is mvmcp worth going over budget?

[csamom]

Hi,

My extended family is going to Disney the Saturday after Thanksgiving through Thursday, Dec. 4th.

We are so excited, but I am a type A planner and wanted your advice regarding the Mickey party.

We are staying at the GF and are paying for the Candlelight processional dinner package, so with Christmas just around the corner, that's about our budget already.

My biggest concern is the crowds those first couple of days. Sat. we are planning Epcot or Typhoon Lagoon and Ohanas for dinner. Sunday we will do ee at Mk and candlelight at Epcot that night.

Should I reschedule and do MVMCP Sunday and CP Saturday?

Thanks so much! Our only other dinner planned is Whispering Canyon Cafe (we have a lot of small kids in our party). Our breakfasts will be the princess b-fast at Epcot and Donald's at AK.


Thanks again!

 

[Judgekw]

We went to MVMCP a couple of years ago, and I wouldn't go over budget for the event. It is fun, but it was really crowded and about the only real perk is hot chocolate, cookies and a little family picture that you have to wait in a long line to get. The Christmas atmosphere at Walt Disney World in general is just fabulous. You will be surrounded by beautiful decorations, Christmas music and Christmas merchandise everywhere you go. So I really don't think you or your kids will be missing out. The kids would probably have just as much fun popping over to downtown Disney to check out the fantastic new toy store. My kids went crazy there. They can build potato heads, lincoln logs, tinker toys etc and all the decorations in the stores are incredible. Also, just touring all the resorts is a lot of fun. The decorations everywhere are so great. If you have a lot of little ones, I think they really have more fun when they are not overscheduled anyway. I think your orginal plan sounds great. Have a blast.

 

[DisneyKidds]

We are doing the CP Dinner Package on Sat and MVMCP on Sunday.........................so I obviously think that is a great idea .

As for your question..............is MVMCP worth going over budget for? I'd say yes. We do it twice each year. The atmosphere is incredible. The "snow" on Main St., Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade, all the Christmas shows, the special MVMCP fireworks, rides with short lines, characters in Christmas garb (the Princesses in their holiday dresses are great for Princess fans)..............so many great things that you just wouldn't be able to experience if you didn't do the party. IMHO it is definitely worth the money..............twice!! It can be crowded on Main Street, but otherwise the crowds out in the lands have never been a problem.

As for scheduling................there are some other things you may want to consider if you haven't already. Wishes (the new MK fireworks show) and SpectroMagic (MK nighttime parade) will be offered on Saturday and Monday during your stay. MVMCP will be held on Sunday and Tuesday. CP you can do any night (assuming availability of the package). You definitely want to see Wishes and SpectroMagic.............even if it means braving the MK on a Saturday night. Once you decide which night you do that (if you choose to do so) it might dictate what you do with Saturday night. We like the idea of Epcot on Saturday night to avoid the MK crowds............but we will brave the MK Friday night crowd to see Wishes and Spectro.

So that really doesn't give you much advice............just more to think about. I suppose you could stay away from the crowded MK on Sat, keep your CP dinner on Sunday, see Wishes and Spectro on Monday, and do MVMCP on Tuesday. Of course I have no idea what you already have planned for all those days.

Sure is a lot of work figuring it all out....................but fun too.

 

[DavidNYC]

If you like the Magic Kingdom (and especially if you like the rides) go!

My biggest suggestion would be to go Tuesday. What we've done for MVMCP (and this year for MNSSHP). is to take the day off on the day we're doing the party (maybe a water park, downtown disney etc) and then head to MK at 4pm. They generally let you in that early and that way you get an extra 3 hours added to the party and don't "waste" a full day of a park pass (this of course is irrelevant if you're using the unlimited pass for your whole stay). The lines on the rides (at least for a Tuesday party) should be next to nothing. I didn't find any midweek party we've been to overly crowded.

The atmosphere at the party is really nice. You can pretty much see the entire MK that night at, beleive or not, a relatively leisurely pace. The shows and parades are nice and, hopefully, they'll show some form of Wishes. (For MNSSHP this year they still had Fantasy in the Sky but I've heard that was because Wishes was still rolling out and they didn't have time to adapt it for the party).

 

[Sarahsmom85]

I've only been once in 2000. We enjoyed all the shows featuring the xmas theme. We only went on a very few rides. To me that was not a ride night it really is for the shows. And they where great I thought.

Tip about the little picture they send you, I love it the best, find out where they are taking the photos and go to the one farest away from main st. The one we went to had very small lines. There is more than one place to have the photo taken.

We too, spent the day shopping instead of any other park activity.
Really puts you in the xmas spirit.








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[bobbiwoz]

I also think the party is worth it, and we have learned not to use another park admission that day.

The park was definitely not as crowded as it could be, we were able to walk on many rides like Space Mountain and Buzz. It was suggested to go for pictures early and this worked, no more than 10 minute wait and this was both for MNSSHP and MVMCP. We had wonderful viewing of the parade and did not have to stake out our place an hour or more before hand. The hot chocolate and cookies were a bonus!

Bobbi