Boo Bash Thoughts (never done after hours but have done MNSSHP)

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hi all,

Hope you are all staying safe and well!

So my family and I love Halloween and we loved the old EMH especially at night. However, we haven't had the best experiences with MNSSHP (its not that we didn't love the atmosphere or dressing up-and granted we made a dining mistake in 2019-but we never got to fully experience it in the ways others have. I am talking we never saw a parade, never saw the Jack Skellington show, never met characters-yeah I know we kind of failed. Did catch the Hocus Pocus show the first year it was offered and that was amazing! Also that ghost cupcake from 2015 MNSSHP was well worth the price! Also crowds were not the best either time)

BUT with the rumblings that this Boo Bash is more like an After Hours event, I am wondering if it is worth it. Obviously I know the pricing is higher between the unlimited ice cream bars, popcorn and sodas/water, and that we can still get let in early, but is it worth it? Weighing the pros and cons it actually lines up pretty evenly ( love that its at night, love the added free snacks, rides vs potential crazy crowds, price and only 3 hours). I guess what I am saying is we are nervous it will be a waste. I know part of the MNSSHP issues are our fault, and believe me if it were up to me both those parties would have been done way differently. I am just nervous about costing so much. But then you hear how amazing the after hours parties are and its like "well this actually might be worth it". Another worry is if they open up more will they let more people in. (This has turned into an anxious rant I am gonna stop now i promise)

So my fellow theme park fans, the question I guess I am asking is do you think it will be worth it? I am willing to answer questions as well regarding our experiences and mistakes-no shame here if it was something definitely on our end!

Thank you and have a wonderful rest of your day.
Best,
BroadwayHermione5

 

[brockash]

No...obviously everyone has different opinions about value, but no there's no way we'd pay that kind of money for it...especially without any kind of special entertainment. Don't get me wrong, Disney knows how to advertise and I know they'll be plenty of ppl over the moon to be given the "opportunity" to spend the money on what Disney sells as exclusive, but if you're asking my opinion; then no I definitely don't think it's worth $150-$200/tix.

 

[Rm4OneMore]

We're on the fence. If you haven't already, I recommend that you checkout the discussion on the DVCFan Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/dvc...861460&ref=notif&notif_t=group_comment_follow

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

We're on the fence. If you haven't already, I recommend that you checkout the discussion on the DVCFan Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/dvc...861460&ref=notif&notif_t=group_comment_follow

thank you!

 

[jimmymc]

I did Villains After Hours in 2019. The cost was $145 and it got you in at 7 pm, park close was 10, and the part ended at 1 am (really it ended at 1:20, since the last show started at 1 am). I think it was worth it. Peter Pan, Pirates, and Splash Mountain had 0 wait. Space and Big Thunder were about 10 minutes, and 7 Dwarfs was about 30 minutes (the wait earlier in the day was 2 hours, this was in the summer). Everything else was no wait, and this was at a sold-out party. You could've gone on every single attraction at MK in those 3 hours if you wanted to. Open sodas and ice cream were great; walking up to any cart and just grabbing a Mickey Bar is very satisfying!

The only thing I regret is that I already had a length of stay ticket, and I went to the party on my first night there, so I really could've bought a shorter ticket. This September I have a 3 day ticket for a 5 day trip, so I think I will attend the party if it's at or under $150. I would not pay $200; for that price, I would spend $250 to add an extra day to my trip.

 

[Jason2015]

My family has done MNSSHP three times (twice in the same trip for the first two) and two of the three were rather disappointing. To many people, lines were to long for the special stuff. (Yes, ride lines were semi-short-but really who is at MNSSHP for the rides?) The time that was most enjoyable was our second visit in the same trip (tbh the first included in-laws, sibling-in-laws and their kids, etc. while the 2nd was just my three kids, wife and self-which allowed for more relaxed touring.) But all together I felt the MNSSHP wasn't all it could be (largely due to crowds)

We have done two afterhours parties. The first was at Animal Kingdom and it was one of the best times I've had in a park. My kids loved that everything was walk-on. We loved the "free" food and drinks and even stocked up with a few extra bottles of water and soda at the end of the night. Our 2nd afterhours party was Villains at MK. It was just my wife and I. It was a good time but we wished that Disney had taken the extra step to add more entertainment to the experience. I feel that afterhours parties are largely about the rides while MNSSHP was supposed to be about the experience. Now if they make Boo Bash more like MNSSHP than Villians with more entertainment, meet-and-greets, and the treat trails with the low after hour crowds than it'd be more than worth the money.

 

[Jason2015]

No...obviously everyone has different opinions about value, but no there's no way we'd pay that kind of money for it...especially without any kind of special entertainment. Don't get me wrong, Disney knows how to advertise and I know they'll be plenty of ppl over the moon to be given the "opportunity" to spend the money on what Disney sells as exclusive, but if you're asking my opinion; then no I definitely don't think it's worth $150-$200/tix.

As you said worth is subjective. However depending on your goals the afterhours parties aren't as outrageous as one might expect. Now when my family goes to DisneyWorld we visit for 4 days (one park per day.) The times we've folded the afterhours party in we bought three day tickets instead of four days and than used the afterhours experience as our fourth park visit. In the end we spent about $20 more per person (though if you add in the eating we spent less on the after hours event) Value also comes when you're able to spend time in an almost empty park and ride every ride you want to multiple time. The ability to get into the park 3 hours hours before park close also allows you to get to some of the entertainment (Festival of the Lion King, Laugh Floor, etc) that is closed during the afterhours event. We also use the day of the event for pool time, Disney Springs, etc before heading to the park with the event.

Now if you're a rope-drop person or want to experience all the shows, or are going to spend all day in the park on a regular ticket than buying the afterhours ticket for the extra three hours than the afterhours event might not be worth it.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

I feel that afterhours parties are largely about the rides while MNSSHP was supposed to be about the experience.

This is also how I would describe the main difference between the two types of events. We go on some rides while at MNSSHP, but we really spend a lot of our time doing party-specific things. If you are looking for an opportunity to go on rides with lower wait times than a normal day, while getting to enjoy the special Halloween atmosphere and "free" treats, then going to the Boo Bash may be a fun event for you. We would miss the parades, special fireworks, and shows and would not be able to eat our money's worth of goodies, so we won't be going during our Oct trip. Hope you have a great time if you decide to go!

 

[disneymom0104]

For our family of 6 in August, I think it is worth it. We have done MNSSHP multiple times, have done dessert parties but never an after hours event because we haven't been to WDW since 2016. It is a splurge for sure, but I know my family will love every minute.

 

[Marthasor]

We have done MNSSHP multiple times and with each passing year, the crowds became bigger and bigger to the point that it wasn't enjoyable anymore. I, personally, love the parade, the atmosphere and trick-or-treating. We never stood in line for character meets or watched any of the shows, so I think Boo Bash is right up our alley, quite frankly. If Boo Bash still has the atmosphere and has crowds more along the lines of an after-hours event, I'm in. I'm willing to give it a try and will continue to enjoy the trick-or-treating and the addition of the ice cream!

 

[Disney Freak Numero Uno]

I wouldn’t trust WDW to limit ticket sales. It will turn into another crowded event like the Halloween party . We were there last week and we went thinking number of guests would be reduced. I haven’t seen the parks so crowded since a July 4 th weekend back in the 90s.

 

[VAtink]

I am fully team After Hours! We’ve done both MNSSHP and a DAH when we travel in September the last few years (obviously not in 2020), and we have found much more value in the DAH events even though they are more expensive. While we used to love the Halloween party, the past few years it has gotten super packed, seemingly more crowded than during the day. With the long waits and areas of the park that end up wall to wall people it just hasn’t been as enjoyable as it used to be.

Now with DAH the park feels completely empty. I for one love the feeling of walking around an empty park. We have pictures from the last one we attended in 2019 in front of the castle with no one else around. It’s amazing. Plus almost all the rides are walk-on. The only rides we found that weren’t walk-on were 7DMT and PPF. We also love the free food, we usually get a bunch of the sweets and always end the night with a few buckets of popcorn. This year they are adding the bonus of trick-or-treating and cavalcades, which considering the prices this September are only $10-$20 more than what we paid in September 2019 seem totally worth it.

The Halloween parties have not been advertised as low crowd/low wait in at least the past 4 years, whereas DAH has been and continues to be, so I would expect the crowds to be similar to past DAH and nowhere near the crowd levels as the Halloween parties.

 

[igrsod]

I am fully team After Hours! We’ve done both MNSSHP and a DAH when we travel in September the last few years (obviously not in 2020), and we have found much more value in the DAH events even though they are more expensive. While we used to love the Halloween party, the past few years it has gotten super packed, seemingly more crowded than during the day. With the long waits and areas of the park that end up wall to wall people it just hasn’t been as enjoyable as it used to be.

Now with DAH the park feels completely empty. I for one love the feeling of walking around an empty park. We have pictures from the last one we attended in 2019 in front of the castle with no one else around. It’s amazing. Plus almost all the rides are walk-on. The only rides we found that weren’t walk-on were 7DMT and PPF. We also love the free food, we usually get a bunch of the sweets and always end the night with a few buckets of popcorn. This year they are adding the bonus of trick-or-treating and cavalcades, which considering the prices this September are only $10-$20 more than what we paid in September 2019 seem totally worth it.

The Halloween parties have not been advertised as low crowd/low wait in at least the past 4 years, whereas DAH has been and continues to be, so I would expect the crowds to be similar to past DAH and nowhere near the crowd levels as the Halloween parties.

I have done both DAH and MNSSHP as well, and I agree... I love the after hours parties much more. We love having the park "to ourselves". The MNSSHP that we last attended was so crowded that it felt like a waste of time, as everything was a huge line up. Most of our time was spent waiting. Can't see the value in that. With the DAH we got so much done and grabbed a snack as we moved from one area to anther.
We are so excited to attend this event.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I wouldn’t trust WDW to limit ticket sales. It will turn into another crowded event like the Halloween party . We were there last week and we went thinking number of guests would be reduced. I haven’t seen the parks so crowded since a July 4 th weekend back in the 90s.

This is my concern as well.

I think BB's price is wild BUT if I could be guaranteed only x number of tickets would be sold, I'd be more interested.

OP: it sounds like an event that really could be great for your family - if I were in your shoes, I would strongly consider.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I too would be a bit cautious about making any assumptions about crowd size and wait times. We did an After Hours (regular, not villains) event in 2018. Overall, we had a good time. But all of the talk about all of the rides being walk-on did not end up being true for us. SDMT was down for most of the time, and had a 45 minute wait after that. BTM and SM were both 20 minutes plus. And some of the other rides were a good 10-15 minutes. Those lines eat up your 3 hours really fast. And you can't help but feel a little misled. And, if you go back and read reviews from the epic After Hours thread on these boards, you'll see that many other people have had similar experiences. After Hours is hit or miss. But it seems like Disney will sell as many tickets as they can. I fear that the combination of pent up demand, no fastpasses that allow you to shorten your waits during regular hours, and Disney's desire to recoup lost profits will all lead to these events being far more crowded than people are expecting.

I sure hope I'm wrong.

 

[srauseo]

The times we've folded the afterhours party in we bought three day tickets instead of four days and than used the afterhours experience as our fourth park visit. In the end we spent about $20 more per person (though if you add in the eating we spent less on the after hours event) Value also comes when you're able to spend time in an almost empty park and ride every ride you want to multiple time. T

This. We only got three-day park tickets and didn't make a MK reservation in the hopes there would be a party or after hours event on the date we wanted. This is the day after our late arrival so we will hang by the pool and then hit the park at 7. So, this is in place of adding another day to our park passes and actually gets us some nice benefits included. For our situation, this made great sense. As always, the answer is "it depends."

 

[OhBother1984]

We are on the fence with it. I will not be buying tickets period till masks indoors are dropped, so if it sells out before then so be it it wasn't meant to be. But right now waiting on APs to start up and hope they do before we go end of oct.

 

[jimmymc]

I wouldn’t trust WDW to limit ticket sales. It will turn into another crowded event like the Halloween party . We were there last week and we went thinking number of guests would be reduced. I haven’t seen the parks so crowded since a July 4 th weekend back in the 90s.

I was at a sold out villains party and happy with crowd levels. Assuming they have a similar capacity, I think $140 to $150 is worth it.

 

[jimmymc]

I am fully team After Hours! We’ve done both MNSSHP and a DAH when we travel in September the last few years (obviously not in 2020), and we have found much more value in the DAH events even though they are more expensive. While we used to love the Halloween party, the past few years it has gotten super packed, seemingly more crowded than during the day. With the long waits and areas of the park that end up wall to wall people it just hasn’t been as enjoyable as it used to be.

Now with DAH the park feels completely empty. I for one love the feeling of walking around an empty park. We have pictures from the last one we attended in 2019 in front of the castle with no one else around. It’s amazing. Plus almost all the rides are walk-on. The only rides we found that weren’t walk-on were 7DMT and PPF. We also love the free food, we usually get a bunch of the sweets and always end the night with a few buckets of popcorn. This year they are adding the bonus of trick-or-treating and cavalcades, which considering the prices this September are only $10-$20 more than what we paid in September 2019 seem totally worth it.

The Halloween parties have not been advertised as low crowd/low wait in at least the past 4 years, whereas DAH has been and continues to be, so I would expect the crowds to be similar to past DAH and nowhere near the crowd levels as the Halloween parties.

MNNSHP and MVMCP were basically just the shows. The last few years saw lines as long as a normal day, but you had the extra stuff around the park. I am also fully team after hours because of this!

 

[Jason2015]

I wouldn’t trust WDW to limit ticket sales. It will turn into another crowded event like the Halloween party . We were there last week and we went thinking number of guests would be reduced. I haven’t seen the parks so crowded since a July 4 th weekend back in the 90s.

The only reason I think the numbers will be relatively low is the fact that Disney is still doing the "free" food. Huge crowds would make this difficult. I'm betting bigger crowds than the average afterhours event but nowhere near the crowd size of MNNSHP