We have the first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party out of the way, so how were the lines for characters during the party?
With the constant reduction in character meets and the removal of so many great villains like The Queen, Maleficent, Dr. Facilier, Tremaines, Gov. Ratcliffe, Frollo, Captain Hook and the removal of the Toy Story Dance Party the character lines keep getting longer and longer. Why they keep marching out Snow White, Tinker Bell, Buzz, Merida, Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, Tiana, Rapunzel, Alice, Mad Hatter etc with no unique costuming boggles the mind. Just meet those characters during the daytime, there’s nothing “special” about the “special event” when you do the same things.
When you limit the number of characters that can be met and then combine characters that are rare like Queen of Hearts and Tweedles, you increase the average wait for the characters that guests can’t usually meet. For me personally, there’s nothing new to experience at the party this year. Belle and Gaston would make a nice photo as does Queen and Tweedles, but there’s no new characters. Nick and Judy were added, but only in a street dance party.
It seems that some of that could be alieviated by splitting up Queen of Hearts and Tweedles. Queen of Hearts was like a 15 to 20 minute meet last year and it’s MUCH higher with Tweedles added. I’ll share an opinion that will not be popular and my kids would have hung me in effigy when they were kids, but characters with long lines like the Queen of Hearts shouldn’t be signing autographs. I beleive that WDW should offer the pre-signed cards for EVERY character at the parties and move the lines along while providing the guest something for their memory books.
It’s really a shame because guests are asked to pay more and more money for the party, yet are receiving less and less in exchange. When an adult visits a candy stop, they are typically only given 2 or 3 pieces of candy, but pay $70 to 100 for the ticket with only like 7 somewhat rare character sets. Sure, you can ride the rides with little or no wait, but you could do that on the day of the party as well.
Well, the rant is over, so here’s the wait times we observed during the 1st party, which wasn’t even close to a sell out.
- Jack and Sally line up by 4:30 or 90 minutes
- Dwarfs 60 to 90
- Aladdin / Jasmine 20 to 30 (rotate)
- Alice & Hatter 15 to 20
- Belle & Gaston 20 to 30
- Cruella 60 to 70
- Jack Sparrow 30 to 45
- Jafar 5 to 10
- Mickey 15 to 30 (lower as party goes along)
- Minnie/Daisy/Donald 45
- Pooh Characters 45
- Queen of Hearts and Tweedles 90
- Tarzan Gang 15-20
- Lotso 10-15
If you hope to meet Minnie/Daisy/Donald, Pooh Characters, Cruella and Queen of Hearts/Tweedles, you’ll be in line a LONG time and will likely need to sacrifice the parade to do so. I can help you with a Custom Halloween Party plan by contacting me with the form below but you’ll still need to be realistic about what you hope to experience as the waits grow longer for popular characters.
[si-contact-form form=’4′]
Elizabeth Whetstone
Saturday 10th of March 2018
Kenny, my son is wanting to meet Lotso, the queen of hearts and the two tweedles, whinnie the pooh and friends and tarzan should we fit that in to to partys or one?
kennythepirate
Sunday 11th of March 2018
I could do it in one party
Bradley Olinger
Thursday 24th of August 2017
Do you expect any changes in wait times for this years parties? I am going in late September, my first MNSSHP and first Magic Kingdom visit, and my primary focus on characters are Jack and Sally as well the classic characters. I am trying to finalize my plans for the day, but it does seem I will be going to the party solo, so that may help a little bit.
kennythepirate
Thursday 24th of August 2017
I won't know until tomorrow. I'll be able to provide estimates then.
Jenny Clifton
Friday 24th of March 2017
Hi Kenny! I know I'm planning way ahead but wanted your opinion on the 2017 parties--we are going mid October and can attend MNSSHP on either a Friday or Sunday evening (looking at past years, they have typically had parties those evenings at that point in October). Do you think that Friday will be dramatically busier as locals may attend on Friday as opposed to Sunday, which is a school night? Or should we just go with whichever date fits our plans the best and not consider potential crowd size? I know this is all pretty much conjecture but would love any input you have! Thanks!!!
kennythepirate
Friday 24th of March 2017
I avoid Fridays due to locals, which I am one :) Sunday is usually good
Jill
Monday 3rd of October 2016
We're going next weekend for the first time. Really only interested in meeting Queen of Hearts and the Tweedles, and was wondering if anyone could tell me what time the line started for them. Would it be possible to line up early and get out faster? Thanks
kennythepirate
Monday 3rd of October 2016
Line usually starts near beginning of their first set.
Katrina
Tuesday 6th of September 2016
Do you know if Pooh and Friends will be in costume at the Crystal Palace breakfast? We are going to the party, but also have a breakfast scheduled on Oct 31 - would be nice to get that one out of the way early since we want to see them in costume.
kennythepirate
Tuesday 6th of September 2016
No