September 2015 Trip!

[Amy]

Very exciting! We will be there about a month later than you. I'm looking forward to the nice fall weather and HOPING for smaller crowds. (yeah right! hehe)

We went to MNSSHP a couple of years back and we definitely had a great time. Our whole family dressed up as Peter Pan characters...lots of fun. The parade and fireworks are pretty incredible as well. My only issue is that with the extra ticket cost, I wish they would maybe not sell as many tickets to make it feel like a more VIP experience. You would think that a special event like that would give you more access to rides and shorter lines, etc - but I found the park to be EXTREMELY overcrowded. Kind of a bummer, but we still had a great time and got LOTS of candy.

Has anyone who has gone to the parks recently since the Magic Bands/FP+ has really been in full swing felt like the lines were shorter will the new system? Or at least felt like it didn't matter as much? Has it made that much difference in your park experience by the fact that even if the parks were super crowded, you may not have felt it as much or were able to get more done since the roll out? Just curious.

I would be curious to hear how the quantity of tickets sold for the special events has changed over the years. I remember we had the chance to attend a special showing of the Osborne Lights as Disney Visa members one year and there were very few people in the parks that evening. We strolled around leisurely and had cookies and hot chocolate and it was wonderful. I would be disappointed to spend the additional event ticket price and find everything to be so crowded

[Polynesian Princess]

Has anyone who has gone to the parks recently since the Magic Bands/FP+ has really been in full swing felt like the lines were shorter will the new system? Or at least felt like it didn't matter as much? Has it made that much difference in your park experience by the fact that even if the parks were super crowded, you may not have felt it as much or were able to get more done since the roll out? Just curious.

I don't think it's really impacted the length of the lines one way or the other.

I would be curious to hear how the quantity of tickets sold for the special events has changed over the years. I remember we had the chance to attend a special showing of the Osborne Lights as Disney Visa members one year and there were very few people in the parks that evening. We strolled around leisurely and had cookies and hot chocolate and it was wonderful. I would be disappointed to spend the additional event ticket price and find everything to be so crowded

I'm sure it's gone up, but who knows by how much. I remember when they introduced the "E-Ride Nights" (I think that's what they were called...) where you basically paid extra for a ticket to evening EMH, one of the big selling points was that only X number of tickets would be sold (1,500 stands out in my mind, but it's been so long I could be very wrong about that number). Now all you hear is that hard ticket events are "limited", with no indication of how many people that really is. With the additional parades, character greetings, special experiences, etc. to entertain people, I'm sure it's quite a bit more.

[Polynesian Princess]

I would be curious to hear how the quantity of tickets sold for the special events has changed over the years. I remember we had the chance to attend a special showing of the Osborne Lights as Disney Visa members one year and there were very few people in the parks that evening. We strolled around leisurely and had cookies and hot chocolate and it was wonderful. I would be disappointed to spend the additional event ticket price and find everything to be so crowded

I'm sure it's gone up, but who knows by how much. I remember when they introduced the "E-Ride Nights" (I think that's what they were called...) where you basically paid extra for a ticket to evening EMH, one of the big selling points was that only X number of tickets would be sold (1,500 stands out in my mind, but it's been so long I could be very wrong about that number). Now all you hear is that hard ticket events are "limited", with no indication of how many people that really is. With the additional parades, character greetings, special experiences, etc. to entertain people, I'm sure it's quite a bit more.

Did some research since I was curious and yes, I was very wrong about the number. AllEars says it was about 5,000 as opposed to the approximately 25,000 visitors on a slow day.

http://allears.net/tp/etik.htm

[Amy]

Interesting ~ thanks for taking the time to look Polynesian Princess!

[Belle1082]

I'm sure you are right that with such a huge amount of events, characters, special experiences, etc that they do have to sell quite a lot of tickets to balance things out. Still a bummer though when you think you'll be able to do more of the rides that maybe you could not do during the day, but some of the lines are even longer at the event because only certain rides are open, therefore all the people are wanting to go on a limited number of rides.

Wish the FP+ made things feel like the parks maybe weren't AS crowded....oh well....I guess those days are long gone!

[Polynesian Princess]

The number of rides really isn't that limited. While a few attractions may be closed, they are typically the ones that tend to draw small crowds. I've only been to MVMCP once and it was a few years ago, but the lines were no better or worse than they were at other points in the day.

If you want the parks to feel less crowded, try to avoid peak times. The trade off is that in the value seasons, the park hours are usually much shorter and that counteracts some of benefits of there being fewer people. That's why we prefer to go at moderate times - you seem to get the best of both worlds then.

[Belle1082]

The number of rides really isn't that limited. While a few attractions may be closed, they are typically the ones that tend to draw small crowds. I've only been to MVMCP once and it was a few years ago, but the lines were no better or worse than they were at other points in the day.

If you want the parks to feel less crowded, try to avoid peak times. The trade off is that in the value seasons, the park hours are usually much shorter and that counteracts some of benefits of there being fewer people. That's why we prefer to go at moderate times - you seem to get the best of both worlds then.

What would you consider 'moderate times'? I feel like there are none. haha It just seems like they fit in so many special events and things that every time of the year is super busy! I miss the days of slow crowds at the parks!

[theBIGyowski]

So upset we will just barely miss you when you are there! We will be there 9/3 - 9/5 for a quick trip. I'll try not to drink all of the margaritas while I'm there so you can have some on your trip.

[NaCler]

I will be around the 11th and 12th for NoJ. Not sure how much park time we will do since we will be sans kiddos. We may just do pool time/resort hop during the days and MK both nights. I'll keep my eyes open for you.