Thank you everyone. I saw "Hitch Unhitch" and obviously didn't read the print underneath! Trying to figure out if we should go to the party on the 30th or 31st. I suppose we can hightail it over to the MK on a boat after the parade since the party is at 7. I have heard about decorated campsites but the area seems pretty huge. Do people just walk around a bit and take a look? We go 4 or 5 times a year and I have never been at Halloween and never to explore Ft Wilderness. This sounds exciting. We are also thinking about meeting the Headless Horseman but I guess there we would be running into a time crunch!
From my angle, it would really depend on what activities you want to be a part of. For us, last year, we actually went to the 11/1 party because we did not want to miss either of those afternoons/evenings at the Fort. If you want to be a part of Trick or Treating (we have kids, so that was a no-brainer), that really means 10/31 is out for the party. If you don't care about ToT, however, 10/31 might be the better night for the party option. You could go on 10/30, but while the party starts at 7 (there have actually been some rumors it might be earlier this year, but I haven't seen if that is confirmed or not), you can get into the park as early as 4p on your party tickets. So, you'd be missing out on some of your earliest time at MK if you went on 10/30.
So, in summary, if it were me...
Option 1: Find a different night altogether (not 10/30 or 10/31) to go to the party.
Option 2: Go on 10/31 if you don't care about Trick or Treating.
Option 3: Go to the Golf Cart Parade ready for the party and high-tale it to the boat as soon as the last cart passes!
As for touring to see sites - that is a must! We spent multiple evenings doing so, in a golf cart, and still didn't get to everything (it was cold, so my wife's stamina was only worth about 5-6 loops at a time). There is so much to see, and people do some amazing things.