MNSSHP - Worth it for the Rides?

[ShezMcQ]

Hi,

Ok, so we're off to Orlando on a Disney-free trip in October.

The trouble is, we really fancy a wee trip to MK as our kids (9 & 7) just adore BTM and various other MK rides so we thought about maybe booking tickets to MNSSHP as a sneaky surprise for them.

Now, I know this sounds daft but our two children aren't really into character meets at all and they're not fussed about parades either so my question is, would MNSSHP be a good way for us to get to MK go on rides with not much wait time, see the fireworks and maybe collect some candy if they fancy it?

Or, will it be so rammed that we wont actually get on anything? I've never done a ticketed event like this before so not really too sure what to expect. We'd be going either 10 or 15 October.

I know we'll only get from 4pm to closing but we only ever did half days at the parks last November anyway so a full day ticket wont really suit us--and is too expensive!

TIA

[Inky]

It’s usually very busy, wait times didn’t seem short for rides, however we enjoyed the parade and show and fireworks and treat or treat stations

[Mel49]

We found in the past that the biggest queues were for the "rare" characters and the waits for the rides were not too bad and we are booked this year for our MK fix. My DD is 13 though so we know she will last till closing but given the age of your kids it depends how you think they will cope with a late night to get your money's worth. You can book fastpasses for between 4pm and 7pm which gives you a bit of a head start depending on availablity at 30 days out.

[Stardust5]

We went last year on the first night and found it great for getting on rides, the queues were really quick as after 7pm there were no fast passes. We are not into characters so mainly done rides and candy collecting (this was our only Disney visit) until the fireworks, then watched those, the parade and then the Hocus Pocus show, we then had another 1 hour of rides and candy collecting. We went on buzz, pirates, splash mountain, haunted mansion, speed way, space mountain and some of the fantasy land rides. We left at around 1am, so it was late but felt we had certainly made the monst of our party ticket.

[ShezMcQ]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies

I reckon they'll be ok with the later night, might not last until 1am but if we can get close to it, that's be fab. We've got quite a chilled out itinerary once we leave universal so we'll be able to take it easy the day after we go I think.

Just have to try and convince DH now...

[Guest]

If you are not into characters or parades, the After Dark event is another option. I believe they will have fewer people in, although they do start later and are more expensive.

[Weddingnyc]

We went with kids 4,7 and 9 last year and they all made it until closing (we had a quiet morning in preparation) and the buzz of the party kept them going! The shows, fireworks, parade and candy were the main things for us. It would be a very expensive way of getting on a few rides. The Little Mermaid was 5 minutes wait, but we did this only a few weeks ago during the day with the same wait, same with Pirates.
MNSSHP is often mentioned by the kids, they would love to do it again.

[lizzie145]

i did it last year and it was great fun so doing again this year.
Space mountain is going to be completely in the dark, the tea cups have different lighting and pirates looks fab - they have humans interacting throughout with the boats. Think the laughing floor will be different too

If it is your disney fix then it may be good value as can be about £62 per ticket and they only reached capacity on 3 nights last year. Lots of people will be spending their time doing meets and waiting for the parade and fireworks so the rides should be fairly quiet with the exception of the mine train.

Have a quiet morning or afternoon, get there for 4pm and stay to the end and then sleep in the next morning

[Nimbus]

Looking at the posted wait times for last Friday (the first MNSSHP of this year) here are the range of wait times for various rides after 7pm:

SDMT: 25mins to 50mins
POTC: 5mins to 35mins
BTMR: 5mins to 35mins
SM: 10mins to 45mins
IASW: 10mins

The wait times were generally less during MNSSHP than the rest of the day and, to me, the waits seem reasonably low. The only exception seems to be the Haunted Mansion which seemed to have higher wait times from 7pm til 11pm.

Note that Friday MNSSHPs are apparently a bit busier than mid-week MNSSHPs.