August Mickey’s NSSHP, advice?

[Twentyyears]

Mad people that we are we have to go late August next year as all the friends we are going with have school age teens.
We are looking at this party and I have heard horror stories of the crowds in the first week since they brought it forward into August.
For anyone who went in that last week in August what day did you go and what was your experience?
We have traditionally been in mid October on a Sunday or midweek day and had a good experience but it was five years ago that we last attended.

[AliceCooper9]

We went went Tuesday 20 and Tuesday 27 August. Tuesday is cheaper than Fridays.
It was packed both nights. 7DMT was at least 40 mins. 20/30 min queues for treats.
The most we could do was about 4 characters M+Gs.
The night was just a series of queues and I am not sure we would go again.
We might return if they cap the number of tickets as they have done previously.
There are just too many people all trying to do everything in their 5 hours.

If you are going to go I would go as close to September as possible.

[Andybear]

Originally Posted by AliceCooper9

We went went Tuesday 20 and Tuesday 27 August. Tuesday is cheaper than Fridays.
It was packed both nights. 7DMT was at least 40 mins. 20/30 min queues for treats.
The most we could do was about 4 characters M+Gs.
The night was just a series of queues and I am not sure we would go again.
We might return if they cap the number of tickets as they have done previously.
There are just too many people all trying to do everything in their 5 hours.

If you are going to go I would go as close to September as possible.

See more...

When I was at WDW in September I met up with a lady I'd got to know through a WDW solo FB site. She went to one during the time we were there and she said it was a complete waste of time and money as the queues were absolutely horrendous. I've also read similar reports on American Disney sites/forums. So September doesn't appear to be any quieter.

[Mrs Red C]

Went Fri 30th Aug, longest ride queue was 20 mins for Peter Pan. Didn't queue for characters though. During 1st parade, BTM and Splash were showing 5 mins. Didn't feel it was rammed, just like a normal park day.

Got into MK abt 4.30pm and ate at Columbia House abt 5.30pm so didn't waste time once the party started at 7pm.

[Jules32]

We went this year on august 20th Tuesday , we have never been before so have nothing to compare but it was very busy, you definitely cant do all the rides, characters and shows and also treat stations. the shows you have to get there at least 30 mins before to get a decent spot and decent characters were an hour plus, saying that we did have a good time, the atmosphere was brilliant and the effects on the rides and the shows were amazing. we just picked out or must Do's and tried to get as much done as we could. The worst part for me was the end of the night we waited almost 2 hours to get on the ferry it was absolutely awful, that alone would put me off going again.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by AliceCooper9

We went went Tuesday 20 and Tuesday 27 August. Tuesday is cheaper than Fridays.
It was packed both nights. 7DMT was at least 40 mins. 20/30 min queues for treats.
The most we could do was about 4 characters M+Gs.
The night was just a series of queues and I am not sure we would go again.
We might return if they cap the number of tickets as they have done previously.
There are just too many people all trying to do everything in their 5 hours.

If you are going to go I would go as close to September as possible.

See more...

well, we were there on tuesday 20th of august, and have had a rather different experience.

it was busy alright, but we didn't have any issue with queue times, arrived at 4pm (no regular ticket) and managed to ride almost it all with hardly a wait.

trick or treat was also very fast, the lines were always fast moving, and the most time it took us was at cosmic rays, due to the need to climb stairs. All in all, a trick or treat queue never took us more than 2 minutes from the time we entered to the time we exited (rinsed and repeat multiple times)
the key is to leave trick or treating for the second half of the party. Lines are virtually inexistant.
There were indeed long lines at the start of the party, around liberty square, but it all looked like a big red flashing sign saying "call again later", and that's what we did.

really enjoyed that party, as well as the "same one" (date wise) last year, and the many before that over the years (when we used to go in october)

in the end, I'd say that the party we attended to on august 20th 2019 was no busier than the ones we used to attend during the second half of october in the years before. It was even rather less busy.

MNSSHPs are our only disney fix during our stays (universal centric) so we might have a biaised view, since we don't compare to "regular park hours".
but, well, same park, same day, same time, different experience. I guess that's how it is.

[Ryles]

We was there on the 20th Aug and in all honesty didn’t find the queues too bad. The longest we queued was for space mountain but even that was only about 40 mins. Other than that every other ride was about 15-25 min wait. The parade and fireworks were packed though!

[AliceCooper9]

We were in line for Jack and Sally from 4-6pm. Then we met three other characters Lotso (1 hour) Moana (1 hour) and Minnie Mouse(1 hour).

We went to the parties to mainly meet the rare characters. The only rides we did were POTC (20mins) and Teacups(20mins) with the special overlay.

We queued up for party specific food only available at 7pm which took about 20mins.

The trick or treating was fine.

[Twentyyears]

Thanks everyone, that equivalent Tues 20th date was one we were considering. Strange about the Fridays- I am wondering if they are not as bad as a weekend party used to be as the next day is a traditional changeover, departure day and people don’t want to be up late on their last night. Adam Hatton just did a Friday and the crowds looked better. I had also heard the early date were busier because they were cheaper, which makes sense.

[Guest]

I diont think going nearer September will help much either. I went on the 10th September and DH went on the 17th September. I thought it was absolutely heaving, I can’t remember how many rides I did but not many, I do remember about thirty minute waits for both of Peter Pan and 7DMT. I might have done BTM, definitely did Haunted Mansion, I honestly am not sure I managed anything else. I am not interested in character meets so didn’t try those. The queues for trick and treat were so long I came away with a completely empty bag, I am not willing to stand in these long queues for a few sweets.

The overall experience was similar for DH, he mentioned going onto Space Mountain as well, but he didn’t like it in total dark. He did manage to bring back some sweets.

I have not been previously, but from things I have read, Disney do sell far more tickets than they have in the past. It did not feel like a limited ticket event to me, in fact it is probably the time I have least been able to do anything in MK because of crowds. I couldn’t find anywhere to sit, I couldn’t find anywhere to eat (without a queue to rival FoP). It is a once and done for us, I had thought we would go to the Christmas party next year but I read it is the same so not sure now.