I don't like change either, but from what I've seen of this show (only online and reviews, I've yet to see it in person) it seems like a good replacement. I do miss the "we're havin' a party, a castle party" song that I used to sing to DD and drive her nuts!
I've gone to two MSSHP and have only met Mickey in his Halloween costume. Maybe we didn't get the planning quite right, but the lines were always so long we just didn't want to spend the time. I think Pooh and the gang are pretty cute in their costumes though.
It truly is a good replacement, though RIP Dream Along With Mickey forever! I still love that show, and I have the whole show on my iPod and used to listen to it in the car with DS on the way to daycare almost every morning, so that's probably why I'm so partial to it. But the new show is pretty catchy and uses a lot of songs and characters from my favorite more recent movies, so it's all good in my opinion.
We never want to spend a large chunk of party time in line for anything, so we have always just picked our one meet we wanted to do and gotten it done first. The only time we misjudged was in 2015 with Minnie, Donald & Daisy...we should have gotten in line earlier than what we did. And it didn't help that was the one time out of three parties that it was a sold out night. We have always managed to sneak in a meet with Mickey too, although the first year we did the party in 2013 it was when Talking Mickey had just started, so while it was cool to meet talking Mickey, he wasn't in costume! That was a bit of a bummer, as for a party night, I'd have preferred a silent but dressed up for Halloween Mickey instead.
So far the party is going well! Your kids are so cute with the characters. Smart to have a game plan ahead of time. I just bought tickets to MVMCP. We went 6 years ago and spent way too much party time waiting in line for the 7 Dwarves. This time around I'm going in with a plan - or a tentative one anyway. Hope the rest of your night is fun!
We have had surprisingly good luck on our party nights, but I think it is because we set our expectations very low so we can usually accomplish more than what we set out to do. As much as the 7 Dwarfs meet would be fun, DS has had no interest, so we have avoided it. Same with Jack & Sally. DH is the only one of the 4 of us to have even seen Nightmare Before Christmas, so that eliminates two of the big "time suck" character meets from our plans. Hopefully you can get in everything you want to do at the Christmas party!
I think my take on the change from Dream Along with Mickey tot he new show is totally impacted by my emotional memories of Dream Along with Mickey - one particular memory of Olivia on her granddad's shoulders watching it (plus, tough to beat "gosh Minnie, you'll always be a princess to me!") ... so the new one doesn't have the same emotional punch to me - but it is a well put together show!
Definitely seems like your plan worked to get that meet in - 7:10 and done with you one priority meet? I'd say success!
This is a really cute picture and also reminds me of scale of the characters to kids ... like, if someone told me to go walk up to a 12 foot tall bear wearing a bee costume, I would probably be hesitant too
I agree, it doesn't have that "tug your heartstrings" moment that Dream Along did, and I have fond memories of watching it with DS too, so it was tough to see it go. But I really did enjoy the new show a whole lot, and I guess they can't keep everything around forever!?
It worked out so perfect! It's fun to see the characters dressed up, but I sure don't want to spend a big chunk of my limited party time in line either.
It really does put it all in perspective in that one photo! It now amazes me even more that DS loved the characters so much when he was that age and had absolutely no fear of them. They are so huge compared to a little toddler!
I love the pics of the castle show! We never got to see this on our last trip, so it will definitely be a priority for the next trip! I love the costumes!
Adorable pics with the Pooh Gang! So cute that DS kept correcting everyone!
The costumes were great, and they change seasonally I believe, so it's not always exactly the same show, which is pretty cool.
He was on a mission that night to make sure everyone knew he wasn't actually Harry Potter. lol
Cool! I'm sure the kids love it!
We'll have to try to check that out. I always liked the old show, but we rarely ever caught it at a time that we'd see the whole thing start to finish.
I'm glad he still got some recognition there even though he wasn't one of the Disney characters.
Wow, that's great!
Oh, they definitely do! And we even got to visit it in person with DD, though not exactly how I wanted to get to see them in person...
With little ones, it really is hard to time something like that to where you can get a decent viewing spot but not have to wait so long for the show to start that they get antsy and lose interest. That's why we still haven't managed to see the Muppets show in Liberty Square yet.
He definitely got a lot of love from the CM's!
Cute Winnie the Pooh pictures. I can't blame DD for being a little hesitant at going up to the characters. Frankly, it surprises me when kids that young are completely comfortable at meet and greets. Some of them are just SO BIG compared to them!
I totally agree!! Seeing that picture made me realize how special and rare it was for DS to be completely enamored with the characters as young as he was on his first trip. They are just so huge compared to a little toddler. She didn't mind seeing them in line, and actually seemed to get rather excited when she saw Tigger, but once we got up close was a different story. Now that she actually recognizes some of the characters (mostly the Fab 5 but a few others too), I'm eager to see how she does with character meets in
Disneyland. Guess we will find out in just a couple of days!
Your posts have made me infinitely more excited for our first MNSSHP this year!! 
