the night really got going crowds spread out. I did not have a great time. But, we were able to go on Splash Mountain twice as a walk-on, and a third time, by not even leaving the boat. That made it WELL worth it.

Last year was an absolute joke. It was so crowded, the park was not navigable. We had to wait an hour and a half to see the parade, and even at about 1030, small world had an hour wait. You could not do anything without a massive wait. As a man, waiting 10 minutes for the bathroom is exceptionally rare. The parade and shows are very cool, but half the party was spent waiting to ensure we could see them. I did consider asking for my money back for the first time ever, but figured lessoned learned, I won't go again. It was dreadful and awful, and really had no redeemable qualities.

So the MNSSHP is the only thing at WDW I really hate.

That being said, I really hope Disney makes positive changes and people have a wonderful time. If it was even %10.00 less people, it would have been a huge help. But when the People Mover has a huge back log, you know its bad.

Sorry to be negative! It does seem with these changes Disney is sincere about plussing the event. Hopefully they will lower the capacity in the process.

And I hope people have a magical time this year!

Agree. See my post later as a reply to one other. I’ve been watching this go down for twenty five years. It used to be special.
 


I attended my first MNSSHP in 2004. We did two that trip. They were wonderful. Over the next 14 years we've attended parties all but three years. Some years, like that first year we did it twice. I will also add that 2 of the 3 years we didn't do the Halloween party, we attended MVMCP. Last year I booked the party with some hesitation based on our experience a couple of years earlier. But I caved and booked it anyway. Huge mistake. It was oversold, packed. Long lines for everything. I was so irritated with myself.

Last month, I bought Villians After Hours tickets. Excited to experience MK the way it used to be on party nights. Again, big mistake. It was way more crowded than I had hoped. $250 mistake.

I'm most likely done with hard ticket events. I'm no longer willing to forkout $$ for a special event that feels like your average packed night at MK. We had a good run back in the day but those days are over.
 
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I’ll give them a couple of years to figure it out, or I’m out.

At least staying on property.
I totally get where you're coming from. We almost always stay offsite for a variety of reasons.

The problem is that so far, for every family that opts to stay offsite, there is another in line to take their place onsite. And there are more hotels coming. Gran Destino just opened. Riviera is coming soon. The Star Wars hotel is well underway. Disney will keep upcharging because people keep paying for it. Maybe not the same people that were coming before - some of them have been priced out, but they've been replaced by others with deeper pockets.

I don't have an opinion on the parties as we've never been to one, but I can tell you that this year I only bought an AP for me, not my wife and daughter. I only got them regular hopper passes. Getting all of us APs would have cost hundreds of dollars more and that was before the price hike. Had I bought tickets after the hike, I don't think I would have even gotten the one AP for myself. The price has crossed the line for us.

We keep talking about eventually moving to the area but the more crowded and expensive it gets, the less inclined I am to want to do that.
 
We are doing MVMCP on 11/8. It’s the first night and I’m excited but I know it’s going to be crowded. Years ago late EMH was 3 hours open to resort guests only. We walked on rides til 2 am and it was amazing! But we have done that quite a few times now and I’m really looking forward to seeing and experiencing Christmas in MK. I wish less tickets were sold but I’m curious to see what after hours events will be offered in November. HS and AK could have hard ticket events, too. So far November 8th is not sold out.
 
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We are doing MVMCP on 11/8. It’s the first night and I’m excited but I know it’s going to be crowded. Years ago late EMH was 3 hours open to resort guests only. We walked on rides til 2 am and it was amazing! But we have done that quite a few times now and I’m really looking forward to seeing and experiencing Christmas in MK. I wish less tickets were sold but I’m curios to see what after hours events will be offered in November. HS and AK could have hard ticket events, too. So far November 8th is not sold out.
Have a fantastic time! I did during the parties MNSSHP and MVMCP) I did, although that was years ago, before the massive crowds and overselling of tickets. I will say that the snow on Main St. and the 360 fireworks still give me goosbumps, even just to hink about! :)
 
The last time i was at WDW was 2008. Me and a friend got tickets to pirates and princess to go twice. Once we went for parade and fireworks and such. The other was for rides.
But maybe back then the lines weren't so long because most rides were walk on. Maybe in 2008 they didn't sell many tickets.
 
I think it comes down to this, Disney will sell as many tickets as they want. The more tickets they sell means more money for them. They could care less if people are waiting in line for two hours to meet a character, or waiting for four hours for a ride. They will keep jacking up prices and overselling events as long as people keep paying the money and going. I know in an ideal world, we'd all be able to walk onto a ride with little to no wait, but I think those days are long gone.
 
Right.

So if I do the math... say a group of 4, at $90/85pp... an hour of time = $70 or more.

No character signature is worth $70+, IMO. But I don't suppose most partygoers stop to think about it the way I do.
I like to think about these things as well. Another one to consider is how much the MK makes off of this event in one season. Since ticket prices, and capacity, fluctuate I will do a rough estimate.
$90 a ticket x 25000 capacity = $2,250,000 a night
Multiply that by the number of nights that I counted on Disney's website (44) and they pull in $99,000,000 for forty four nights.... just on ticket sales. $99m on top of whatever they made during their regular business hours.

And, I'm not complaining, I love Halloween and after hour events. I do wish that they would show us a little respect and not oversell them. Because, really, after a certain capacity they're just selling the same day twice.
 
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I attended my first Halloween party last year. I was so excited and anticipated that this would be one of the highlights of our vacation. However, my opinion only that I am sharing, it was too crowded and difficult to get the experience as described. I wouldn't repeat unless it was reported they sold less tickets. Changes do look amazing though!

This was my experience 5 years ago. It’s way oversold. It was much better 10 years ago.
 
I like to think about these things as well. Another one to consider is how much the MK makes off of this event in one season. Since ticket prices, and capacity, fluctuate I will do a rough estimate.
$90 a ticket x 25000 capacity = $2,250,000 a night
Multiply that by the number of nights that I counted on Disney's website (44) and they pull in $99,000,000 for forty four nights.... just on ticket sales. $99m on top of whatever they made during their regular business hours.

And, I'm not complaining, I love Halloween and after hour events. I do wish that they would show us a little respect and not oversell them. Because, really, after a certain capacity they're just selling the same day twice.

PREACH!
 
I havent seen any nights where they are open until midnight either like in the past. I was surprised only to see a couple of late hours added and if I remember correctly none are past 11 p.m.

Magic Kingdom was open until midnight last night.
 

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