12/7 MVMCP Dissapointment

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

We did it on 12/14 and it was extremely cold. We spend the whole day at MK and the park was completely empty then boom, MVMCP starts and the park is jammed packed.

My children, DD6 & DS5, asked to go back to AKL around 8:30 p.m. because they were so cold (and they were dressed for the cold). We started heading back to Main Street when they closed off the road due to wishes. Once wishes were done and they cleared the debris, we did not get back to our bus stop until close to ten. Then we had to wait 1/2 hour for a bus. We did not get back to AKL until almost 11:00 p.m. It took us 2 1/2 hours in total from the time we started heading out to the time we got back to our hotel.
We will not be doing it again; however we might try the Halloween one next year.

I did not expect it to be so crowded and the hot chocolate was indeed too hot for the kids to drink.

 

[Del]

We went 12/9 from 4-9:30pm. We did rides very easily. Saw the xmas show (1st show at 5:15) and 1st parade and wishes easily from Frontierland area. No lines for cookies and hot choc.....and we had no problems walking out of the park to TTC. I'm glad we did it. I don't feel the need to go back again next year to do it. It was our arrival day so we didn't do any parks prior to that. 12/10 was sold out. I would not say it was a waste of money for us. If I did do it again in the future, would sure stick with a week night like we did. A sold out event sounds like crowd overload to me.

Del

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

Does anyone know if 12/14 was sold out?

 

[Judy from Boise]

My family was there on 12/7 also. I agree that it was less magical than in previous years, I especially missed the coach and music groups in Fantasyland. But i would say that we easily got exactly what Disney promised, and can't imagine how people could justify wanting a refund! We didn't get into the park until 7, but where able to get our photo, have a round of cookies and cocoa, see the second parade, have a great view of wishes(with only a 30 minute wait) from the planter in Fantasyland, we also did all the rides we wanted. From 1130-1200 alone we rode BTTRR twice, Splash Mountain, and saw the Country bears! After that we were able to see the finale of the Castle show, and the goodnight kiss!

 

[FatCow]

Can't imagine how people could justify wanting a refund!

Oh come on, paying that much to see soap bubbles, mediocre shows and out-of-sync parade? On top of that... the crowd being worse than during daytime?

The only thing that's worth watching was Wishes. Even then, Wishes on the 7th is the worst compared to the 2nd and the 10th.

It's worth to experience it once in a lifetime, but no more.

 

[HollyJoy]

I have to agree with you about Wishes. Now keep in mind, that we did have a good time, and I've never seen wishes before, so nothing to compare it to. WE decided to sit infront of the castle so that we could see the show right after Wishes. Well, the first part of wishes was totally BEHIND the castle! There were kids all around us crying because they coudln't see the fireworks! Eventually, they got higher and only then was it truly breathtaking. We were disappointed that Tinkerbell didn't fly either. Never ran into gridlock, and were able to do everything we wanted, but it was pretty crowded! We never did seek out the cookies and cocoa.

 

[Magic2000]

So sorry yall didn't enjoy the MVMCP! We went on Dec 9 and had a GREAT time!!! We didn't find it crowded at all!!!! Most of the rides were a walk on - and we did several of the rides over and over!!! (The only rides we didn't do was Space Mountain & Haunted Mansion - DD didn't want to do those at night???!!!) We walked right up for our cookies & cocoa right before the parade! It was nice to sip hot chocolate and watch the parade!

This is our fourth MVMCP - we've always had a great time, and have always managed to miss the crowds!!

We rode Buzz Lightyear quite a few times that night, and then again on our last night there - right before we left. My DD(9) got the highest score possible - 999,999!!! She was SO EXCITED!!!! It was the perfect ending for our trip!!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Yup, I still think asking for a refund would be really stretching it, unless you can find somewhere in writing that guarenteed a specifically capped attendence number that wasn't followed.

 

[FatCow]

The crowd is the least of my disappointment. The mediocre shows, parades and cheezy 'snow' are the things I have problem with.

It's more like an overbloated-overpriced E-night.

Even the pics they took are all blurry (what kind of compression setting do they use? my DD6's 2.1 MP yields a much sharper picture than the pics they took, and I'm not exaggerating)

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Wow- what a bummer! We went in 2001, on a Sunday (I think it was 12/2) and had an excellent time. The crowds weren't bad at all and we got to ride EVERYTHING either without a line at all or a very minimal line.

Now of course, school was in session when we went. Which has a BIG influence on the crowds.

We really love this event. Not as much as the Halloween party, but def. a close second!

 

[wilderness01]

We went on the 7th as well and I agree with the rest of the folks saying it ws overcrowded and not worth it. What a disappointment. We will not be going again.

 

[austiemarc]

We spent a wonderful day in MK, the crowds were reasonable and we were able to do most of what we wanted to do...I kept telling my family slow down we've got all day & night and assured them that the lines would be even shorter during MVMCP. HAH! From 4:30-6/6:30 it was pretty good we happened to be back in Fantasyland at the time the day crowds were clearing out and were able to ride Peter Pan/Pooh/Dumbo/Snow White 2 times each (which my 4 & 7 yr old wanted to do since they were the lines we avoided all day). Well, after that it went TOTALLY crazy, the crowds were so bad by 6:30/7:00 you could hardly walk through the park, forget getting on rides and who was going to tell their kids they were going to stand in line 30-60 minutes for our "complimentary" pic??? Not me! We really didn't have problem getting the cocoa & cookies...but honestly they were not the items that caused me to spend the extra money for the tickets! We did see the packed Mickey's Christmas show, could not make it anywhere near the front of the castle without risking being trampled on to see the show there, we did watch the parade from a so/so spot & found people to be so irritable because of the overly crowded atmosphere it took away from the anticipated "magic" of the night. I knew when we picked Friday the 10th we ran the risk of it being a more crowded night but it was the date which worked with our schedule & when I expressed my concern to the CM when I was purchasing my tickets he assured me they only sold so many tickets so it would never get too crowded! Well I hope he was there that night to see just how bad it was!
I have to say overall we were disappointed with the whole Christmas atmosphere in the parks. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Disney and maybe we went expecting too much. But it seemed to us once you got inside of the parks and away from the main entrances there just wasnt' that many decorations, etc. We live by Hersheypark in PA and while I totally understand it's much much smaller than Disney, there is not a foot of that park which is not decorated for Xmas, it's beautiful!
We definitely plan many more visits to Disney, but I'll be very hesitant to book another "exclusive" party at WDW, this was our first and left a bad first impression!
I truly hope that alot of other people had a more enjoyable experience.

 

[DebbieB]

Here's a picture of the fireworks I took on 12/7:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cc30b3127cce9dcffc57c82300000026108AZOGTFq4ZtJ

I didn't think the crowds were that bad. We got there about 6:00 and rode Buzz with no wait. Was in line for the picture from about 6:30 to 6:45. Headed back to Fantasyland, it was open before 7:00. Passed Pooh, people were boarding with no wait. Rode Snow White, PP, HM, PoC all with no wait. Headed to the Emporium and bought the party pin. Found a curb spot near where the parade comes out in Town Square about 15 minutes before (actually not a good spot because you don't see the floats coming). Headed back to the hub, found a table by the Plaza Restaurant and I went over and got the cookies and hot chocolate. We realized it wasn't a good spot for Wishes because of the trees, so we walked up to the pathway to the Rose Garden. Watched Wishes. Left not long after, my mom was tired (she's undergoing treatment for breast cancer). Caught a bus back to Boardwalk with little wait. I guess because this was our 7th year we didn't have preconceived expectations. Seemed pretty much the same as other years except no button and no Rudolph. We used to always get our picture done back at Small World right after we got there, there was never a line. I had hoped to get there earlier, I had a PS for the Plaza at 4:30 but we had leftovers from our CP dinner the night before and decided to just eat in the room (villa with microwave). Waited awhile for the bus at BW.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I was at MVMCP both 12/9 and 12/16. I had a great time both nights. I wasn't terribly concerned with seeing either the parades or the shows, and on both nights, I was able to do every ride I wanted to with pretty much no wait. Both nights, I rode BTMRR 3x, Splash 3x, HM, Space 2x, and Buzz 2x. Also add Pooh on the 16th. No longer than 5 minute wait for any of them.

 

[NHLFAN]

We attended the party on 12/7 and we entered the park a little after 4 o'clock and stayed until midnight...

We had our photos taken in Tomorrowland just before 7:00 and only waited a few minutes in a somewhat fast moving line.

It was a bummer they were giving out postcards instead of the pins that we have collected from the other years we went but I think the cookies were better this year... snickerdoodles instead of the packaged hard sugar cookies.

I think the crowds were just what we had expected and the weather wasn't too bad.
The fireworks did seem to be lower in the sky this year and my wife did notice no Rudolph!
We will return next year...

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

There were a lot of people but the ride lines were very short.

It's the same thing as MNSSHP. I went to three this year (including one on a supposedly "busy" night) and the only ride that ever had a line was Peter Pan (and that was only like 20-30 mins anyway).

I found the crowds at the parties tend to throng together in one spot - making it appear more crowded than it is. I had no problems riding all the rides multiple times with a wait less than 5 minutes (often times they were literally walk-ons).

I think this is because when I encounter a huge crowd, I go the other way. I always found other sections of the park to be dead empty. Partiers just seem to walk around in huge packs. When Main Street and the Hub are packed, Splash and Big Thunder, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and even sometimes Fantasyland rides are dead.

I hear rumors of the ticket cap being at like 20-25K - of course we don't know for sure. But when 1/2 of those people are gathered in the same place, I think you will find the rest of the park much more open and inviting. And remember - a crowd outside a ride doesn't mean there is one inside.

I'm sorry so many people didn't enjoy this party - I hope you had a good time the rest of the trip!

N.E.D.

 

[eeyore0062]

Wishes isn't done at the Parties. What you saw was the Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks with Christmas additions.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Wishes isn't done at the Parties. What you saw was the Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks with Christmas additions.

Are you sure? The program says Wishes with special Christmas addition. I've seen both and I would swear it was Wishes. Jiminy Cricket was the narrator, the Genie was in it........

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I too was very dissapointed and maybe might do one party next year, if only to see the shows. We were there all week and the riding the rides was much easier during the day.

The Christmas shows were packed and my DH had to stake out a spot for the parade over two hours before the parade.

The line for photos was too long. If we wanted to see the shows or parades then we couldn't do the pictures.

The cookies were much, much better than last year.

We were there on the 7th and the 9th. If you had to see the first parade which you do if you have small children, then it was hard to get a spot. So you had a choice. Wait for a parade or pictures. By 9pm my DD's 7 and 5 were sleeping despite an afternoon nap, so I'm going to rethink spending that much money for an extra 2 hrs.

I thought it was much too crowded to justify spending that much money.

 

[DebbieB]

Wishes isn't done at the Parties. What you saw was the Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks with Christmas additions.

It was definitely Wishes at MVMCP. I've seen both many times and know the difference.

There really wasn't a Christmas addition. They did shoot off the extra surround fireworks at the end but there was no Christmas music like prior years.