MNSSHP or 1 day at another park?

[mel2014]

We're heading to Orlando in August for a trip that is primarily Universal-oriented with a day at Kennedy Space Center. With recent changes in our school year schedule, we were able to shift the trip from July to August, which will save us a substantial amount of money on airfare and Universal tickets and potentially extend our trip by two days. Our kids have been asking to go back to WDW since our (only) April 2017 trip, so I was considering adding a Disney day (which of course leads to the obvious question of -- which park?). Then I noticed that the Halloween parties start in August and am now weighing whether that would be a good option (looking at either Friday August 16 or Tuesday August 20).

For background:
My kids are 8 and 10, love all rides, but especially thrill rides, with the notable exceptions that my 10 year old won't ride TOT or EE because she thinks they're scary.
My husband has motion sickness. He does better at Disney than any other theme park, but EE, Primeval Whirl, and Mission Space are all no-goes for him. He can go on all the Magic Kingdom rides other than tea cups.
We've been to four Disney resorts and all of the associated parks within the last 2 years -- Disneyland, WDW, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney.
We live in California and have been to Disneyland several times, but never for the Halloween party and likely won't because that would be an expensive weekend trip. We might try to go sometime in 2020 or 2021 for Galaxy's Edge.
My kids HATE waiting in line. 30-40 minutes standby is about their max.
Character M&G are nice, but we won't typically wait more than 5-10 minutes for one.

My initial thought was 1 day at Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios because we haven't been since Pandora and Toy Story land, but with the tiered FP and the single-day visit, I'm wondering if we would be able to do much in one day or even get a FP+ for FoP or SDD (we'd move hotels over to an on-site hotel to get 60-day FP availability). I'm also concerned because there are rides at both parks that at least one member of our party would sit out. While MK offers the most attractions, it's also the least unique, particularly given that we've done 4 castle parks recently.

MNSSHP Pros:
Less expensive than one day ticket
Opportunity to view Halloween decorations, parades and shows
Shorter attraction lines and more equal playing field since no FP+ available during party time
Can still make 3 FP+ during the pre-party admission period
Puts a different "spin" on MK

MNSSHP Cons:
More expensive "per hour" of park time than one-day ticket
Not all attractions operating
Requires keeping kids up late at night to maximize park time
Strange to "celebrate" Halloween in August

I'd love any other feedback anyone can offer as to what you might do.

 

[baloo's girl]

We love the Halloween party so much. You get to dress up and trick-or-treat. My whole family gets in on the action,and my kids are teens. This would probably be my vote if you've only a day set aside. (Sleep late, then go to the park for the 4pm entry). The parade is so fabulous, as is the fireworks and stage show. And its hot in October, when we usually go, so who cares if its August! You'll probably have slower crowds. Most rides are open, I think Jungle Cruise and maybe Carousel of Progress are two that close, I'm thinking. But you could hit those before official park closing.

On the other hand, we've also done a 1 day park hopper trip (in April 2017). And it was so much fun. We hopped to 3 parks, MK< EP< AK (It was a Wednesday, so MK had EMH). We had the kids pick the best of rides at each park, and we hit them all. It was exhausting to do this, but so magical. We slept in the next day.

 

[Stefani P.]

We really enjoy the Halloween party. Less wait time for rides, smaller crowds!

 

[DisDreaming4116]

If you choose a party night, I think I'd choose August 20. They will both be busy because of people getting in a last trip before school starts but the 16th is the first MNSSHP and with the new fireworks show, there will be A LOT of people wanting to see it for the first time.

 

[disney k family]

Last year we were in Florida for a Universal only vacation. 2 adults and a 10 and 13 year old. We attended the second halloween party of the season in August. We loved being in the Magic Kingdom during the party. We were able to do almost every one of the rides with minimal waits(except 7 dwarves, we booked a fast pass for that one at 4:00). We went with realistic expectations and were not interested in meeting characters or lining up for special snacks. If you are interested in characters that will eat up a lot of the party time. I think it was a great value and would highly recommend attending a party.

 

[mel2014]

Ugh, so I asked my kids last night and their initial response is that they are emphatically against the Halloween party because of castle park burn out. Then of course my daughter wants to go to Epcot, my son wants Hollywood Studios and my husband votes in favor of Animal Kingdom for Pandora. So that was totally unhelpful. Luckily we've got a couple of months to further consider our options before we have to make a commitment.

 

[mel2014]

Last year we were in Florida for a Universal only vacation. 2 adults and a 10 and 13 year old. We attended the second halloween party of the season in August. We loved being in the Magic Kingdom during the party. We were able to do almost every one of the rides with minimal waits(except 7 dwarves, we booked a fast pass for that one at 4:00). We went with realistic expectations and were not interested in meeting characters or lining up for special snacks. If you are interested in characters that will eat up a lot of the party time. I think it was a great value and would highly recommend attending a party.

Did you move to an on-site hotel for your Disney day or continue to stay by Universal? If off-site, you were still able to make the 7 dwarves FP+ at 30 days out?

 

[disney k family]

We stayed at a Universal hotel for the entire trip(10 nights) We booked FP+ a few weeks before and there just happened to be a FP available for 7 dwarves from 3:15-4:15, we also booked jungle cruise and haunted mansion FP. I know getting the 7 dwarves was lucky and we probably would have skipped it otherwise. The line was quite long all night.

 

[twodogs]

We’ve been to MNSSHP and also to the parks that time of year. I will agree with OP NOT to go to the first party of the year if you can help it, as many media and bloggers go that night to get the scoop, and last year it was a mess of crowds. But if your kids really want to do the other parks instead, I think what OP said about getting a park hopper and trying to do all 3 sounds like a fun challenge! Probably the hardest FP to get is FOP, so either RD AK and get FPs elsewhere, or RD EPCOT or HS (get in SDD at RD!) and then have FPs at AK booked for later with FOP.

As for MNSSHP and how it differs from a regular MK day, some rides are closed but most are open. There are unique characters, but they have long lines that chew up a lot of time. The decorations are very cool, but not life changing to me. The trick or treating is not a big deal as my kids are 11 and 13, so candy is not terribly thrilling when there are Disney rides to ride! The ride lines can be shorter than regular park hours, but it is not walk-on all over the park. SDMT never got below 40 minutes for the entire party last year that we attended. It was overall crowded for a “limited ticket” event, so don’t expect low crowds for the party. Since a lot of people avoid MK on party days because they don’t want to “waste” a full day park ticket on MK when it closes early, MK during the day on a party day can be lovely. So you could even try to make it 4 parks in one day, going to MK in the earlier part of the day to see the decorations! Have fun either way!

 

[mel2014]

After reassessing our schedule and ever-increasing budget, I determined that we can swing two days at Disney World (August 19th and 20), so now I'm considering either:

(1) 1 park day + MNSSHP (spending a relaxing morning at the hotel or Disney Springs); or

(2) Buy a single day ticket with the "Park Hopper Plus" and do two parks in one day plus a day a Blizzard Beach. Getting the water park day ticket sort of balances out the extra $$ for the hopper. I don't know that I'm up for three parks in one day, though I suppose we would have that option with the hopper and could play it by ear.

Looking at Tuesday the 20th, Epcot has EMH from 9 pm to 11 pm, so we could rope drop either AK or HS, book FP+ for the opposite park in the afternoon and then wander over to Epcot in the evening if we're up for it. I'm just concerned about rope drop craziness for either FOP or SDD -- though I have successfully navigated the most determined Disney crowd in the world, the rush of Tokyo Disney visitors to get a Toy Story Mania FP. Just geographically, it would seem to make the most sense to start at AK, go to HS and then to Epcot.

If we take that route, we would want to be at AK no later than 7:45 for a 9:00 am opening, based on everything I've read, then do FOP, Navi, Dinosaur, Everest (single rider) and whatever else we can accomplish in the park in the morning. I'd eat lunch there then move to HS.

What are our odds of getting an afternoon SDD FP+ at 60+4? In HS, I think I would prioritize FP+ for SDD, RnRC and TOT. I'm kind of over Star Tours (the last 7 times we've been on it, we gotten Jakku, Crait, Battu), so that's skippable IMHO, as is TSM, since we've done that several times recently in Tokyo and California.