We were lucky enough to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom not once, but TWICE on our most recent Walt Disney World vacation - and I wanted to sum up the experience to share why we loved the holiday party!
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is a special Christmas-themed ticketed event on select nights in November and December. Like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, it has its own parade and fireworks show, as well as some special perks only available at the party! My girls were ages 4 and 6 on this most recent trip, and they LOVED the magic of Disney at Christmas time!
Check out night 1 of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on November 10th, we focused on watching Mickey's Once Upon a Time Parade and riding rides:
And on night 2 of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on November 11th, we focused on characters, treats, and more!
Here are 5 reasons why we loved the party!
5. Riding Rides
Some of my girls' favorite rides are within the Magic Kingdom theme park, and going to the special ticketed parties give them an opportunity to ride the rides over and over, without using up Fast Passes and usually waiting in much lower (or no!) lines! They sell a limited number of tickets to the party nights, so the crowds tend to be lower than the daytime crowds during high volume times of year and allow you to ride your favorites all night long at the party if you so desire!
4. The Treats
Complimentary treats were served throughout the theme park and new for this year - different treats were served at different locations! On our treat tasting night, we enjoyed the Apple Cider & Cookies from Pete's Silly Sideshow, Snow Cone & Cookies from The Friar's Nook, and my personal favorite - Peppermint Chocolate Chip cookies and Hot Cocoa from The Lunching Pad!
These special treats keep you fueled up as you take part in the party festivities and if you try to make it to all of the treat stops keep you moving from land to land within Magic Kingdom!
3. Christmas Parade & Fireworks
We love the party entertainment, including the dance parties, stage shows (new for this year was Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration which we caught on the second night!), and lighting of the castle. Our two favorite entertainment events are the special parade and Holiday Wishers fireworks show. I love that you can see these both from a number of different vantage points around the park!
We watched Holiday Wishes from the Big Top Souvenir area the first night, and then near the carousel while waiting in line for the princess & prince meet and greet the second night!
We watched Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade from Frontierland and then caught the second showing of the parade on our way out from Main Street, U.S.A. - both vantage points were great! I do have to say, there is something magical about watching the parade with snow coming down from the roof tops around you on Main Street, U.S.A. Make sure to stake your parade spot out a bit earlier if you plan on viewing in the front of the theme park.
One of my favorite pictures was as we were exiting the first time, I caught the princess parade float coming past the Christmas tree at just the right moment!
2. Party Specific Characters
My older daughter is very ride focused, but one of the favorite parts of the parties for my younger daughter and myself is meeting those party specific characters you can't meet during the regular daytime hours! We stood in line to meet Nick and Judy from Zootopia, which are two of her favorites!
And also met Snow White with her Prince, and Sleeping Beauty with Prince Phillip!
Lines for the party specific characters do fill up quickly, so if you know you have a specific character you'd like to meet - I would make it a priority to get to their line early, or head to their line at least an hour or so before the end of the party to make sure you have time to see them!
1. The festive holiday spirit!
What a magical way to begin the holiday season! Seeing the snow on Main Street U.S.A. was one of my favorite parts of the party, and especially my younger daughter could have played in the snow falling all night long if we would have let her!
The decorations, the Christmas music, and special lights on the castle just make it a truly unique experience that we would love to repeat!
It was a great trip and our family thought it was a great way to kick off the holiday season! We've been to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party the previous two years and after having such a great time at those, we were excited to take part in it's Christmas counterpart.
I'll do a comparison post in the future, but to answer questions I've been asked on YouTube - YES, I do think the special party nights at Magic Kingdom are young child (specially preschooler and younger) friendly... My girls have added as young as age 2! And they hung in there a long while after their normal bedtime of 7:30pm! The excitement of being at Disney and all of the special events gave them some extra steam to run on and most party nights we've been two, one of them - or both - have made it the entire evening with maybe nothing more than a quick cat nap.
Also, I think it really enhances the party experience (although is NOT required) to dress up festively for the parties. Halloween costume for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween, and in festive holiday attire for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Our outfits weren't quite as elaborate for the Christmas Party, but we did wear Christmas shirts and the girls had on Christmas skirts. I also purchased them the holiday Mickey & Minnie sweatshirts on the trip and purchased a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party commemorative t-shirt for myself!
It was an amazing experience! Make sure to check out all of our Disney World Holiday vacation videos in this one handy playlist:
I hope this review was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
** We received complimentary tickets to some events. All opinions are my own.
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