Have Never Done Very Merry Christmas Party - Worth It?

[TuffyCatt]

Hi Everyone!

My family and I do WDW trips with some frequency, but our most common travel time is the very end of December and the beginning of January. Therefore, we've never had the opportunity to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We haven't been able to do a big Disney trip this year, but are starting to plan a very short weekend trip December 2-4 this year. We realized that the Christmas party would be offered that Friday (December 2) and we're trying to decide if it's worth buying tickets.

For people who have attended the party in the past - have you enjoyed it? What special things are included in the party that we wouldn't get to see or experience otherwise? Is the party something more aimed for families with kids, or is it worth it for a family of all adults like mine? In general, how are the crowds at the party?

Thank you all for any input - never having attended any of the ticketed party events before, I'm just trying to get a better idea of what to expect so we can figure out if this is something we would like to do!

 

[JIMINYCR]

I've gone, adult with another adult friend, no kids, and we had a good time, I thought it was worth it .... but I have to say I was much happier with the Halloween party events . MVMCP gives you a nice Christmas parade, Castle show, snow on Main street, musical celebrations, character meet & greets, event specific merchandise, cookies & hot chocolate. It added memories to our Christmas visit. Since youve never gone before... I'd say go ahead and experience it. It was a good time, and as the evening wore on and families leave, it gets quieter and you do get more ride time and thats worth a lot.

 

[wdwmagic]

Lots of info, photos and videos at http://www.wdwmagic.com/events/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party.htm

 

[AlanaH]

Hi,

I won't do it again. We got there about and we could see the parand

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Whether you have kids or not, it's worth doing at least once. We went last year for the first time and are planning to go every year because we had so much fun. Even though the "party" doesn't start until later at night (I believe it's 7 or 8pm), they will let you in at 4pm. You get free cookies and hot chocolate, a special parade and fireworks show and the characters are all dressed in Christmas attire.

It is a bit pricey, but IMO it's worth it.

 

[SSH]

We've been twice - most recently last year. The park was really packed - extra busy - but I definitely think it's worth doing once. I would have liked to go again this year, but they jacked up the price too far beyond what I now think it's worth.

It's still a decent deal if you use that as your MK day, since you can get in as early as 4pm. But we're buying a weekday pass for our next trip. Just can't justify paying for annual passes and paying the current party price on top of that.

 

[lemon meringue]

Whether or not it's "worth it" is subjective so a simple yes or no is tough. We did it last December and while I have no regrets I'm not in a hurry to do it again. They do let you into the park at 4:00 but we already had length of stay tickets so we could have been inside MK until 7:00 anyway. The park was very crowded between 4 and 7 on the day we attended because regular day guests were still there and the hard ticket holders had entered early to maximize their value. The line for baggage check was extremely long when we arrived around 5:00. After 7 the crowd did thin out but the rides were certainly not walk ons. Most attractions (not everything is open during these events) had a 20-30 minute wait the night we went. Free chocolate drinks and cookies are available at obscure locations. My family doesn't eat much sugar so we shared one cookie just for the experience. It wasn't special. Note that many of the regular food options are not available during the event. As far as ambiance- the snow is a very nice touch and the entire park is very festive. The decorations are beautiful and there is certainly a warm Christmas feel. However, all of WDW feels this way to me in December. Every park and every resort is decked out in it's Christmas finery. I'm not sure attending the party added anything to our cheerful holiday spirit as we were already brimming with it!

 

[KikoKea]

I agree that it is worth doing at least once, if you have the time and extra funds. We are going again in Dec, but will be using it as an extra park day. (We are splitting up our 4 day "military salute" package into 2 parts in Oct/Dec house-hunting trips) Honestly, we enjoy the Halloween Party more, but Halloween's our favorite holiday and decorations so are greatly biased. The cookies, as @lemon meringue noted was OK, not great, and the park does have a nice, Christmasy feel to it. But, the park has a nice holiday feel to it on regular nights, as well, so if you don't have the extra time or money, you'll still enjoy the parks, particularly at night. Whatever you do, though, don't miss the gingerbread house in the Grand Floridian lobby.

 

[Tyaloo]

It really depends on the situation - my husband and I use it as a "date night", and my parents watch our little one back at the hotel. We only need 2 tickets, so it's not a major expense and we budger for it. So we go kid free and can run foot loose and fancy free! We don't bother with the parades or shows, we just hit the rides hard and have a blast! We're doing it again this year - it's our ultimate date night . Oh and the hot chocolate and cookies make it feel more fun! The atmosphere is wonderful too!

 

[SSH]

The bigger issue for us is that in Nov/Dec when the party is scheduled, there are so few open nights for everyone else to enjoy MK - Saturday and maybe a few night hours on one other weekday (which I won't know and can't plan for until the Dec hours are released. ) Since we definitely want one night in the MK and can't be there on Saturday this year, it's a bit of a bummer.

 

[Tyaloo]

I can certainly see your point! I am also waiting for December hours to be released. I want to know what's EMH past Dec 2

 

[JillC LI]

When we were there in early December 2012 we decided to forego it but we did book ADRs for dinner at the California Grill so we could watch Holiday Wishes from there. We did love MNSSHP but because our time on the December trip was limited, we focused on other activities including the Osborne Lights. Now that the lights are gone, we might decide differently if given the chance.

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

2 adults, no kids. Went last year for the first time and loved it. Great parade (it's done twice) and fireworks. Characters that aren't usually around are there. After the first parade ends it really empties out. We stayed till midnight and practically had the place to ourselves.

 

[ford91exploder]

Hi Everyone!

My family and I do WDW trips with some frequency, but our most common travel time is the very end of December and the beginning of January. Therefore, we've never had the opportunity to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We haven't been able to do a big Disney trip this year, but are starting to plan a very short weekend trip December 2-4 this year. We realized that the Christmas party would be offered that Friday (December 2) and we're trying to decide if it's worth buying tickets.

For people who have attended the party in the past - have you enjoyed it? What special things are included in the party that we wouldn't get to see or experience otherwise? Is the party something more aimed for families with kids, or is it worth it for a family of all adults like mine? In general, how are the crowds at the party?

Thank you all for any input - never having attended any of the ticketed party events before, I'm just trying to get a better idea of what to expect so we can figure out if this is something we would like to do!

Hard to say, Recently price has gone WAY up and the offerings have been cut way back and crowding has increased, The Parade you will not see unless you attend the party, fireworks are party specific, There is hot chocolate and cookies included in the price plus some special merchandise that you cannot buy unless you went to party.

Figure most nights in nov/dec you will be spending 100/pp at least for tickets, We used to go every year until the pricing became insane and now we skip for perspective when we started to go it was $29.95 now its well over $100 in 10 years and the event had MUCH more entertainment during the $29.95 days than it does now.

But if there are only 2 of you I'd probably go at least once because the parade itself is almost worth the price of admission

 

[lemon meringue]

The Parade you will not see unless you attend the party, fireworks are party specific, There is hot chocolate and cookies included in the price plus some special merchandise that you cannot buy unless you went to party.

@ford91exploder makes a good point about the party specific merchandise. If you are a pin collector there are several each year that can only be purchased if you have a ticket to the event.

 

[TuffyCatt]

Thank you all sooo much for your insights, it really helped us to get an idea of what to expect. We have decided to go ahead and try it out! We love the Christmas offerings at WDW anyway (even though we normally only get to see them AFTER Christmas) and with the Osborne lights gone it will be great to have a new holiday experience to add to our memories. Thanks again!

 

[71dsp]

We've done it a couple of times along with MSSHP. We enjoyed each. Don't expect the park to be empty, the crowds are still pretty robust. However we still enjoyed it enough to buy tickets again for our upcoming trip.

 

[wendysue]

Whether or not it's "worth it" is subjective so a simple yes or no is tough. We did it last December and while I have no regrets I'm not in a hurry to do it again. They do let you into the park at 4:00 but we already had length of stay tickets so we could have been inside MK until 7:00 anyway. The park was very crowded between 4 and 7 on the day we attended because regular day guests were still there and the hard ticket holders had entered early to maximize their value. The line for baggage check was extremely long when we arrived around 5:00. After 7 the crowd did thin out but the rides were certainly not walk ons. Most attractions (not everything is open during these events) had a 20-30 minute wait the night we went. Free chocolate drinks and cookies are available at obscure locations. My family doesn't eat much sugar so we shared one cookie just for the experience. It wasn't special. Note that many of the regular food options are not available during the event. As far as ambiance- the snow is a very nice touch and the entire park is very festive. The decorations are beautiful and there is certainly a warm Christmas feel. However, all of WDW feels this way to me in December. Every park and every resort is decked out in it's Christmas finery. I'm not sure attending the party added anything to our cheerful holiday spirit as we were already brimming with it!

Totally agree with this. Is definitely NOT worth what you have to pay now.

 

[graphite1326]

We have done the Christmas party and the Halloween party. As it was said above, Halloween is better. I would agree with a lot of the comments that you should experience it once. However, I don't plan on going again. TO ME, the price isn't worth a few extra hrs at MK.