Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party -Yay or Nay w/2yo?

[Dis703]

We will be taking our 26 month old to WDW for the first time in just a few weeks. We happen to be there the first week of the MVMCP and I'm really torn on making a decision as to whether or not we should buy tickets for it or not.

My main concern is the late timing. He normally goes to bed at 8pm now and the party doesn't begin until 7pm. I'm sure he'll be excited enough to stay up for a bit, but I don't want to miss anything by having to leave early. I think the latest he might manage is leaving the park at 10pm. Is that long enough to make it worth the extra ticket price?

We are there for 9 days and I'm trying to not have him up super late too many times because I'm not sure how well he'll adjust to his normal schedule when we get home. Any input on this? Anyone travel with a 2 year old and let them stay up really late on vacation? How easily do they readjust when you get home?

Honestly I feel like the Christmas party is more for me than anything else because I'm sure he'll be content just doing the regular park stuff.

Thanks for your input!

Heather

 

[bleeps]

What we've found in our family is that a WDW vacation is exhausting on many levels -- it's an overwhelming, visual, gustatory, audio overload. Wonderful, yes, but especially for young children having to adapt to all the changes (different place to sleep, different places to eat, experiences that are fun but totally outside of the norm) gets totally exhausting.

My heartfelt advice is to skip the party. You'll still have a great vacation, you've got plenty of time to enjoy yourselves, but personally I don't think it's worth the extra tax on your little one's system to add one more thing (esp. a nighttime thing). We didn't start doing the parties until my son was 6, and even then sometimes we were pushing it....

I'm sure other people's experiences will be different, but you know your child best and I think the fact that you're already suspecting that it might be too much means that you should listen to your own wise self!

And in terms of the schedule thing -- our son was always very much on a schedule; in fact, he still is! It's always a bit of a challenge to re-enter regular life again after a WDW vacation. When he was little, it probably took about a week of being home to really be back on track again.

 

[tinkalicious]

I'm wondering the same thing! I have a 2 year old, and a 6 year old who are used to going to bed early. MVMCP is on the first day we're at WDW and I'm leaning toward saving it for next year.

BTW, can you really get into MK at 4:00, because when you call they're saying you can't get in until 7:00!!!

JK - I know people have been freaking about that on here.

 

[2girls4me]

We will be taking our 26 month old to WDW for the first time in just a few weeks. We happen to be there the first week of the MVMCP and I'm really torn on making a decision as to whether or not we should buy tickets for it or not.

My main concern is the late timing. He normally goes to bed at 8pm now and the party doesn't begin until 7pm. I'm sure he'll be excited enough to stay up for a bit, but I don't want to miss anything by having to leave early. I think the latest he might manage is leaving the park at 10pm. Is that long enough to make it worth the extra ticket price?

We are there for 9 days and I'm trying to not have him up super late too many times because I'm not sure how well he'll adjust to his normal schedule when we get home. Any input on this? Anyone travel with a 2 year old and let them stay up really late on vacation? How easily do they readjust when you get home?

Honestly I feel like the Christmas party is more for me than anything else because I'm sure he'll be content just doing the regular park stuff.

Thanks for your input!

Heather

yay!!!! we took DD at roughly the same age and we stayed for the parade. not the fireworks, but she loved loved loved the parade. yes, she was a little off her schedule, but it's disney. she fell asleep ok at the hotel and slept all night long. I definitely recommend it.

 

[saraheeyore]

i also say yay
we took my daughter at 25 months and its worth it for parade, fireworks and snow even if thats all you get done. we made her have a sleep in the afternoon so she could stay up later. it was probably the only time we will ever get near christmas though so we had to make sure we saw it. Girls usually seem to adapt better to change though not sure what my son is gonna be like when we go in May so you may have to think about that. Mine would probably just fall asleep in pushchair though so maybe depends if you want to see it or are just bothered about him seeing it

 

[sjw4870]

I think I am going to be in the minority here - but I say skip it. I only went to the MVMCP once so I am not an expert but I don't think a child as young as yours would even notice any difference between being at MK on a 'regular' night versus a party night.

 

[Kayka]

I vote skip the party. Overall we weren't big fans of the Christmas Party. The parade was great but I don't think that a two year old would appreciate the theme. As far as 'snow' and holiday magic we like Hollywood Studios. The Osborne Spectacle of Lights is impressive.

We were able to get in at 4pm with the Party Ticket.
One advantage to being there for the party with older kids or young adults is that lines are relatively short for all the Mountains.

 

[saraheeyore]

I think I am going to be in the minority here - but I say skip it. I only went to the MVMCP once so I am not an expert but I don't think a child as young as yours would even notice any difference between being at MK on a 'regular' night versus a party night.

my daughter knew it was special and she still rembers quite a bit and she was 25 months she was very forward though (and still is) she's 4 now and still tells us she didn't like woody (toy story) because he was too big whenever she watches toy story. If I was going every chistmas or regularly at that time of year i would not have take her though as there's enough daytime parades to watch and she would have watched them over and over and have been just as happy

 

[septimuswigley]

Howdy

We're also going to the party this year - never been so late in the year so it's either go now or not do it at all!! so i guess it depends on whether you'll be doing WDW again near Christmas to catch another party another year.

Our DD will be 8 months old We appreciate that it's out of her schedule and she may be grumpy (or asleep) for the party, but it's mainly for us luckily she is pretty flexible. If it gets too much, we'll just leave.

her routine will be all over the place anyway and the photos will be good (hopefully!)

we'll be there on the 11th Nov... I can't wait to see the snow!!

 

[PirateKate]

I would go to the party. I'd bring a comfy stroller and a blanket and pillow and hopefully, he can sleep a bit during the party.

 

[sarahsar]

I think it is very dependent on your child. I haven't been to MVMCP yet but we did MNSSHP this year with our 5 yr old and just-turned-2-year-old. At home, we have a pretty consistent routine and they both go to bed between 7:30 and 8. On this trip we did the party as well as some late dinners and they both did really well. We did do the early parade because I wanted to make sure our 2 year old was awake for it. Our 2 year old loved the whole experience. She is still talking about the dance parties, which I understand they have at MVMCP also. We left the park probably around 11. We did try to make the day of the party a low-key day and built in lots of time for a good nap beforehand. Unfortunately our 2 year old, who is usually a good napper, decided to give up most naps for our week in Disney World, but it still worked out. She will sleep in the stroller, though, which helps.

As far as the extra ticket price, at least your 26 month old won't have to have a ticket. Of course obviously for adults and older children they will, but at least if your son sleeps in his stroller through it you don't have to feel too bad about the money!

Our first trip to WDW (well, our first trip as adults with kids) was last year, and I tried to keep everything on our home schedule. I planned early dinners, etc. I found that it was just nuts that way, trying to make it to dinner early, and no one was ready to go to sleep at their normal bedtime. With later trips, we gave that up and just went with it. The kids adjusted to the disruption in their schedule fine and when we got home they went right back to normal. Actually they took _really_ good naps, probably from the exhaustion of Disney!

I'll take that back. I can't say there's been absolutely no disruption at home. We've been back about a week and a half and this morning my 2 year old woke up at 4 am. My husband was trying to settle her down and she kept saying, "Disney World! Cinderella! Snow White! Jessie! Woody! Dance party! Zurg!" She was wound up and ready to go!

You of course know your child best. If he's able to handle a little variation in his routine, then I wouldn't worry too much about throwing off his exact schedule. _Everything_ is going to be different and exciting, which can be great for kids, or bad depending on how they deal with it. If he really needs his routine, then you can respect that and do the party another year. If you aren't going at a sellout time of year for the party, you can always make the decision the day of. If it's not the first day of the trip, at least you'll see how he's handling everything.

 

[RMulieri]

I vote to skip it....We did MNSSHP for the first time when our daughter was 4 yrs old.Even WITH napping during the day and making the day a rest day prior to the party , she was TOAST by shortly after 930pm.It didn't matter that we would have gotten her a stroller, it didn't matter that we were just watching the fireworks,she was DONE and she wanted to leave.SO we did.While it was great and we had agood time, we definitely didn't get to do alot of what we wanted to justify the cost.We went back a year later , and it was such a difference.

 

[nhl66pens]

I would definitely tell you to skip the party. It can be (and was when I attended in Dec 2008) so crowded that an adult has difficulty moving from location to location. Add a stroller to the equation, and you will spend your night constantly asking people to let you pass or trying to ward off people from knocking the stroller over.

 

[Got Muchness]

Nay.....I took my 4 year old in '08 and she just wanted to go back to the resort and sleep. We had even taken the day off and relaxed. She was still ready for bed by 9:30.

 

[gypsymama]

We really enjoyed the Christmas party, but we made sure and took a nap earlier that day. My kids were 4 and 6 at the time. If the baby will nap in a stroller, and the crowds with a stroller doesn't stress you out I would go for it.

 

[budbeerlady]

I vote for skip it, not really worth the extra money. Buy some hot coco at HS and spend alot of time enjoying the Osborne lights for a better money value.

 

[claryche]

The way I look at it is if you really want to go to the party for yourself or for the rest of your family, then go. But don't go just for the little one, because they probably will miss some of it. The advantage is at this age, you don't have to pay for them a ticket, so it isn't a waste of money from that standpoint.

We took my DS when he was 2 and a half. The morning of the party we went to MK just to walk around for a little bit and then to Chef Mickey's for a late breakfast. Then back to the room. For what we hoped would be a nap. Which of course didn't work. My DS opted to fall asleep on the bus back to MK around 4pm. And they were letting people in at 4pm, this was 2008. But it gave my DH and I some time to ride some rides with rider switch while my DS slept.

And then he was awake and loved it. He loved the shows and the fireworks. This was also the only way for us to really see the fairies, because the line wasn't over an hour long. My DS did miss the parade that night, but I was able to wake him up for a pic with Mickey and Minnie just before midnight. We actually closed out the Baby Care Center that night, changing him into his pj's. It was a great night. I did feel rushed the whole night, but my DS enjoyed himself. Now will I do it again any time soon. I didn't do it last year and probably won't this year, mainly because of the cost though.

Of course every child is different, but just wanted to share my experience. And here is a picture of us after midnight.

Now my DS looks a little sleepy, but he was good. In fact the next morning we had planned on a late start, didn't have anything planned until 11:30am. But my DS woke up earlier than planned so we went to DTD for an hour and then to our lunch res at 11:30.