Tips For MNSSHP..

You are going to love MNSSHP...I have been 4 times and it is great. I always arrive around 5:00 even though the party doesn't start until 7 as I make dinner reservation for 5:30 - 6:30. And if you can dressing up is so much fun. Line up to get a good seat for the 'Boo to you' Parade (and that will be a tune that will stick in your head for a while)...I generally find a spot around Liberty Tree Tavern. See the Villains' Dance Mix and Mingle (if still doing that this year)...they generally run that several times and Celebrate the magic which is a spectacular color transformation of Cinderalla's Castle. And for sure do Haunted Mansion when it is dark.

Kristen's MNSSHP Tips

1) Go for the party, don't even think of it as a "park day" or you'll end up disappointed. If you ride anything it's cake, but be there for the party.

2) I suggest getting there at 4:00 or 4:30 and eating first, then snacking once again before you leave.

3) Watch the Boo To You Parade from near the gallows in Liberty Square, unless you really want to see the fireworks from in front of the castle. If you want to watch from the hub get there EARLY.

4) The actress at the Haunted Mansion is worth waiting in the queue to see.

5) You can go through a candy line as many times as you want.

6) If your party is in costume, make sure that you don't have any long dangling pieces that could get stuck in/on moving parts of a ride or ride queue.

7) The dance party in Tomorrowland is lots of fun.

Find the MNSSHP map and guide online before you go and come up with a plan of attack.

Thanks folks...What about the headless horseman.?.Does he only ride down Main Street .?

Nope - he's actually why I like watching from Liberty Square - he rounds the corner there.

Awesome..Cheers Kristen..

We spent the day at MK. Left around 3:00 and went back and changed into costume, was back by 5:00. That way, we could use FP early in the day and get some of the major rides in. We also didn't do a dinner ADR and just grabbed burgers at Cosmic Rays when we got there. I didn't want to spend 1 1/2-2 hours of the time at a sit-down restaurant.

Like Kristen said, we didn't have any plans to ride anything except the Haunted Mansion. It was a must-do so the rest of the time, we could just catch parades, fireworks, villains and enjoy looking at all the costumes. We also had the photopass +, and they do some cool haunted magic shots that night, so I wanted to make sure we got those.

And Boo To You is so good, you will want to see it, must see. We found Liberty Square to be great for watching it too.

Is the headless horseman ride immediately before boo to you? DH will be very disappointed if we miss that!

Maybe we don't know the answer to this yet--can we get a FP+ during the parties?

For timing, King, the gates unofficially open for the party at 4:00. We had a "well that was dumb" moment at MVMCP and arrived exactly at 4:00. Not so obvious to us at the time, but arriving when the gates open for an even puts you at the back of the line in the middle of chaos with a rather long and crowded wait. Since we have an AP and won't "use up" any park days, I will probably plan to be at MK around 2:00, watch the Festival of Fantasy parade, and then sometime when the crowd has died down a bit, do our check-in for MNSSHP. In a situation where I couldn't enter the park until the party started, I would probably plan to arrive around 5:00 as the initial wave would probably be through the gates by then.

Yes the headless horseman is the first thing you see...he starts the parade. I can't answer about FP's as I have never set any up during this event so maybe someone else can answer that.

Ok..I'am gonna kick myself for asking this...What is MVMCP.?

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Yep! He will ride through 2-5 minutes before the parade starts.

And the parade really is fantastic. I am not a big parade fan but I absolutely love Boo To You.

Does the Halloween parade start on Main Street or in Frontierland?

I want to say that Boo To You starts in Frontierland.

I have seen the "Boo To You" parade twice, from different viewing points in the park, and so I have two somewhat different perspectives on the Headless Horseman and the parade itself.

The first time was October 2007, and we watched the parade right at the transition from Adventureland to Frontierland, exactly where the parade originated. The Headless Horseman did indeed lead-off the parade, and immediately after he came out from the backstage area, the rest of the parade followed. It was a great parade, and I remember the Jack Sparrow character was a "dead" ringer for Johnny Depp. The gravediggers with their sparking shovels were great also.

The second time was in 2009, and we watched from inside the "Hub", directly facing the castle. Watching from here, the Headless Horseman again led the parade, but since he was on a horse, he literally out-ran the rest of the parade, which is very slow moving in comparison. It seemed that once the Horseman passed by, several minutes elapsed before the parade came into view. Once again, we loved the parade.

My point is: watching the parade from its point of origin (or close to it) seemed to more closely tie the Headless Horseman to the parade. Watching the parade from further down the route, the Headless Horseman appeared to be an event somewhat unrelated to the parade, and the effect was dulled a bit.

I completely agree, we were just at the beginning of the parade as it comes from backstage ( in 2011) and every thing was so spot on, then this past october we were in the hub and you just wait forever

Great perspective, jrice!

I think everybody has covered everything but one little thing there is usually 2 parades per party one before hallowishes (MUST see!!!) and one after - i would strongly suggest seeing the later parade its much less crowded and you can enjoy it better!

definatly see the villians mix and mingle its fantastic!

i'm sure you already keep an eye on this site but easywdw usually goes to one of the first parties and gives you a better idea of what to do when

Thanks for starting this thread King! We are attending for the first time this year as well and these tips are very helpful I'm so excited! I ordered my costume up last night

Ooohhh, costumes! I need a costume. Doubt I can get hubby to wear one, but I'm surely going to do it. Now I just have to figure out what I want to be.

Crazycatperson will you hubby wear a shirt with the halloween theme on it. Because my hubby wouldn't dress up last year either so I got him a skeleton shirt.

He might. I'll have to ask. Or if I could find a T-shirt with spots like a giraffe's he could wear it with his giraffe print Mickey ears. I think he'd do that much as well.

Crazycatperson see where there is a will there is a way and he won't even think he is in costume ...am sure it will all work out and it will be a lot of fun.

Well I think my DW sister is sending us Halloween T-Shirts from Los Angeles...Hopefully 3 identical ones ( I'll ask her for that ) And I think I'll be too busy snapping away with our new camera..I know when we visited California way back in 2001 even tho it was only September, shops were full of Halloween stuff..It's not a big deal here in Scotland...In fact I think I had about six kids at my door last year..We tend to dish out apples,Monkey nuts, crisps, and haggis flavoured candy...

I'm both excited and anxious about this. Since I'm going to the second party, I'm not expecting there to be a ton of information about this years festivities out before I go.

I'll be at Hollywood Studios in the morning/early afternoon so I can use FP+ there. I have a 3:40 ADR at Beaches and Cream, though I'm anticipating us getting there early with the hopes we'll be seated earlier. Or at least not have to wait too long past our reservation time. I'm hoping we'll get to MK about 5:30, so we'll have plenty of time to get our wristbands and maybe ride something before we get in line to meet the Seven Dwarfs.

I don't know if we'll be dressing up, but if we do, it'll probably be extreme Disneybounding so we don't really have to worry about changing. I'm planning on skipping all the candy because I just don't care. But I will be doing Hallowishes, the second Boo To You, at least one Villains Mix and Mingle, and probably the dance party at the Diamond Horseshoe!

I was going to suggest something to go with his ears!

I think that sounds like a fantastic idea!

Talking about Ears..Is there Halloween themed ears available to buy.?..Sad to say..I've yet to purchase a pair of ears...I know..terrible...I had a look on a WDW web shop and saw some " Steam Punk " ones that I fancy getting,but my DW wants to get, if possible, a set of Halloween ones, if possible..

Why yes - they do sell Halloween themed ears come that time.

Cheers Kristen...That will make her day..I feel sorry for my DS...He will be shaking his head in disbelief ...LOL..