First MNSSHP - Oversold?

[MIAMouseketeer]

So I just returned from WDW and we attended Friday night's party. I hadn't been in 3 years and never on opening night and I couldn't believe how crowded it was compared to the 2xs prior I had attended. The lines for candy were crazy that we didn't even stop. Now I just listened to yesterday's Dis Daily Fix and I hear it was oversold. Is this true? If so, that is a huge disappointment. We ended up leaving right after the first parade because it was just too crowded.

 

[Sysyphus]

Glad I couldn’t fit it in to our itinerary then... we were quite astonished at how busy the ‘til 1am EMH was on Wednesday, and so I toyed with the idea of doing MNSSHP to make up for the rides we didn’t manage that night. We’ve managed to get on everything we wanted at previous Parties (we’ve done P&P & VMC but never HP).

 

[DebbieB]

So I just returned from WDW and we attended Friday night's party. I hadn't been in 3 years and never on opening night and I couldn't believe how crowded it was compared to the 2xs prior I had attended. The lines for candy were crazy that we didn't even stop. Now I just listened to yesterday's Dis Daily Fix and I hear it was oversold. Is this true? If so, that is a huge disappointment. We ended up leaving right after the first parade because it was just too crowded.

It's hard to define "oversold" as an actual number vs an opinion. Disney can decide to sell as many tickets as they want, up to park capacity. They never release that number so really no way to know. Most likely they are selling more tickets to make more money.

 

[sharonabe]

It's hard to define "oversold" as an actual number vs an opinion. Disney can decide to sell as many tickets as they want, up to park capacity. They never release that number so really no way to know. Most likely they are selling more tickets to make more money.

Agree. My guess is they are selling more tickets each year to see how high they can go before sales start to fall off. They've added more party nights and will max those out as far as they can. At some point, people like OP will no longer see the value and quit going. Unfortunately, there will always be new people to fill in the gap, so I wouldn't expect them to ever go back to selling less.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

OP, just for some context, mind if I ask when the prior two parties you attended were? Year/ month/day of the week?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

That’s too bad. We went the first night last year and felt it was manageable. It is my understanding that they have a lot of media folks and bloggers on the first nights which may be adding to the crowds? Based on reports, I think I will avoid first nights of hard ticket events going forward.

 

[verleniahall]

also, it was media night and even when its "sold out" military are still allowed to purchase tickets

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Agree. My guess is they are selling more tickets each year to see how high they can go before sales start to fall off. They've added more party nights and will max those out as far as they can. At some point, people like OP will no longer see the value and quit going. Unfortunately, there will always be new people to fill in the gap, so I wouldn't expect them to ever go back to selling less.

I would also guess they are gradually ramping up the max # of tickets. People who went in the early days have been saying that for a long time. They could get to a point where word on the street is that it has become too crowded for the price you pay. Then attendance would go down. No idea of they're there yet or not.

 

[Dean1953]

On the DAILY FIX yesterday, Pete mentioned that the Friday party being oversold and expect a rant on today's DIS UNPLUGGED show.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

On the DAILY FIX yesterday, Pete mentioned that the Friday party being oversold and expect a rant on today's DIS UNPLUGGED show.

I will definitely tune in for a good Pete rant.

 

[Love Tink]

I can only give a personal reaction but we were at the party and thought the crowds were ridiculous. It felt as busy as mid-day. There were long lines for everything, including rides (and it didn’t help that the Mine Train was down).

I heard people complaining everywhere. I spoke with several party veterans (while waiting in long lines) who said they had never seen party crowds like this.

My research had assured me that crowds would fall off as it got later. Nope - the second parade was packed.

One of my sons left at 8:30 because he just couldn’t take the crowds. We splurged on the party after years of thinking about it. It was a huge disappointment.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

OP, just for some context, mind if I ask when the prior two parties you attended were? Year/ month/day of the week?

Last one was 2015 in late October . Actually my original thought was they just raised capacity. But after hearing Pete say it was oversold in yesterday’s Dis daily fix, made me think otherwise. Too bad today’s show was cancelled so we couldn’t hear more.

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

I can only give a personal reaction but we were at the party and thought the crowds were ridiculous. It felt as busy as mid-day. There were long lines for everything, including rides (and it didn’t help that the Mine Train was down).

I heard people complaining everywhere. I spoke with several party veterans (while waiting in long lines) who said they had never seen party crowds like this.

My research had assured me that crowds would fall off as it got later. Nope - the second parade was packed.

One of my sons left at 8:30 because he just couldn’t take the crowds. We splurged on the party after years of thinking about it. It was a huge disappointment.

Yes, same experience here. We went to magic Kingdom on Sunday and crowd felt about the same.

 

[greg9x]

My research had assured me that crowds would fall off as it got later. Nope - the second parade was packed.

Yeah, had the same expectation... Had an 'ok' view of 2nd parade, but it was 3-5 deep in Frontier Land, with some walkways completely blocked (saw some upset scooter people that they couldn't use path).
But crowd definitely stayed through the night despite what others have said about past parties.

 

[dlavender]

I can only give a personal reaction but we were at the party and thought the crowds were ridiculous. It felt as busy as mid-day. There were long lines for everything, including rides (and it didn’t help that the Mine Train was down).

I heard people complaining everywhere. I spoke with several party veterans (while waiting in long lines) who said they had never seen party crowds like this.

My research had assured me that crowds would fall off as it got later. Nope - the second parade was packed.

One of my sons left at 8:30 because he just couldn’t take the crowds. We splurged on the party after years of thinking about it. It was a huge disappointment.

I would definitely be sending at least an email to guest relations to voice my displeasure. If they have to refund half the party they will make changes moving forward.....

 

[SaintsManiac]

On the DAILY FIX yesterday, Pete mentioned that the Friday party being oversold and expect a rant on today's DIS UNPLUGGED show.

They aren't doing a show today according to their Facebook post.

 

[Dean1953]

That’s too bad. I think that the rant was going to cover the overselling of the event, coupled with the heat by starting the first party a week earlier than last years party, which was also a weeks earlier than the previous year. He said that it took him half of Saturday to recover from Friday night. Hopefully, he can get it off his chest on the board. Otherwise, I’m sure it will be covered next week.

 

[eileen2664]

Oh no! We’re here till Saturday and have been tossing around the idea of going Friday night, but if it’s super crowded there doesn’t seem to be much point

 

[MIAMouseketeer]

I would definitely be sending at least an email to guest relations to voice my displeasure. If they have to refund half the party they will make changes moving forward.....

I’m thinking about doing that. We had a great rest of our trip but felt the party was a waste of money for us as passholders. I wish the show had happened today so I had more information

 

[Love Tink]

I would definitely be sending at least an email to guest relations to voice my displeasure. If they have to refund half the party they will make changes moving forward.....

Good advice. I actually stopped into guest relations before leaving the park that night. I am usually pretty easygoing about managing experiences and expectations (and we visit every year, so we don't worry too much about missing things). But I felt that this event was very far from what was advertised.

It was a bummer because we had looked forward to the party the whole trip - it was on our last night. We ended up exhausted, frustrated, and let down - not how we wanted to feel as we left WDW.