Reconsidering MNSSHP

[DisneyNewbieDad]

So we are doing a 1st family trip and bringing grandparents along. My concern is that our kids (7, 5, 3) may not be able to handle being up for the party and staying through fireworks. The current plan is no park for party day and laying low until 4pm. We have a BOG breakfast the following day at 8, so I am wondering if we'd be better to save our money and do the party at a trip when they are older. I know this may be blasphemy! Any thoughts, experiences from others?

 

[martikus]

For us it would be a no. Our son is an early riser. We all enjoy vacation more if we embrace that. We still haven't done Disney at night with him (he's 10). We will someday. For now we enjoy opening the parks and heading back to hotel for dinner, swim and decent bedtime.

MNSSHP is fun, but not a must do in my mind. Especially your first trip. Just everything at Disney will be amazing since it is your first trip.

If you decide to try it please rethink early park day the next day.

 

[soniam]

This will be our first party, so don't know yet. However, our family doesn't always do well with late nights. Are your kids the kind that sleep in and stay up late? Most kids seem to more early risers. It's kind of hard to force littler kids to sleep in. I think you are being reasonable, and I would have been asking the same question with kids that age. Heck, DS is now 11, and we still don't always stay until park close. However, we almost always do rope drop.

 

[pitpat]

We did one with our daughter who had just turned 4. She napped in the car on the drive down and was still wide awake when she met Santa at midnight.

No park in the morning is a good idea, no idea if any of your kids will nap, but that would be ideal.

Also, we used the party to add another MK day to a short trip. if it was a long trip with plenty of park days, I'd have trouble adding the cost of a party ticket.

 

[Lalalyn]

My kids are 7, 4 and 4 so very close to your trio.

There's no way it would be worth the money for us. We typically hit the parks early, stay til 2 or maybe 3, head back to hotel to rest, eat dinner and got to bed by 8ish. Two of mine really need to be in bed by then as they will be up by 7am no matter what. Another one won't sleep as much but turns into a nuclear reactor about to blow when she does get overly tired.

Even if we did no park on the party day, my kids would not rest to save up for the night. They would either be dragging through the party or a nightmare the next day (or both).

I'd love to do it, but they don't know what they are missing. I just can't justify the high cost.

 

[scottandtisha]

So we are doing a 1st family trip and bringing grandparents along. My concern is that our kids (7, 5, 3) may not be able to handle being up for the party and staying through fireworks. The current plan is no park for party day and laying low until 4pm. We have a BOG breakfast the following day at 8, so I am wondering if we'd be better to save our money and do the party at a trip when they are older. I know this may be blasphemy! Any thoughts, experiences from others?

Our first trip, when boys were 3 & 5, we did MNSSHP. Promptly at 7pm, both boys fell asleep and it started drizzling. Haven't done one since ... even for just my wife and I, I don't think I could justify the cost.

 

[sunny_stace]

We did MNSSHP with my nieces and nephew on our last fall trip in 2015 and while I love it, it wasn't the best event for them. The kids were 8, 7, and 4 at the time and none of them made it to the end of the party. They were cranky waiting for the special character photo ops (even though this auntie did most of the waiting ), bored and cranky waiting for the parade and fireworks, they didn't like the spooky Haunted Mansion music playing through the park, and got upset tummies (along with a couple of adults) from the candy corn ice cream. More than half of our party ended up leaving after a few hours and were a little upset about having spent the money for an event they didn't really enjoy.

Personally, it's one of my favourite events and I have always enjoyed myself, but I don't think it's worth it for everyone. If your little ones are easily spooked or don't handle a late night well (or nap well like the kiddos I travel with), I would maybe re-evaluate the spending money and maybe do another special experience they may enjoy more at this point. This year, the kids have chosen to do the Pirate's League and BBB instead!

As a family, we will be skipping it on our October trip this year unfortunately for the same reasons. Down the road when they'll actually enjoy it and have a blast, maybe we will reconsider! I would take your family's habits and preferences into account in making your decision, and would also recommend having a time-management strategy if you do decide to do it so that you can get everything in you're hoping for! In any case, enjoy your trip!

 

[HBaney84]

I've after much back and forth, back and forth have decided not to go. I have never been to the party but decided the extra cost would not be worth it. My two little ones won't realize for many years what we may have skipped for them.

Will I regret it, maybe... but... I'm okay with the decision for now. I'm hoping we'll have a nice non-busy evening doing something else the night of the party.

 

[pitpat]

sounds like the right call.

 

[sasmom]

My kids are 10 and 6 and it was a lot of fun but maybe a little much for them towards the end. They were ok until about 9:00 and in retrospect we should have gotten there earlier, seen the first parade and then left. Instead we skipped the first parade, rode a few more rides and planned on seeing the second parade. By 10:30 my 6 year old was asleep in the stroller and my 10-year old was overtired and miserable. And they've been night owls all summer. We ended up leaving just before the second parade started. I think it's a good plan not to do a park earlier in the day so they are well rested. That is another mistake we made. We did Magic Kingdom in the morning, then took a break at the hotel and went back for the party a little before 7. I also wouldn't recommend an early breakfast the next day unless your kids are early risers anyway. We slept in the next day and that was good. I think it was still a lot of fun and worth it; I just should have anticipated how tired they would get and done things a little differently.

 

[Delirium]

Everyone knows their own kids, and you should base your decision on that. For those that feel they may have kids that would enjoy it, We did parties on 3 different trips when both kids were under 10 and had no problems whatsoever. Take it easy that day before going to the park, dress them in reasonable costumes, watch the 2nd parade, watch the fireweorks, skip trick or treating, and enjoy short ride waits after 10 o'clock. That's a formula for a great time (though the cost has gotten steep over the years).

 

[Disneylover99]

We love the Halloween party, but my kids are older now. If they were the age of your kids, it would be a definite no. Save your money and wait a few years.

 

[anomamatt]

I took my kids (5 and 3) to the party last week. We left at the end of the 1st parade. I was hoping to make it to fireworks but wasn't meant to be. They were just too loopy and exhausted.

Was it worth it? Maybe not, but it's fun to tell them we got invited to mickey's Halloween party. I try not to think about the cost per ride or amount of candy...

 

[DisneyNewbieDad]

Thanks for everyone's stories and advice. It's hard on a 1st trip to remind myself we don't have to do it all. It's supposed to be fun, right?!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I've taken DS every year since he was 4...he's 7 now. Every time we do a party, I pretty much let him set the pace and I go in with an open mind about how the night may go. If he's tired, we'll leave. If he wants to press on, we'll stay up. We've closed down the MK after midnight twice. Last night we rolled out about 12:15AM!

One year we left after the fireworks because you could just tell it was time. I had let him swim a lot that day at the Poly pool, which zapped his stamina. After that trip I now focus more on energy conservation the day of the party and don't push a big plan that day.

But no matter how late we stay, MNSSHP is always worth it for us...it's become a yearly tradition of sorts. Always tons of fun.

 

[leebee]

We've done the parties since DD was about 6, but she's always been a night owl. We plan for a "down day," laze around our resort, have a late lunch, and get to MK at about 3:30pm for the party. We stay until they sweep us out with the trash, but like I said... we're night owls. And there's NO WAY we'd set an alarm clock for the next morning!

At the price, unless I could guarantee my kids would stay awake, I'd skip it. Besides... you have that early morning ADR the next day, right? If we did MNSSHP, there's no way we'd make it for a breakfast ADR. I think you are making a smart choice to skip this party. Gives you a great excuse for another trip, right?

 

[tomlinson]

Let me preface this with I do not have kids.

When I went to the party a few years ago, it was a group of 3 adults, and we had never been and wanted to check it out. This was after an 8AM breakfast and all day at HS. It might've been around 10:30PM when all of a sudden all 3 of us morphed into toddlers on the verge of a meltdown. We were snapping at one another. Eye rolling. Glaring. Then one of the people in my party stopped walking and said "I haven't been this exhausted in years. Can we go to bed?" We then realized that with all the GO GO GO and the heat that we were just overly tired.

So we went back to our room and immediately we were all dead asleep. Of course we had a breakfast reservation and when we woke up we all looked and felt like zombies. "I feel like I'm hungover but can I be hungover from candy corn ice cream?" That was one of the funnier quotes of the day. The other good quote was "Oh my God. I knew I was too old to party like I did in college, but I didn't know I was too old to party with Mickey Mouse."

I know none of this helps you with your decision, but just keep in mind that three adults struggled!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Thanks for everyone's stories and advice. It's hard on a 1st trip to remind myself we don't have to do it all. It's supposed to be fun, right?!

Yep, supposed to be fun, and a bunch of tired kids aren't fun (for the parents or kids). We did the party last year and enjoyed, but our kids are late teens. Wouldn't do it with the age of your kids.

 

[DisneyNewbieDad]

Let me preface this with I do not have kids.

When I went to the party a few years ago, it was a group of 3 adults, and we had never been and wanted to check it out. This was after an 8AM breakfast and all day at HS. It might've been around 10:30PM when all of a sudden all 3 of us morphed into toddlers on the verge of a meltdown. We were snapping at one another. Eye rolling. Glaring. Then one of the people in my party stopped walking and said "I haven't been this exhausted in years. Can we go to bed?" We then realized that with all the GO GO GO and the heat that we were just overly tired.

So we went back to our room and immediately we were all dead asleep. Of course we had a breakfast reservation and when we woke up we all looked and felt like zombies. "I feel like I'm hungover but can I be hungover from candy corn ice cream?" That was one of the funnier quotes of the day. The other good quote was "Oh my God. I knew I was too old to party like I did in college, but I didn't know I was too old to party with Mickey Mouse."

I know none of this helps you with your decision, but just keep in mind that three adults struggled!

I appreciate everyone sharing. I'm also a little worried about the grandparents and my wife and I. 7 people all being toddlers, when only 1 really is could be a bit of nightmare...and not the kind you go to MNSSHP to sand in line for.