Your ticket to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party allows you to enter the park from 4:00pm on, the actual party runs from 7:00pm-midnight. We actually entered the park at about 4:40pm. First we headed to Fantasyland where we met up with some friends from Texas who are on vacation. We did Mickey’s Philharmagic with them before heading to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe for dinner. We always eat before the party starts, this allows for more time during the party to see the shows and enjoy the festivities. After dinner we visited New Fantasyland and rode Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid and Enchanted Tales with Belle. As we were exiting Enchanted Tales with Belle, the area music changed to Christmas songs and the announcement was made that the park was now closed to day guests, anyone without a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party wristband needed to head out of the park.

We headed to Tomorrowland so Denis and Juliana could ride Space Mountain while Ron and I took a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. We grabbed hot chocolate and snickerdoodles at Auntie Gravity’s before heading to RocketTower Plaza Stage for the 7:40pm A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas show. After the show we went To Infinity and Beyond on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Next it was back to RocketTower Plaza Stage for the 8:05pm VoicePlay show. We love this a cappella group and enjoy listening to their harmonious Christmas songs. as we headed out of Tomorrowland, we grabbed some hot cocoa and peppermint cookies from the Launching Pad to enjoy while we walked to Club Tinsel for a dance break on our way to Fantasyland.

Since the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was too long, we got in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. After Pooh we stopped at The Friar’s Nook for sno-cones and sugar cookies. Next stop was the Haunted Mansion before heading to the Castle Forecourt Stage to see the 9:25pm Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration. We all enjoyed this new show. I love that there are some classic characters that are rarely seen in the parks as part of this show. Thanks to parents with kids on their shoulders blocking our view, my pictures are horrible. I don’t want you to miss out on the show, so I am sharing my friend John’s video of the show. I hope you like it!

After the parade we walked on to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was now after 11:40pm and we hadn’t done the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train yet. We hiked it across the park and got in line at 11:50pm, the wait time sign says 20 minutes, even though the park closes in 10 minutes they let us get in line. We exited the ride at 12:20am. Fantasyland was deserted. We headed to Man Street USA and sadly, it was no longer snowing but we did get a few great pictures of Cinderella Castle and the Christmas tree before we headed home.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party runs selects nights from November 7-December 22, 2016 with adult tickets ranging from $86-$99 per person. December 22nd is already sold out, as was November 18th. If you love all things Disney and all things Christmas, this is the event for you. I highly recommend it to all of my travel clients who travel during the party season. If you would like me to help you plan your next magical Disney vacation, Email Me so we can get started.

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When you are attending the party, you can get into the park at 4:00pm even though the party doesn’t start until 7pm. I recommend arriving early if you can because it allows time to catch some rides before the festivities get started. We arrived at about 5:30pm due to work schedules and traffic. We headed straight to Frontierland to meet up with a friend from Texas who is in town with his family on vacation. The 3 guys went and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I hung out with Kevin, Jessica and their girls. Next we headed to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jingle Cruise. As we excited Pirates we heard the announcement that the party was beginning. Instead of taking you through our evening in order, we thought we would share our Must-Do list for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Mom Maven’s Must-Dos at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2015

1. Holiday Wishes-Celebrate the Spirit of the Season/Celebrate the Magic

At 9:15pm you can see Cinderella Castle transform into a spectacular canvas of color and awe-inspiring magic. Viewing for this show is great from the hub on back down Main Street USA. We like to watch from near the Plaza Restaurant. This year we were on the new grassy area and had a great view of the show, except for the 1 light pole that is in a lot of our pictures!

Immediately after Celebrate the Magic, at 9:30pm is Holiday Wishes-Celebrate the Spirit of the Season holiday fireworks spectacular. This is our favorite fireworks show of the year!

2. Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Parade

This parade is at 8:15pm and 10:30pm, we recommend attending the second parade if you don’t have young children. The crowd for the second parade is usually lighter making it easier to get a good spot to watch from. We are parade people and we love Disney parades! We had planned to catch the second parade but we arrived in the hub area to stake out our spots for Holiday Wishes at about 8:45pm and the early parade was still going on. We were delighted to catch about half of the parade. As you can see from the pictures, the early parade is very crowded!

3. A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas!/VoicePlay

A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas! Is a fun show including Stitch, Buzz Lightyear, Mike Wazowski and a cast of singers and dancers. We catch this show every year, it is so much fun! This year the show is at 7:45pm, 8:40pm, 9:45pm, 10:40pm and 11:35pm. This year sharing the Rockettower Plaza Stage was the awesome a cappella vocal group, VoicePlay. Their sets were short, only about 15 minutes each and take place right after the first four performances of A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas! Just stay where you are, or move closer as the crowd leaves, and enjoy these talented vocalists.

4. Rides!

You are at the Magic Kingdom after all. During the party crowds are lighter than a normal park day and if you plan to catch some rides during the parade, lines are even shorter! We did the Jingle Cruise right at the start of the party-we had a 15 minute wait! I love the Jingle Cruise-it is a Christmas themed ride on the Jungle Cruise. I love the new jokes and the Christmas decorations scattered throughout the ride. Normally Peter Pan’s Flight has a 60+ minute wait so we often Fastpass+ this ride. We wanted Jordan and Chase to see the new, interactive queue so we got in line with a listed wait time of 30 minutes. Our actual wait time was 12 minutes and the boys loved the new queue! The other must-do ride is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Again, this ride usually has a wait time of over an hour and because we don’t plan our trips months or even weeks in advance, there are seldom Fastpasses available. We hopped in this line with a posted 30 minute wait and our actual wait was 27 minutes! At the end of the night as we walked from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland the boys decided to catch a ride on the Tomorrowland Speedway, which had a less than 15 minute wait! We also walked on to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin earlier in the evening so, we were content with the amount of rides we were able to do during the party.

5. Treats

Who can say “No” to free hot chocolate and cookies? Not us. I think Chase maxed out at 6 stops for cocoa and cookies. Why spend money on snacks when you can get free ones? Just look for the large inflatable candy canes, or check your park map for locations.

6. Characters

During Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party there are tons of characters available for meet and greets. Some of these are characters you seldom see out and about so I will give you a quick rundown of where to find the rare characters:

• Seven Dwarfs-Near the castle wall by Pinocchio’s Village Haus in Fantasyland
• Snow White and her Prince-Castle Archway in Fantasyland
• Reindeer and Elf-Across from Sunshine Terrace in Adventureland
• Sandy Claws-in Storybook Circus
• Mary Poppins & Bert-Near the Confectionery-on Main Street, USA
• Santa Claus-Next to City Hall-on Main Street, USA
• Phineas & Ferb-At Club Tinsel at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland

Last year I wrote a post about avoiding A Frozen Holiday Wish so if you are interested in finding out more about that, go ahead and click over. There are still several Mickey’s Very merry Christmas Parties left this season so contact your travel planner for tickets.

November 15, 17, 19; December 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15 – Advance: US $74 (plus tax) for adults; US $69 (plus tax) for children (ages 3-9);
Day of the Event: US $79 (plus tax) for adults; US $74 (plus tax) for children (ages 3-9)
November 20, 29; December 4, 11, 17 – US $79 (plus tax) for adults; US $74 (plus tax) for children (ages 3-9)
December 18 – US $82 (plus tax) for adults; US $77 (plus tax) for children (ages 3-9)

Merry Christmas,

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Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party takes place on select nights in November and December from 7pm-midnight at the Magic Kingdom. It is a hard ticket event which means it is not included in the cost of your regular park ticket. For 2009 adult advance purchase tickets cost $55.38 and children’s tickets were $48.99.

I have attended Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party twice prior to this visit. In 1994 Aaron was 1 1/2 years old and I was pregnant with Jordan and it rained all night and then again when the boys were older, and it rained all night. This time it was cold but the rain had stopped a few hours earlier! After entering the turnstiles at Magic Kingdom we received our wristbands and map and headed in to the party.

Our main focus of the night was to see some of the shows that are unique to the party. When we stepped on to Main Street USA is was packed with people finding their spots for the 8:15pm Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade. Since the parade ran again at 10:30pm we decided to catch it then and we headed toward Tomorrowland. First up we took a quick spin on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and for the record Aaron beat me. Next we found our spots for the 8:45pm Totally Tomorrowland Christmas Show at the Rockettower Plaza Stage. This high energy, high tech show featured singers and dancers as well as Tomorrowland residents Buzz Lightyear, Mike Wazowski and Stitch. It was a great show with a cute storyline of teaching Stitch about Santa Claus.

After that show we headed back towards Main Street USA and the hub to get ready for Holiday Wishes. Wishes is my all time favorite Disney fireworks show and Holiday Wishes is even better! Next we headed towards Liberty Square. We noticed that there were only a few minutes before the next show at the Hall of Presidents and we had yet to experience it since it re-opened in July. All political and historical thoughts aside, the new show is well done. We stopped in the Diamond Horseshoe to pick up our complimentary holiday treats-sugar cookies and hot chocolate! We enjoyed our treats as we waited for the parade to begin.

Kanga and Roo

Donald and Daisy

Chip and Dale

Disclosure: We were given tickets to the event as part of a media event at Walt Disney World Resort. Thanks s to Charles Stovall and his team for including us in this event. If you have any questions please refer to my Disclosure Policy at the bottom of the page.

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