Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

This year (2022), we got the opportunity to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney World in Orlando. It’s been a dream of mine since we moved to Orlando in 2015, but it has never quite been in the budget. I was so thrilled that Cash and I were finally going to get to experience it for ourselves! I wanted to share the experience here in case anyone else is visiting during the holidays (or is local) and wants to experience it for themselves.

What Is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party?

Disney World has two separately ticketed events each year- Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. It is not included in general admission; they kick out everyone with normal day passes around 6 pm before the party begins. This year, ticket-holding guests were allowed to arrive as early as 4 pm. Because it’s a special event, the crowds are usually much lower, and there are other perks. There are special shows and parades. Some of the usual rides have unique Christmas overlays for MVMCP, making them more festive and unique, as they are unavailable during regular operating hours. They also pass out free hot chocolate, cider, and Christmas cookies for free. In addition to all this, we also received a unique commemorative ornament and a print.

Let’s start at the beginning.

When I found out we would finally get to go, I wanted to plan the whole day to be as festive as possible. We stayed on-site at Pop Century and were with friends who did not have annual passes or park tickets for that day (a wise move if you have Christmas party tickets- no need to pay twice). So we had a whole morning to kill before party time.

We ate at the resort restaurant, which was good. Cash and I got to experience our very first Mickey Waffles. I loved them! They were sweet with a slight crunch and didn’t even need syrup, in my opinion.

Around 2 pm, we took the bus to Magic Kingdom, then walked over to the monorail and took it to the Grand Floridian. Cash and I have seen the giant gingerbread house there before, but of course, it’s a little different every year- and we wanted our friends to be able to explore it as well. We bought some treats at the little shop inside the house and explored their gift shop. We love visiting the Grand Floridian at Christmastime. It smells great, and a pianist is playing Christmas carols in the lobby. I recommend making the stop if you have the time.

After spending about an hour there, we hopped back on the monorail and headed for Magic Kingdom. A line outside around 3:45 looked very long but well organized, and the wait went by quickly. We scanned our magic bands, were given party wristbands, and headed right when we entered MK through a special entrance, where they handed us maps and our ornament.

A little note on our matching t-shirts: while matching shirts are certainly not required, and we usually eschew them because…we go at least once a month- I wanted to do something to make the night a little extra special. We ordered these from Etsy.

We had a little time to kill, so we hit up the Christmas shop (that’s there year-round) and purchased the Christmas popcorn bucket from a popcorn vendor. Cash and his friend are big popcorn eaters, so we knew we’d get good use of the $2 refills throughout the night, and this bucket was so pretty! It even winds up and plays music. The kids also wanted light-up Mickey necklaces, so we got a set.

I made a reservation months before at Liberty Tree Tavern for 4:30 pm. I’d wanted to try it for a long time and had heard it described as a delicious Thanksgiving feast. We went to the Christmas party a week before Thanksgiving, and since the party officially started at 7 pm, I wanted to eat a big meal and get it out of the way so we could focus on the party festivities. It seemed like the perfect way to kick things off. It ended up being an excellent decision. The food was terrific- both the general menu and the allergy friendly one- and we were stuffed long before we wanted to be.

After dinner, we decided to ride a few rides. Most of the wait times were very reasonable. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean and got stuck on Buzz Lightyear until the party started. We even had to be evacuated on foot- another first for us.

After we’d exited, the party had officially begun! One of the big things we wanted to try was the ride overlays. We rode Tomorrowland Speedway, which had cool lights added around the track. Cash had a blast driving our car while I soaked up the views of the festive lights. Cash and his friend rode the teacups with unique lights and Christmas music in the background.

After this, we attempted to visit a few of the characters. Character meet and greets are huge at the Christmas party, and they have a lot of characters they don’t usually have. Our kids are getting close to the older side for character meet and greets, but Cash’s favorite character- Scrooge from Ducktails- was stationed near the Dumbo ride, and we thought it might be cool to get to see him. We waited in line for a few minutes before we realized it wasn’t moving at all. Someone closer to the front said they’d been waiting for over half an hour, and the line hadn’t moved. So we bailed on that and went to seek our adventures elsewhere.

Next, we went to do one of our top bucket list items- ride Space Mountain with the Christmas overlay. It. Was. Incredible. We all loved it so much. It had green lights flashing and upbeat Christmas music playing the whole time. I had so much fun I lost my BRAND NEW Christmas Magic Band+, which I was very sad about, but it was still one of my favorite memories from the night.

Note: In my opinion, the new Magic Band+ is inevitable (you can hardly find cool ones in the original anymore), but it still has a lot of kinks. They don’t seem to do anything consistently- except get you into the park and for fast pass use- just like the old ones. They have to be charged relatively frequently. And my biggest complaint- they don’t stay on your wrist as well. I usually use our old pass holder clips to hold mine on, but since this was a new band, I hadn’t transferred it over, and it popped right off my wrist. The ride attendant told me that they’d likely find it at the end of the night when they did their sweep, but I visited guest services and filed a lost item ticket, and they never found it. From now on, I’ll always use something like this to hold the Magic Band+ on.

After that, we went to Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, which has a unique holiday theme. We also snagged a few free cookies and some hot chocolate. I planned to get lots of cookies and stock up as I’d heard of others doing, but it ended up that we were just too busy to wait in line for them all night, even though the lines were very efficient. After the Monsters show, we headed to the square to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks show was a special one, and it was excellent, but I don’t know if we were just in the wrong spot (some of them were hidden behind the trees) or if I’m just getting burnt out being smashed into the square with a million other people, but it wasn’t as good as the 4th of July show, for me. Right after the show, we went to Main Street to snag a spot for the parade. We left the kids to hold our place (hooray for having older kids!) while the adults searched for food. This was the second parade of the night, and the fireworks were over, so many people were leaving, and it was very congested. However, we did get a good spot. Casey’s Corner was too busy, so my friend headed to Starbucks while I sped my way over to Sleepy Hollow. I was disappointed that they didn’t have their usual menu- no waffles in sight- but they did have corn dogs and the Christmas snow globe sipper- so I got a corn dog for Cash and a sipper for me!

Next was the parade. It was amazing. The best parade I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what else to say except that the pictures don’t do it justice (especially the nutcrackers), and if you can view it- I highly recommend it. It was one of my favorite parts of the night.

Immediately after the parade, we hustled over to the Jungle Cruise to ride it. The wait was nonexistent, and it was themed into a “Jingle” Holiday Cruise. You can catch this during regular operating hours around the holidays, but since our friends had never experienced it, we wanted to see it if we could.

And that’s a wrap!

WOULD WE DO IT AGAIN?

This is a really tough question for me. While we 100% enjoyed the experience, and I LOVED the parade and unique ride overlays, I don’t know if it’s worth the cost for us- as pass holders- to pay the extra $150-200 per person for just one night. So unless I get much wealthier in the future, it might be a one-and-done for us.

I would recommend it for people visiting around the holidays and deciding to pay for an MVMCP ticket instead of a day ticket. It worked so well for us to sleep in, get a leisurely breakfast, and visit the gingerbread house before we had a late night. Plus, the wait times for the rides were fantastic. I would also recommend going at least one time.

I hope you enjoyed the review! Feel free to contact me at mindy@greatwideadventures.com if you have any questions or want help planning your Disney World vacation!