Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party? Is it worth it?

Paisley0517

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 13, 2019
We will be in Disney Dec 14-21 with our kids (24, 23, 18). Is it worth it to buy tickets to the Christmas party? Will the lines for rides be much shorter? And last question....is the ticket on top of a daily admission ticket or do you just need the ticket for the party? Thanks for any advice! We have never been to Disney at Christmas.
 
It's a separate hard ticketed event.

I went last year with my parents (im 31), and had a blast. We were in MK for several hours before the party started so we got some of the rides out of the way, but the lines were a little shorter. I really enjoyed the parade and the castle being "frozen.' Plus, free snacks.

I don't know if it's something I'd do again unless I'm bringing an SO or any future kids.
 
As the previous poster said, you have to pay on top of the park ticket for the party @Paisley0517
We went in 2017 and oh my goodness YES it was worth every bit of the hard ticket price for us.
But even if you decide not to go to the party, Christmas at the world is truly 'magical'. You might also enjoy (if you have the time) visiting a couple of the resorts to see the decorations - it's well worth the time away from the parks. Especially The Grand Floridian and the two Animal Kingdom resorts :thumbsup2 ::yes::
 
As the previous poster said, you have to pay on top of the park ticket for the party @Paisley0517
We went in 2017 and oh my goodness YES it was worth every bit of the hard ticket price for us.
But even if you decide not to go to the party, Christmas at the world is truly 'magical'. You might also enjoy (if you have the time) visiting a couple of the resorts to see the decorations - it's well worth the time away from the parks. Especially The Grand Floridian and the two Animal Kingdom resorts :thumbsup2 ::yes::

To clarify, a standard park ticket is not necessary to attend MVMCP—only the party ticket. The bolded above implies you need both, which is incorrect.
 


I have gone to one or two Christmas parties, and many Halloween parties.

You can enter unofficially as early as 4:00 with just your Christmas party ticket I believe. I have done this before, and have to wait through regular lines for the first few hours. If you went in when the party officially starts, at 7:00, lines for almost everything become a walk on without a wait after as the daytime park guests have left the parks.

The exception is seven dwarfs mine train, haunted mansion and space mountain. Those always have long waits.

If you want to see smaller rides/attractions that are closed during the party or if your goal was to see characters, (those lines can be very long) I would recommend considering a day ticket/or Using your party ticket a little past 4 to get some rides out of the way.

If your goal is to see the Christmas parade, I have read that it is available to regular guests a few days before Christmas, although every year, it seems to be offered less days. It might be less crowded to see it at the Christmas party.

I have always entered at 4:00, and one time we stayed from 10:00 am on through a party. My DS’s (19, 14, and proud couch potato’s), have always been done with the parks around the time that the rides turn into walk ons, and I can usually talk them into staying for the first parade only. My fault for taking them to MK too much, lol. For that reason, I will start going into the parks at 7 with future parties we book.
 
I apologise @mesaboy2 - On reading it back, it does, as you say imply that. I should have worded my reply differently.... should have said the event ticket allowed entry to the park 2 hours before party commencement time.... a daytime ticket is also needed if you intend to visit the park during the day.
 
I love the Christmas party but in my opinion I don't think I'd pay for it just to spend time on the rides. I think it is worth it for the Christmas stuff that is unique to the party. For the rides I'd just plan to do them during your regular touring days. If you really want to maximize ride time, something like the after hour special ticketed event looks to have lower crowds and truly walk on for most attractions - but I'm not sure they'll have those in December when you're there.
 


If you are mostly just looking for a way get on rides with little wait, there may be other better options for you as Selket said. It is still crowded during the holiday parties and lines can get long albeit not as long regular touring. I'm fairly cheap so I don't eat in the parks or pay for other ticketed events in WDW (I do in Disneyland), except for the holiday parties at WDW because of the atmosphere and special offerings such as the parades which I love love love night time parades.
 
I didn’t think it was worth it. It was so crowded we could hardly walk. After we did everything we wanted to do, we left.
 
Any time at the MK is fun. I thought the party was too crowded, though, and wouldn't do it again.

If you want shorter lines for rides, the best thing to do is to go to the MK on a party day when the park closes early. Fewer people go then as they have to leave early before fireworks. If you don't mind skipping fireworks this is by far my favorite time to do the MK during that Christmas party period because of a rare time of lower crowds in that very popular park.
 
You'll have a lot a fun at the party. I've been to one other party about 10 years ago and looking forward to going back to one this year. It was really busy last time I went but still had a blast.
 
You can enter unofficially as early as 4:00 with just your Christmas party ticket I believe. I have done this before, and have to wait through regular lines for the first few hours. If you went in when the party officially starts, at 7:00, lines for almost everything become a walk on without a wait after as the daytime park guests have left the parks.
Noooooooope.
 
I have done it 4 or 5 times and will be doing it again this year. It is the most amazing feeling watching it snow on Main St. and watching the Christmas parade. It is crowded but so much fun. I will never get tired of it.
 
We did it for the first time last Christmas. We went twice, the first night was horrible. So crowded you could not walk, we left before the parade, it was ridiculous, could not even get to the refreshments, lines were so long. Rides had long lines, meet and greets, we waited our hour to only be told they were leaving for 30 minutes. We asked before we got in line by the way. The CM was so rude some guests reported him. I felt we totally wasted our money. Second night, a totally different experience, lower crowds, lines were shorter, so it just all depends on your expectations, you never know what the crowd will be like, but I firmly believe they sell way too many tickets for a special experience that sometimes you do not end up having. The parade is great and if you are not going to be there at Christmas, I recommend it. Some of the special characters, just get in line way before they are coming out. Pooh characters were due around 6, we only got in line around 5:25 and were 3rd in line. As soon as the schedules come out, familiarize yourself with what is going on and the meet and greets, choose what is most important for your family, and do those things first. I don't think I would ever pay this just to get on rides. If that were the case I would do the after hours instead.
 
Sorry If I'm bumping an old thread, but my wife and I are considering doing the party November 11th. Does anyone think it would be less crowded during this time compared to December? My wife and I are doing a trip by ourselves for our anniversary and thought this might be a cool thing to experience. Also where do you get the free snacks?

Any insight or help would be very much appreciated.
 
I can't say about November but we did it in Mid December 2017 and it was well worth the money. Yes; it was expensive and crowded but we would do it again and again.
The ice cream and cookies, which were plentiful; were given out at various locations (I think locations may be dependant on available spaces for carts)
Hope you have a fabulous Anniversary trip.
And congratulations on your running history - WOW!
 
i see you already decided on purchasing the tickets and i'm glad you did!
My family were there that same exact week last year and did the MVMCP on our last night which was a friday. My family are all adults with the 'children' being 29, 26 and 21 and we really enjoyed ourselves. the snacks are filling and all the drinks they give with them are awesome! We were so full from our dinner which the next time we probably wouldn't eat so much before the party since we didn't know how many treats they gave out. we also assumed you couldn't keep going back to the treats (for whatever reason) so that was nice too!

the crowds were super manageable and that week isn't a bad time to travel anyways.
i love the party specific shows/decorations/what have you
we were able to walk on SDMT, Pirate multiple times, HM and all of our favorites. while some of our party posted up for a fireworks spot, the other half of us went to Space Mountain and rode it in just enough time to get back to our spot before the show started.
 
I bought tickets today for MVMCP on November 19th. My adult son (32) and I decided that since we are there, we really should go. We have been to WDW many, many times over the years, but I have only been once during the holidays and he has never been. So, we are looking forward to it. Hopefully, it won’t be too crowded. We shall see.
 
Does anyone on here have a schedule of activities they can provide us? I'm contemplating going with my daughter and her family. She currently has a dinner reservation around 8:15 pm. We are curious what time the parades are?
 

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