MNSSHP Worth it?

[ahunt]

So my dilemna is that I was hoping to attend MNSSHP on the Saturday night but it's only happening on the Friday of our vacation. I had already booked all of our reservations before this and now the parks we're attending are set because I don't want to give up the reservations we have. Be Our Guest for the most part!

Where I need advice is whether to attend MNSSHP on the Friday night after going to Animal Kingdom during the day or to skip it and just watch the fireworks at the Polynesian that night? My son is 8 and although he has tons of energy this will also be our 5th day touring parks and I'm thinking it might be alot to do both parks in one day. I'm thinking in order to do both we would have to skip the walking tours at AK.

This is our first and realistically our only trip to Disney. What would you do? Skip the perimeter things at AK for MNSSHP or forego MNSSHP in order to see everything at AK?

Thanks!

 

[mnapatta]

Sorry but what is MNSSHP? lol

 

[kohlby]

If you do both, take a decent break between the two. Otherwise, I'd ask him which one he would prefer since you think it may be the only trip. At 8, he might not be old enough to know if he can make it to midnight, but he's old enough to decide if AK or MNSSHP sounds like more fun if he gives one up.

I'd have him pick his priorities at AK and then plan on leaving the park after a few hours. Then go back to the hotel, use the pool, rest up, and then head out to the party. The party doesn't officially start until 7pm, though you can enter at 4pm. I'd use as much rest time as he needed between. (As long as you're there by 7pm!)

AK was a flop for my kids on three of our trips. We're doing a half-day on our next one, hoping that's changed. But, since it's a possible-only trip, I wouldn't skip it but would plan a much shorter day.

Another consideration - what are you doing the next day? You'll need a late start to your next day and he likely won't have the energy to go at the same pace.

 

[treehugnmama]

we do mnsshp every year. my kids were 7 and 9 last year. It is a blast!! We love it. It is the fav part of our trip. It is why we go in oct every year. the parade is awesome and I am not a huge parade fan. I also love halloween so I may be biased. We do not go to a park during the day. We take it easy go for a swim have a sit down lunch and head to the party for 4 pm and we grap a light qs for dinner. The next day is a VERY VERY lazy day! We usually get back to the room after 1 am. We stay at the party till close and by the time we get the bus back it is 1:30. I personally would do mnsshp over animal kingdom in a heartbeat and I have been to mnsshp 4 times now. My kids would vote party hands down. We watch the parade, fireworks and hit a few trick or treat lines and do all the rides we want to do…oh and the vilian show. This is out only mk day and we do all we want to……I wouldn't recommend it as your only mk day though if it is a first trip. If we miss something we know we can always do it next year (DVC)

 

[kotajeff]

Sorry but what is MNSSHP? lol

Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party


Jeff

 

[ColonelHathi]

I totally think MNSSHP is worth it for your DS. Our DS was 7 1/2 for our trip last year and he came back raving about MNSSHP much more than AK.

We easily could have gotten away with a 1/2 day at AK as far as DS was concerned as well - he didn't want to ride Everest, Dinosaur was a bit scary, etc.

We did MK rope drop with EMH the day of MNSSHP for a few hours, returned to the resort, then came back at about 3. We had another full MK day, but we saw A TON on that MK morning because crowds were so light with the early park closure. We did a full MK day on Saturday and it was so crowded in comparison. I would forgo a Be our Guest ADR in a heartbeat too if that were a deciding criteria.

The parade is incredible, fireworks amazing. Kids only made it through the fireworks, but we enjoyed some rides, character meet n' greets (some before party, some in costume), dance party, trick-or-treating, etc., etc. For us, it was worth it, incredible memories, and I will miss it next August.

 

[jacknsally19]

When you say that Friday will be your 5th day touring - does that mean 5 days in a row? If so, I would suggest choosing AK or MNSSHP. If you had a planned "down" day in the middle of the 5 days, maybe you could do both in one day. But its pretty exhausting for an adult - nevermind a young kid. Personally, I think AK is pretty amazing and I could easily spend an entire day there. So if you choose AK, it will be great. The Birds of Prey and the Lion King show are amazing. But if your kid isn't really into animals, its fine to skip it and spend the time at the party. You also don't have to decide right now. You could easily wait until you get there and see how your child is reacting to WDW. If its seems like he is exhausted at night, skip the party. But if he really loves MK - cancel AK and buy party tickets.

Good luck - you will have fun no matter what you decide!

 

[Spoiledraf]

AK has always been a short visit park for us. Sleep in a little to refresh. Use your FPs for your favorites. And be back to the Poly a few hours before the party for a little break and some dinner.
We love the party and we are in our 60s. The parade is great. The fireworks are great and the costumes are fun to see. Nothing like a 70+ woman dressed as a pirates wench! There are some really original outfits. It's a fun time.

 

[ToddyLu]

You could always eat a nice breakfast at Boma, look around the savannahs at both resorts...call it a day and rest....then head out to the party at 4 p.m.

We always do the party....we will be there this year on 10/28

I love AK...but if you live near a place with a great zoo then I would skip it, go to AKL and save up for the party that night.

Sorry but for a one time trip to Disney at age 8 I would want to dress like a princess or pirate and go to an awesome Halloween party. The Headless Horseman and fireworks alone are worth the ticket price to me.

 

[pjennings]

I'm going to go the other direction than everyone else. We did the party last year on our last night of the trip. We didn't do anything that morning but swim and have a late lunch at DTD before heading to MK for the party, we arrived at MK at 4. It was fun until we got stuck in the hub during the Villain's Show. We were able to sit down in front of the castle and watch HalloWishes, which were amazing. By the time HalloWishes was over my girls (8) were done. They were just exhausted. We were able to finally move Main St to find a spot to watch the Parade but my girls were just over it by then. We mainly stayed so I could watch the parade. It was a sold out night and it was packed! They did enjoy the trick or treating, meeting the 7 Dwarfs and the Monsters Inc. Dance Party. I think we would have had a better time if we would have went earlier in our trip. We are going back to WDW this October but not going to MNSSHP.

 

[set1208]

We do MNSSHP not for the party events but just so that we can do MK with little to no wait times and minimal crowds. Plus the party tix is cheaper than a park tix and getting a ton of candy is a big perk for my little kids. If we went at rope drop, my kids would only last 8 hours or so in the heat of the day so by going in the evening, our family gets the same amount of park time and we enjoy the cool of the evening. When we've been in Sept/Oct we've never been to MK other than to attend the party.

We spend the first part of the day sleeping in and relaxing then we got the park at 4 and stay til closing.

I've never been to BOG and to me, it seems like there is so much hype for a restaurant. To those who've been, in all honesty, is it as amazing as you expected or is all the excitement just because it's something new?

 

[brinafair]

Thanks for this thread. We are still debating whether MNSSHP is for us and worth the extra expense. With the 5 of us, it doesn't come cheap. Still weighing the pros and cons.

 

[mcjaco]

You can easily do AK and MNSSHP on the same day. I've done it twice in the past. I believe they let you into the MK two hours before the "party" starts as well.

MNSSHP is very worth it. Short lines, tremendous amounts of free candy, a great little parade, and show at the Castle. Worth every penny.

 

[Tara1988]

Definitely check the weather forecast before buying your ticket! We went last year and it rained too much to enjoy much of it. We didn't even get to see the villains show which is the main thing I wanted to do. But we had plenty of time to do animal kingdom that morning then go back to the hotel to eat and change into our costumes

 

[ahunt]

So we've decided to do AK in the morning and MNSSHP in the evening. My son LOVES African animals so we want to see AK but we do have African Lion Safari here so were ok with missing some of the waking tours...they look similar to what we've got here. We're having breakfast at Tuskers and planning to hit the big things (as suggested! Thx) and then possibly break at the hotel and get to MK for early evening. It is our fifth vacay day but we do have a rest day on Wednesday. My plan is to go back to MK Saturday after a nice sleep in and late breakfast. Stay until we're tired and then do DTD Sunday before our flight. Exhausting but we want to experience it all!

Question - can you watch the Celebrate the Magic show from adventure land? Or do you need to be in front of the castle? Planning our night. Thx!

 

[mcjaco]

Best to get in front of the castle. I've never had much luck from anywhere else.

Your kid will love MNSSHP. Well worth it, and your plan of attack is right on.

 

[MagicEars]

So we've decided to do AK in the morning and MNSSHP in the evening. My son LOVES African animals so we want to see AK but we do have African Lion Safari here so were ok with missing some of the waking tours...they look similar to what we've got here. We're having breakfast at Tuskers and planning to hit the big things (as suggested! Thx) and then possibly break at the hotel and get to MK for early evening. It is our fifth vacay day but we do have a rest day on Wednesday. My plan is to go back to MK Saturday after a nice sleep in and late breakfast. Stay until we're tired and then do DTD Sunday before our flight. Exhausting but we want to experience it all!

Question - can you watch the Celebrate the Magic show from adventure land? Or do you need to be in front of the castle? Planning our night. Thx!

Canadian, eh?! I live very close to African Lion Safari.

Hope you enjoy MNSSHP. My family will be going & I cannot wait!!

 

[ktlm]

We've done AK on a party night more than once (and we always go to a park party day even if it isn't AK). We usually leave AK at around 3:00, head back to the room to freshen up, and then get over to MK by 5:00 or 5:30, so that we can get in line for one of the hugely popular party characters well before the party start time. We also go to the parks every day of our trip. DD has never slowed down during a party! I think you will be fine!

 

[SariKat]

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parade