Our first party, ever, was the 15th. We're only able to take our trips every 3-4 years and probably won't be doing a party again. While it was fun, the crowd was a lot bigger than we expected (maybe because of excitement over the changes). It kind of messed up our touring patterns, since it was day 3 of our trip. In retrospect, we wish we would have just hit other parks on that day and saved the money for the party tickets. I could see it as a great option for locals or those who go multiple times in a year. But for us, it actually added a bit of anxiety to the trip. It's the weirdest feeling - we loved our trip, but were left wanting.