"Official" 2015 MNSSHP thread

[Elliemay2]

We went 10/27. The rain made it less than perfect with three little kids. We ended up with a table at Casey's and stayed there most of the night under the unbrella. We had a great view of the fireworks, but the parade was obstructed. My daughter and I decided to get good spots for the last HP.My husband and boys opted to stay at Casey's. After waiting 30 minutes in the rain HP was cancelled....however they did a short performance that was very good! We did 1 character meet and one trick or treat location and never seen the headless horseman. I think our biggest issue was that we had already spent hours in MK before the party. Half way through the party, my daughter changed out of her costume and my 5 year old fell asleep....even slept through the fireworks!

 

[DiannaVM]

I know I am like really late, but I've been very busy since we've been back from our vacation. All in all the party was.....OK. I believe I've had more fun at previous parties honestly. We went on Oct. 12th, and I was bracing myself to how bad it was going to be. Mostly because I had made an error in booking and didn't realize that was a holiday, but the crowds weren't too bad. I would say the park was as busy as it would be on a "slow" day, which means that it was still relatively crowded compared to the other times I've been there.
My issue was (and to some it may not seem like an issue) that there is way too many things to do during such a short time. I did get in line for Jack and Sally at sometime after 4 and there were already about six people waiting ahead of me. It was worth the wait though. Out of all the characters we met on the trip, they seemed the most enthusiastic and engaging (I think some characters figured they don't have to try as hard as they would with kids because it was two adults meeting them?). Jack Sparrow was also a character we weren't really planning to meet, but when we realized POTC was closed for a while, we decided to get in his line and I am glad we did because he was great too. I guess I was trying to be overly ambitious, but I just felt like there was sooo much more to do and we couldn't get to it. I remember my first time going being able to TOT at almost every location (from early and end up with a FULL bag), meeting one or two characters, watching the parade, and still find time to go on my favorite rides more than once and still come out of it feeling accomplished. This time, I didn't even get to see the Hocus Pocus show, nor was I able to find the spot for the Hitch-hiking Ghosts Magic Shot.

I think what affected us too was the I don't think my DH realized how much energy he was going to need to muster up on this day or that I was honestly pushing to stay at the park until closing time. I ended up compromising with him and leaving before the last showing of Hocus Pocus because he was getting miserable. And don't get me started on the merchandise available. It was pretty lacklustre which was a tad disappointing. I do regret talking myself out of getting a poison apple stein though. I convinced myself that I didn't need it and then spent the rest of my trip trying to find one (after I heard they were being sold outside party hours) with no luck.


All in all, I think I would still go again, but I would probably shoot for going the week before Halloween (which is when I used to go). I don't know. This year it sounds like it was all over the place regardless of day. But the upside is I DID get to meet plenty characters that night (or at least more than I had planned) and still loved the parade and Hallo-wishes. I will say that on our night, we got checked for our bands pretty consistently. Especially when waiting for characters, but sometimes even when just walking from one land to the next, CMs would walk past asking everyone to show them their bands. I can't say I saw people without them.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Ok so we are here now actually waiting to check in for our lunch ADR at BOG. For those of you who have already been to the MNSSHP I am sorry and for those of you holding tix for the remaining parties I am happy to report there appears to be quite a bit of party merchandise including Hocus Pocus merchandise and at 40% off!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Just reporting in for those that might be interested and follow along for next year perhaps. This was at least our third or fourth MNSSHP and we have gone at the end of September and also toward the end of October as my DS has a 3 day weekend in Oct due to a teacher workday. We have typically gone on a Sunday hoping next day is school/work day and it would be less crowded and I follow along with the threads and sold out dates.

We attended the Sun, 10/25 party and as soon we got to the MK there was a sign the party was sold out. Oh boy - lol We arrived right before 4pm and were given our bands right at the entrance which was nice. We had a 4:20pm Plaza ADR so we went there after stopping along Main Street. It was really warm while the sun was out (and had been very humid that day as well) so we were trying to keep cool and refuel before the party started. I realized we weren't given a bag for trick or treating but others clearly had one so we were told just to get one at the first trick or treat location, no biggie at all. The park was definitely very crowded but I had hoped it would thin out a bit but don't feel like it did. At 7:00pm (and even before) as others mentioned, there was no announcement and honestly I didn't see anyone checking for bracelets. No one checked ours at all, all night and this was definitely a first. I had read about this on this thread and was a little shocked by that. I did glance at others to see if they had bracelets on and everyone I noticed did have them on. I honestly forgot to look later but I assumed it was just crowded as again it was sold out and I'm also convinced they let more people in compared to prior years.

The rides were not walk on like in other years either. Not a big deal and certainly not like a busy park day but not walk on either. Most were at 20-25 minutes. Mine Train was 40 minutes and since it was new for us, we decided to wait and loved it. POTC, BTMR were both 25 minutes and we waited for those. Once the sun went down it was very pleasant (at least for us) and we were no longer melting. The only place I remember feeling "sweaty" was in line at Haunted Mansion because it was like there was no air outside there - very odd.

The trick or treat lines were humongous but they did move fast. I also felt like they didn't give as much as they usually have but it wasn't a big deal. We left with enough to make us happy and certainly DS happy. We love the MNSSHP and probably would go again but it's disappointing it had indeed gotten so crowded and slightly out of control feeling.

We didn't do any characters and didn't do the parades either this time around as this was our only MK day this trip which we accomplished everything we wanted to.

We also felt like a lot more people dressed up compared to other years and I'd say easily 80% of people had costumes or were dressed up.

Heather

 

[Dis703]

Okay, so I have a few minutes at work and wanted to share our experience with MNSSHP on Tuesday 10/27. This party was sold out, so I was a tad nervous but crowds were completely manageable.

3:15 We got to MK and there were only a handful of people waiting at the gates. I went to Guest Relations to purchase the one day Memory Maker to save some park time.
3:45 They started letting people in and the crowd was pretty huge by this point.
We went to get the Halloween SOTMK card, but they weren't giving them out until 4pm, so we signed up to play and headed to our first FP.
4-6pm we rode Peter Pan w/FP, IASW -15 minute posted wait actual was 9, POTC - 10 minutes, Jungle Cruise -FP, BTMRR - FP and my sis and her BF went on Splash Mountain with a 10 minute wait.
We grabbed our Halloween card behind the Christmas Shop in Liberty Square as we were passing through and then spent some time shopping on Main Street.
7pm We were headed into Fantasyland to grab a Candy Corn Ice Cream. At this point we heard the announcement that the party had started. CMs were definitely checking for party bracelets but they were a lot more subtle about it than when I was at MVMCP a couple years ago. My sister actually commented about them checking and I hadn't even noticed. They occasionally asked to see one that wasn't visible but otherwise were just looking at everyone passing by.
We got our ice cream and headed to the ToT trail that started at the Train Station in Fantasyland. It was actually perfect timing as we were strolling along eating our ice cream or drinking coffee and we were headed to Tomorrowland anyhow. We got fistfuls of candy at each station.
7:30pm My sis and her BF went on Space Mountain (10 minute wait) while I sat at the Lunching Pad and grabbed a snack.
After this we headed to Buzz Lightyear w/5 minute wait and then back over to HM. Wait times for HM were around 30 minutes when we got to the park but it was down to 15 by this point so we decided to ride. Actual wait was less than 10. On our way in we saw the line for the Magic Shot pics in the FP area and it was really long so we figured we'd check again on our way out. After the ride it was double the length so we skipped it until later. We then rode 7DMT with a 30 minute wait. This was the shortest we noticed it during the evening. Most of the the night it was posted as 40.
9:20 we got to the front of the castle and there was tons of wide open space. With Celebrate the Magic starting at 9:45 I was shocked at all the room still available. We had a perfect spot and nobody blocking our view. We stayed for Hallowishes and loved both shows!
By the time this was over we were starving, but our first choice was closed. They sent us to Peco's Bills in Frontierland which was okay since we wanted to watch the parade from there anyhow. We got our food pretty quickly and sat for a bit. All of a sudden I realize it's 11:05 and only 10 minutes until the parade and we ran out to find a spot. Considering how much smaller the crowd seemed at the fireworks there were a lot more people than I expected in Frontierland waiting for the parade. But we still had no trouble snagging a front row spot just 5 minutes before the parade.
The parade was awesome, but we were a tad disappointed there was no headless horseman. I thought we missed him, but people around us were told that he doesn't ride when the ground is too wet.
The moment the parade ended I grabbed my sister and headed to HM immediately for the pics in front of the buggy. There was not one single person there at all so we walked right in and got our pics taken.
We made a couple more stops trick or treating (we stopped randomly throughout the night) and headed over towards the castle in search of a Halloween popcorn bucket for my sister and snacks before the midnight showing of Hocus Pocus. Again we were able to get pretty close to the castle without any issues. Our view would have been completely perfect if not for the random dads who put their kids on their shoulders and literally block 50% of the castle. This was my biggest pet peeve of the night. I moved around and got a decent view but had to move several times during the show as other people kept following suit.
After the show we headed to the Emporium and did some shopping and got one last Photopass pic at the front entrance of Main Street.
We were waiting in line for the bus at 1:15am exhausted, but still pretty pumped and excited after a really awesome night.

My sister said it was her best Birthday ever. We had such a blast. The costumes were awesome. The cast members were awesome. Just a fabulous day at Disney. We flew down just for one night for this party and I'm so glad we did it. I'm thinking we may need to make this an annual thing.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

We had a great time at the party on 10/20.
Lined up for Jack and Sally around 4:30, met them at 5:17.
Met the Evil Queen at 8PM and Jack Sparrow at 8:07PM.
We road Haunted Mansion at 6:15PM and around 12AM, also Mine Train with less than a 30 minute wait at 8:28PM.
Got two of the magic shots 7:19PM and 12:06AM. Couldn't find the cauldron one, even though I tried many different locations.
Saw the Dapper Dans, the Horseman, the parade (second front row seats near Country Bears), the fireworks (FP viewing area) and the Hocus Pocus show. Hocus Pocus was from a distance though.
We trick or treated at a few locations, but were really not interested in the candy more the fact that it was part of the experience. So we only hit about 5 stations.

 

[Dis703]

We had a great time at the party on 10/20.
Lined up for Jack and Sally around 4:30, met them at 5:17.
Met the Evil Queen at 8PM and Jack Sparrow at 8:07PM.
We road Haunted Mansion at 6:15PM and around 12AM, also Mine Train with less than a 30 minute wait at 8:28PM.
Got two of the magic shots 7:19PM and 12:06AM. Couldn't find the cauldron one, even though I tried many different locations.
Saw the Dapper Dans, the Horseman, the parade (second front row seats near Country Bears), the fireworks (FP viewing area) and the Hocus Pocus show. Hocus Pocus was from a distance though.
We trick or treated at a few locations, but were really not interested in the candy more the fact that it was part of the experience. So we only hit about 5 stations.

We couldn't find the cauldron pics either. I asked several CMs and they thought it might have been on Main Street, but no one knew for sure and that didn't seem to be the case.

Also, we tried asking about the Book at the Emporium as it was suggested earlier in this thread that you could ask for it and they would bring it out to take pics. The CMs at the Emporium looked at me like I had two heads. They had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[ldymcbth]

The cauldron shot was REALLY hard to find. I probably asked 10 photographers! I finally found it at the second to last PP photographer as you are exiting Main Street. I asked him "do you have the Evil Queen cauldron shot?" and he said, "I don't know. I think I might," and then he stared at me. I was like...er, can we try it, then? And he ROLLED HIS EYES and then set us up for the shot. I wasn't expecting it to work but lo and behold, we got it! I was dressed as the EQ so I was thrilled to have it. Not so thrilled to have had to ask SO many photographers about it before finally finding one, and then having him give me an attitude!

 

[angel0321]

We couldn't find the cauldron pics either.

How odd, only because we found photogs on both Oct 1 and Oct 6 in one attempt/request each night! On the 1st, we asked a photog who was in Fantasyland, sort of at the wall where people meet during the day for Fairy Godmother/the Tremaines, where people were waiting for some character to meet & take photos, if he had that capability or know who would/where we could get it, and he was able to assist. (Not sure who the character was at MNSSHP that meets in that area.) Then on the 6th as a photog was leaving Pooh's area, we asked if she had the capability to do the shot, and she did, too. From reading various posts here, it appears people were having more luck with photogs who were set up in/near Fantasyland for characters, but it could just have been good luck.

Hoping those at the remaining parties have a great time!!

 

[Tigger2252]

We attended the 10/27 party and, after attending parties several years ago, we have decided that we won't attend another. Our memories of far less crowded parties probably are the reason we were so disappointed this time. We arrived shortly after 4 and went immediately to line up for Jack and Sally. The line wasn't long yet but they did spend time with each group so we were in line for about an hour. We went immediately to try to get an autograph from Cruella since my youngest daughter had requested it. When we got there the CM said it would be an hour and a half. So we had to skip it. From there we went immediately to Sleepy Hollow to get a Poison Apple stein (the only souvenir my other DD asked for) only to be told the park had been out of them for some time. The candy lines were incredibly long but moved pretty well. We had two CMs that gave a handful of candy. Every other stop we made was just a couple of pieces but we figured no big deal since there were plenty of stops. Since the rides weren't a priority for us we planned to try to meet the Dwarves, Cruella, and a few of the other rare characters. Unfortunately the crowd levels made it so you needed to really narrow it down. We skipped the first parade thinking the crowds on the rides would thin but waits were still over 30 minutes. We wanted the fun photos and got them but did not get the cauldron shot because nobody we asked knew where it was.

I was very surprised to find 2 candy stations gone by 10:30 over in Adventureland. I remember them as being open until the end. They used to also give you candy on the way out at the end but I didn't see that this time. We went to the hub for the fireworks but it was packed so we watched from the side. We actually took pictures of the size of the crowd to send to our kids since they only remember the parties we went to. We caught the last parade but the rain kept the horseman at home. The parade is always fun and we stayed for the midnight HP show. It was excellent as all their shows are.

So, we decided that our days of attending the parties have come to an end. For us, having to choose a couple of things to do, not having party merchandise available for later party dates, and the massive crowd was too much. It's no longer special enough to justify the added expense.

 

[bewelch83]

Also, we tried asking about the Book at the Emporium as it was suggested earlier in this thread that you could ask for it and they would bring it out to take pics. The CMs at the Emporium looked at me like I had two heads. They had no idea what I was talking about.

I attended the 10/15 party... As we were leaving @ 12:30 I stopped in and asked the first cast member I saw & she had the book brought right out! The only person looking at me strange was my husband who already knew I was crazy. I have an great pic which most of my Facebook friends are completely envious of! Credit goes to posters @ Disboards!

 

[Dis703]

I attended the 10/15 party... As we were leaving @ 12:30 I stopped in and asked the first cast member I saw & she had the book brought right out! The only person looking at me strange was my husband who already knew I was crazy. I have an great pic which most of my Facebook friends are completely envious of! Credit goes to posters @ Disboards!

Oh man, that stinks. I guess we should have kept asking. The two CMs we did ask didn't even seem to know what Hocus Pocus was so they had no clue when I was asking for The Book what that meant. They kept sending me to the book section, lol. I tried explaining but they had no idea what I was talking about and it was crazy busy so we gave up. What a bummer.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Did anyone here go to last nights party?? We go tonite and just wondering how crazy it was on Halloween night?!!!

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

Woohoo! We went in late September, so before the Hocus Pocus MB came out, and I was just able to buy it on the app, no tax and no shipping! Yay!

 

[Keels]

Heading out in just a bit for the party tonight!

Did anyone recently see the Zero popcorn buckets? I'm not keeping my hopes up, but thought I'd ask!

 

[Dracoa Dragoon]

Did anyone here go to last nights party?? We go tonite and just wondering how crazy it was on Halloween night?!!!

We went! It was full, but nothing crazier the. Any of the other sold out days. Got a front row for the first show (get a seat an hour ahead). Otherwise start lining up for 7 dwarfs at 5:30. By 10:30 it was walk on everything except peter pan and mine cart. That became a 10 min wait at 11.

However if you wait for te last parade you're not getting out of that park until midnight with the crowds.

 

[Hibiscus]

Did anyone here go to last nights party?? We go tonite and just wondering how crazy it was on Halloween night?!!!

We did & found it was much less crowded than we had anticipated. We had planned to wait until the second parade but were passing by Frontierland about ten minutes before the first parade started and saw a group of people hovering like vultures. My friend said, "Let's see what's going on!" Five minutes later, the CM put up the rope to close the walkway and said, "Okay folks, here's your big chance! Fill in!" We got front row spots for the parade with virtually no wait.

Everything was walk-on by 10 or so. We were the only people on Splash at around 11. Trick-or-treating was great, too - it was like the CMs were actively trying to unload as much candy as possible. That seemed to be a theme - we got the Hocus Pocus shirts for 40% off as they were trying to clear out the Halloween merchandise.

I did not find my beloved waffle sundae... but there's always next year.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Heading out in just a bit for the party tonight!

Did anyone recently see the Zero popcorn buckets? I'm not keeping my hopes up, but thought I'd ask!

When I went a 2 weeks ago they said Libertyland was the only place to find them (I found it by the Tom Sawyer dock)

 

[Fan of Figment]

Heading out in just a bit for the party tonight!

Did anyone recently see the Zero popcorn buckets? I'm not keeping my hopes up, but thought I'd ask!

We went to the 10/27 party and got one at a stand in Fantasyland.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

We did & found it was much less crowded than we had anticipated. We had planned to wait until the second parade but were passing by Frontierland about ten minutes before the first parade started and saw a group of people hovering like vultures. My friend said, "Let's see what's going on!" Five minutes later, the CM put up the rope to close the walkway and said, "Okay folks, here's your big chance! Fill in!" We got front row spots for the parade with virtually no wait.

Everything was walk-on by 10 or so. We were the only people on Splash at around 11. Trick-or-treating was great, too - it was like the CMs were actively trying to unload as much candy as possible. That seemed to be a theme - we got the Hocus Pocus shirts for 40% off as they were trying to clear out the Halloween merchandise.

I did not find my beloved waffle sundae... but there's always next year.

We were there last night too. Crowds were better than I expected. Found a good place for the fireworks and rides were walk on after 830 or so. Disappointed they didn't do The pre-fireworks castle show, which was advertised but didn't happen. Also didn't see Zero to start the fireworks, which we were really looking forward to.