So excited to be reading some of the first few blog posts about last night's party. We're going in Oct and have never been. Haven't been to the land in 2 1/2 years and will be flying down from NorCal arriving early afternoon. We will have hoppers for the 3 days following but will only get 1/2 day of park time for each day (mainly mornings) so I'm looking for a party night strategy to make sure we cover all the things we want to experience that are special to the party (or short lines for rides which would not be short over the 3 partial days). I'm hoping some of you who have been to parties (this or l prior years) can help.
It will be me, DH and DD7. We want to be able to experience rides with short waits (especially HM, GG, Indy and POTC), but also get to do some treat trails, dance at the dance party, see the Cadaver Dan's and parade and fireworks. We are not wait for the parade people- we are fine showing up near go time and being a row or two back (even last row so DD can go on DH's shoulders) and then walking into the street for fireworks. The pre-party sounds fun and we will likely start at DL since we will have 3 partial days to check out DCA after the party. As for characters, we'd love to meet some rare ones plus Jack and Sally, but could wait until our 3 partial days for that. Oh, and since DD usually goes to bed at 8 and we want to hit rope drop the following morning we'll likely leave after the fireworks as it will already be a late night for her just to see the parade and fireworks.
So.. any thoughts on a strategy for the party? Here is a proposal for you to critique/fix:
eat a late lunch before going to gates
3:30pm arrive at gates for 4pm entry
4pm enter DL, do some rides w/ short lines (or if we can get a Maxpass do that- I read we get free MP prior to the party - woo hoo!)
5:30pm grab a snack, stand in line for pre-party (or do we skip pre-party and ride more rides???)
6pm: pre-party (do Mickey/Minnie treat trails)
6:30-6:45, head over to Adventureland
7pm party start: treat trails in New Orleans Square or Critter Country, look around, meet a character if we can, watch Cadaver Dan's, or ride Pirates or HM?
8pm: head over to Tomorrowland, dance, do a treat trail and/or ride GG
8:45pm: head over to main street to watch parade (assuming it will take that long since it starts at IASW)
9pm: watch fireworks, head out
TIA!
It will be me, DH and DD7. We want to be able to experience rides with short waits (especially HM, GG, Indy and POTC), but also get to do some treat trails, dance at the dance party, see the Cadaver Dan's and parade and fireworks. We are not wait for the parade people- we are fine showing up near go time and being a row or two back (even last row so DD can go on DH's shoulders) and then walking into the street for fireworks. The pre-party sounds fun and we will likely start at DL since we will have 3 partial days to check out DCA after the party. As for characters, we'd love to meet some rare ones plus Jack and Sally, but could wait until our 3 partial days for that. Oh, and since DD usually goes to bed at 8 and we want to hit rope drop the following morning we'll likely leave after the fireworks as it will already be a late night for her just to see the parade and fireworks.
So.. any thoughts on a strategy for the party? Here is a proposal for you to critique/fix:
eat a late lunch before going to gates
3:30pm arrive at gates for 4pm entry
4pm enter DL, do some rides w/ short lines (or if we can get a Maxpass do that- I read we get free MP prior to the party - woo hoo!)
5:30pm grab a snack, stand in line for pre-party (or do we skip pre-party and ride more rides???)
6pm: pre-party (do Mickey/Minnie treat trails)
6:30-6:45, head over to Adventureland
7pm party start: treat trails in New Orleans Square or Critter Country, look around, meet a character if we can, watch Cadaver Dan's, or ride Pirates or HM?
8pm: head over to Tomorrowland, dance, do a treat trail and/or ride GG
8:45pm: head over to main street to watch parade (assuming it will take that long since it starts at IASW)
9pm: watch fireworks, head out
TIA!