Arrival Time For Mickey's Not So Scary?

[Raineman]

The family and I will be going to MNSSHP for the first time this year, on Halloween night. My question is, what would be the best time to arrive? We could go as early as 4 pm, if I'm not mistaken, but would it be better to wait a bit? Is there any advantage to getting there early? We want to spend the earlier part of the day at Disney Springs, which we have never been to, but I don't want to rush through an early dinner to get to MK by 4 pm, as we'll probably need to go back to our resort to change into our costumes first (well, maybe DW and DD-not sure if I'll be dressing up lol).

 

[DisneyJoe]

The benefit of the 4 pm entrance is that you only need your party ticket to enter then and you can be there until midnight. You would then have from 4pm-7pm to ride all rides (since not all are open during the party) as well as having made FP+ during those 3 hours.

It's up to you.

 

[belledream]

It's also nice to really soak in the atmosphere before the party officially begins and you're all caught up in 'doing things' instead of just wandering around feeling the 'pregame' anticipation and such.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I would definitely NOT get there at like 6:30. There's a big wave of people trying to enter and exit the park at the same time and things get pretty hectic around the train station. I'd get there as early as possible.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I would definitely NOT get there at like 6:30. There's a big wave of people trying to enter and exit the park at the same time and things get pretty hectic around the train station. I'd get there as early as possible.

Excellent point - they make very frequent announcements beginning around 6 pm or earlier about the party, basically asking you to purchase a ticket (if any remain) or just to leave if not. Since you are attending on Halloween, I would definitely arrive early.

 

[Glasgow]

We always go at 4 or 430 so that we can sneak in a few rides prior to the party. You can still get fast passes for that time period even though you're using your MNSSHP ticket instead of a normal ticket, IIRC

 

[Minnie Mum]

Just from a cost benefit analysis: how much will you pay for those MNSSHP tickets to an event that will completely sell out? The period from 4-7 will cost just shy of $40/PP (based on last year's prices) . Do you want to get full value from those hours, including rides with FPs until 7:00? Or spend up to 1/3 of the available time (and money) wandering around a shopping mall? Up to you.

 

[LeighM]

Based on my experiences, get there so you can enter the park right at 4pm. Not just to maximize your park time but to beat the crowds trying to enter the park. The first time we went to the party at 4, we had very small waits to get into the park and get wrist bands. The second time we went to the park around 6-6:30, we had to wait over 30 minutes to get our wrist bands. Then when we were able to enter the park, we had to fight the crowds leaving. Definitely try to get there early so you can miss the crowding at the entrance.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Yes getting in early is better. Get your wrist bands at 4pm, or soon after, without the lines. Get your event guide, make a plan of how you want to enjoy the event, do some shopping, view the displays, or other things before everything starts to get crazy. Then you'll be ahead of those who just show up at opening time and are scrambling around.

 

[thomas998]

I would definitely NOT get there at like 6:30. There's a big wave of people trying to enter and exit the park at the same time and things get pretty hectic around the train station. I'd get there as early as possible.

This. When you are in the park you'll need to get the special wrist band put on and there are lines to do that after the ticket line... but those lines tend to be slower and fewer than the ticket lines so if you wait until 7:00 you'll end up wasting as much as 30 minutes waiting in a line for your wrist band... If you get there at 4:00 there will be very few people waiting in line and you can move on quickly.

One thing to remember is it will very likely be hot, so be warned not to over do it in your costumes.... We made that mistake our first year and I nearly died from the heat so avoid heavy and thick costumes you'll pay dearly if you wear them.

Oh and if you want to watch a parade find out which entry point it will be starting from, usually a cast member can tell you... They will have two parades if the first one starts on main street then the last one will start over by frontier land or vice versa, decide which parade you want and try to pick a spot near the start so you wont waste as much time waiting for it to end because the lines for rides will drop during parades and you can maximize your ride time by not wasting it waiting for the parade.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

One thing to remember is it will very likely be hot, so be warned not to over do it in your costumes.... We made that mistake our first year and I nearly died from the heat so avoid heavy and thick costumes you'll pay dearly if you wear them.

+ rain.

 

[thomas998]

+ rain.

Good point... Oddly enough we've never gotten hit by rain at any of the WDW Halloween parties but did get one in DL that was completely washed out with a constant steady rain (so much for it never rains in California).

 

[Bairstow]

As others have said, push it as early as you possibly can. 3:30 or so, to account for security and delays and whatnot.
This past year we were there the night in September where it rained so hard that they ended up offering refund tickets- it was raining so hard by 9:00 that they shut down Philharmagic and turned the building into a temporary rain shelter just so that party-goers could get out of the deluge for a few moments. All but the last castle shows and parade were cancelled.

We always go at 4 or 430 so that we can sneak in a few rides prior to the party. You can still get fast passes for that time period even though you're using your MNSSHP ticket instead of a normal ticket, IIRC

You sure can. And should.
In fact, you can schedule Fastpasses for before your party ticket even lets you into the park. We booked fastpasses for Space Mountain starting at 3:15, which gave us just enough time to arrive, get through security, and check into the attraction before the window closed. Good thing we did, too, since Space Mountain had over an hour standby queue for the duration of the party.

 

[asianway]

The family and I will be going to MNSSHP for the first time this year, on Halloween night. My question is, what would be the best time to arrive? We could go as early as 4 pm, if I'm not mistaken, but would it be better to wait a bit? Is there any advantage to getting there early? We want to spend the earlier part of the day at Disney Springs, which we have never been to, but I don't want to rush through an early dinner to get to MK by 4 pm, as we'll probably need to go back to our resort to change into our costumes first (well, maybe DW and DD-not sure if I'll be dressing up lol).

Some of the so called "rare" characters start at 5 or 6 for party guests so you can get a head start if they are in your itinerary

 

[mousehockey37]

Some of the so called "rare" characters start at 5 or 6 for party guests so you can get a head start if they are in your itinerary

Like who? When we were there in 2014, the rare characters weren't out until 7. We were 3rd in line for Jack Sparrow, it was 7 sharp when he came out. Any of the party characters shouldn't be out until 7 due to people who don't have party admission getting M&G's they didn't pay for.

OP, get there early, do any rides you want, get in line early for rare characters you want. Jack and Sally will get up over a 2 hour wait fast. That line starts at about 4:30ish...

 

[asianway]

Like who? When we were there in 2014, the rare characters weren't out until 7. We were 3rd in line for Jack Sparrow, it was 7 sharp when he came out. Any of the party characters shouldn't be out until 7 due to people who don't have party admission getting M&G's they didn't pay for.

OP, get there early, do any rides you want, get in line early for rare characters you want. Jack and Sally will get up over a 2 hour wait fast. That line starts at about 4:30ish...

Dwarfs and nightmare. Jack sparrow is 7

 

[Tk0021]

We are going to the party for the first this year and we are planning a 4:00 arrival. We are getting to our hotel AKL around 10:00 am and we are just going to eat at Boma and swim till we can catch the bus to MK for the party.

Anybody know what characters come out early and when to start to line up? My girls (6 and 4) would like the 7 drawfs.

 

[thomas998]

Dwarfs and nightmare. Jack sparrow is 7

If you want Jack Sparrow I would suggest you get there sooner than later, his line can get fairly long pretty quickly and he has often been on of the characters that spends more time per guest than some of the others making line movement a little slow. I would expect his popularity will also be higher this year with the final Pirates movie coming out this summer.

 

[largemarge]

We did MNSSHP on Halloween night last year and arrived at 4 sharp to enter MK with pretty much no wait to get our wristband. I would definitely encourage you to get there early so you can see the costumes a bit better in the daylight! I went as Belle and (not gonna lie) relished in all of the attention that I got from the little kids that were not attending the party or in costume while walking around the park. We also went to Polynesian Resort before for a snack and adult beverage (yes, I drank a beer out of Chip) and got a bit of attention there as well. Dreams do come true!

Now if only I could dream myself there instead of being at work right now.....

Have fun!!

 

[Raineman]

One more question from the OP here-after our travel agent got us the MNSSHP tickets, she forwarded us an email from WDW, stating that we will need to bring the credit card, photo ID, and confirmation number to a WDW theme park ticket sales location to pick up our tickets. Having never needed to visit ticket sales at WDW, where do we go for this? Is this where we get our wristbands as well? Do the tickets go onto our magic bands? (I figured I'd ask on here instead of bugging our agent again lol).