Mickey Christmas Party- Advice

[jenny8484]

We will be going to WDW Nov 30-Dec 6 and we will be booking the Mickey Christmas Party on one of our days there. We initially booked a 5 day park ticket, but now wondering if we should drop it down to a 4 day ticket and instead use the day that we are going to the Christmas Party as a rest day. The other alternative would be going to AK during the day, then the Christmas party in the evening, but I'm not sure if that's too much... my kids will be 10, 7 and 18 months old at the time of our trip. Thoughts?

 

[Graciesmom77]

We always use the party day as a down day during the day. When my kiddos were your kids ages, a park day then the Christmas party would have been too much for them.(and probably me too!) We sometimes go to Disney Springs in the morning of a party day and then rest in the afternoon and get to the park right before 4:00 when they start letting people in. Have a great trip!

 

[AussieFan8]

We don't typically buy a day ticket for party days, either. We either go to the pool or, during the holidays, we will sometimes do a resort tour to see the decorations before the party. It's a fun, relaxing way to spend the day. The one time we went to AK before a party, we lost track of time, had to leave AK before they closed, and then still got to the party late and had a huge line to get in. I prefer to have a relaxing day and arrive early at MK.

 

[Mandy Poppins]

I agree with advice above, wouldn't do another park on party day. We did the Christmas Party and Halloween Party before when my kids were middle school and high school age. We did a monorail tour to look at the resorts (especially at Christmas) and ate at Kona Cafe before going into Magic Kingdom around 4:00 for the party.

This past December my DH and I did the Very Merriest After Hours Event (no kids on this trip) and we did actually go to MK in the morning then back to Wilderness Lodge for rest and back to MK in the evening.

Enjoy!

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Can you do that? I was under the impression that tickets are non refundable. So you’re stuck with the days you have already bought unless you’re upgrading. Please comment if I have this wrong!

 

[jenny8484]

Can you do that? I was under the impression that tickets are non refundable. So you’re stuck with the days you have already bought unless you’re upgrading. Please comment if I have this wrong!

I didn't even think about that. I booked a resort/ticket package through my friend who is a TA. I was assuming that I could just drop down from a 5 day to 4 day ticket.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I didn't even think about that. I booked a resort/ticket package through my friend who is a TA. I was assuming that I could just drop down from a 5 day to 4 day ticket.

Let me know if you’re successful. I would drop a day from my trip too if that’s the case. Our flight gets in later than I’d like.

 

[Mle8308]

Can you do that? I was under the impression that tickets are non refundable. So you’re stuck with the days you have already bought unless you’re upgrading. Please comment if I have this wrong!

Technically you could if you bought tickets as part of a Disney package. You would have to cancel the package and rebook. Though you may be able to take off a day from the tickets without cancelling, we have added on days but not the other way... If tickets were bought separately, then I do not believe so, it would depend on the policy of the seller (if not Disney).

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We are going the same time as you are and we will have a 4 and 2 yo with us. We currently have APs since we went in February already. Our plan was to rest and go over to MK early afternoon and just stay. I learned that my girls won’t nap at the room but they will pass out in the stroller, so figure we can let them nap in the stroller before the party starts.

 

[kam0202]

We always use the party day as a down day during the day. When my kiddos were your kids ages, a park day then the Christmas party would have been too much for them.(and probably me too!) We sometimes go to Disney Springs in the morning of a party day and then rest in the afternoon and get to the park right before 4:00 when they start letting people in. Have a great trip!

Thank you for this, I agree and will take your advice. We plan to book the 12/18 party and take the day to just relax then head over to check into the event at 4pm. Presuming we can ride some rides before the event officially starts at 7pm or are you prevented from doing that since I didn't pay for a park ticket that day (but the event itself costs like a park ticket! ;-)

 

[ktlm]

Thank you for this, I agree and will take your advice. We plan to book the 12/18 party and take the day to just relax then head over to check into the event at 4pm. Presuming we can ride some rides before the event officially starts at 7pm or are you prevented from doing that since I didn't pay for a park ticket that day (but the event itself costs like a park ticket! ;-)

You can enter at 4:00 p.m. and then do anything you want once you are in the park. Some people use that time to ride rides. Depending on what characters are there, some people will line up almost immediately once they get there for one of the most popular character meets to avoid spending an hour or more of party time in line for a character (for example for either MVMCP or MNSSHP 7 dwarfs and Jack (usually with Sally) often have huge lines and often start their meet and greets before 7-- although the 7 dwarfs have not shown up at MNSSHP this year, so they may not for MVMCP).

From the time DD was 2, we have always used a separate ticket and gone to a park on party days. DD was high energy, always wanted to be in the parks, and would stroller nap. We have done AK and then gone back to the resort and then to the party--- but we have found it a lot easier to do MK. MK typically has low crowds on party day until 4:00 p.m. too. For MVMCP, we sometimes just head to the park (not always at rope drop) and then stay through the party--- you can get your wrist bands at the party. For MNSSHP, we typically go back to the resort in the early afternoon, change into costumes, and then come back and go through the regular line (not party line) with our regular ticket and get wristbands at the station inside the park. We really enjoy MK on party days because it generally does have lower crowds in the morning and early afternoon.

 

[kam0202]

You can enter at 4:00 p.m. and then do anything you want once you are in the park. Some people use that time to ride rides. Depending on what characters are there, some people will line up almost immediately once they get there for one of the most popular character meets to avoid spending an hour or more of party time in line for a character (for example for either MVMCP or MNSSHP 7 dwarfs and Jack (usually with Sally) often have huge lines and often start their meet and greets before 7-- although the 7 dwarfs have not shown up at MNSSHP this year, so they may not for MVMCP).

From the time DD was 2, we have always used a separate ticket and gone to a park on party days. DD was high energy, always wanted to be in the parks, and would stroller nap. We have done AK and then gone back to the resort and then to the party--- but we have found it a lot easier to do MK. MK typically has low crowds on party day until 4:00 p.m. too. For MVMCP, we sometimes just head to the park (not always at rope drop) and then stay through the party--- you can get your wrist bands at the party. For MNSSHP, we typically go back to the resort in the early afternoon, change into costumes, and then come back and go through the regular line (not party line) with our regular ticket and get wristbands at the station inside the park. We really enjoy MK on party days because it generally does have lower crowds in the morning and early afternoon.

This is awesome, thank you for letting me know. It will be our first special event and my boys are very much looking forward to doing MVMCP!!! The characters info is super helpful, I definitely want to try to get pictures with them.
Sounds like you definitely knew how to do Disney with your DD based on her schedule and energy level! Mine would not stroller nap when they were younger; we had to take mid-day breaks to go back to the resort. We've never done MNSSHP, but maybe next year! Great info too on the crowd levels, good to know!!! Thanks, again.