Getting back to the TTC was terrible. The Express Monorail was shut down, so my only options were the ferry or resort monorail. The resort monorail was OMG packed. I thought I would try the ferry. I missed the boat by a little bit, so I was towards the front. They kept pushing people forward and forward and forward. I was so squished, I got claustrophobic! I was having a panic attack and ended up leaving the queue line. A lot of excuse me and pardon me's later and I was out. I decided to walk to the Contemporary and get an Uber from there.
Curious what time you left. We left the park a bit after the last Hocus Pocus show and I could not believe how crowded all of the options were. I’m used to being around the MK during all sorts of crowded times, but this was towards the extreme side of things.
I needed to get to GF and the Poly/GF resort boat line was longer than I have ever seen and the Resort Monorail line was way longer than expected as well. I would really like to know if they have been closing the Express Line like that every night (thereby pushing lots of people to the Resort line and Ferry) or if this was an isolated incident/mechanical closure. It absolutely had an impact on the other options.
I also almost walked over to CR to get a taxi and kind of wish that I had. I eventually opted for the Resort monorail because it does move a lot of people... but it took nearly an hour to get there start to finish. I was tired loopy by that point so I didn’t even care enough to let it really get to me!
I'm going on a Sunday night too in a couple weeks, and I hope I have the same experiences you did
! thanks for reporting.
I'm sure in all 475 pages this has been addressed but I figured I'd throw it out there anyway. I'll be attending my first party in about 2 weeks and I have a very basic question. When should our family arrive (we will have two young children with us). A lot of reading, podcasts, vlogs etc recommend entering early (4/5pm) which we are open to doing but is that necessary if you are coming in from out of town and you are going to this as part of a longer, week long trip to WDW (aka you will have other times to go on rides)? Based on the group that will be in attendance, I can see us wanting to trick or treat, try some of the fun treats, maybe try to see Pooh and friends, watching the parade if we can get a decent view without waiting too long, watching fireworks, and maybe a ride or two. Is coming at 7ish too late for this agenda? Bad idea? We originally booked thinking that we couldn't go until then and made a dining reservation at our hotel for 5 pm. Just trying to see if we should keep it or not.
I'm sure in all 475 pages this has been addressed but I figured I'd throw it out there anyway. I'll be attending my first party in about 2 weeks and I have a very basic question. When should our family arrive (we will have two young children with us). A lot of reading, podcasts, vlogs etc recommend entering early (4/5pm) which we are open to doing but is that necessary if you are coming in from out of town and you are going to this as part of a longer, week long trip to WDW (aka you will have other times to go on rides)? Based on the group that will be in attendance, I can see us wanting to trick or treat, try some of the fun treats, maybe try to see Pooh and friends, watching the parade if we can get a decent view without waiting too long, watching fireworks, and maybe a ride or two. Is coming at 7ish too late for this agenda? Bad idea? We originally booked thinking that we couldn't go until then and made a dining reservation at our hotel for 5 pm. Just trying to see if we should keep it or not.
This is super helpful! This seems to be what we want to accomplish. Outside of us thinking they would want to see Pooh and friends in costume, we wouldn't wait in line for characters. Waiting just isn't our thing...I guess being so good with fastpasses etc over the years has gotten us out of being ok with waiting on line!I’ve taken my kids in the 3-7 range the last few years. We might do things a bit differently than most. We’re not all that interested in charachters, mainly treat lines, some rides, and soaking in the atmosphere. We prefer to get there 7pm when the party has started.... mainly to enjoy the MK entry in all its spookiness but also if the weather is really hot the more you can let the sun go down, the better. Hot cranky kids isn’t a recipe for success with us, no matter how much party time I’m wasting not entering until later.
Plus I would rather splurge a bit and let them stay up late and ideally we’d like to watch the first parade and fireworks. When my kids were really young, if I blew too much of that energy early, we had no chance of making fireworks. So I find I’m OK trading off a later arrival for getting a bit more mileage in the night.
So generally speaking we like a long/solid afternoon nap... good dinner outside the park... then head in for some fun around 7pm.
This has always worked reasonably well for what we want out of a party, but wouldn’t work so well for someone really focused on charachters and maximizing all available time.
Just one person’s perspective.
This is exactly why I’m excited for parades/shows in Japan where everyone sits.Trip report 9/21/18:
We were only down for a short trip this year, so Friday the 21st was my only day to go. I knew Friday would be crazy busy and I was right. It was packed, jam packed!
The 1st performance of Hocus Pocus was great, I love this show. Had to line up really early to get a good spot. Lots of people put their kids on their shoulders, making it impossible to see.
The longest line was for Pirates, took about 25min.
Space Mountain was down for quite a while. I saw it with the lights on while riding Transit Authority, it was so cool to see it. So cool, I rode it x2.
No lines for Small world, Little Mermaid, Pooh, Buzz, Splash and Big Thunder and Transit Authority. Small line for Space when open, 7d and Peter Pan.
I had a decent spot for the 1st parade, until a family kept pushing their children besides me and in front of me. There is something about parades that brings out peoples bad side, some type of entitlement or something.
I had an amazing spot for the fireworks, I positioned myself so that I could see no matter what.
I got on HM right before mid-night. It was a great way to end the night.
Getting back to the TTC was terrible. The Express Monorail was shut down, so my only options were the ferry or resort monorail. The resort monorail was OMG packed. I thought I would try the ferry. I missed the boat by a little bit, so I was towards the front. They kept pushing people forward and forward and forward. I was so squished, I got claustrophobic! I was having a panic attack and ended up leaving the queue line. A lot of excuse me and pardon me's later and I was out. I decided to walk to the Contemporary and get an Uber from there.
Over all a great party. I think they over sold the party, so many people!
This is exactly why I’m excited for parades/shows in Japan where everyone sits.
I’ve taken my kids in the 3-7 range the last few years. We might do things a bit differently than most. We’re not all that interested in charachters, mainly treat lines, some rides, and soaking in the atmosphere. We prefer to get there 7pm when the party has started.... mainly to enjoy the MK entry in all its spookiness but also if the weather is really hot the more you can let the sun go down, the better. Hot cranky kids isn’t a recipe for success with us, no matter how much party time I’m wasting not entering until later.
Plus I would rather splurge a bit and let them stay up late and ideally we’d like to watch the first parade and fireworks. When my kids were really young, if I blew too much of that energy early, we had no chance of making fireworks. So I find I’m OK trading off a later arrival for getting a bit more mileage in the night.
So generally speaking we like a long/solid afternoon nap... good dinner outside the park... then head in for some fun around 7pm.
This has always worked reasonably well for what we want out of a party, but wouldn’t work so well for someone really focused on charachters and maximizing all available time.
Just one person’s perspective.
For people that do choose to go early, what is your reasoning? Because you aren't going to the Magic Kingdom a couple of other times that week? Because you want to get lots of awesome character photos (I admit I'd love one with Jack and Sally but that line length is a non starter!) To get your kids to bed early?
We're going with our 4 year old and your first hand reports are awesome - so thank you for that! The heat has looked miserable lately and as we're doing EMM at TSL that morning, we've definitely been leaning towards the show up at 7 idea as well. This is just one part of a planned five visits to MK over our trip so I'm trying to be unplanned and flexible with it (two things I'm NOT good at!)
I'm so excited!You will love it! They are all so chill and friendly, so even if it's rammed it isn't stressful.
Hello all. What time do they open up the bypass at the front of the park? Where is the best place to get wristbands before entering there if we are already in the park? Thank you!
Any repeat attendees disappointed that the Sanderson Sisters show didn’t highlight their 25th anniversary.