"Official" 2017 Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party - Boo to You!

[BigMommaMouse]

I so agree with you! We went on 8/29 and I couldn't believe how crowded it was compared to our party we attended 5 years ago. I had convinced a friend and her family to join us. I feel badly about that now. I told her how empty the park was compared to a normal day. We stayed until the end of the party and the crowds never left. I remember everyone leaving after the fireworks last time so it was even emptier. Pretty sure this will be our last disney party.

I was there the 29th. I agree the crowds are the same as day time. I have been the at Disney on Halloween (Oct 31) 4 times. Once was in Paris. I had to tour this party like the sold out ones.

 

[luckystar2]

Where was that located my daughters live Rapunzel

It's usually over by the Rapunzel area, the courtyard area by the Tangled bathrooms, where all the lanterns are hanging. It seems to start around when it gets dark. We passed by one night at 8:15 and there was already a long line.

Friday nights party with the rain it was moved right across from there under cover.

 

[luckystar2]

Quick update - friend is staying onsite and went and asked at Guest Services and they offered her tickets to the 9/7 or 9/10 party as compensation. DS (Navy officer) of course won't be able to stay and DH unfortunately is traveling on business both of those dates but at least my friend and I get to try again - particularly cool since she's visiting from overseas and impressive Disney customer service! I really felt that since they at least had the fireworks and parade (even if late/shortened) that they wouldn't offer anything. Hoping for less rain on round 2 attempt!

Do you know where the poison apple magic shot was supposed to be? We only got a couple photopass pics due to the rain and lines and of course didn't get that one but would like to try if we can next time! Also, we were in the hub for the fireworks
That's a little frustrating because we were actually standing by that line when the heavy rain started and the CM's told my husband they'd try to go as quickly as they could until the weather impacted it but didn't mention they were going to move somewhere under cover.

Disney photopass facebook says the poison Apple shot is available from most photographers. We were busy in the beginning so didn't ask any. Then the photographers we saw were doing other shots and had lines. I wanted to try to catch somebody on Main Street on way out but we were literally following the parade out so I didn't see any.

That stinks that the CM didn't say anything about the lantern shot moving. It felt like a little bit of magic that we stumbled across it.

 

[OHIOdisFANATICS]

Anyone else here going to the 10/17 party? I am super excited as this is our first Disney parks party. We are not planning anything. We are just going and will probably try to do rides early while everyone is in line for stuff. Then towards the end of the night, get pics and trick or treat. My kids will be 12 and 10 at the time so they are more into rides and candy then anything else. Looking forward to the parade and Hocus Pocus show the most.

We will be at this party as well!! Touring plans ranked it as being in the middle in terms of being busy. We will be dressing up as Star Wars characters. Really hoping since it's a Tuesday it won't be busy.

 

[sunshine1]

What characters dont have photopass photographers with them?

Someone said Terk doesnt.

 

[stickeymouse]

I was there the 29th. I agree the crowds are the same as day time.

Again, I think it's important to distinguish between crowds in the common areas (hub, main street, etc.) and overall attendance in the parks. It will always 'feel' crowded during a party, because most people want to be in the middle of it all, where all the halloween action is. If anybody is looking for an uncrowded experience in these common areas, you need to taper your expectations, because that's not what these parties are like.

 

[BigMommaMouse]

Again, I think it's important to distinguish between crowds in the common areas (hub, main street, etc.) and overall attendance in the parks. It will always 'feel' crowded during a party, because most people want to be in the middle of it all, where all the halloween action is. If anybody is looking for an uncrowded experience in these common areas, you need to taper your expectations, because that's not what these parties are like.

I understand your point. I was at WDW for 2 weeks, and have been plenty on times before. The only time I was in common areas was when I wanted to be. The party was busy. Apologies if I miss your post saying you were there. There has been a lot of post to catch up on.

 

[sherlockmiles]

Would it be possible to add to page/post 1 the general times the characters come out? We're having trouble searching/extracting that information from the 366 pages of posts. [I understand that this information is not only weather depended but party depended, but it would be VERY useful to our planning.]

 

[OHIOdisFANATICS]

Would it be possible to add to page/post 1 the general times the characters come out? We're having trouble searching/extracting that information from the 366 pages of posts. [I understand that this information is not only weather depended but party depended, but it would be VERY useful to our planning.]

This is a great idea!!

 

[Farro]

I understand your point. I was at WDW for 2 weeks, and have been plenty on times before. The only time I was in common areas was when I wanted to be. The party was busy. Apologies if I miss your post saying you were there. There has been a lot of post to catch up on.

You seem upset. Everyone has different ideas of crowds. People were at your particular party and though it was great. Such is life.

 

[kalliyan1]

If that's how you want to look at it but here's the thing, top Characters are out starting at 5:45, food and merchandise can be purchased before 7pm, SotMK card can be picked up at 4pm are these not part of the party? It's an 8 hour event not 5.

With the characters, merchandise, food, etc starting at 5:45, stupid question, but, you would have to show your band in order to partake of any of that correct?

 

[1GoldenSun]

I attended the 9/1 party and while it felt fairly crowded to me, waits were not bad and were less than posted times. We waited until 10:00-ish to ToT and most lines were practically walk-up. We ended up with almost 15 pounds of candy between the three of us without even trying that hard.

This was my first party. Here is my advice:

Don't ToT too early; the lines get MUCH shorter later and that candy gets incredibly heavy to carry around. Of course, the waits for everything get shorter later on so I guess you have to choose what you want to do most during this sweet time.

I would honestly pass on the special treats. i love sweets but I don't eat much of them usually, so I was looking forward to indulging myself at the party. I found the waits for the treats to be long and the treats to be mediocre at best. They LOOK beautiful, but they really don't taste that great. I waited over ten minutes in line at Pecos Bill's for the worms and dirt and it was tiny, room-temperature, and kind of bleah. The Jack Skellington pop was cute but only tasted ok. The Mickey pumpkin waffles were pretty tasty but still nothing that special. I only tried one of the Haunted Mansion desserts--the raspberry one--and it was probably the best of all, but still, just not that great. I feel like they could have done much better with these. It was somewhat of a waste of time and money, not to mention caloric intake I could have used on something yummier!

I got the pumpkin popcorn bucket right at 7:00. What was I thinking?! I had to lug that thing around all night. It's cute as anything but I was super tired of dealing with it by the end of the night. Unless you just HAVE to have it and are afraid of them selling out, or you plan on eating popcorn throughout the evening, wait until the end to buy it.

That's all the advice I have. I guess everyone already knows to be careful trusting what cast members say. I was given wrong/misleading information a couple times about when an event was going to start and where things were located.

Oh, one more thing. We arrived at MK at 3:07. There was one family in front of us and we began a line. After a while, the cast members allowed the line to disperse across the various entrance tapstyles, so at that point we were first in our individual line. By around 4:40, there really weren't very many people behind us, so we didn't save ourselves much time by getting there so early, and it was brutal in the heat. We were lucky to be first because we could JUST fit in the shade of the overhang over the tapstyles, but everyone behind us was directly in the sun. I would go a little later if I did it again.

Also, right before they let people in, a line of cast members comes out and stands facing the crowd-- hands, pockets, and satchels full of wristbands, waiting to "band" guests as they enter. Once people are allowed into the party, the entry becomes VERY congested very quickly, as people stop to get their wrist bands. I don't know why they do it this way, it just got backed way up. We had trouble with my daughter's magic band not working (which cost us about 5 minutes or so, which completely negated the benefit of arriving early as party-goers swarmed past us as we waited for the issue to be resolved). As the manager-dude was on his iPad fixing the problem, I told the kids we weren't going to get our wrist bands until later, because we had a fastpass that was due to expire at 4:15.The manager-dude looked up from his iPad and said that we could get our wristbands from several locations within the park, as I'd read on these boards. But there was this other manager-lady that kept hollering at everybody entering the park to get their party wristbands. We tried to squeeze through the crowd without wristbands and she yelled "you need to get your wristbands!" and we just ignored her and kept going. If you can get through the crowd (it ain't easy) and get your band later, do it. There aren't nearly enough "banders" to keep up with the throngs of people piling in. As it turned out, when we finally emerged on the other side of the crowd, we encountered a timid-looking cast member standing on the fringes with a handful of wrist bands who looked grateful to finally find someone who didn't already have a wrist band on. Nobody else had made it that far back without getting one yet.

We had a good time, but our "plan" went straight down the drain when the rain started. It became impossible to know when anything was going to start, and we didn't want to stand around waiting for events that may or may not occur. I really wish they'd made announcements about delays and then given a warning a few minutes before things were about to begin, so people could be informed and get to where they needed to be. They did this for the fireworks but not for the parades or Hocus Pocus.

Overall, we had fun, but the rain did mess things up quite a bit. I didn't mind getting wet--that wasn't all that bad really--I just hated the disrupted schedule.

 

[monique5]

Would it be possible to add to page/post 1 the general times the characters come out? We're having trouble searching/extracting that information from the 366 pages of posts. [I understand that this information is not only weather depended but party depended, but it would be VERY useful to our planning.]

Only a few meet early and there's a section on Post 1, based on reports.
How long are the Character Meet & Greet lines?
It depends. There are a few of the popular characters that will have lines that begin long before the party starts. If you want to see the 7 Dwarfs or Captain Jack Sparrow you will want to line up around 5:00pm. The other M&G wait times will range from 30-45 minutes. FYI: Most M&G lines reported as being longer this year; Jack Skellington and Sally reported as meeting at 5pm (line up at 4pm) - 2016. M&G lines appear to be even longer this year, especially the new Moana M&G. Jack & Sally and Moana have been reported as meeting at 5:45pm and the 7D meeting at 6:15pm - 2017.

 

[FoxC63]

With the characters, merchandise, food, etc starting at 5:45, stupid question, but, you would have to show your band in order to partake of any of that correct?

Sort of, I have not read anywhere that you have to show your wristband for the food, but you do for everything else.

 

[alisonslp]

We have tickets for Sept 12th. I am watching Hurricane Irma and having flashbacks of Matthew last year, where we thought we would be totally fine a few days out, made the trip from NC to FL, ended up missing out on the 2 parties we bought. We got park hoppers for compensation, so that worked out, but we had really been looking forward to the MNSSHP. We also had to deal with massive flooding on our ride back through NC. Really hoping this storm does not come anywhere the coast this time, obviously for more reasons than just my vacation. ;-)

 

[FoxC63]

When they announced the fireworks were delayed we went to do Lotso (who wasn't out when we got there btw) and did buzz instead

Just to confirm, you meet with Buzz Lightyear or rode BL Space Ranger Spin? Thanks

 

[mamapenguin]

I was there the 29th. I agree the crowds are the same as day time. I have been the at Disney on Halloween (Oct 31) 4 times. Once was in Paris. I had to tour this party like the sold out ones.

I would like to respectfully disagree. We thought the crowd was very light. Our priorities were probably different though. We were ther for the rides, show, and parade. We did 2 pictures the one on Main Street with the tangling ghosts and the one by haunted mansion, and 3 trick or treat trails ( daughter has braces and couldn't eat most of it) other than that it was our priorities. We never waited more than 25 min and that was for 7DMT and we did it twice second time was a shorter wait. Most things were 10 minutes or less. We just used the app and went where the lines weren't.

 

[rottiemom]

Regarding the 8/29 MNSSHP:

I would like to respectfully disagree. We thought the crowd was very light. Our priorities were probably different though. We were ther for the rides, show, and parade. We did 2 pictures the one on Main Street with the tangling ghosts and the one by haunted mansion, and 3 trick or treat trails ( daughter has braces and couldn't eat most of it) other than that it was our priorities. We never waited more than 25 min and that was for 7DMT and we did it twice second time was a shorter wait. Most things were 10 minutes or less. We just used the app and went where the lines weren't.

Same experience for us. We were there on 8/29 and honestly nearly every ride we wanted to go on was walk up (except for 7D and Space Mountain...passed on 7D, waited the 20 minutes for SM). We got a decent spot for the first parade showing up maybe half an hour before it started and a great, seated spot for fireworks on the bridge to Tomorrowland. We weren't looking for characters, though, and I passed on the haunted mansion photo because the line was long (my choice to pass). The lines for candy from 7-8 were long but after that they dropped to walk up and it was usually candy by the handful. 15 lbs between the three of us (yes I weighed it on the luggage scale at the resort) without really trying too hard, just hitting the spots as we passed them.

And in spite of my planning I still managed to miss a bunch of stuff. We stayed until the end, it wasn't a crazy crush to leave and we even got onto the first POP bus that pulled up.

We would totally do it again. While this was quite a change from our first one 9 years ago (no Ghiradelli chocolate, no bloodhound in the parade and the earworm "Boo to you" parade song as opposed to "Grim Grinning Ghosts" which is one of my favorites) we all had a blast. The whole feel was much more relaxed than the other two MK days from our trip.

 

[rottiemom]

Don't ToT too early; the lines get MUCH shorter later and that candy gets incredibly heavy to carry around. Of course, the waits for everything get shorter later on so I guess you have to choose what you want to do most during this sweet time.

Seconded. While the lines moved relatively quickly they thinned to practically nothing by 8 (this was on 8/29) and no, they didn't run out of candy.
And a tip I picked up from this thread...string backpacks! These were designated candy only and made carrying it around pretty effortless and barely noticeable.

We had a good time, but our "plan" went straight down the drain when the rain started.

I am so sorry that the rain messed things up. We got incredibly lucky weatherwise, even the rainy days were misty and a drizzle, which was actually a welcome relief from the August Florida sun.

Oh one thing, check your photopass photos and maybe get cards from whoever takes your magic shots. Ours with the hitchhiking ghosts is nowhere to be found under my photos and at this point there's nothing that I can do about it. Do stop for a photo on your way out of the party, though. The castle is all lit up and changing colors and makes a spectacular backdrop. I'm really glad that we took advantage of that one.

 

[jenhelgren]

I would like to respectfully disagree. We thought the crowd was very light. Our priorities were probably different though. We were ther for the rides, show, and parade. We did 2 pictures the one on Main Street with the tangling ghosts and the one by haunted mansion, and 3 trick or treat trails ( daughter has braces and couldn't eat most of it) other than that it was our priorities. We never waited more than 25 min and that was for 7DMT and we did it twice second time was a shorter wait. Most things were 10 minutes or less. We just used the app and went where the lines weren't.

Did you use MDE app or Touring Plans for ride times? Do they both work during the entire party and are they fairly accurate or inflated near closing just like on a normal night?