Is the Halloween party worth it?

[we"reofftoneverland]

We've been to the Very Merry party and while it was cute we didn't really think it was worth it. Halloween?

 

[mousehockey37]

Would you:

Dress up in costume?
Do the trick or treating?
Character Meet and Greets?
Watch Hocus Pocus stage show?
Watch the Boo To You Parade (once or even twice)?
Enter the park before 7pm?
Buy event specific merchandise/food?

If you answered yes, then yes. Hallowishes, IMO, is one of the best fireworks shows they have. The parade is great in that you see villains and lots of them as well as the headless horseman.

But as far as saying worth it? We did it once and it was worth it for us. Would we do it again? Not so sure with the ever rising price tag for it. But, it was definitely worth it to say that we were there and saw it.

 

[Melanie230]

ABSOLUTELY!!!! We have done MNSSHP many times. Sometimes we go to Universal/IOA and rent a car to go to MNSSHP. Last year we went on a cruise....rented a car from Ft Lauderdale, and drove to FLL to Disney just to do MNSSHP! You will love it. We are going in September and we are doing MNSSHP. We do not buy our tickets to the party until we get there because if it is pouring rain...I would not spend that amount of $$$ to walk around in the rain. But if you are going in October you risk it selling out if you wait.

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

We have done it 4 times in the last 4 years. We enjoy the atmosphere of it all. It really depends on you. Not everyone enjoys the same things. "Mousehockey37" left you a good list of questions to ask yourself before deciding to go. We have our tickets to go again this year. The price does keep creeping up, so we will continue to do it until we decide it's been enough of "been there, done that". As of right now, we plan to keep going.

 

[pammydw]

Simply YES!! Totally worth it!

 

[Disneylover99]

Worth it to us. But we love everything Halloween!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I'm more of a fan of MNSSHP than MVMCP myself. High fun factor, great entertainment, generally good vibe. If I could only choose one over the other, MNSSHP would get my vote (almost) every time.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

That all sounds affirmative! Thanks to everyone for the input! At first I was thinking we would definitely do it-- that was the plan. After my kids saw some utube videos last Halloween, we booked a long weekend in 2018. We go to wdw pretty much every year but have never been during the Halloween "season." Recently I realized it would be an extra $415 for us (2 adults, 3 kids) to attend the party and so I started to think maybe the Halloween decorations would be enough (lol). But... I guess we should just stick with the original plan and go for it, because we have no plans to be back in the fall in the foreseeable future. It was a shock to see the prices, because we did Very Merry in 2008. The prices were so much lower! Well, and we had less people.

 

[Delirium]

Do NOT trick or treat. Too time-consuming. Too chaotic, and there are so many more things to do at the party to spend your time on.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Do NOT trick or treat. Too time-consuming. Too chaotic, and there are so many more things to do at the party to spend your time on.

This will be hard with our kids! But that is good advice, so we will talk to them ahead of time. I remember with Very Merry it felt like we barely did anything, just walked around in a Christmas daze. We saw one show in tomorrowland and ate some cookies, but otherwise, I do remember thinking afterwards that we should have done more!

 

[Delirium]

This will be hard with our kids! But that is good advice, so we will talk to them ahead of time. I remember with Very Merry it felt like we barely did anything, just walked around in a Christmas daze. We saw one show in tomorrowland and ate some cookies, but otherwise, I do remember thinking afterwards that we should have done more!

What I can tell you is that we have done it both ways. When we trick or treated, it was not enjoyable at all. When we didn't, it was among the best, if not the best, experience we've had at Disney.

 

[Disneylover99]

[QUOTE="Delirium, post: 59245258, member: 478514"]Do NOT trick or treat. Too time-consuming. Too chaotic, and there are so many more things to do at the party to spend your time on.[/QUOTE]

I don’t think you should tell people what not to do because you didn’t enjoy it.
Trick or treating is our favourite part of the party.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

This will be hard with our kids! But that is good advice, so we will talk to them ahead of time. I remember with Very Merry it felt like we barely did anything, just walked around in a Christmas daze. We saw one show in tomorrowland and ate some cookies, but otherwise, I do remember thinking afterwards that we should have done more!

Different strokes for different folks - but I can't imagine NOT doing at least a few treat stations. That's pretty much all we do... treat stations, lots of rides, parade, fireworks, Hocus Pocus. Makes for a fun night for us.

 

[Melanie230]

That all sounds affirmative! Thanks to everyone for the input! At first I was thinking we would definitely do it-- that was the plan. After my kids saw some utube videos last Halloween, we booked a long weekend in 2018. We go to wdw pretty much every year but have never been during the Halloween "season." Recently I realized it would be an extra $415 for us (2 adults, 3 kids) to attend the party and so I started to think maybe the Halloween decorations would be enough (lol). But... I guess we should just stick with the original plan and go for it, because we have no plans to be back in the fall in the foreseeable future. It was a shock to see the prices, because we did Very Merry in 2008. The prices were so much lower! Well, and we had less people.

I will say when we went last year, they had really improved a lot with the MNSSHP. There was a LOT more candy stations and more candy. In years past we rarely saw candy and most of the time the stations were out of candy. We don't trick or treat, but if we see a station we stop and grab some. Don't forget...you can get into the MK at 4pm for the MNSSHP!

 

[verleniahall]

We’ve done both parties now, and Halloween is better by far

 

[deuceswild10]

This will be hard with our kids! But that is good advice, so we will talk to them ahead of time. I remember with Very Merry it felt like we barely did anything, just walked around in a Christmas daze. We saw one show in tomorrowland and ate some cookies, but otherwise, I do remember thinking afterwards that we should have done more!

You can certainly do some trick or treating as you might walk right by the entrances. But I wouldn't make it a focus.

 

[aalan]

That all sounds affirmative! Thanks to everyone for the input! At first I was thinking we would definitely do it-- that was the plan. After my kids saw some utube videos last Halloween, we booked a long weekend in 2018. We go to wdw pretty much every year but have never been during the Halloween "season." Recently I realized it would be an extra $415 for us (2 adults, 3 kids) to attend the party and so I started to think maybe the Halloween decorations would be enough (lol). But... I guess we should just stick with the original plan and go for it, because we have no plans to be back in the fall in the foreseeable future. It was a shock to see the prices, because we did Very Merry in 2008. The prices were so much lower! Well, and we had less people.

 

[aalan]

If you have the funds and have never done it, then I would go! We went two years ago, and found it to be very crowded early in the evening. The crowds thin out as the night wears on, so plan to stay until midnight. Do some attractions during the 1st parade, and plan on seeing the fireworks and second parade. Trick or treat later, when CM’s tend to give out handfuls if candy. The character meets have long lines, so keep that in mind. (Jack and Sally is typically over 2 hours). The atmosphere is nice if you are a Halloween fan, but it’s a shame they do not limit the tickets like they used to do. Still, worth doing at least once.

 

[Nursemira]

Totally agree on NOT trick or treating! We attempted that one year and it was such a time suck! The parade is the best of the best. And the fireworks are amazing. We can not wait to go back. I do wish that Disney would limit the tickets a tad bit more. Sometimes it feels a bit crowded.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

It was totally worth it to us. We did not do a park day, only the party. You can get in at 4 (they let us in at 3:45) and I had fast passes for Space Mountain at 3:20-4:20, 7DMT from 4:20-5:20 and Splash mountain from 5:20-6:20. Dining at 6:10 at the Skippers Canteen. We even did pirates before dinner. While eating, they cleared the park. When we came out we walked over to catch Hocus Pocua and they roped us off directly in front of the castle for the parade. After that we rode Haynted Mansion and caught the show there (the ghost talking was really funny) we did several other rides including Peter Pan. Saw the fireworks. PWe did not trick or treat (too hot and we did not carry bags; I did not want to put it in my pants pocket nor did we do princesses. Great night and cheaper than a days pass.