Disney World Fall Trip Recap: Part 1
We’ll continue sharing experiences from our recent Walt Disney World trip with something we haven’t done in a while: a trip report. While our construction updates and our crowd post tell some of the story, it’s been a while since I sat down and posted stray thoughts and photos from Walt Disney World in trip report form.
Actually, this is not exactly a trip report. It’ll still have that same rambling, anecdotal style that “everyone” “loves” but instead of fully revisiting every single thing we did every single day, this will offer commentary that doesn’t fit in other posts, accompanied by random photos often unrelated to the topic at hand.
We did the first few days of this Walt Disney World trip at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (as we spent a lot of time at the resort, most photos in this installment are from the Poly), where we’d most recently stayed a couple summers ago in the over-the-water Bungalows with a visit to the new Villas, as well.
In the last couple of years, we’ve been trying to expand our coverage of third party and off-site hotels, which has meant that we’re falling a bit short of staying at every hotel at Walt Disney World every other year in order to refresh our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews.
It probably also doesn’t help that we’ve stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter three separate times this year–sometimes deals for certain resorts make them too good to resist. Speaking of which, both that resort and the Poly, as well as countless others, have been featured on Priceline Express Deals this year.
As mentioned a few weeks ago, we still have an article about how to score those Priceline deals in the works. Unfortunately, since I started writing it, the Priceline Express Deals have pretty much dried up for late October and November, and I don’t have any screenshots (except for the Swan & Dolphin), which has been the hold-up in publishing.
This is a common thing for October, and I figure since there aren’t any Priceline deals right now, there’s no harm in waiting to publish. I just mention this now in case you were awaiting that article and thought maybe we forgot about it.
Back to the Poly, not only was our room read when we checked arrived at ~9 a.m., but we had also been upgraded to the Hawaii building–King Kamehameha Club Level.
Timing wise, I think we got really lucky with this reservation, as the day we arrived the resort was a ghost town (a friend remarked that they’d never seen the parking lot so empty), whereas the day we checked out we were told the resort was at full occupancy for that night.
We’ve already covered the roller coaster of crowds in our A Tale of Two Seasons: Fall Crowds at Walt Disney World post, so I won’t rehash that here. On a tangentially related note, I’d love to hear feedback from those who have attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year–good or bad.
I’m working on a post titled “Is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Still Worth It?” and would love to share reader accounts/quotes in that post. We’ve heard a lot of complaints about crowds, wait times, and character lines at the party, so we think this is a topic worth addressing. If you’d like to share your experience, please include the date you attended, your observations, and ultimate ‘conclusion’ about whether MNSSHP was worth it to you in the comments below.
Prior to this trip to Walt Disney World, we were debating whether to use Amazon Prime Now or just pack some snacks with us so we didn’t even have to mess with that.
We chose the latter, and arrived at the Poly with a suitcase half full of apples, bananas, pumpkin bars, and other assorted stuff. We joked that we were probably the first Club Level guests ever to BYOB (bring your own bananas).
As much as I love Trader Joe’s pumpkin cereal bars (seriously, they’re delicious), they don’t hold a candle to pork belly, poke, and the other appetizers prepared in the lounge.
Suffice to say, most of our snacks remained in the suitcase until we transferred over to Caribbean Beach.
During our stay, we heard a couple other guests in the Club Lounge indicate that they’d also been upgraded, so we weren’t alone in this. I was curious just how many people were upgraded, as our building didn’t seem nearly as ‘dead’ as the rest of the resort.
Then again, maybe people who book the King Kamehameha level are more likely to spend time hanging out at the resort? (We sure did!)
I’m not about to complain about free food, and we definitely got bang for our (zero) buck at the King Kamehameha Club Lounge. However, if we paid anything close to rack rate–or even the normal ~$200/night premium for Club Level–we would’ve been disappointed.
It’s one of those nice ways of ‘treating yourself’ if you totally divorce yourself from the cost, but it wasn’t that good. No matter much pork belly you eat or beers you drink, it’s tough to justify from a rational perspective.
The emotional side of us loved it. Convenient breakfast, “free” dinner & desserts, and excellent espresso on-demand throughout the day was really nice.
I should probably put air quotes around “dinner” above, as it’s definitely not the lounge’s intent to serve as a replacement for dinner, but that’s exactly what we made it, all those stupid single-serving plates be damned.
What we also really enjoyed was the space of the lounge. Every day after the breakfast rush, I could take my laptop to the Club Lounge and grab a table by the window with a view of Cinderella Castle.
I’m a huge sucker for having an “office” with a view, and this is right up there with the public library in Laguna that overlooks the ocean.
A big part of the reason this is a trip recap instead of a proper trip report is that so little of what we did is worthy of a play by play recap. It wasn’t our original intent, but due to the heat, we spent the middle of each day at the Poly, relaxing and working.
We’ve come to appreciate soaking up the ambiance of resorts and focusing less on attractions, but the other byproduct of this approach was that it was much easier to get up for sunrise photography every single morning of the trip and follow that with doing rope drop most mornings. We’d then take a midday break most days, returning a couple hours before sunset and staying until park close.
I distinctly remember the ‘Summer Nightastic’ celebration at Walt Disney World and during August visits even before that, when Magic Kingdom would open at 9 a.m. and had Extra Magic Hours until 3 a.m. We’d arrive for park opening, and stay all day until after park closing for photos, only to get up the next morning and do it all over again, rope drop until park close.
At the time, anything less felt like we weren’t getting enough value for our money. Given that we were paying like ~$69/night for Pop Century and carefully rationing 10-day no expiration tickets over the course of several trips, we most certainly were getting enough value for our money. We had to save up just to afford that though, so our perspective was different.
Now, we rarely do rope drop to park close uninterrupted, and spend way more time at the resort, and still have that same perspective that doing things differently would mean getting less bang for our buck. The resort stays (even discounted ones) are typically the most expensive aspect of a WDW trip, and taking advantage of their amenities midday is more enjoyable to us than trudging through the middle of the day in the parks when heat and crowds are at their worst.
(Now, we have an upcoming stay booked at All Star Movies, and I’m guessing we won’t take advantage of its amenities quite as much as we did the Poly’s!)
It has taken us a long time to break that ingrained “rides! rides! RIDES!” mentality at Walt Disney World, but I’m glad we’ve come around.
This is totally a ‘different strokes for different folks’ scenario, and I would never implore others to follow in our footsteps, especially since everyone’s circumstances and frequency of visits differ, but it’s at least something to consider. Walt Disney World’s resorts at the Moderate level and above offer so much, and a lot of that is often overlooked.
Another thing we did that I really enjoyed was took the water taxis to and from Magic Kingdom. Even in the hot weather, I love these peaceful cruises across Walt Disney World’s lakes.
For one, they are more reliable than the monorails, so there’s no worry of ‘holding for further traffic clearance’ for 10 minutes…or an hour.
More importantly, I love the approach. Seeing Cinderella Castle rise over the Train Station and getting glimpses of Main Street is really special.
One night we were arriving right as a monorail passed, and seeing Main Street’s popcorn lights reflected off its windows as the castle glowed orange and blue–this view was downright magical. It felt like glimpsing into a boundless utopian scene, like a Blade Runner aesthetic if only the future were written by optimists.
For some reason or another, this reminded me of riding Space Mountain years ago, before the queue ceiling was installed. Back then, one of my favorite things about the ride was craning my head around for the glimpses back into the queue, which felt like a distant space station to which we’d eventually return. It sounds hokey, but one thing I love about Walt Disney World is the elements that leave room for interpretation, evoking a certain atmosphere or feeling, and letting your imagination fill in the blanks.
Okay, this has already crossed 1,500 words and I don’t feel like I’ve really said much about the substance of our Walt Disney World trip. I’ll end this installment here, hit reset, and pick up with more anecdotes from our visit in Part 2.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Any feedback on your experience at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year? What do you think about park time versus resort time, and the relative ‘value’ of each during a Walt Disney World trip? Think Club Level is ‘worth it’? Enjoy the water taxi rides, or prefer the air conditioned luxury of the highway in the sky? Other feedback on this Walt Disney World trip recap? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Hey Tom! When is your stay at All Star Movies? My family will be staying at All Star Movies, hopefully in a remodeled room, the last week of November.
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on October 11, 2018.
My clan of 11(6 adults and 5 kids) got all dressed up for MNSSHP and am very disappointed to say the least. The parade was well below Disney standards and extremely overrated. The Magic Kingdom was more like a stampede than a party. The lines for the rides were too long. There were way too many people in the park that night. At times we felt unsafe with our family, especially the for little ones.
Between the scooters and the amount of people at the park, it was not an enjoyable evening. Disney has got to do better! We will not be making a second visit to this party.
Attended MNSSHP on September 30, and were able to enter at 2pm as we are DVC members. We had 3 fastpasses (Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Space Ranger Spin and Thunder Mtn RR) and did a rider swap for Space Mountain as our daughter isn’t yet tall enough. Lines were reasonable in the mid afternoon, but we used our 3 fastpasses at that time and hit up walk on rides and skipped the long waits until the party started. Walked on to Tea Cups, Small World, and the Carousel. Grabbed the cauldron popcorn bucket and rode Dumbo with no wait as well. Wait times by 6pm were somewhere between okay and good. By 7pm most rides were walk on, and we did a rider swap again for Space Mountain which took all of 10 minutes.
Wait times were great, crowd levels were great, we didn’t bother with characters so can’t speak to that. Got seats in Frontierland for the parade, and a spot near Crystal Palace for fireworks.
All in all, it was pretty stress free and we got to everything we wanted to and more.
I very much enjoy and appreciate these trip reports. Keep up the good work!
But I’m thinking you might need to edit this sentence:
“Back to the Poly, not only was our room read when we checked arrived at ~9 a.m.,”
Attend on Sept 9th. Won’t attend again, simply not worth the price. Empty nesters , so there were no children involved. Maybe the weather ruined it, as it drizzled most of the time. No headless horseman. Understand the horse could get hurt. Was looking forward to it , as we never seen it before. Just didn’t think it’s worth the money. However we have attended the Xmas Party nights a few times and really enjoyed them
We attended MNSSHP on 10/14. Your previous post on tips for the party was 100% spot on. I’m glad my expectations were realistic or I would have been disappointed. We didn’t arrive until about 6pm (we were trying to let the temps cool off a bit) and that was a huge mistake. The line to get in was miserable. We didn’t ride many rides because the lines were too long. We arrived in Frontierland about 20-30 minutes before parade start and it was too late to get a good seat. The crowd in Frontierland-Fantasyland after the first parade was down-right dangerous. My almost 7 year old daughter loved the party, though, and wants to go again. We were able to finally get short ride waits during the fireworks (my daughter doesn’t like them). I’d say the party is only worth it for die-hard Disney fans. The casual attendee, especially one looking for light crowds and easy access to rides, will be disappointed.
My friend and I attended the party on Friday 9/29, the first day of our adult-only girls’ weekend trip. I was bracing for really rough crowds based on what I had been reading, and was pleasantly surprised. We didn’t meet any characters or do any trick or treating, instead focusing on rides, the 2nd parade, fireworks, a few fun Halloween magic shots, and the Sanderson sisters show. We also ate dinner at Be Our Guest (blasphemy to eat during a party, I know!). Ride lines were no more than 23 mins – the amount of time we waited for 7DMT right at 7pm after we had used fastpasses for other attractions. Perhaps because I usually visit Disney World with my small child and was free of those responsibilities for this visit, perhaps because we were very realistic about what we hoped to experience during the party, or perhaps we just had a good night crowd-wise, we both really enjoyed the party. I know I was pleasantly surprised, and the experience made me more enthusiastic about attending the Christmas party I have planned for my family trip in December.
Oops, the correct date of the party we attended was Friday 9/28.
We did MNSSHP in 2017 on 10/2 I think? It was early October. We got there at 4 and stayed until midnight, it was a last minute trip and we didn’t have anything else “Disney” planned, so this was a bit cheaper of a way to visit the parks. But as a family of 5, we would NEVER be able to afford it on top of a WDW vacation. We had a good time and I loved the parade. My biggest complaint was waiting for characters, it was my daughter’s 5th birthday and all she wanted to do was meet Moana, so we waited about an hour and a half, and Moana took 3 breaks during that time. I understand that the actress needs breaks but when they have rare characters available they need to have a better system, like multiple actresses or something. It’s crazy.
Regarding MNSHP, I believe I posted a comment on it in one of your other posts, but I’ll repost here. Long story short I believe it was worth it, but read on for some details.
My wife and 2 girls, ages 8 and 5 attended MNSSHP on Tuesday, October 2nd for the 1st time. Our experience up until the Boo to You parade at 9 was not good. We went over to Pete’s Silly Sideshow at 6 to meet the 7 dwarfs and it was a 2 hour wait…Why anyone would waste 2 hours of an expensive special event to wait in line is beyond me. Needless to say we did not wait. The lines for candy were also too long to wait and navigating thought the heavy crowds was a struggle. We watched the 2nd Hocus Pocus show right on the tracks in front of the castle and it was a tough to get a decent view. I had to struggle to hold my 75lb 8 year old in my lap the whole time for her to get a glimpse while my wife did the same with our 5 year old. After that roughly 30 minutes before Boo to You we tried to find a spot to watch the parade along Main Street but found nothing. Then luckily we found our savior. We spotted a lovely CM and asked if she knew of any other spots available to watch the parade. She explained she knew of a great viewing area that was not crowded. She then walked us to a great spot right in front of the train station in front of the park… She saved our night and brought my wife to tears of joy. She not only brought us to a great spot to watch the parade, but also had us go to the 2nd floor of the train station for a great viewing area to watch the fireworks. During the parade she waiting upstairs and pretty much saved us a spot after the parade was done.
After the fireworks we had the best time. With that CM’s advice we waiting for much of the crowds to exit the park and we headed to the Disney Junior Dance party (sorry Tom :)) which my kids loved. This was right next door to the 7 Dwarfs meet and greet. While they were dancing the night away I went next door and checked the wait for 7 Dwarfs and it was 20 minutes!!! SCORE!!!. I immediately grabbed my wife and kids and we got to meet them in about 15 minutes as opposed to the 2 hours at the beginning of the night. We then got to meet Goofy and Minnie with no waits and ride the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train right before the park close.
Even though the 1st half wasn’t great, all in all it was a fantastic night and one we’ll never forget.
We’ve only done MNSSHP once, back in 2015, on Halloween night. I can’t say that I remember crowds being all that bad. Our daughter, then 9, hit every candy station without much of a line, and after filling 2 bags full, she was done and wanted to do rides.
In a sort of related reply, I will say that we’ve also done the Christmas party in MK several times, and after the last time, vowed to never do it again due to overcrowding. I remember commenting that the “limited number of tickets” was apparently only limited to the number of guests that wanted to attend and purchase the ticket. Lines for pictures were impossible. People were on top of one another. Everyone was irritable. It was horrible. That was probably wayyyy back in 2008 or 2009. In sticking to our word, we have not done it again.
We are booked at the poly for a week at club level next September. Im feeling like it’s more worth it since we will have two Little one’s and adults of various ages who want to be able to just get some personal time outside the rooms sometimes.
Love this turn of a phrase: “It felt like glimpsing into a boundless utopian scene, like a Blade Runner aesthetic if only the future were written by optimists.”
We currently have a toddler so going back to the resort for a nap in the middle of the day is kinda necessary. BUT we enjoy it so much it will continue after our daughter is older. Currently, my husband, toddler and 8 year old daughter all nap each day. I nap some of those days but not all. We are all refreshed to head back out to the parks and miss the busiest, hottest time of day and also miss many of the afternoon showers.
I’m glad you were upgraded, rather than them just leaving the room empty. Yay! And I cracked up that you had bananas in your suitcase.
Best sentence on the Interwebs today: It felt like glimpsing into a boundless utopian scene, like a Blade Runner aesthetic if only the future were written by optimists. LOL!!!
Best sentence on the Interwebs today: It felt like glimpsing into a boundless utopian scene, like a Blade Runner aesthetic if only the future were written by optimists. LOL!!!
Excited to see you refer to Club level at Poly as we are booked there for 2 nights in December then to Yacht Club club level, our personal favorite for easy holiday access to things. Hope you share more info about your Poly stay in the next installment.
My sister and I went to MNSSHP for the first time 9/7. Overall we really enjoyed it, but I was a bit disappointed with the crowds. To be fair, a good chunk of that disappointment was related to the fact that the daytime crowds in the parks were insanely low, like Touring Plans level 1 low. So we were spoiled. The party was much more crowded than that and we were no longer just walking onto anything we wanted. That being said, I don’t think we waited more than 20 minutes (7DMT) for a single ride the whole party, so it was still super manageable. Last year we took the kids to MVMCP on Dec 22, the last party of the year, completely sold out, and that felt less crowded than MNSSHP. There just seemed to be bodies everywhere in the walkways, even as it got closer to midnight. But again, we never actually waited long for anything (we did not do characters so can’t speak to that). I enjoyed the party, loved the atmosphere, show, parade, etc. and definitely want to bring my kids to it, but I’m concerned Disney is upping the number of tickets they are selling. We are going to MVMCP again this year, so I’m curious to see how it compares to last year.
We attended MNSSHP on 9/18 and we absolutely loved it! The crowd level wasn’t bad and we were able to walk on several rides. We had a great spot for the parade and fireworks, but couldn’t get close enough to see much of the Hocus Pocus Villian Spectacular. We loved the special party snacks! My one complaint was the wait times for popular characters. My daughter really wanted to meet Jack & Sally and Moana, but she didn’t want to sacrifice other things to stand in line for over an hour. I definitely think it’s worth attending again, and maybe next time we will primarily focus on character experiences. I think managing expectations is the most important part of planning your party experience.
We attended the MNSSHP on September 24th and I was pretty disappointed. It was our second time attending in September and both were very crowded. The lines for the rides were pretty long and the lines for the candy were long as well (even though they move rather quickly for the candy). The crowds for the parades were insane And walking with a stroller was annoying throughout the park. I don’t think I will go back to another Halloween party.