Has anyone done the Christmas party? Trying to decide if it's worth the money. I've always enjoyed the Halloween party but not sure about
MVMCP. I've heard mixed reviews. Any reviews here?
We have done
MNSSHP once and MVMCP twice. We enjoyed both. We recommend both.
Now, that said, we didn't wait in (very many) lines for characters, mostly did attractions (which have fairly short or reasonable wait times), enjoyed the park, watched the parade, and watched the fireworks.
Both times we did MVMCP it was chilly in the evening -- so layers were important. I actually brought a LIGHT (Polartec 100) fleece earband, scarf and mittens just in case and ENDED UP WEARING THEM. Er, and we are from Canada and were escaping winter. The temp itself wasn't too bad, it was the wind and windchill more than anything. YMMV.
Both MVMCP we entered soon after four and made our way past the hordes that congregate on Main Street. On our last trip, MVMCP was the ONLY park we visited - the rest of the trip was resort visiting and then a B2B cruise. So, doing rides was important. We stay til the end, and take advantage of the thinning out late in the evening to get on rides with pretty much no wait. Basically all the rides we wanted to do we did with no problem, some more than once.
I do note that the TTA is only open until 7, so we deliberately scheduled that in in our 4-7 time.
We have done an MK TS meal in the 4-7 window, but that does take away from park time. Another time we just ate at the resort before the party and then grabbed something later in the evening from Cosmic Ray's. We did the TS because it was a specific restaurant we wanted to eat at and that was our chance to, but I think in the future we would do late lunch at Roaring Forks and then an MK QS in the evening.
I think whether one enjoys it will depend largely on how you view the party. For us, it is a way to get concentrated park time with lower crowds, a specific theme, maybe doa couple meet and greets, some free snacks (they even have allergy friendly ones) and see some special shows, parade and fireworks. So, kind of a condensed day at the park with a few extra doses of the holidays. Another benefit it if it is your only park visit that trip it is cheaper than a full day pass for MK. And you can get a lot done; see: lower crowds, etc.
Another advantage of the parties, for me, is most of it is in the dark. I am photosensitive/react badly to the sun, so being able to visit the park at night and not have to worry about sunscreen and sun protective clothing and hats and such is GREAT. Though hats protect your ears a bit from wind... see earbands above
To decide if we wanted to do the parties in the first place, we did a lot of research online. Looked at prior year maps/handouts. Looked at prior year pictures. Watched lots and lots of videos. Decided it was for us. Are glad we did it and will do it again.
Hope this helps.
SW