I went to the party on the 23rd-yep it was packed. But I was one of the dummies who camped out for fireworks for 3 hours-basically the sole reason I went to the party. But I did notice how packed it was moving from land to land after the fireworks. I stayed until midnight taking pictures and there were a good amount of people still in the parks when I left huddled on MS. I got stuck over by ROA when the Cadaver Dans came out at 10 between those crowds and the immense treat lines over there. But I was able to make my way back over to IASM to see the second parade.
I was hoping to only have to sit in a spot for about 2 hours for fireworks, just casually casing the area in front of the castle, hoping no one would put any blankets down too early, no such luck. A huge party of about 8 adults and 10 kids plopped down 4 blankets before I could even blink. Fortunately, they were very nice and let me squeeze in amongst them so I could set up to take pictures unobstructed. It was probably a good hour before anyone else sat behind them, so I think might have been an anomaly on how early peeps camp out-maybe. They had a good game plan and a ton of snacks, some would stay while others took the kids to the treat lines, I even held down their fort for a while when most of them decided to go get some ice cream right before the parade. All very cordial, I was actually surprised that no one tried to slip into a spot last minute up front. Those that did fill in behind them gave everyone plenty of space.
Friday the 26th was brutal at DCA when the party started at DL. I met my DD for dinner at Lamplight, we actually got a table upstairs in like 20 minutes to my surprise. They were busy though, we got our food before our drinks. The potato skins are legit as was the crab and tuna roll. At 7 pm, 90 minute standby for Indiecoaster and 140 for Guardians, yikes. And, wait for it, 45 minutes for Ariel. We walked around checking out the decorations, got a pumpkin churro, not that great, then headed over to the Grand to hit DTD around 9.