With the Christmas season in full swing (and having been in full swing at Walt Disney World since November 9th), I thought I would put out a post about our experience at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World last year. We attended the party in 2022, so it is possible that it changed slightly this year, but most of this should still apply.
We had a blast at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) and this is my favorite separately ticketed event that we have attended at Disney World so far. I could just be partial, since Christmas is my favorite time of year. Combine Christmas with Disney, and I am in absolute heaven!
MVMCP is a seperately ticketed event, meaning that you have to purchase a seperate ticket to attend the party. It is held in Magic Kingdom on select night during November and December, and takes place in the evening, after the park has closed to the general public. Party goers are permitted to enter Magic Kingdom at 4pm, the park closes to the general public at 6pm, and the Party officially begins at 7pm. That means that with your party ticket, you get 3 hours of normal park time before your focus will turn to party exclusive activities at 7pm.
The first thing that we did when we entered the park on our party day, was head to party exclusive photo op spots. This was a newbie mistake that we did not repeat when we attended the Halloween Party in 2023. It took up too much time waiting in the photo op lines, and it is better to use the 3 hours prior to the party to knock out ride that aren't party related or have a Christmas layover. I also personally did not think the photos looked very festive until it got dark out, and the Christmas lights were lit up around the park. You live and learn, and some of the mistakes we made at MVMCP have helped us adjust our party strategy moving forward.
As you make your way around Magic Kingdom, there are many different special party photos ops scattered throughout the park. These are available prior to the official start time of the party. At 7pm, the park officially becomes "Christmas-ified" and is absolutely beautiful. There are Christmas lights everywhere, Main Street looks iconic, there is a giant lit up Christmas tree at the main entrance and Christmas music pipes throughout Magic Kingdom. Also, of course Cinderella's Castle is lit up in Christmas colors and displays. After dark is when we got our best Christmas photos. For this particular party that we attended, Christmas photo ops were my main priority. We had been at Disney World for a week at that point and had already ridden all of the rides multiple times. So we chose used our party time to focus specifically on Christmas ambiance- the decorations, shows, parades, and fireworks. It worked out well for us, but I will repeat my recommendation to hold off on spending time taking photos until the party officially starts and the ambiance is at 100%.
The Party has many different exclusive elements, that you can only experience if you are a party go-er. I personally really enjoyed them all and think they were better than the party exclusives at the Halloween Party.
1) Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration
This is a stage show that happens multiple times throughout the party. It takes place on the stage right in front of Cinderella's Castle. I really enjoyed this stage show. It had all of the classic Disney Characters, all dressed up in Christmas themed outfits. They sang and danced to Christmas carols and got up pretty close to the audience watching in front of the Castle. In my opinion, this was much better than the Halloween stage show based around Hocus Pocus. You got to see a lot of iconic characters in the Christmas show and there was something for everyone to enjoy.
2) Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
This was my favorite part of MVMCP. There are 2 parades during each party, one at 9pm and one at 11pm. I always really enjoy the parades at Disney World, because it is an easy way to see all of the characters, up close and personal. The Christmas parade was top notch. The characters are "bundled up" for the holidays with festive scarves, there are marching toy soldiers and reindeer, and there are many characters that are rarely seen in person. Also, at the end of the parade, it SNOWS on main street. There was nothing more magical than standing on twinkling Main Street in the "snow" while listening to Christmas carols and watching the characters pass by. I would have watched the early and late parade if there had been time.
The parade takes the normal route of Frontierland to Liberty Square to Main Street. Due to the snow on Main Street, and also the fact that everything is more magical with Cinderella's Castle in the background, I highly recommend viewing the parade from the middle or far end of Main Street. That gives you room to see the floats as they approach you down the strip of Main Street. While I normally do not advocate for holding a parade viewing spot for hours leading up to the parade, this is an attraction that you will want to get a spot at least 30 minutes or so prior to, if you want an unobstructed view. We took our normal strategy of showing up 10 minutes prior to the parade and all curbside real estate was already taken. We were stuck behind a big group, which made it difficult to properly see the parade and take pictures. If you want to be right on the curb, make sure you give yourself a little time to get the right spot. It could be the perfect opportunity to enjoy a party exclusive snack and rest your feet! Just don't be one of "those people" holding the spot for 2 hours...
3) Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks
This fireworks show was actually pretty awesome. There is only one fireworks show per party, so make sure that you know what time it is at, so you don't accidentally miss it. The show was based around Christmas carols, and the castle lit up in rhythm to the music. The fireworks were also in sync with the music. Don't expect to see Disney character images displaying on the walls of Cinderella's Castle as you would during the normal fireworks display. But this was very much on theme for Christmas and instead there were Christmas colors and images displayed on the walls of the Castle. This was fun to watch and something different for the Holiday season.
People start gathering for this fireworks show early on, which, unlike the parade, I thought was a waste of party time. Pretty much anywhere in the center hub in front of the castle is a good fireworks viewing spot. We got there about 15 minutes before the start of the show and were still able to get a good viewing spot. Please don't waste extended amounts of party time holding viewing spots. The party is already too short to do everything, and you will see a lot of people making this mistake.
4) Holiday Themed Attractions
A few of the attractions in Magic Kingdom get a Christmas overlay during MVMCP. That means that the attraction is slightly different from the normal experience and is Christmas themed in some way.
The most involved Christmas overlay is on Jungle Cruise, or should I say "Jingle Cruise." This overlay is actually not party exclusive. Anyone who visits Magic Kingdom during the Christmas season will get to ride Jingle Cruise. It is still the format of Jungle Cruise, but you will see some holiday decorations on the ride and some of the jokes are holiday themed. Its a fun variation to mix things up. The neat thing about Jingle Cruise during MVMCP is that you can ride it after dark when there are Christmas lights lighting up the ride. This is unique and I absolutely preferred Jingle Cruise specifically after dark rather than during the daytime.
The second Christmas overlay, which is party exclusive, is Space Mountain. This one was pretty fun. I always love when they mix up the format of Space Mountain. There is no "bad" way to experience Space Mountain and its cool to see it in different ways. For the Christmas overlay, there were flashing green and red lights and there was "space" themed Christmas music playing. As would be expected of any party exclusive, there was a pretty long line for this ride, so we were not able to do it more than once. Lightening Lanes are not available during the party, so standby is the only option.
5) Christmas Themed Character Meet and Greets
We fell into the trap and waited in line to meet some characters at MVMCP. As much as I love doing the meet and greets with the characters and getting festive photos of the occasion, I have to admit that this was a really big use of time. I think this might have been one of our major downfalls of the party. Lines to meet characters move so slowly and the fact that the characters take a 5 minute break every 15 minutes does not help anything. You end up spending an hour in line for a 2 minute photo with a character. It is a neat experience, and the photo is priceless, but I hated how much party time this ate up. During the party we just kept saying how fast time was going by and that there was nowhere near enough time to do everything. I think cutting out characters during the party would be a way to save some time. If it is extremely important to you, I'd say pick one character that you are dying to meet and limit it to that. If not, you'll find that you wasted the whole party waiting in various lines.
We did the meet and greet at the Dumbo Circus Tent, which at least had 4 characters to meet. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to meet Minnie, Daisy, Scrooge McDuck and Donald. The multiple characters made it a little more worth the wait, with the benefit of having a good photo for our Christmas Card.
6) Free Christmas Cookies
While I am not a big "sweets" person, I have to admit this was a fun aspect of the party. Scattered throughout the park, there were multiple different spots that you could stop and grab free Christmas cookies and a drink to warm up. Unlike with the Halloween party, there was hardly a wait to get these goodies. Disney had a pretty good system where you walked into the shop, you were handed a cookie and drink, and then you walked out. Some suggestions should be given to the Halloween staff for trick or treating at MNSSHP...
The Christmas cookies are all from the company "Cheryl's Cookies" which are delicious. My favorite cookie was the frosted gingerbread cookie. The other types of cookies were chocolate chip, red velvet, snickerdoodle, and sugar cookie. Drinks varied by location but there was hot cocoa at the majority of the spots and some spots had eggnog and apple cider. I think this was a great addition to the party and really helped put me in the Christmas spirit.
All in all, I loved MVMCP. If I could, I would attend this party every single year. There is something so magical about combining Disney with Christmas, that is why there are so many Disney themed Christmas decorations out there. It was truly special to be in the happiest place on earth, celebrating my favorite Holiday. Disney does an amazing job of transforming Magic Kingdom into a Christmas wonderland and while there, the whole outside world does not exist. Disney did this right, and I hope that MVMCP lasts for a very long time!
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