Wait times were below what was stated. Example: SDMT said 25 and it must have been 15. I did find it extremely annoying LL was available. We, along with many other groups, left the HM line because the LL kept building and we were not moving. Yes. I expected a line for that ride. The LL made it unbearable. I don’t know if I’ll go again when LL during a party is an option.I wa
Wait times on the app are looking good at tonight's party. I hope they are that way on our night. If you're there, let us know how Labor Day and MNSSHP combo night turned out when you can.
We attended yesterday (9/4) after disembarking the Disney Magic and driving up from Miami. I was actually regretting not buying day tickets because lines were so short all day, but it was our first time staying and VGF and it was very hot—so we hung out by the beach pool and had a late brunch at GF Cafe. Wanting to avoid the worst of the entry lines we took the boat over and arrived around 4:45 at which point they made us queue in the sun (very limited shade or fans) for about 10-15m before being released to get in the normal entry queues at the gates. That was our second longest line of the day— I showed them our ILL for Tron that ended at 5:25 to no avail. We made it in around 5:05 and got our bracelets, bags, and walked briskly to Tron.
With the ILL (BTW, at 7:05AM the two latest available return times were 4:10 and 4:25, all other slots after 4 were gone), we walked all the way to the ramp down just before where they slot you in your rows…but as we were about to board a CM told us my son’s tail (he was Pascal) affixed with a safety pin, had to come off and we had to walk back to the lockers and start over. That was extremely frustrating with limited party time (and a sprained ankle). Then he lost his Magic Band on the light cycle and we lost another 5-10m while waiting to see if a CM could retrieve it.
By 5:55 I was angsty to get somewhere with clear reception for the VQ release and we started walking the (not yet open) treat trail to storybook circus. Wanting an after 8 return time, I deliberately counted to 4 (quickly) at 6pm, hit enter VQ around 6:00:05 and didn’t notice that the app was asking me to confirm party (PSA: I had already pre-selected our party so I was not expecting to have to hit it again. Hit second enter queue screen maybe 6:00:10 and got BG 184, which did not get called until about 10:55PM. We had started walking towards Tron when they called 183 at 10:50, and per my photo we boarded the light cycle at 11:28.
Back to 6PM— we had 6:50 reservations at CRT, and 45m to kill. We saw a sign for 7DMT saying 50m, but I’ve read (here!) lines are overstated so I asked a cast member who said it was accurate—we decided to take a chance anyway, hoping it would move faster with LL winding down. The gamble paid off and we made it through the queue in 35-40m. We had to walk to the far side of the carousel and give our names to a hostess to get past the carousel at 6:50–then we had the area between the carousel and the castle to ourselves and snapped some pictures of our kids with the sword in the stone and the castle. Dinner wasn’t fast but was a welcome break from the heat and sun— we saw 4 princesses in addition to the Cinderella greeting.
Post dinner (around 8:15?) we walked to Big Thunder Mtn RR and walked straight on 2x, then around 8:50 I sat right on the parade route at the rope across from Pecos Bill and reserved our 4’ of sitting space while my husband took our kids on the trick or treat trails nearby. BTW— there was scattered availability (more if you were willing to stand) at 8:50–but everything was wide open when we first passed at 8:30. Rider came out around 9:05 and then the parade started right at 9:15. As soon as the final float passed, we made a break for the Agrabah greeting spot and our kids got pictures with Jasmine & Genie (together) and Jafar (separate queue) between 9:35-9:55. Then we tried to stake out a spot in front of the castle where my kids could see the projections at 10–it worked out pretty well until another kid (preteen?) ran into the open spot in front of us mid-show. We had positioned ourselves on the tomorrow land side of the mainstreet circle and immediately bolted (walking briskly but not running) for Space Mtn, where we also walked on the ride (though it’s a long walk through the full queue). At that point we were hoping the Tron return would get pulled so we did the People Mover, shopping, and a a treat trail before finally walking to Tron when the number ahead of ours was called.
Our kids did most of the trick or treating and came home with a haul of 11lbs spread across 6 bags (the lady at one drop gave them extra bags when I said I was worried their bags would overflow.
Aside from CRT, which took a TON of party time, we didn’t do any eating or snacking or much shopping. But we got all of our top items accomplished and made a lot of great memories for my kids’ first MNSSHP.