Boy do they oversell this Halloween party!!!

[KNovacovschi]

I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience. Most likely due to the holiday weekend. We went on Tues Sept 25th and it was not busy at all. I hope you were able to enjoy yourselves somewhat despite the crowds.

 

[twodogs]

I've been saying all along that they have ruined the parties by overselling. People including current cast members continue to argue that 20,000 is NOT a large number of people. I beg to differ.

Having been to the party this Monday night, I feel there is no way there were only 20,000 people there. At all. Felt much more than that to me.

 

[Love Tink]

Having been to the party this Monday night, I feel there is no way there were only 20,000 people there. At all. Felt much more than that to me.

I think the estimate that was developed on one of the earlier threads on this topic was 30,000.

 

[twodogs]

1. It is a special event, yes. There's a special parade, trick-or-treat locations, special fireworks, rare characters, etc. No issues here.
2. Separately ticketed. Pretty straightforward.
3. You do have access to these attractions. It means they are open. That's it.

Ultimately, I've got no issues with how it's marketed. Most of the dissatisfied people are basing their experiences off of past reports, which I understand. But in my mind, there's nothing Disney has done that's more misleading than the commercials of a family skipping down Main Street hand-in-hand with Mickey.

I agree that Mickey walking us down MS has and never will happen, and that is intentionally false marketing! Yes, I understand the literal meaning of what Disney is writing in the marketing materials; I just think it could lead one to believe they are getting something that they are not, and Disney Marketing has no problem if you do believe that and then go buy some tickets which are non-refundable.

And the possibility of a "sell out" directly says there is a limit on tickets, which does not occur on regular park tickets, so to me, that is a direct way of saying there will be a cap on the number of people admitted and it will be lower than a normal park day. Luckily for Disney's sake, they won't ever reveal what that cap is, and they can raise it any time they want to without anyone knowing the difference. That is, until you show up and compare your experience to your own or other's prior experiences with the same event in the past.

But I had the advantage of reading the experiences here, and having my own past experiences with these events too, before I bought my tickets this year. So I went in with eyes wide open Monday night. I got pretty much the experience I expected, and I wasn't disappointed because I knew what I was getting into this year. But I have decided we won't do the Halloween party at WDW again based on these experiences. I am sure there will be 20,000 people waiting to buy the tickets I won't be buying for the 2019 parties, so Disney should not fret...

 

[reiella]

I agree that Mickey walking us down MS has and never will happen, and that is intentionally false marketing! Yes, I understand the literal meaning of what Disney is writing in the marketing materials; I just think it could lead one to believe they are getting something that they are not, and Disney Marketing has no problem if you do believe that and then go buy some tickets which are non-refundable.

And the possibility of a "sell out" directly says there is a limit on tickets, which does not occur on regular park tickets, so to me, that is a direct way of saying there will be a cap on the number of people admitted and it will be lower than a normal park day. Luckily for Disney's sake, they won't ever reveal what that cap is, and they can raise it any time they want to without anyone knowing the difference. That is, until you show up and compare your experience to your own or other's prior experiences with the same event in the past.

But I had the advantage of reading the experiences here, and having my own past experiences with these events too, before I bought my tickets this year. So I went in with eyes wide open Monday night. I got pretty much the experience I expected, and I wasn't disappointed because I knew what I was getting into this year. But I have decided we won't do the Halloween party at WDW again based on these experiences. I am sure there will be 20,000 people waiting to buy the tickets I won't be buying for the 2019 parties, so Disney should not fret...

I'm not intended to strongly disagree with your, just adding some other points that may be relevant or may not .

It's not quite an analog, but the different parks can close due to capacity and have differing levels of it. It's not common to happen, but it is definitely possible for someone to not be able to get to Magic Kingdom, despite having a ticket. There are different ramifications with the different levels of closure and the type of ticket involved, but it is still a possibility.

I realize that the 20,000 number is arbitrary, but realize that Magic Kingdom has a capacity of at least 100,000 (specificity there is hard to find), and the different closure levels start at around 65,000 people. Now what that means relative to the normal 'day' traffic for the park is a definitely a difference.

Suffice to say though, what I'm saying may be a bit of pedantics, the underlying issue of "It's too crowded to be worth it for me" is definitely a fair and legitimate concern.

 

[RescueRanger]

\

And why should they demand a refund? Because the park is full of other tourists? I have yet to see where Disney is promising low crowds for the Parties. On the Disney World page there is not a mention that I could find about low wait times or low crowds.

I hear this excuse quite often. However, it simply isn’t true. They do promote smaller crowds. In fact, I will post a quote from the Disney Files magazine I just received. Thats the official DVC members magazine for those that don’t know. About the holiday parties, “Both holiday parties feature shorter-than-usual wait times on some of the parks most popular attractions.” I don’t know about you, but that seems to be a blatant promotion for lower crowds.

 

[anomamatt]

And the possibility of a "sell out" directly says there is a limit on tickets, which does not occur on regular park tickets, so to me, that is a direct way of saying there will be a cap on the number of people admitted and it will be lower than a normal park day.

There IS a limit. And they do sell out.

I've said this before, but the idea that parties should be empty comes from places like here and not from Disney.

Disney is very careful about what they advertise. Look at the events that have very low capacities (EMM and DAH) and see what they say... even then they don't promise much crowd-wise.

 

[Disfan454]

We were there that same night last year, and we had a good experience. I think it even rained and ended the villian spectacular we were watching...

I'll tell you one reason my kids are probably jaded. We took them to Universal the past couple years and stayed on site. Express Passes to every ride makes for a lot of fun.
3 fast passes at Disney is a joke. Long lines at a special ticketed event is a joke. Heck, we stayed at Holiday Inn for Sea World and it included Quick Queue for every ride!
Everyone has a phone. Why not equip the parks with tech to let people check into line and come back when it's their time? Why must we waste time literally standing in line, when we can report back on time?

Don't you have to pay for fast passes at Universal?

 

[RescueRanger]

Don't you have to pay for fast passes at Universal?

Not if you stay at their three main onsite resorts. You get unlimited express with your room.

 

[anomamatt]

I hear this excuse quite often. However, it simply isn’t true. They do promote smaller crowds. In fact, I will post a quote from the Disney Files magazine I just received. Thats the official DVC members magazine for those that don’t know. About the holiday parties, “Both holiday parties feature shorter-than-usual wait times on some of the parks most popular attractions.” I don’t know about you, but that seems to be a blatant promotion for lower crowds.

Is this in the fall Disney Files? I don't see that one online yet.

 

[RescueRanger]

Is this in the fall Disney Files? I don't see that one online yet.

Yes. Volume 27 number 3

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not if you stay at their three main onsite resorts. You get unlimited express with your room.

I wouldn't call it 'main' resorts. That's like say people who go to WDW only stay at the Poly, Grand Floridian and CR. I actually hear about a lot of people staying at Cabana Bay which doesn't get the EP included.

The ones that come with Unlimited EP are only the most upper tier ones. It's available at 3 resorts out of 7 (if you included both Endless Summer ones into one).

The resorts are Loews Portofino Bay Hotel ,Hard Rock Hotel® and Loews Royal Pacific Resort which are all under the Premier category (there's Premier $$$$, Preferred $$$, Prime Value $$, and now with the new soon to be open Endless Summer resorts Value $--price amounts listed by Universal). So the biggest advice I see is to compare the costs with how much Loews Portofino Bay Hotel ,Hard Rock Hotel® or Loews Royal Pacific Resort would cost you in comparison to purchasing EP separately.

But regardless Express Pass (once through and Unlimited) can be purchased for those who aren't staying at those resorts that get it included.

 

[only hope]

Increasing capacity wouldn’t be as big a deal if they also increased the character m&g’s and t&t locations by the same percentage. Seems like those have stayed the same even as attendance climbs.

 

[disneydentist]

I hear this excuse quite often. However, it simply isn’t true. They do promote smaller crowds. In fact, I will post a quote from the Disney Files magazine I just received. Thats the official DVC members magazine for those that don’t know. About the holiday parties, “Both holiday parties feature shorter-than-usual wait times on some of the parks most popular attractions.” I don’t know about you, but that seems to be a blatant promotion for lower crowds.

I will readily concede the point that they are promoting "shorter-than-usual" wait times given your reference. The question would be the definition of "usual". Lower wait times and lower crowds are two different animals. Both EasyWDW and Touringplans often note that the two don't go hand in hand.

 

[wilbret]

I wouldn't call it 'main' resorts. That's like say people who go to WDW only stay at the Poly, Grand Floridian and CR. I actually hear about a lot of people staying at Cabana Bay which doesn't get the EP included.

The ones that come with Unlimited EP are only the most upper tier ones. It's available at 3 resorts out of 7 (if you included both Endless Summer ones into one).

The resorts are Loews Portofino Bay Hotel ,Hard Rock Hotel® and Loews Royal Pacific Resort which are all under the Premier category (there's Premier $$$$, Preferred $$$, Prime Value $$, and now with the new soon to be open Endless Summer resorts Value $--price amounts listed by Universal). So the biggest advice I see is to compare the costs with how much Loews Portofino Bay Hotel ,Hard Rock Hotel® or Loews Royal Pacific Resort would cost you in comparison to purchasing EP separately.

But regardless Express Pass (once through and Unlimited) can be purchased for those who aren't staying at those resorts that get it included.

For my family of 5, we can get a room at one of the 3 resorts for $300 or less, and you get 2 days of express passes. That's nearly $1000 in express passes for a room I'd need anyway.

 

[wilbret]

I will readily concede the point that they are promoting "shorter-than-usual" wait times given your reference. The question would be the definition of "usual". Lower wait times and lower crowds are two different animals. Both EasyWDW and Touringplans often note that the two don't go hand in hand.

We should all agree to disagree... some people will experience lower crowds than others. Tons of variables at play from school breaks, weather, traffic, sports, whatever...
Some of us have directly correlated experiences to compare and contrast. In my experience of going at nearly the same night every single year, things aren't improving. It's still fun, but it's less fun.

 

[kandb]

The last time we went was 10 years ago. The rides were walk on and you never waited for candy at all. When you went to the candy lines, they would put handfuls of candy in your bag. Those were the good ole' days!!!

 

[Lehuaann]

The last time we went was 10 years ago. The rides were walk on and you never waited for candy at all. When you went to the candy lines, they would put handfuls of candy in your bag. Those were the good ole' days!!!

And candy on the way out!

 

[kandb]

We almost never ride rides. I think I’m just going to go into our party (which I know will sell out) with super low expectations. Jack/Sally, Elvis Stitch, parade, fireworks and a dance party.

I refuse to go to anything with "low expectations" when a ticket cost $85/person. I am surprised by how many people expect to pay a lot of money at Disney and NOT expect much in return.

 

[Love Tink]

There IS a limit. And they do sell out.

I've said this before, but the idea that parties should be empty comes from places like here and not from Disney.

Disney is very careful about what they advertise. Look at the events that have very low capacities (EMM and DAH) and see what they say... even then they don't promise much crowd-wise.

Why do some of you always have to go to “empty”?

No one on this thread is suggesting the parks should be “empty.” They are saying the parties shouldn’t be significantly more crowded than regular park days.