We *may* be attending the very first party. My group of 13 have put in our order form through Shades of Green ticket office but have not yet heard back from them at all (very frustrating) so hopefully it won't sell out. I've never done one of these parties so not sure of everything I need to be aware of. We will have one person in our group in an ECV who doesn't have the ability to stand or walk for long so not sure how the parade will work out with the group splitting up for that. I also didn't realize you could go in as early as 4:00PM. Do they publish that? And if the park closes at 6PM to regular guests how do they know that you can stay?
When you enter the park with a MVMCP ticket you will enter through a designated line (they have signs) and they will put a wristband on your wrist. The wristband = party ticket holder and is how CMs know you have party ticket and are allowed past 6.
For the parade, I use an ECV and have never used the designated ECV area to watch it. We just find a space that works. Ditto with fireworks. If they do want to use the designated area, just choose somewhere to meet up at afterwards the same as you would if e.g. some people weren't going on a ride.
SW