MVMCP worth it?

[sophie_the_pooh]

Ok, I know I'm early, but I'm in the process of planning our November 2016 WDW trip, and I'm wondering if it's worth it to attend MVMCP. We went to MNSSHP this year, we enjoyed it but I have to say I was a bit disappointed... We enjoyed dressing up, trick or treating and the parade, but didn't feel like it was worth the money (I travel with DH and DS 4 years old). We are curious to see what MVMCP is like, I'm more of a Christmas than Halloween fan, and we might not go back during this time of year for a while since my son is starting school. What do you guys think? Did you ever attend MVMCP, and what did you enjoy about it? Would you recommend trying it at least once?

 

[networkpro]

We've been to MVMCP for the past three years and most likely skip it for the foreseeable future. Its much less than MNSSHP in terms of theme, characters, and there's only so many sugar cookies and hot chocolate you can drink before the heartburn kicks in. Only differentiation is the parade and thats the same one they run during the day near actual Christmas.

 

[md1982]

I think it is absolutely worth it if you use it as your sole MK day. I went this Nov. Got in to the park a little after four and stayed til closing at 12. We literally rode every ride possible and didn't wait more than 10 min for anything. On non party days the crowds are high and it will be harder to do as many attractions. We had more than a full days worth of shows and attractions but spent a fraction of the price on the ticket.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Worth is so hard to define.

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

Definitely worth it in my opinion.
We did two parties on our last trip, and thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

I think it is worth it if it is not a sold out party. The past 2 years I have gone to mvmcp in November, and both parties weren't sold out and it was amazing! The crowds really do make all the difference for people when it comes to these parties. We book an early-ish dinner that won't eat up any party time, do a ride or two after dinner, get a spot in Frontierland for the 1st parade, watch the fireworks, and rides were all walk-ons until we left at midnight.. it was great. Between rides, we'll stop at the cookie/cocoa stations. We like to do the character meet and greets too, but not spend too much time. We like to take advantage of the non-existent lines for rides mostly.

 

[sophie_the_pooh]

I think it is worth it if it is not a sold out party. The past 2 years I have gone to mvmcp in November, and both parties weren't sold out and it was amazing! The crowds really do make all the difference for people when it comes to these parties. We book an early-ish dinner that won't eat up any party time, do a ride or two after dinner, get a spot in Frontierland for the 1st parade, watch the fireworks, and rides were all walk-ons until we left at midnight.. if was great. Between rides, we'll stop at the cookie/cocoa stations. We like to do the character meet and greets too, but not spend too much time. We like to take advantage of the non-existent lines for rides mostly.

I'm hoping for mid November parties to be less crowded... We attended the first MNSSHP this year and at around 4h30, they announced it was sold out! We were very surprised! I like your MVMCP plan, sounds exactly like what we would do, early dinner, maybe a meet and greet or two, parade, attractions and fireworks.I'm tempted...

 

[Tinkerbella16]

I'm hoping for mid November parties to be less crowded... We attended the first MNSSHP this year and at around 4h30, they announced it was sold out! We were very surprised! I like your MVMCP plan, sounds exactly like what we would do, early dinner, maybe a meet and greet or two, parade, attractions and fireworks.I'm tempted...

In 2013 I went to the first party and it was sold out. In 2014, we went to the Nov 16th party, on a Sunday night and it was amazing. No crowds, not sold out. In 2015, I went to the November 12th party, Thursday night and it was not sold out and at times we were the only ones walking around certain areas - that is worth it to me!

The first parties for both MNSSHP and MVMCP typically sell out.

 

[CastleBound]

I just went early December this past year and my group and I absolutely loved it. It was the first MVMCP for us, so we were unsure as well. I have to say, the park is beautiful during this time, the free hot chocolate and cookies were great, and the parade was a fantastic way to end the night. I think choosing MVMCP helped with some of the crowds too, but if you're going in November I don't see it being too much of an issue. We had park hoppers, so we started off in DAK in the mornign and moved to MK around 3pm. We got our wristbands at one of the kiosks in Tomorrowland. Definitely give it a go.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I apologize for commenting, to the extent that I haven't been to the party and therefore can't testify from personal experience, but for what it's worth, I think so much of this depends on one's subjective idea of "a lot of money." At 2015 pricing, MVMCP would cost $79/adult and $74/child, or $311 for my family of four (with one child over age 10, and one under). Obviously, we'd expect that cost to increase in 2016.

Alternatively stated in terms of my own finances and budget (both Disney and otherwise), attending the party for a few hours would cost the same as:
(1) a third of our monthly mortgage payment;
(2) an additional roundtrip flight to Orlando from upstate NY or a week's worth of Disney dining for one adult;
(3) 1 more night in our WDW moderate hotel AND 2 more days' worth of multi-day tickets added on for the whole family;
(4) a month's worth of groceries;
(5) dinner at any Disney signature restaurant for the four of us, in most cases with money to spare; or
(6) gas, hotel and museum admissions for a weekend at just about any tourist destination within driving distance of our home;
(7) an extra 8 months' worth of support for a Tanzanian child (education, health care, supplemental food, clean water) who we sponsor through Compassion International (sheesh -- thinking about her really puts the amount we spend on WDW -- or any other kind of non-essential expense -- in perspective).

I investigated the party extensively (our next planned visit is in November 2016) and we came to the conclusion that although the idea of "having the MK to ourselves" sounded amazing, that experience is not guaranteed (and is getting rarer, as WDW increases the number of party guests each year), and we already get a taste of that experience with rope drop arrivals and EMH. A few more walk-ons, a pretty parade and gallons of hot chocolate just aren't worth the expenditure for us, when we could use the same money to do things that we would value more. Again, "worth it" is going to mean something different to everyone, and I realize that I live in an area of the country where money goes further than it does in some other regions, so what is chump change to some seems like a lot more to me.

 

[mickaroonie]

We've been to MVMCP for the past three years and most likely skip it for the foreseeable future. Its much less than MNSSHP in terms of theme, characters, and there's only so many sugar cookies and hot chocolate you can drink before the heartburn kicks in. Only differentiation is the parade and thats the same one they run during the day near actual Christmas.

I agree!! I love the MNSSHP much better!!

 

[Tinkerbella16]

I apologize for commenting, to the extent that I haven't been to the party and therefore can't testify from personal experience, but for what it's worth, I think so much of this depends on one's subjective idea of "a lot of money." At 2015 pricing, MVMCP would cost $79/adult and $74/child, or $311 for my family of four (with one child over age 10, and one under). Obviously, we'd expect that cost to increase in 2016.

Alternatively stated in terms of my own finances and budget (both Disney and otherwise), attending the party for a few hours would cost the same as:
(1) a third of our monthly mortgage payment;
(2) an additional roundtrip flight to Orlando from upstate NY or a week's worth of Disney dining for one adult;
(3) 1 more night in our WDW moderate hotel AND 2 more days' worth of multi-day tickets added on for the whole family;
(4) a month's worth of groceries;
(5) dinner at any Disney signature restaurant for the four of us, in most cases with money to spare; or
(6) gas, hotel and museum admissions for a weekend at just about any tourist destination within driving distance of our home;
(7) an extra 8 months' worth of support for a Tanzanian child (education, health care, supplemental food, clean water) who we sponsor through Compassion International (sheesh -- thinking about her really puts the amount we spend on WDW -- or any other kind of non-essential expense -- in perspective).

I investigated the party extensively (our next planned visit is in November 2016) and we came to the conclusion that although the idea of "having the MK to ourselves" sounded amazing, that experience is not guaranteed (and is getting rarer, as WDW increases the number of party guests each year), and we already get a taste of that experience with rope drop arrivals and EMH. A few more walk-ons, a pretty parade and gallons of hot chocolate just aren't worth the expenditure for us, when we could use the same money to do things that we would value more. Again, "worth it" is going to mean something different to everyone, and I realize that I live in an area of the country where money goes further than it does in some other regions, so what is chump change to some seems like a lot more to me.

I won't be attending mvmcp this year since we are going in September.. but I am very curious to see the prices this year. In 2014, we paid around $68 with tax per adult, and in 2015 I paid $78 for an adult ticket - $10 increase in a year is pretty steep in my opinion... especially when nothing more was added to the party! I expected a few dollars, like from 2013 to 2014, but not $10.

 

[KikoKea]

MVMCP was fun and was a cheaper way to enjoy another 8 hours in the MK. We used it as an extra day and spent the morning at Downtown Disney and seeing Christmas decorations at several resorts. The crowds were less, to that was great, too. Give it a try, at least once.

 

[Rsj88]

We went to MVMCP a couple of years ago. I really love Christmas and I was very excited about going. I'm glad we did it once but for us it wasn't really worth the money. We spent a lot of time getting a spot waiting for the parade. There were a lot of great characters out but they all had pretty long lines so we only picked a couple. We were able to ride a lot of rides at the end with little wait. However, since my son was only 5, it was a little late for my son to really enjoy it. Bottom line is you are basically paying for a parade with cookies and hot chocolate and shorter lines. It was fun to once but I wouldn't do it again for the price.

 

[TXDisney]

We don't do the parties bc wishes on the other nights along with the frozen lighting of the castle is plenty awesome for us and doesn't cost any additional money.

 

[sophie_the_pooh]

I apologize for commenting, to the extent that I haven't been to the party and therefore can't testify from personal experience, but for what it's worth, I think so much of this depends on one's subjective idea of "a lot of money." At 2015 pricing, MVMCP would cost $79/adult and $74/child, or $311 for my family of four (with one child over age 10, and one under). Obviously, we'd expect that cost to increase in 2016.

Alternatively stated in terms of my own finances and budget (both Disney and otherwise), attending the party for a few hours would cost the same as:
(1) a third of our monthly mortgage payment;
(2) an additional roundtrip flight to Orlando from upstate NY or a week's worth of Disney dining for one adult;
(3) 1 more night in our WDW moderate hotel AND 2 more days' worth of multi-day tickets added on for the whole family;
(4) a month's worth of groceries;
(5) dinner at any Disney signature restaurant for the four of us, in most cases with money to spare; or
(6) gas, hotel and museum admissions for a weekend at just about any tourist destination within driving distance of our home;
(7) an extra 8 months' worth of support for a Tanzanian child (education, health care, supplemental food, clean water) who we sponsor through Compassion International (sheesh -- thinking about her really puts the amount we spend on WDW -- or any other kind of non-essential expense -- in perspective).

I investigated the party extensively (our next planned visit is in November 2016) and we came to the conclusion that although the idea of "having the MK to ourselves" sounded amazing, that experience is not guaranteed (and is getting rarer, as WDW increases the number of party guests each year), and we already get a taste of that experience with rope drop arrivals and EMH. A few more walk-ons, a pretty parade and gallons of hot chocolate just aren't worth the expenditure for us, when we could use the same money to do things that we would value more. Again, "worth it" is going to mean something different to everyone, and I realize that I live in an area of the country where money goes further than it does in some other regions, so what is chump change to some seems like a lot more to me.

I appreciate your answer and understand your point, it's actually exactly why I'm hesitating. We are not big spenders, we are definitely not rich, but we work hard to save all year so we can go on vacation every year or two. But when we are on vacation, we tend to splurge a little more (again, splurge meaning different things to different people, what is splurging to me can be a regular simple expense to others! ). We'd rather spend on memorable experiences than on merchandise, so that's why we are considering going to MVMCP. I'm already getting my plane tickets with credit card points, I'm hoping for free dining plan (my dates are flexible), we chose not to splurge on a Deluxe (we never stayed deluxe, but one day we will...), my son is too young for the AK tour we'd like to take...So we are considering treating ourselves to a Disney Christmas party for this one time. Still debating...!

 

[Herdman]

We are going for the first time during Christmas season this November, and we are going to do MVMCP. We feel like we won't get the full Christmas feel of the MK if we don't. The holiday Wishes and parade are only done on the night of the party until you get closer to Christmas.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I appreciate your answer and understand your point, it's actually exactly why I'm hesitating. We are not big spenders, we are definitely not rich, but we work hard to save all year so we can go on vacation every year or two. But when we are on vacation, we tend to splurge a little more (again, splurge meaning different things to different people, what is splurging to me can be a regular simple expense to others! ). We'd rather spend on memorable experiences than on merchandise, so that's why we are considering going to MVMCP. I'm already getting my plane tickets with credit card points, I'm hoping for free dining plan (my dates are flexible), we chose not to splurge on a Deluxe (we never stayed deluxe, but one day we will...), my son is too young for the AK tour we'd like to take...So we are considering treating ourselves to a Disney Christmas party for this one time. Still debating...!

I apologize if my post implied that it was frivolous or irresponsibly extravagant to spend money on MVMCP, and I hope it won't make you hesitate in doing it, if it's something you want to do. I was trying to illustrate the "real world" value of the cost and the reason why we've decided it's not worth it for us, but naturally, there are many intangibles that make the cost "worth it" to thousands of families every year. If it's something you can and want to do, by all means (to paraphrase "Parks and Recreation"), treat yo' self!

 

[Rickster7]

It is worth it if you don't waist a ticket on one of the parks and go at 4pm. Relax at your resort or go to Disney Springs in the morning. We went to the water park in the morning and then to the party.

 

[networkpro]

It is worth it if you don't waist a ticket on one of the parks and go at 4pm. Relax at your resort or go to Disney Springs in the morning. We went to the water park in the morning and then to the party.