MNSSHP-Tell me its worth it!

[takingkidstodisney]

We are about 95 days away from our trip & part of me is second guessing the party night. My children will be 4 & 1 at time of travel and after paying almost $1000 on regular park tickets I am cringing at paying the extra for this special event. Totally worth it, right? We figure we won't plan another Disney trip for another 4-5 years.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

IMHO, if you think you'll be back in 4-5 years, I would go then. We waited until my DS was 7 to go to MVMCP and he had had enough before the fireworks even started. I don't know about your children, but DS didn't even really get into trick or treating until he was about 5 or 6. There will be Halloween decorations all around MK when you go, even without going to the party. I would skip it.

 

[roseaster]

Going off my kids, the 4 year old will love it. It will be lost on the 1 year old, but you aren't paying for a ticket for him/her anyway.

My kids loved dressing up and ToTing in MK. They loved the parade and sang "boo for You" for days afterward.

They got tons of candy. My kids are now 10-17 and still it is their favorite time of year and we have been going since the oldest 2 were 4.

 

[Kristy_mc11]

We took our kids 2 years ago, when my oldest was 2.5 and my youngest was 3 months. My 2.5 year old absolutely LOVED the ToTing, and I think that's a large reason why she's still so obsessed with Hallowe'en. It was so fun to dress up as a family, they give you tons upon tons of candy, and the parade and fireworks were amazing (although the girls were both pretty exhausted by that point!). We don't usually do special events, but I'm glad we did that one! She's now 4, and I know if I asked her she would still remember it and ask to go again.

 

[jacknsally19]

We are about 95 days away from our trip & part of me is second guessing the party night. My children will be 4 & 1 at time of travel and after paying almost $1000 on regular park tickets I am cringing at paying the extra for this special event. Totally worth it, right? We figure we won't plan another Disney trip for another 4-5 years.

I took my DD when she was just shy of 4. She had a great time but I didn't think it was worth the extra money. I thought it was far too crowded. We had to get a spot really early for the parade (maybe an hour before ?) and it's not really fun for little kids to wait that long for a parade. Also, you miss a lot of the party while you are waiting. If you are worried about money, I would skip it and not look back for a minute.

If you want Halloween decorations, I would recommend doing dinner at Trails End or the Hoop Dee Doo and then walk around the campsites. People go all out decorating the campsites. Even better, if you are there during Halloween - you can go trick or treating. After checking out the campsites, you can take a boat over to the Contemporary and watch the Halloween fireworks there.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We are about 95 days away from our trip & part of me is second guessing the party night. My children will be 4 & 1 at time of travel and after paying almost $1000 on regular park tickets I am cringing at paying the extra for this special event. Totally worth it, right? We figure we won't plan another Disney trip for another 4-5 years.

If it's not raining and your kids are night owls, yeah it can be very fun. If it's raining and your kids like to get to bed at a reasonable hour, it will be hellish...nothing worse that dragging wet, cranky kids around a very crowded park (that will be empty the next morning)...

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Same here! Yes we booked our tickets. We are staying at the Poly and i would feel bad knowing that we did not go to the party. It is fun to dress up in costume, go trick or treating, and stay out late. We went when the baby was 13 months.. she was great, nursing her a few times meant missing time, but overall i was glad we went. I missed the parades, the stage shows, because we were in line waiting for candy corn ice cream behind a huge group, or on opposite ends of the park, and we were behind the castle when the fireworks started. It was fun for me, but the baby woke up crying, then DD3 had to go potty NOW, so i finished hearing them from the bathroom near Pinnocchios. We did dance next to Mike from Monsters Inc, rode a few rides, and got the best photo ever with the whole gang from WInnie the Pooh. I love that photo! The characters came out at 7:20pm, which i believe they should be ON TIME or earlier.. but NOT late! This is hundreds of dollars, be punctual disney! 7:20pm..plus waiting for our turn that is! The lines for Minnie and Donald were wrap around Casey Junior Soak station and we never got to see them. We checked back later and same thing. We met Buzz, who had to take a break right before our turn. We trick or treated and got tons of candy! Met Mickey and Tink on the way out. SO THIS time, i did spend $1200 or so on park tickets, but i did get the party tickets too. Think of it this way, when you look back, you'll remember what you did do and be happy for the memories, instead of thinking you saved money. So i just bought the tickets. I will make sure to see the parade and stage show, and fireworks. Our DDs will be 2 and 5. I wish the party started at 4pm.. 7pm is asking for trouble. However, when we were at Disney in April the baby watched the 10pm fireworks. We did go straight to bed afterwards. She was cranky. Oh well, memories either way. I say go for it.

 

[Valstew]

We are doing the party this year with DS who will be 4 this will be his second he was 2 last trip and he still talks about it. He was dressed as Mickey and the CM's made such a big deal about him being the boss. Dancing with sully and mike wizoski. He did fall asleep during the parade but he can sleep rough anything so we were able to still do stuff with him sleeping in the carriage. Like watch the fireworks and hubby got to meet Jafar.

 

[roseaster]

Same here! Yes we booked our tickets. We are staying at the Poly and i would feel bad knowing that we did not go to the party. It is fun to dress up in costume, go trick or treating, and stay out late. We went when the baby was 13 months.. she was great, nursing her a few times meant missing time, but overall i was glad we went. I missed the parades, the stage shows, because we were in line waiting for candy corn ice cream behind a huge group, or on opposite ends of the park, and we were behind the castle when the fireworks started. It was fun for me, but the baby woke up crying, then DD3 had to go potty NOW, so i finished hearing them from the bathroom near Pinnocchios. We did dance next to Mike from Monsters Inc, rode a few rides, and got the best photo ever with the whole gang from WInnie the Pooh. I love that photo! The characters came out at 7:20pm, which i believe they should be ON TIME or earlier.. but NOT late! This is hundreds of dollars, be punctual disney! 7:20pm..plus waiting for our turn that is! The lines for Minnie and Donald were wrap around Casey Junior Soak station and we never got to see them. We checked back later and same thing. We met Buzz, who had to take a break right before our turn. We trick or treated and got tons of candy! Met Mickey and Tink on the way out. SO THIS time, i did spend $1200 or so on park tickets, but i did get the party tickets too. Think of it this way, when you look back, you'll remember what you did do and be happy for the memories, instead of thinking you saved money. So i just bought the tickets. I will make sure to see the parade and stage show, and fireworks. Our DDs will be 2 and 5. I wish the party started at 4pm.. 7pm is asking for trouble. However, when we were at Disney in April the baby watched the 10pm fireworks. We did go straight to bed afterwards. She was cranky. Oh well, memories either way. I say go for it.

If this helps at all, what we do on party days is spend the morning at the pool, have lunch, the a nap and head over to MK about 4pm (they will let you in at 4p with party tickets, we never use park tickets on party days) We have a good sit down dinner at 5:30-6, and my kids were usually pretty fresh for the party.

For my kids, when they were little, dressing u and ToTing in MK was a huge thrill. Personally, I think that the parade is one of the best.

 

[MeghanG855]

My 4 year old twins LOVED it last year...they still talk about it to this day. They managed to stay awake till close! My 2 year old fell asleep right before the last parade, but she still had a good time!

We were going to attend the party again this year, but we ended up pushing our vaca back to Nov so we're going to try MVMCP.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Personally I don't think it's worthy for such little kids. If you do go don;t do a park that day or you will be wasting hte party ticket.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we have been to MNSSHP 3 or 4 times before the kids, just DH and I. Besides getting proposed to before the party.. the MNSSHP that i will remember most will be with the one(s) with the kids ..even if before we got to stay til 12am, moseying out of the place, riding Splash Mountain a bunch of times, seeing the parades, and fireworks.. it is 'worth' it to have the experience with the little ones.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We didn't pay for our DS when we went when he was almost 3, but it's not worth it for such a little, in my opinion. It was so crowded (and hot!) early on, and by the time the park started to clear out, he was falling asleep and we had to leave. I also think the special Halloween fireworks are better viewed at a distance to appreciate the perimeter bursts, if you happen to be staying at the Poly or Contemporary I would just watch from there. I still don't regret going, because we dressed up as Beauty and the Beast characters and had dinner at BOG. It was worth it for those family pics, but otherwise, it wouldn't have been.

 

[takingkidstodisney]

Thanks everyone for the input. We decided that we are going to go ahead & do it!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

IMHO, if you think you'll be back in 4-5 years, I would go then. We waited until my DS was 7 to go to MVMCP and he had had enough before the fireworks even started. I don't know about your children, but DS didn't even really get into trick or treating until he was about 5 or 6. There will be Halloween decorations all around MK when you go, even without going to the party. I would skip it.

Yes! Exactly this.

 

[Kbendig]

My son was 5 when we went, and I am waiting until the baby who is only 9 months now is around 5 to go again. However, with a 4 year old I think it's absolutely worth it. We had a great time, and I have one of my favorite pictures ever of my son at the parade. We lined up early because we were tired, got to be right in the front, and he was nodding off. As soon as it began he had the most amazing look on his face. We spent the day at Downtown Disney, had some QS for dinner and had a wonderful night.

 

[mm1971]

We are about 95 days away from our trip & part of me is second guessing the party night. My children will be 4 & 1 at time of travel and after paying almost $1000 on regular park tickets I am cringing at paying the extra for this special event. Totally worth it, right? We figure we won't plan another Disney trip for another 4-5 years.

If this helps at all, what we do on party days is spend the morning at the pool, have lunch, the a nap and head over to MK about 4pm (they will let you in at 4p with party tickets, we never use park tickets on party days) We have a good sit down dinner at 5:30-6, and my kids were usually pretty fresh for the party.

For my kids, when they were little, dressing u and ToTing in MK was a huge thrill. Personally, I think that the parade is one of the best.

Saw you decided to go, but thought I would just respond anyway. I agree with PP that you can make sure they are rested and enjoy the party by not overdoing it earlier in the day. We usually relax, spend time at the resort and use the party ticket to get in at 4PM for the night.

With respect to the ages, my DD was 4 the first time we went and absolutely LOVED it! Still remembers the first time and the fun dressing up, trick or treating and how great the atmosphere was. It's the best ticketed event Disney does in our opinion. You'll have a great time.

 

[StephanieCL]

We are trying it with a 2 yr old. Planning a relaxing day in the morning and entering MK at 4.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Here's a thought - don't buy one day of tickets. That is, we never go into the parks or pay for full ticket day, since we plan that day as a rest/party day. Disney lets you in at 4 pm which makes 5pm as a "sweet spot" to get on rides (start at back of park since it's being emptied). The treats and activities start at 7pm. That gets you lots of time without having to spend lots of money for one day.
Our boy has been going since he was little, and he loved it. As a baby he liked seeing the characters and rides and all the lights. Last year he was Captian America and he loved it!!! At 18 months or so, he wore his Flash onesie, 2 he was Mike from Monsters INC, and at 3 he was Captian America.
Now he's four and is very excited about going again!