Back home and had a GREAT time at the 9/20 Tuesday night party last week!!!!! It was me and my DS19. We did the MNSSHP (our first!) on the same day we arrived at the parks, which worked out great for us! We checked in to Pop Century at 11am, got a room right away, and rested/swam/had lunch until we left for the party at around 3.
We were through security just as they started letting party goers in, around 3:45! We were given our bracelets right after the turnstiles.
Thanks to this amazing thread I knew to head to the right and soon found the friendly CMs holding signs pointing us toward a special "early entrance" for MNSSHPers, including trick or treat bag and little ziploc started bag of candy!
Our plan was to buy event t-shirts - but we were "underwhelmed" by them so we didn't. We wore our Mickey Ears only, and had a great time! The CMs were great and complimented everyone on their costumes, even those not wearing one - I heard a CM say "Welcome, Man In T-Shirt" to one non-costumed guy! We had 2 FPs for the 4-6:30 time, and our first was 7DMT so that was a super way to kick off the fun! The crowd was pretty heavy at that point, being both party-goers and regular MK guests. But we found ZERO LINE at the teacups, rode them, and then went for our second FP at Space Mountain! Photopass insiders info (thank you DIS) got us to the photo booths in the shop at the end of Space Mountain - that was fun!
After that it was around 6pm and we went to get some dinner.
So the party officially started at 7pm, as we were sitting in Cosmic Ray's watching the ducks play on the river in the RAIN. But by the time we'd ponchoed up and headed out it was just barely drizzling. We walked straight into a Merida meet-n-greet, her first guests! Then over to Adventureland to start our party loop.
Our party fun was mostly people watching, enjoying the happy atmosphere, admiring the costumes, interacting with the regular CMs, trick or treating, and riding many rides without lines. We did not wait on lines for special character pics. We did wait on line for 2 or 3 magic shots - totally worth it. It was very hot, and the short rain left a fog around that created a really super Halloween atmosphere! But yes, it was steamy hot.
We rode Splash Mountain, It's A Small World, The Barnstormer, and Dumbo all with walk on zero lines! We collected a TON of amazing candy, including the green marshmallow Peeps! We had a big ziploc bag and about 1/2 way through we emptied our trick or treat bags into the ziploc and put it in the backpack. And then collected more!
DS19 REALLY wanted to try the candy corn soft serve. It was our longest line-wait of the entire night! We stood on line for about 20 minutes. But he said it was worth it.
I think the soft serve machines needed to be refilled quite often because the line was slow moving! By then it was a bit after 10pm, when we'd planned on starting all the shows.
It was PACKED near the castle hub, but we got to see some of Hallowishes. Can't say I enjoyed it too much because of the crowd. Had we not "needed" to get the candy corn ice cream we would have gotten there earlier and found a better less crowded spot. But sometimes you just can't do it all.
Afterwards we managed to get out of that crowd and to the Plaza Ice Cream shop where I got my special treat, an ice cream sandwich. They let me have one special Halloween sugar cookie and one chocolate chip cookie, and I put cookies'n'cream ice cream in the middle.
It was HUGE! I think I did eat most of it, but DS19 was happy to have a bit, too.
My feet were totally done for at that point, so I stayed sitting up against the Starbucks while DS19 made another loop of trick or treating. Then it was time for the second parade. We were right in front of the Starbucks, near the Indian statue, and had a front row view.
It was totally worth staying for! But no headless horseman (not sure why). The costumes and make up were amazing.
We were out of the park at 11:45, and with a crowded bus, back at the Pop in our rooms at 12:30am.
So, my summary is:
1. Arrive around 3:30pm, and head to the right.
2. Make sure you've reserved at least 2 FPs for the pre-party hours.
3. Eat some real food before the party - just ice cream and candy would've been unsettling!
4. If you want to hit a bunch of rides, this is a great time to do so! Only saw a line at 7DMT.
5. Great photo pass pictures!
6. Dress up or just wear ears or don't dress up - it's all good!
7. Wear comfy shoes for sure.
It was amazing! SO glad we did it!
Any tidbits help planning.
