MVMCP crowded?

TestTrack

TestTrack

Active Member
My gf mentioned that she wanted to get tickets to MVMCP when she saw a video of the parade. I was really excited that she was showing some enthusiasm for going to WDW(I'm the crazy one).

However, I was a bit surprised when I read reviews on the party and saw that almost all the reviews complained of the crowds. These complaints were during the week we are going(7-13th) and I was surprised considering this should be a "down" time.

Do you guys agree with the complaints? I am not sure from the reviews like it sounds like its worth the ticket price. Did they just oversell tickets this year? Some people complained that the park was busier during the party than during the day!
 
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gabroccoli

gabroccoli

Member
I was their on the 9th. We had front row seats for the parade in front of the Horseshoe Saloon. Personally I did not think that the crowds were to bad. Other than lines for meet and greets.
 
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C

COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
Weekends can get crowded, especially when in comes to the parades. For the most part, lines for rides are never long because everyone is seeing the parades, fireworks, and shows (since you can go on the rides any time).

Best bet is to go on a weekday, earlier in the week (the Thursday nights can get busy).

CoP
 
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devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
we went this past December...it was a Tuesday night during the value season so we figured it wouldn't be very crowded...we even didn't plan MK into any other day of our trip b/c we've been so many times and knew that we could probably get everything we wanted to do done in the 5 hours of the party...

BOY WERE WE WRONG!!!

The night was sold out...the lines were long everywhere (even haunted mansion was 50 minute wait), we met some RUDE people while waiting the parade, and the parade seemed kind of half-fast... The free cocoa and cookies weren't enough to make the night worth the extra cost, the snow on Main Street was never working when we were on Main Street, and the Perimeter Fireworks of Holiday Wishes as well as the musical score were completely lame. We left after about 3 hours, deciding we would have a better time relaxing in the hot tub at our hotel then finishing the night there. We're passholders, and when we pay for tickets to one of the parties, we're expecting smaller crowds and shorter waits, and this was not the case for the Xmas Party.

Now please don't get me wrong. I love everything Disney, and I know it's hard to find people that get as excited about Disney as some of us do. But MVMCP is a very popular event that sells out whether during the value season or the holiday season.

If possible, go to the Halloween Party! We actually went to it twice this past year. For 35 bucks, you get to be in the park from 4pm to Midnight. The parade and firework displays are usually acclaimed to be the best of any Magic Kingdom shows (and I completely agree with this!!!). Half of the floats used in the Xmas party parade are from the Boo To You Parade, btw. The longest wait we had on either of these nights was 20 minutes for Space Mountain. And if you wait till about the last hour of the night to go to the candy stations, you get SOOO MUCH candy because the CMs are trying to get rid of their candy for the night (6 of us went the first night and we came home with 106lbs of candy!!!). Plus dressing up is always tons of fun.

I'm just giving you my honest opinion of the parties... I'm planning another December trip this year and we will not be revisiting MVMCP. We can see the fake snow and xmas lights and watch the candlelight procession and a whole bunch of other holiday related things for no extra costs all around the rest of the resort. Maybe we just went on an off night...but it was enough to make me never want to go back to MVMCP. :wave:
 
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S

santa's surpriz

New Member
We went Dec 18th, 2007. I thought I was crazy bc it was sold out and the crowd on Main St. to castle was a cattle call. But once we got passed the castle we were fine. Went on every ride in Tomorrow and Fantasy lands, watched the fireworks and headed over to HM. Longest line was 20 minutes on teacups, and it was just out of refurb. Never did get my hot cocoa or cookies though, too busy having fun!!
 
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krankenstein

krankenstein

Well-Known Member
I've been to MVMCP twice, in '05 and '07. The '07 one was sold out. I believe if you go into the party expecting all the lines to be extremely short and for you to basically have the park to yourself you will be disappointed.

Main Street gets very crowded for the fireworks and the parade, but I expect that. The attractions really do not have long lines, of course, the mountains, HM, POC etc. have longer lines than say SGE...that is expected. Meet and Greets usually have long lines. As a matter of fact the longest line I encountered was for Uncle Scrooge this past December. That said I found Genie and Abu with no wait at all later that night.

If at all possible watch the second parade in FrontierLand. It will be easier to find a spot, and than you can move on to other things quicker.

Don't forget to soak up the atmosphere, MVMCP gives the MK a different feel than it has during the day in my opinion. Also, if you can stay late, do so, lines will be extremely short after the 2nd parade. I suggest you attend. Remember to go with the right mindset and be patient, you should find it enjoyable. :xmas:
 
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stmize

stmize

Member
santa's surpriz said:
We went Dec 18th, 2007. I thought I was crazy bc it was sold out and the crowd on Main St. to castle was a cattle call. But once we got passed the castle we were fine. Went on every ride in Tomorrow and Fantasy lands, watched the fireworks and headed over to HM. Longest line was 20 minutes on teacups, and it was just out of refurb. Never did get my hot cocoa or cookies though, too busy having fun!!
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We were there the same night and I thought it was insane and definitely not worth the $170 for 4 of us. It was so packed almost as bad as Christmas Eve/Day. Granted I was glad we went at least one time but no more. This year we are going at Thanksgiving but not to MVMCP. Dont' feel bad about missing the hot cocoa or cookies. They weren't anything to write home about just okay.
 
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SweetPea

SweetPea

Member
We went to the party in December of '06 and had a blast!! We've done both and actually prefer Christmas to Halloween. (We tend to be more Christmasy-type people anyway). It was the first week in December and we went on Tuesday night. It wasn't sold out and the crowds were pretty light. I do think that the crowds tend to stay concentrated on Main Street up through the hub to the castle. It seems as though most people wanted to do the first castle showings and the first parade showings. We just skipped it. We did go to the Galaxy Theater in Tomorrowland to see the the Mickey show there and just made our way across the back of the park. Adventureland and Frontierland were basically deserted. I'd never seen anything like it. We rode everything we wanted with basically no wait.

When it came time for fireworks, we got a spot on the bridge between Tomorrowland and the hub. I thought the fireworks were great. Right as the fireworks ended, the place pretty much emptied out. (This was a tip from a castmember. He told us that after 10PM there woudn't be anybody there practically.) He was right. We just followed the crowd headed for the front gate and when we reached Main Street, got a spot right on the curb in front of the ice cream shop.

The parade was very cute and pretty long. After that we just lollygagged our way around Main Street for a bit. We had a great time.
 
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peters

peters

Member
krankenstein said:
I've been to MVMCP twice, in '05 and '07. The '07 one was sold out. I believe if you go into the party expecting all the lines to be extremely short and for you to basically have the park to yourself you will be disappointed.


I totally agree. We went in early December of 2006 on a Monday and there were light to moderate crowds, but we managed to get on all of the rides we wanted to and really enjoyed the parade, fireworks and twas the night before Christmas show. I try not to think of these events as times to get on all the rides, because you just won't know what the crowds will be until you get there. Have a good time if you go!
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devoy1701

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
stmize said:
We were there the same night and I thought it was insane and definitely not worth the $170 for 4 of us. It was so packed almost as bad as Christmas Eve/Day. Granted I was glad we went at least one time but no more. This year we are going at Thanksgiving but not to MVMCP. Dont' feel bad about missing the hot cocoa or cookies. They weren't anything to write home about just okay.
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Dec 18, 2007 was the party I mentioned in my post too. That's the one that made me not ever want to try the party again. I noticed when walking out that the sign out by the bag check said the night was sold out. And the waits were DEFINITELY ALOT LONGER than twenty minutes!
 
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T

Tango

New Member
Can anybody tell me which night of the week is the best in the way of least crowded for the Xmas party, we are going to be there the first two weeks of December and would like to book for the party when the tickets are available. Thanks:xmas:
 
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photoflight

photoflight

Well-Known Member
I was there Nov 30 '06 (a Thursday) and there were no crowds. None. Zip.

Lines? There were none - unless you count the lines for the hot chocolate. We rode Big Thunder Mountain 5-6 times consecutively, the longest wait was a few minutes, most times the wait was for the next train to get in. Same for splash mountain, just a few minutes to wait.

We went back to MK that Saturday (Dec 2) and it was a totally different story, so it wasn't just an unusually dead week. The crowds were so bad during the parade that we got ushered through the shops, through Casey's, and into Adventureland. The wait times for the rides were typically long and it was just plain crowded.

I have to say though, I would NOT go out of my way to go to this event (or any other) if I was already in the park. In other words, I wouldn't pay for a day at MK then pay for the party too. If you're there at the right time (when it isn't sold out) it's a good deal for the night you arrive at WDW, think of it as a half-price half-day ticket with (hopefully) low crowds.
 
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krankenstein

krankenstein

Well-Known Member
My guess would be the earlier you can go the better. I would also say go during the week, and be sure to ask about the AP discount nights. The AP discount nights tend to be more crowded from my experience.
 
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C

Cane27

Member
devoy1701 said:
we went this past December...it was a Tuesday night during the value season so we figured it wouldn't be very crowded...we even didn't plan MK into any other day of our trip b/c we've been so many times and knew that we could probably get everything we wanted to do done in the 5 hours of the party...

BOY WERE WE WRONG!!!

The night was sold out...the lines were long everywhere (even haunted mansion was 50 minute wait), we met some RUDE people while waiting the parade, and the parade seemed kind of half-fast... The free cocoa and cookies weren't enough to make the night worth the extra cost, the snow on Main Street was never working when we were on Main Street, and the Perimeter Fireworks of Holiday Wishes as well as the musical score were completely lame. We left after about 3 hours, deciding we would have a better time relaxing in the hot tub at our hotel then finishing the night there. We're passholders, and when we pay for tickets to one of the parties, we're expecting smaller crowds and shorter waits, and this was not the case for the Xmas Party.

Now please don't get me wrong. I love everything Disney, and I know it's hard to find people that get as excited about Disney as some of us do. But MVMCP is a very popular event that sells out whether during the value season or the holiday season.

If possible, go to the Halloween Party! We actually went to it twice this past year. For 35 bucks, you get to be in the park from 4pm to Midnight. The parade and firework displays are usually acclaimed to be the best of any Magic Kingdom shows (and I completely agree with this!!!). Half of the floats used in the Xmas party parade are from the Boo To You Parade, btw. The longest wait we had on either of these nights was 20 minutes for Space Mountain. And if you wait till about the last hour of the night to go to the candy stations, you get SOOO MUCH candy because the CMs are trying to get rid of their candy for the night (6 of us went the first night and we came home with 106lbs of candy!!!). Plus dressing up is always tons of fun.

I'm just giving you my honest opinion of the parties... I'm planning another December trip this year and we will not be revisiting MVMCP. We can see the fake snow and xmas lights and watch the candlelight procession and a whole bunch of other holiday related things for no extra costs all around the rest of the resort. Maybe we just went on an off night...but it was enough to make me never want to go back to MVMCP. :wave:
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more.
 
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mousefan1972

mousefan1972

Well-Known Member
Add me to the list of people who won't be springing for MVMCP tickets again. We went 12/21/07, the last party of the year, sold out, and insanely crowded. We thought we were going to see a party-exclusive parade, and much to our chagrin, saw the exact same parade on Christmas Eve. :hammer: If you are visiting WDW in November or early Dec. it might be worth it, but if you are there for Christmas, like we were, skip it and save your $$.
 
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RiversideBunny

RiversideBunny

New Member
Can't you just hear a conversation like this between two WDW executives:

Suit #1: Say, we could increase our revenue by a direct 10% by allowing 10% more people into MVMCP each night. I don't think the guests would notice the extra 10% in the crowd level.

Suit #2: Great! Let's do that.

Suit #1: You know, why don't we increase the amount of guests by 15%.
We'd make even more then.

Suit #2: Yeah, good. Let's do it.

Suit #1: Well, what about 20%?

Suit #2: OK, but how will we know when we've increased the crowd level too much?

Suit #1: When people start complaining. What's your guess on when they'd start complaining?

Suit #2: I'd think it would be somewhere around 18%.

Suit #1: Why does 18% sound familiar?

:):):):)
 
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swimmom

swimmom

Well-Known Member
We've been twice. The first was on Friday, December 17, 2005 (the last MVMCP that year & sold out). I won't say it wasn't crowded, but the park in general was less crowded than the days we spent in the MK following the MVMCP. The viewing for the parade & fireworks anywhere was packed, but ride lines were not too bad. We went on BTMR 3 times in about 30-45 minutes. The second time was on Sunday, December 11, 2006. What a difference!!! When the party started, we did a lot of the shows, then we skipped the first parade and did lots of attractions with very little wait times. We watched Christmas Wishes and then staked out a spot on Main Street for the second parade. While my DH was keeping our spot, my DD & I did some shopping for Christmas pins & MVMCP event items and of course something for my DH from the bakery. The parade crowd was the least crowded we have ever experienced for any of the parades in WDW.

We definately would do a MVMCP again, but it would be early in December and not on a Friday.
 
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S

santa's surpriz

New Member
devoy1701 said:
Dec 18, 2007 was the party I mentioned in my post too. That's the one that made me not ever want to try the party again. I noticed when walking out that the sign out by the bag check said the night was sold out. And the waits were DEFINITELY ALOT LONGER than twenty minutes!
Click to expand...


I was there that same night! We were actually in Fantasy Land and Tomorrow Land and hit almost every ride (15-20 minute wait times.)I will admit the longest line we were in was Madhatter and that was probably closer to 30-35 but it just came out of rehab. We also headed over to HM (about 11:30)w. no wait time,I wonder if specific parts of the parks attract higher attendance during these events?
 
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