Sold Out Parties - any tips?

[largemarge]

Hello fellow forum-ers! My husband and I will be attending MNSSHP on Monday (aka Halloween) and it has been officially sold out for a few weeks now. I was wondering who here has experienced a sold out party, and if they had any tips they would like to share? We are not planning on trick or treating and really only want to meet a couple of characters (preferably the ones with the shortest lines). As of now our plan is to do the later Boo To You Parade and Hocus Pocus show. My biggest concern is getting in at 4 and how early to arrive so we will not be standing in line for an hour to get in and miss valuable park time in our costumes! Thanks in advance for your tips and time!

 

[cursivesailor]

We will be there! Im going as Snow White and my husbands The Dude from Big Lebowski! This is our first hard ticket party so I am following to see any tips that pop up.

 

[JennSmith]

We were there last year during a sold out Halloween party. I think your plan on seeing the later of the 2 parades is a good one. The first parade last year was so packed...like ridiculous I can't even shift my weight from one foot to the other packed lol. The second parade was on the other end of the spectrum. There were hardly any people around and it was really easy to find a good spot. I cannot help you in regards to what time you should show up since we were there during non-party hours that day. We also waited for over 2 hours to see Jack Skellington so I feel you on the shorter wait meet and greets

 

[largemarge]

Awesome - will keep an eye out for y'all! Snow White and The Dude seems like a pretty great duo if I say so myself.

I will be one of the billion Belle's there and my husband will be a bearded Gaston.

Thanks for the info on last year's party! As of now our plan is to get there at 4 and ride as many rides as we can (got FP's for Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion) until our dinner reservation at Be Our Guest at 8:45 (a must do in a Belle costume!) and then enjoy the fireworks/late parade/villain spectacular after that. To say that I am excited is a drastic understatement.

 

[cursivesailor]

Our plan is MK during the day til about 3. Go back to the hotel and change. Then we have ressies at the Grand Floridian for an early dinner. Its my parents 40th anniversary, those crazy kids got married on halloween and then wonder why both of their kids ended up a lil weird! LOL Then off to the party and not really sure what the plan is once we get in. I am not a huge meet&greeter, so if its something I can jump right in- okay, cool. Im not gonna stand in line forever to meet a character though. I am mostly just going to the party for the atmosphere and the special occasion with my parents and rest of the family.

 

[rob0519]

We were there last year during a sold out Halloween party. I think your plan on seeing the later of the 2 parades is a good one. The first parade last year was so packed...like ridiculous I can't even shift my weight from one foot to the other packed lol. The second parade was on the other end of the spectrum. There were hardly any people around and it was really easy to find a good spot. I cannot help you in regards to what time you should show up since we were there during non-party hours that day. We also waited for over 2 hours to see Jack Skellington so I feel you on the shorter wait meet and greets

We went to one of the first Halloween Parties years ago and not on Halloween. It was cold, drizzly and not very crowded. It sounds like Disney now oversells these hard ticket events to the point it's no different than normal attendance.

 

[Jess G]

expect it to be crowded... if you want to hit 7DMT I think your best bet would be late in the night... I went last year to a party that was not sold out and I remember it being extremely crowded, or at least way more crowded than I had imagined it would be. I was expecting waits for everything to be under 20 mins and that was not the case... get there at 4pm utilize your time. The second parade is always less crowded than the first parade. Eat early so you don't waste time and deff bring your own trick or treat bags because you will get A LOT of candy. My strategy would be trick or treat and hit whatever you see that has a really low wait time on your way in between stations and then focus on rides later in the night. Many people with small children will get there 4pm and head out as early as 10pm ... 10pm-close is going to be your best time for rides.

 

[largemarge]

Thanks for all the info! That's such a bummer to hear about them over-selling tickets to the point of normal attendance. We will make sure we go in mentally prepared for some crazy crowds. We are going to MK Saturday night as well after the Star Wars Spectacular at HS until close, so hopefully we can knock out a few rides then (like Splash and Space Mountain, which might mess up my Belle 'do' at the Halloween Party ) .

 

[JIMINYCR]

You do get to get in at 4 pm but the event doesnt begin until 7pm. Close to then non ticketed guests will be making their way out or be escorted out as they announce the event and CM's start emptying the park. The lines for character meet & greets are going to be long throughout the evening because everyone wants to see those hard to find characters and get their photos taken. When we went it was closed out also and we targeted the M&G's we wanted most right way. As said before, as the evening wears on the crowds do start thinning out and you have a better chance od doing more.

 

[MickeyMomV]

We have been to MNSSHP's in 2015, 2013, and maybe 2011 (don't remember the year of our first one). If I remember correctly 2 of those parties were sold out but I will admit we have never been there on the 31st and I don't know if the ticket numbers change for that night. With that said I think "over selling" maybe be a bit of an illusion. Don't get me wrong I fully agree that they sell way more tickets than I think they should but it is way better than regular park hours. Now, keep in mind a large portion of people with MNSSHP tickets either spent the day at the park or are coming in at 4:00 pm. At that point the park is still open and full of people and will be full until 7:30 or 8:00?? From our experience they start ushering people out of the back corners about 7:15-7:30 and keep in mind this is a multi step process because if you are in a ride line at 6:59 they are not going to kick you out so it takes at least 30-60 minutes to get all those people through the line and up to the front. So for the first hour of the party and possibly the first 4 hours or 1/2 of your time at the park you still have regular park guest mixed with party guests. So it is giving you the perception that the party is WAY overcrowded. Because lets face it, the party starts when we arrive!! Personally I think they should extend the party to either 1 or 2 am to make up for the time it takes to get the regular park guests out the gate.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Hello fellow forum-ers! My husband and I will be attending MNSSHP on Monday (aka Halloween) and it has been officially sold out for a few weeks now. I was wondering who here has experienced a sold out party, and if they had any tips they would like to share? We are not planning on trick or treating and really only want to meet a couple of characters (preferably the ones with the shortest lines). As of now our plan is to do the later Boo To You Parade and Hocus Pocus show. My biggest concern is getting in at 4 and how early to arrive so we will not be standing in line for an hour to get in and miss valuable park time in our costumes! Thanks in advance for your tips and time!

Watching the late parade is a great plan. It will be crowded, but not like the early parade. As an aside, the Boo To You Parade is the best parade in all of WDW.

As pointed our by another poster, the lines for rides get much shorter after 10:00 pm. And then after 11:00 pm, I would expect the wait to be under 5 mins for every ride except 7DMT (which could still be 1/2 hour or so) and Peter Pan. I've walked on to Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Pirates and others after 11:00 pm.