WDW Halloween Question

[SunshineGirl]

No free food. Just the trick or treat candy.

They do 2 parades, actually, and the fireworks in between them. I'm not sure exactly what times. But my girls were the same age as yours a few times when we went and it wasn't too bad. I want to say that they did the first parade around 8 and then fireworks at 9 and then the repeat of the parade again at 10? Something along those lines.

[shmily1]

You were so close!! Last year, it was 8:15 parade, 9:30 fireworks, and 10:30 parade. If you are going to watch the parade, make sure you are there atleast a few minutes ahead so you can see the headless horseman run through!

[Breeze88]

It is worth the money and the kids are all so cute dressed up for Halloween

One of the things that we did the last time we went was to book dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern for around 4:00 (if you can eat that early). We then went and got our wrist bands and were set to go when the fun started, especially the trick or treating.

We had our grandson with us the last time we went and the number one thing we insisted on was that he take a nap in the afternoon. Even if your kids don't actuallly sleep, some down time is good if they are going to be up late. We like the parade, but the fireworks were spectacular!

[cjnix32]

Something else to note....you can get into the park at about 4:30 with just your party ticket. So if you have multi day tickets, you could spend a day at the hotel pool, relaxing before heading to the park before the party, and save that day on your park passes for another day!

[shmily1]

Agreed on the getting in early. For all the parties we've been to, we usually do DTD that day or hang out at the pool, have lunch, resort hop, then be in line about 3:45 for when they let us in at 4:00. The tickets say 7:00 since that is when the party starts, but so far, they've let us in at 4:00 every time. We start with the attractions we are busting to get to and then usually eat at Cosmic Rays so we don't spend too much time on food.

[couponqueen]

We've been once and loved it! I agree with everything said here. The only thing I'd consider is the age of your kids and/or what time you would think you'd want to leave. If you have little ones and want to be out of there by 9:00 to get them them to bed then I would say skip it. If you plan on staying the duration of the evening then go for it! There is a lot to do plus you can get on the rides pretty quickly.

[fronisgl]

My concern is my girls NEVER sleep in. It doesn't matter how late they go to bed they are up at 6:15. I'm afraid to keep them up too late because then the next day can be miserable

[Breeze88]

My concern is my girls NEVER sleep in. It doesn't matter how late they go to bed they are up at 6:15. I'm afraid to keep them up too late because then the next day can be miserable

If they won't nap then maybe you could plan on the day after to be a "just relax" day. We had to do things like that when our kids were small if we kept them out too late the night before. Our just relax days were usually breakfast at the hotel, going to the the pool while I got some laundry done, going to DTD for lunch and some shopping with the promise that if they behaved they could pick out something, and then some more swim time, dinner at the hotel, and an early bedtime to get ready for the next day.

This not only saved a day on our hoppers, but also gave everyone a chance to just slow down for a day.

[momof3lovebugs]

We did it 'unofficially' in 2010. We made adr's for Liberty Tree Tavern at 7pm-the only spot available and had a nice leisurely dinner. In between dinner and dessert, the parade happened and our server let us go watch it before she brought dessert. (dh stayed and ate more ) and I was able to get some pretty decent photos of the parade.
After we were done, however, they did want to escort us right down to the front entrance. I told the CM that we wanted to shop on Main St and he was perfectly fine with just dropping us there. This enabled us to also catch the fireworks show, which was amazing.
We weren't able to get photos taken with any of the characters or trick or treat or go on rides b/c we had not paid the premium but I was personally happy with just seeing the parade and fireworks. I think it really depends on what you want to get out of the event, kwim?