“Life is Grand, it Yacht to be, we are at Disney! 1/29 New TR link, a question, and this TR is complete!

[disneyAndi14]

Love your photos from GG but boy the price is scary!
Not sure I could justify that as we aren't huge eaters at breakfast. Maybe if we had "free" dining plan Great character interaction though

The more I think about it the more I wonder if we were given the right price. It doesn’t seem like it should have been that much! The way Disney raises prices who knows!
The characters are so fun here, very relaxed!

 

[disneyAndi14]

That's a bummer about your change in trip plans... but at least you still get to enjoy some additional Disney fun before your annual passes expire!

Your breakfast at Garden Grill looks SO good... but they really have increased the prices at the buffet meals! When I visited Crystal Palace back in 2015 it was $23.99 pp and now I think it's up to $40 pp! I know you should expect prices to increase, but good gracious! (I hope my husband doesn't have a stroke at the meals when we go in May!)

Your meal at Ale and Compass sounded good! I'm not a big fan when tables are super close together at a restaurant, but it's definitely worse when you're next to a loud table.

I am a little bummed because I did get good FP+ for November!
Oh well someone else will get FOP on me!
The cruise is a bummer, it sounded amazing and relaxing. One day we will do it!
I really plan on going in March for the last hurrah with the AP’s!
The prices at Disney are getting ridiculous! It is sad! We love CP breakfast, we had been doing it each trip on our last day. I have cut it out lately because it is $100.00 for the 2 of us! Way to much for a few eggs and cheesy hash browns haha!
Ale and Compass was good, I would go back, maybe ask for the lounge area.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Yikes! And Diseny conviently doesn't really put the prices on the website for "buffets"

I know, that’s why I am not sure if we were over charged or not. I wish I would have saved my receipt. I will from now on. I haven’t been using my MB to pay for everything like I use too. I use a gift card at each dining place so I don’t get the nice end of trip run down of my costs. I miss that. I just don’t want my cc charged extra every day! I dislike all of Disney’s changes!

am sorry we missed you at the party. ;(

I was keeping my eye out for you, it was so darn crowded it was hard to do!

 

[disneyAndi14]

That seems to be the consensus. And who you're seated with can really make or break the ride, which kind of stinks.

I think this is very true. It is an intimate space with strangers and we all know how guests at Disney act!

Me too! I don't know if I'll be brave enough now...or if Mike would even try them anyway!

I’m going to try them, especially with our Pop stay. I sure hope I don’t regret it!

just picturing you saying this in your sweet voice and it cracked me up!

Ahh that’s funny, sometimes it is necessary am I right? Haha!

That stinks! But totally understandable. Mike and I were supposed to go last year and anded up with house repairs instead.

You are a cruiser so you know how nice they are! I am going to miss this, I was so excited to relax and soak in the atmosphere. Oh well, it is on my list!

Yikes! That's really high for breakfast! I do love it though and already have it booked for Mike and I in March and was planning on booking it for the five of us in July... I'm not sure I'm ready to spend $300 on breakfast though

We will be there until 3/23!

I'm just picturing you saying this in your sweet voice and it cracked me up!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I think this is very true. It is an intimate space with strangers and we all know how guests at Disney act!

I’m going to try them, especially with our Pop stay. I sure hope I don’t regret it!

Ahh that’s funny, sometimes it is necessary am I right? Haha!

You are a cruiser so you know how nice they are! I am going to miss this, I was so excited to relax and soak in the atmosphere. Oh well, it is on my list!

I am having a heck of a time after the apple update, my IPad is causing trouble with quoting, ugh. @buzzrelly sorry, I was trying to quote and answer your replies!
I hope we can meet up to say Hi in March, this would be so nice!

 

[disneyAndi14]

OMG I know, me too! I couldn't focus AT ALL until I snagged my preview time


Awwwww


Being responsible really stinks sometimes, doesn't it?!





That is completely outrageous! I went to GG about a year and a half ago for dinner and I don't recall it being that expensive! And for dinner! Ugh... prob won't be rushing back there anytime soon


YAY!!!

Hi Tracy! I’m going to just reply until I figure out an easier way to quote. My IPad is not cooperating with the new update!
I am bummed about the trip cancellations but very grateful we still have a few in the works!!
The price for GG, whether, it was right or not is so high now! Makes it hard to justify the buffets or AYCTE meals!

 

[disneyAndi14]

It's a shame that Garden Grill is so expensive, because it has some of the best character interactions. I feel like everyone who eats there gets to see some of the characters at least twice, and they never rush you. That being said, though, 60 dollars per person for breakfast is shocking. I don't know many who can justify eating 60 dollars' worth of cinnamon rolls and Mickey waffles!

Glad the Starbucks visit went better this day.

Tables too close together can really dampen a meal. A lot of restaurants here in England have similar setups and it makes the experience awkward. I hate overhearing other's conversations or having to apologize for my kid bumping stranger when they get out of the seat. I feel like in restaurants at Disney, most of the restaurants have the space to spread out the tables a little. But I know, more tables, more guests, more money...

The cost is really bugging me now. I should have asked about it and worse yet I didn’t save my receipt! Oh well either way it was so pricey and I know the price at all the restaurants have gone up.
Ale and Compass is really a nice place overall. The tables so close together not so much! The lounge is more intimate and I think that is the spot to sit at!
Disney sure is hiking up the prices on everything!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I wish I still had my receipt to check for you, because we went there in August too so the price should have been the same. I seem to remember it being somewhere around $50 or just under before tax and tip. That's still a crazy amount to pay for a breakfast, which should definitely be the cheapest meal of the day. I think the difference in cost between their breakfast and dinner isn't actually all that much anymore either.



Exactly!

I wish I had saved my receipt as well. I’m sure it was around 59.99, I kept thinking this is crazy it can’t be that much! 50 is still way to much for this. I just read CG is now 100 per person for the brunch. It is up 20 in less than a year yikes!!
Andi and I just can’t justify that cost with the way we eat! I think granola bars and bananas from Instacart for us, haha!! An occasional kids Mickey waffle meal is what we will do now!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

“Boo to you, it’s good to be bad” Every person at DW thought this as well! Welcome to The most crowd MNSSHP we have ever experienced!!

Andi and I have been attending MNSSHP since 2013 and we absolutely love this party! After this year I will have to change love to loved. This was literally so crowded, like Nightmare before doing anything this evening, crowded!

I can compare because we have been to so many and this party was not near as much fun. It saddens me how Disney has oversold these parties now. It felt like a busy crowded day time at MK.

I thought an earlier August party on a Tuesday would be less busy, ahh big fat no. This party was even more crowded than last years first party with media groups.

I wanted a picture with my Jack and Sally dress, not the best oh well!
We arrived at 7pm and got our wristbands and walked in and were guided to the area by Tony’s. This area welcomes you to the party, it has a few photo opportunities, decorations, and you get your first bag of candy. We didn’t do any of the photos because of the crowds. I did get a picture of Andi in front of a peanut M&M. This is the only peanut she can be close to
she thought this was rather ironic.


PM was our first stop. This is a peaceful ride even with all the crowds. We decided to go over to Storybook Circus to check out the party merchandise. I thought Andi would want to add a pin to her enormous collection, however, she couldn’t decide on one so she passed foow. I didn’t see anything I had to have either. We decided to ride Dumbo next. This is always fun and we got candy at the ride exit. This was new to us. Candy stations after rides, nice!
I wanted to check the wait for the 7 Dwarfs since they are hidden now, the meet is where Goofy and Donald usually meet, the wait was about 1 hour per the CM. We passed on it. There was a little dance party happening next to this area with Vamperina and Fancy Nancy. Cute!
There was a candy station down by the train station. It was a long line. This is the first party I have seen CM’s holding a sign stating line starts here The line was up and around Barnstormer. The line did move fast except oh my goodness, kinda sucks the fun out of it! It was also very hot out, did I mention that yet,
After our candy line, we headed to Little Mermaid and did this ride. Candy at the exit again, yay! I was looking for some photo opportunities and all the photo spots had such long lines, this was a bummer! We did find one CM by 7DMT and had a picture here. Nothing magical here probably why there wasn’t a wait.


We got some ice water and walked over to HM, this was a mob scene and the ride had a 35 minute wait. We passed on this. I really like to do HM on a party night because of the ghost Carlotta and the CM’s are spooky. Oh well not worth the wait for us tonight. We headed back into FL and did some trick or treating in a few spots.
We saw a magic mirror photo shot and did this. It really wasn’t anything great once we got the pictures in our PhotoPass collection.

Basically you can see hot I was, I couldn’t get the magic part to work here


I was texting with @Tracy161 and we decided to meet up at the Lunching pad. We walked over there and met Tracy and her friend. Her name escapes me, chime in Tracy with her name. Her friend is a cute, bubbly, talkative young lady from the Dis boards. Tracy met her on a solo thread and they have become friends. Both do Disney solo at times! We sat and visited for awhile. We, of course, talked about how crowded the party was and how hard it was to really accomplish much!
This and the parade were my favorite parts of the party! It was so nice to visit with Tracy and her friend. Both ladies are so sweet and easy to talk to. We all decided to ride the PM together! This is one of Tracy’s favorite MK rides as it is mine also! This was very nice and relaxing among the crazy party crowds!
We all decided to do Buzz together. This was fun and of course, I got Tracy’s picture not ours. The ladies were impressed with Andi’s galactic hero status, I was not since she doesn’t help her mother!


We visited a little more after the ride and got a picture.


Tracy was going to try and get a picture with Stitch and Andi and I were going to head towards AL. We said our goodbyes and Andi and I went through the Monsters Inc candy line. I really didn’t see anything special in here. You could sit and chill if you wanted too.
The fireworks were starting and we watched some but stayed on the move. You really have a great view of the 360 degree perimeter fireworks from all over the park. The new fireworks seem to focus on Jack Skellington and Zero. This is what I thought as moving through the park. We did not see the front of the castle. This is normally a good time to do attractions, however, this night all the wait times stayed high even during fireworks, ugh! HM was still mobbed as we walked on by.
We made it over to PoTC and this wait was low. We walked on and enjoyed the live actors in the queue and on the ride.


There was more interactive characters on the ride than last year. There was a lady pirate with red hair yelling at Captain Barbosa and several more throughout the ride. I did enjoy this. We got more candy at the end of the ride.


We did a few more candy lines in Frontier Land and decided to get a spot for the 2nd parade.
We couldn’t believe how busy our favorite spot by the Pin trading store was already. Normally this area is minimally crowded for the 2nd parade. Tonight it was packed. We did find a spot in front and plopped down on the ground to wait. We were literally shoulder to shoulder with people. We drank some much needed water and ate some candy.
I love this parade, it really makes the overcrowding worth it for me, a little!
We did wait about 40 minutes for the parade to start. There was a young man across from us, maybe Andi’s age and he was a joy to watch. He literally stood and danced the entire wait time and the whole parade time.
I will add parade pictures in the next post and cont with the end of the party and more on my thoughts of this party, like you all don’t know already

 

[disneyAndi14]

Cont from last post.......
More MNSSHP parade pictures. We had some fun interactions with characters tonight. We also noticed some new parade additions, very cool.







New this year!

New!


New!

New!

New!

The good to be bad skeleton band, my favorite!
After the fun parade, we did BTMRR with no wait yay! We stopped at a few candy spots on our way out of the park.

The bus area was busy, we spotted a Swan bus and jumped on, we even got to sit yay!
We walked home from the Swan, we had to cut through some grassy areas. I was a little nervous of snakes since it was after midnight.

we made it back to the room and got ready for bed. Here is our candy haul. We did good!

Just my candy!
Very crowded party, makes it so hard to enjoy the special offerings that only occur during the party. The snack lines, the photo lines, the ride lines, and the candy lines very long!
You literally had to fight your way through crowds in most areas all night long.
2 years ago we did this same Tuesday night in August and the party was a dream. Low crowds, fun meets, and so much easier to enjoy.
My trip notes say from this party, Boo to Disney for overselling these parties now!!
I don’t know that we will attend another one for awhile.
The highlights of the night were spending time with Tracy and her friend and the parade.
I know @StarWarsMomofGirls! and @Newsies were both at the party and we didn’t run into either! I was looking for them in the crowds!
Stay tuned for a resort change, a rhino tour, and more heat!
Coming soon.............

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Andi and I have been attending MNSSHP since 2013 and we absolutely love this party! After this year I will have to change love to loved. This was literally so crowded, like Nightmare before doing anything this evening, crowded!

We had the exact same experience last month. MNSSHP was rerally, really crowded. I too wish Disney would stop over selling these special after-hours events. They aren't as enjoyable anymore. The lines for everything are waaaaay longer than years past.

 

[kastoney]

Here how I feel most days, haha!

I can only fathom what you feel like at the end of a shift, but thank you for all you do ♥

Today was Tuesday 8/20/19.

AKA the National Holiday that is the day of my birth

It reminded me of the scene from Jaws (my all time favorite movie by the way) when Charlie falls in and the guy on the dock keeps saying “swim Charlie swim, don’t look back”

he delicious warm cinnamon roll came out with our drinks. This was delicious, it was soft and gooey like it should be. We also got a bowl of fruit. Standard Disney fruit, it was fresh.

Did they change this? I thought they served something different in a skillet.

We did get the 10% off for being passholders but wow, this breakfast is 59.99 now per person. The last time we ate here it was 39.99 with 20% off for the AP. This is ridiculously expensive for us. We do not get our moneys worth at these AYCTE places and with a price tag like that, it is hard to swallow. This was $120.00 for 2 people.

$60!!!!!!!!!! That is just insane. We don't eat character meals very often and I think you just solidified that we never will again. For that much you could eat a really good meal at a signature restaurant.

I get tearful every time I see the movie. Andi was happy it was the original movie and not a preview for something. We looked around some before it was time to do SDD.

I have to see this someday. Its always a trailer for something when we are there.

We were literally the only ones in there and we get this tiny 2 topper very close to other tables, in which they chose to fill up, ugh!

Weird they did that in such an empty restaurant.

These were very good, I like the bacon jam spread the best. The other spreads were pub cheese and citrus butter.

Oh I want to eat here for these alone. They look and sound delicious.

This was the true winner of our dishes. This was so delicious. It had so much flavor and the vegan sausage was very tasty. We shared this.

Wow, impressive when a vegan dish wins the meal.

Overall the dinner was good. I would recommend this place. Just realize the tables are close together. The menu has quite a few appetizers and main entrees. We paid our bill, which was 1/2 the price of our breakfast! It was time to get ready for the MNSSHP!

We ate breakfast there on our trip and loved it. Will definitely have to go back for dinner too.

After this year I will have to change love to loved. This was literally so crowded, like Nightmare before doing anything this evening, crowded!

Oh I've been reading about how bad they have been. For Disney to keep raising prices but also let more people in is just absurd.

This is the only peanut she can be close to
she thought this was rather ironic.

She and me both!

This is the first party I have seen CM’s holding a sign stating line starts here The line was up and around Barnstormer. The line did move fast except oh my goodness, kinda sucks the fun out of it! It was also very hot out, did I mention that yet,

A line for the candy??? Now that is just absurd.

So awesome you all got to spend some time together. You both look great! Love your dress.

This is normally a good time to do attractions, however, this night all the wait times stayed high even during fireworks, ugh!

Ok, we will officially never do a party again as this was our favorite part.

Just my candy!

All $100+ dollars of it

 

[schumigirl]

What a shame it was so busy! That’s never fun and add in the heat, it’s just not as pleasurable as it should be.

But, love your dress!! And what a candy haul you got!!

I’m glad you got to do some rides and have a lovely meet too, shame about HM....that is a fabulous ride and during Halloween it’s extra special.....

Nice update again though.....oh, liked Andi’s picture with the peanut......lol.....

 

[Steppesister]

I will be waiting. Love to hear your views

It's a slow process! But thank you for sticking it out!

The MK Starbucks was awful

Totally my experience too. Not such a great one at DHS either.

Let’s do it again, sooner than later. Once our budgets are fat again!

YES!!!

I so agree, the ride just has to many distractions, from the strangers in the ship with you and all the button pushing!

Yep!!

I wonder if the second ride will be any better, I hope so!

I really hope so too. I'd love something to make me really want to go back there. Right now... there's just not much draw.

I agree, the one vegetarian entree had tree nuts in it!

We have been crammed with 2 large men a few times, not fun!

Gross!!

That’s good! I was wondering with the new ride if it will be really crowded, maybe not.

I doubt it. Pandora isn't usually crowded and that's headliner in that area now.

That's me!!

We did make it and thankfully we were not trampled by the Soarin hungry sharks coming in!

Phew! Close call!

We ordered coke for our beverages, these are included in the meal price. The delicious warm cinnamon roll came out with our drinks. This was delicious, it was soft and gooey like it should be. We also got a bowl of fruit. Standard Disney fruit, it was fresh.

Did you chase this meal with a hefty dose of Humalog?

This was $120.00 for 2 people.

Say wha....?!?! For a typical American breakfast? Are you even kidding me?

Andi loves the movie about Walt Disney in One Man’s Dream.

I love this so much too!

A single guy was seated literally in our elbow space next to us. I will have to say choose the bar area instead, way quieter and tables not as close together. We decided to try a few different appetizers and a protein bowl.

How can they even think this is okay?

We paid our bill, which was 1/2 the price of our breakfast!

That sure says something. Chip and Dale are cool and all that, but not worth $60 or more on top of what should have been charged.

This was literally so crowded, like Nightmare before doing anything this evening, crowded!

Yup. Will be a while before I go back. Totally not worth it!

There was more interactive characters on the ride than last year. There was a lady pirate with red hair yelling at Captain Barbosa and several more throughout the ride. I did enjoy this. We got more candy at the end of the ride.

I'll admit, that WAS very cool! Loved that! Especially the two bantering.

Very crowded party, makes it so hard to enjoy the special offerings that only occur during the party. The snack lines, the photo lines, the ride lines, and the candy lines very long!

This was our experience as well. Made it a lot less enjoyable than in years past.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Let me echo what others are saying about how important your job is as a nurse! I'm sure there are parts of the job that aren't at all glamorous, and it must be exhausting a lot of the time! But nurses are amazing—thank you for doing this job! When I had my neurosurgery, I was a hot mess to deal with, but my nurses were exceptional and really got us through it!

Welcome to The most crowd MNSSHP we have ever experienced!!

Andi and I have been attending MNSSHP since 2013 and we absolutely love this party! After this year I will have to change love to loved.

Oh man. This sucks! Our party was crowded, too, but it seems like yours might have been even worse.

It saddens me how Disney has oversold these parties now.

This is so disappointing. I like to think that Walt wouldn't want it to be this way. It seems so greedy.

This is the only peanut she can be close to
she thought this was rather ironic.

This is always fun and we got candy at the ride exit. This was new to us. Candy stations after rides, nice!

This is a great idea!

I was texting with @Tracy161 and we decided to meet up at the Lunching pad. We walked over there and met Tracy and her friend. Her name escapes me, chime in Tracy with her name. Her friend is a cute, bubbly, talkative young lady from the Dis boards.

How nice! Sounds like a great Dismeet and a real highlight of the night!

The ladies were impressed with Andi’s galactic hero status, I was not since she doesn’t help her mother!

We visited a little more after the ride and got a picture.

Awesome picture. You both looked so cute in your Halloween outfits!

however, this night all the wait times stayed high even during fireworks, ugh!

That's wild! I can't believe lines were long even during the only showing of the fireworks. What a crowded night

Very crowded party, makes it so hard to enjoy the special offerings that only occur during the party. The snack lines, the photo lines, the ride lines, and the candy lines very long!

Again, so disappointing. I remember going to my first party (Christmas) with my mom probably 7-8 years ago, and it felt like the park was empty. We had never splurged on anything like that at Disney before and felt like it was totally worth it. If I hadn't had that experience to compare it to, I'd never believe parties used to be like that. We had a pretty crowded party in August, and I've got a Christmas party booked for next month, but I'm beginning to regret it. This might be our last year for parties unless something changes.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

It's too bad your party experience was so crowded - I keep hearing that on the boards. I can't imagine Disney will stop overselling the parties if people keep buying the tickets.

I'm glad you managed to have some fun despite the crowds. How great that you got to meet Tracy! I met her in 2015 and she was delightful. You also got a great haul of candy!

 

[suse66]

“Boo to you, it’s good to be bad” Every person at DW thought this as well! Welcome to The most crowd MNSSHP we have ever experienced!!

What a shame!! Boo to Disney for overselling.

After our candy line, we headed to Little Mermaid and did this ride. Candy at the exit again, yay! I was looking for some photo opportunities and all the photo spots had such long lines, this was a bummer! We did find one CM by 7DMT and had a picture here. Nothing magical here probably why there wasn’t a wait.

Cute pic though!

I was texting with @Tracy161 and we decided to meet up at the Lunching pad. We walked over there and met Tracy and her friend. Her name escapes me, chime in Tracy with her name. Her friend is a cute, bubbly, talkative young lady from the Dis boards. Tracy met her on a solo thread and they have become friends. Both do Disney solo at times! We sat and visited for awhile. We, of course, talked about how crowded the party was and how hard it was to really accomplish much!
This and the parade were my favorite parts of the party! It was so nice to visit with Tracy and her friend. Both ladies are so sweet and easy to talk to. We all decided to ride the PM together! This is one of Tracy’s favorite MK rides as it is mine also! This was very nice and relaxing among the crazy party crowds!

Tracy is a doll, glad you enjoyed meeting up!

We visited a little more after the ride and got a picture.

Sweet!

HM was still mobbed as we walked on by.
We made it over to PoTC and this wait was low. We walked on and enjoyed the live actors in the queue and on the rid

Sunds fun!

The bus area was busy, we spotted a Swan bus and jumped on, we even got to sit yay!
We walked home from the Swan, we had to cut through some grassy areas. I was a little nervous of snakes since it was after midnight.

we made it back to the room and got ready for bed. Here is our candy haul. We did good!

You did do well on the candy! Still super sad to hear about the crazy crowds.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I know @StarWarsMomofGirls! and @Newsies were both at the party and we didn’t run into either! I was looking for them in the crowds!

It was so crowded!!! I am sorry we didn't met up but it was a lot managing our group with Andy's sister's family. It was a bit more stressful than I would have liked.

 

[Tracy161]

It saddens me how Disney has oversold these parties now. It felt like a busy crowded day time at MK.

I know! Me too. I honestly couldn't believe how busy the party was.

I was texting with @Tracy161 and we decided to meet up at the Lunching pad. We walked over there and met Tracy and her friend. Her name escapes me, chime in Tracy with her name.

Rebecca

This and the parade were my favorite parts of the party! It was so nice to visit with Tracy and her friend. Both ladies are so sweet and easy to talk to. We all decided to ride the PM together! This is one of Tracy’s favorite MK rides as it is mine also!

Meeting up with you and Andi was the highlight of the party for me! And we finally were able to do what we have said for years we'd do: ride PM together!

The ladies were impressed with Andi’s galactic hero status, I was not since she doesn’t help her mother!

this picture! And your dress!!!

Here is our candy haul. We did good!

You did great with the candy! I was bummed I ran out of time to get much of anything. The lines for everything were so terrible that I feel I hardly accomplished anything But the most important thing I was able to do: Dismeets!

My trip notes say from this party, Boo to Disney for overselling these parties now!!

Agreed!

The highlights of the night were spending time with Tracy and her friend and the parade

Same!!!

 

[missangelalexis]

I love your dress!

I'm sorry the party was so crowded and not as fun as in the past. But I'm glad you got to meet up with Tracy and her friend! And you got a good haul of candy!!