This may have been asked and I apologize as I did not completely read all 46 pages. We are planning a quick trip to Disney in October and thought DAH would be great for our trip since our time is limited. I see now that they have these Halloween party dates and was wondering if the waits for the rides were low like at a DAH event? Has anyone been to both to compare? We would be focused on rides and since we are staying offsite, thinking our best bet would be a party to get in as much as possible. Thoughts?
We have not done a DAH event, but we were looking at the MK one for next month. We decided not to do it for several reasons, the first and top reason was the cost for what you get.
IMO, DAH comes nowhere close to what you get for the
MNSSHP. (Total disclaimer....We LOVE MNSSHP!) My choice would be MNSSHP over DAH for several reasons:
Cost: MNSSHP is cheaper, and depending on which day you go it can be a significant cost difference.
Time in parks: MNSSHP gives us 8 full park hours whereas DAH is only 3 hours.
Experience/atmosphere: Granted, we go to WDW at least once or twice a year and are never bored, but going to MK and having a totally different experience is exciting. Everything is different; the lighting, music, CM costumes, guest costumes, your costume, snacks, fireworks etc are all unique to the party. I also feel like the CM's love the parties because they seem to engage with guests more and there is a different energy in the whole park.
Parade: this is a big one for us. I LOVE the parade! We miss MK not having one anymore. There are so many characters you don't normally see.
Hocus Pocus show: SO MUCH FUN!
Fireworks: unique to the party! They're not projection heavy so you don't have to be directly in front of the castle to watch them. And some are 360, which is cool to have fireworks surrounding you!
Characters: you get to see so many characters that are not normally in the parks, especially villains!
Candy: free candy! We didn't do a lot of ToT lines, but it was nice to get some good candy to enjoy later.
Special photos: you can buy a one day MM and have some really unique photos for souvenirs.
The one negative is that it can be crowded. I feel that if you have a good idea of what you want to accomplish during the party and make plans for it, that you can have a wonderful time even if the crowds are large. Some ride waits can be low, but probably not as low as DAH. I think we waited about 15-20 minutes for 7DMT at the start of the party when they stopped letting day guests in line. HM can get busy but we went on a few times with a half empty stretching room.