Taste of Disney

My first and only other experience with the MNSSHP was in October 2014.  Though it was a good experience I didn’t feel the need to do it again.  However, four years later I changed my mind and decided to give it another go.

In 2014 much of my party time was spent visiting several of the characters, like Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas…

The Winnie the Pooh characters in their cute Halloween costumes…

And even all 7 Dwarfs from Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs…

This time though I took a much more relaxed approach, with no real plans other than to ride Pirates of the Caribbean (with the special party addition) plus see the parade and fireworks.

Finishing my dinner at The Plaza at around 7:00 (the official start time of the party), I headed over to Adventureland.  My first stop was across from the Jungle Cruise, where they were set up to scan my Magic Band.  I had saved about $1 and purchased my E-ticket for the party (for $104.44) from Undercover Tourist rather than directly from Disney.  Not much of a savings, but I guess better than nothing, lol.  Anyway this E-ticket was easily linked to My Disney Experience account and showed up when a CM scanned my Magic Band.  Then I had a party wristband placed on my wrist and was given a (Wreck-it) Ralph Breaks the Internet themed Trick-or-Treat bag…

Inside the bag was a small plastic bag full of candy…

This had a full-size Snickers candy bar along with several minis.

Note: I only stopped at one of the 16 or so Trick or Treat stations throughout the park that evening and received a handful of candy (shown loose in the first photo).

Then it was on to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which only had a short line soon after 7:00 (when the party started).  Though I enjoyed the ride (as I always do), I was a little disappointed by the “special party additions”.  During the walk to board the ride I saw one “live” pirate warning us to be on the look out for Gunpowder Pete.  Then Pete himself made a brief appearance during the ride.  It really didn’t add much to the ride.

Anyway, I then walked through Frontierland, Liberty Square and across the bridge to the castle…

…where at 7:45 a crowd had already formed for the 8:30 Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular Show.  So I found a spot within the crowd (to the left of the stage) and waited the 45 minutes until the start of the show (which I had failed to see during the 2014 party).

I took a few photos of the show, but I was too far away for them to be good and I didn’t want to mess with putting the long-distance lens on my camera.

My impression of the show was that it was cute but not really worth standing for 45 minutes in a crowded area for.

After the show I found an open spot on the curb on the right side of Main Street (not far from the hub), sat down and waited for the first parade (which started in Frontierland at 9:15).  At about 9:25 The Headless Horseman rode by…

 

But it was about 20 more minutes (or at about 9:45) before the actual parade reached Main Street…

 

The next float, a gazebo, held Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Donald…

 

Here’s one that I took of this float in 2014 which better shows Donald Duck…

 

 

Next was the Pirate section of the parade featuring Tinkerbell perched upon a treasure chest filled with gold…

Then it was “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirates Life for Me!” (aka the Pirates of the Caribbean float) with Captain Barbossa manning the cannon at front of the ship…

…and Captain Jack Sparrow steering at the back.

This was a change from the last time I saw the parade (in 2014) when Mr. Smee and Captain Hook manned the pirate ship…

Next came my favorite section of this parade, The Haunted Mansion.  This year I didn’t take many photos of this because I wanted to just sit back and enjoy it.

But here is the one (not very good) photo that I took of the Haunted Mansion ballroom dancers…

And here is one that I took of a couple of the Hitchhiking Ghosts on the main Haunted Mansion float in 2014…

Next came the Frontierland section led by Clarabelle Cow (riding on a corn silo float) & the Halloween Hoedown.  Then walking along the parade route were “The 3 Brers” (Bear, Fox and Rabbit) from Splash Mountain and the Country Bears.  Clara Cluck then brought up the rear of this section riding in a barn house float.  Sorry no photos of this section of the parade as it’s not really my favorite and I was trying to preserve my camera battery life for the fireworks.

I also skipped photographing the next section of the parade, the Candy section, for the same reasons.  This features Ralph and Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph.

But then comes the finale section and another of my favorites, the Disney Villains.

Again I only took a couple of photos of this (including the one above) and they didn’t turn out well, so here are ones I took in 2014…

The parade lasted about 15 minutes (or until about 10:00) and I then moved in just a bit closer to the castle hub and stood my ground for the 15 minutes until the Hallowishes fireworks show began at 10:15.  The show begins with the “Grim Grinning Ghosts” song from the Haunted Mansion.  Some of my other favorites are “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid and “Oogie Boogie’s Song” from The Nightmare Before Christmas.  I love this show, it’s definitely the highlight of the MNSSHP for me, so I took lots of photos…

The show ended around 10:30.  I had originally planned to stick around for the second showing of the parade at 11:15 but I was tired and decided to finish the party on a high note with the fireworks.  The first time I attended the party in 2014 I stayed until the end at midnight so I didn’t feel the need to do so again.

On a food related note, I had planned to use at least one of my two remaining Dining Plan snack credits for one of the special party treats.  I was especially interested in the Madame Leota Dessert, which was a vanilla tart shell filled with toasted marshmallow pastry crème and topped with crispy pearls, chocolate and a hard candy garnish for $5.99 (or 1 snack credit)…

But sadly I wasn’t the least bit hungry that night so the evening ended with the two snack credits remaining in my account.  However, I still had one more day to use them, so it was all good.

So overall was the party worth the money for me? No, probably not this time.  I liked the parade and loved the fireworks but they alone are not worth the more than $100 ticket price in my opinion.  I enjoyed my first party in 2014 much more because it was a new experience.  This time my enthusiasm just wasn’t there.  Though I might consider giving it another go sometime if I have friends that want to go, this was my last time attending the party solo.