*~Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Central!~*

[gordonfan]

We have never been to MVMCP. What rides will be operating and what else should we expect that will be different than during the day?

 

[wilderness01]

What day of the week is the best day to go?

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by gordonfan
We have never been to MVMCP. What rides will be operating and what else should we expect that will be different than during the day?

Most rides will run...
list of attractions open

The parade is different. The fireworks will have a holiday twist.

The Snow down Main Street.

The free souvenir photo. The free hot choc and cookies.

The special button when you take your photo...free.

The special MVMCP pins for sale in the shops.

The special Xmas shows.

That's all I can think of...

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by wilderness01
What day of the week is the best day to go?

weekdays, avoid Fridays, if possible.

 

[della]

Have any of the dates sold out yet? We really want to go but are hesitating. We have gone a couple of times before and had great times. But we are a little nervous that our girls (who are miserable when they are tired) will not be happy campers late at night. The last time we went they were babies and slept right through MVMCP! We will be there the week of Dec 7th.

 

[cat1239]

Is anyone going to MVMCP today? I am very anxious to hear about it. Also, as other posters have asked I would also like to know if they are allowing people without tickets early entry. We are still trying to decide if we should go...just need some more info to seal the deal.

Thank you,
Cathy

 

[roger_jessica_4ever]

I just saw on another board that the 19th is sold out. We plan on going the 7th and 9th. This is our fisrt Christmas party and cannot wait!

 

[cat1239]

FYI....A poster on this board said that they were able to get into MVMCP this weekend at 4:00 p.m.. They also posted show times etc....

Cathy

 

[jlieblaw]

We went to MVMCP on Sunday night, the 30th. We arrived around 5:15 and were let right in. We did have a PS but no one at the gate asked about it and plenty of other people were already going in. They are doing complimentary stroller rentals, which was nice as we took a double for my dd so she would have room to spread out with the blanket and also to hold all the coats, etc. It got pretty cool later in the evening. We ate at Tony's and then headed to Tomorrowland. We caught part of Mickey's Twas the Night before Christmas then started heading toward the castle for the 7:00 holiday show there. Some of the CMs were pretty strict in letting people walk around but we managed to slip by them and got a seat in front of the castle with a lot of other people. The line in Tomorrowland for the free photo was extremely long. The line for Buzz was pretty long too. We didn't get to do nearly as much as we wanted, but mostly because of us. We had my 2 yr. old dd so we took it pretty slow and let her spend some time in Toontown. The lines in Fantasyland were long for PeterPan and Pooh and they were doing FastPass. I can't help you out with any other lines as we never even went to Adventureland or Tomorrowland other than the 6:00 herding. We only rode two rides, Dumbo and the Carousel, as we were there mainly for the Christmas festivities. The shows were great (my dd started crying when we wouldn't stay for another show at the castle) as was the parade. We went to the second parade and took a seat about an hour before it started. We could have gotten a seat later but I was pretty tired by then (I'm in my last trimester and tire pretty easily right now) and we left after the parade. Get your cookies and hot cocoa early as we had no line. Later we walked by and the line was out the door at Columbia Harbour House. We wished we had gotten there at 4:00 as I'm sure we would have gotten in but my dd was napping. Also, I asked some CMs about entry time and they all had to look up the start time for the party. One CM even told me I had to have a regular admission ticket plus the special ticket to go to just the party. Hope this helps in everyone's planning.

 

[maidmarion]

jlieblaw,
Thanks so much for giving us the low-down!

 

[purplebelle]

Hi All,
I was at MVMCP on Dec. 4th. Even though it was said to start at 7pm, we were let in at 6:15 and others were already in there too. The only section open before 7pm was Tomorrowland which was packed, so we walked to the castle and had perfect seats for the castle show at 7pm. After all parks areas opened at 7pm, people spread out and we didn't wait longer than 10 minutes for a single ride! In fact, it seemed like most people were gone by 10:30pm even though the party went til midnight. We did practically every ride in MK within the 5 hours of the party, as well as that Xmas show. The complimentary family photo was a fun idea. We didn't get our's until like 11pm at night b/c the photo lines were out the doors. We walked right in the one at Tomorrowland...this one was slightly hidden and had no wait. Other sections for photos had lines of like 11 families around 11pm. The last hour of MVMCP was somewhat odd b/c the MK was so empty--people had gone home. We were walking around and saw more characters walking around than guests....a very cool weird.

I'm really glad we did MVMCP b/c we went to MK that following Saturday when the park was taping the Xmas parade for TV from 7:30am-2pm. Main Street was blocked off and CMs and Security were rudely shoving people around the park (not literally, but we were standing still in some areas and were told to MOVE. We weren't anywhere near the taping or areas that would make sense not to stand in. I think security was simply having major power trips.) I think it was the resorts' responsibilties to let guests know MK would be filming the parade b/c it was very inconvenient. The signs in the hallways of the castle read something along the lines of:

"Come join us as we tape portions for the Xmas parade for TV. The sneak peak preview of that parade is at 5pm."

I don't think that explained enough...
Plus, we had already entered which made it too late to decide to go somewhere else. We had park hoppers, but had already been to all parks.

In addition, Clay Aiken was singing for the taping of the parade which added to some more crowds in the park.

I hope that was the only day WDW filmed the parade on. If you hear of otehr days, avoid MK that day!

 

[Piglette]

Embarrasingly, I still don't understand the process.

We arrive to Orlando at 2:30pm on December 19th, and we've got tickets to MVMCP that evening. The park closes at 6pm that day, and MVMCP starts at 7pm. We have APs, so we plan to head over to MK as soon as possible.

Two main questions:

1. What is the process for getting/staying in the park? Do you get wrist bands like you do for e-nights? Or do you have to go to Tomorrowland to get some sort of admission? Or do you just flash your MVMCP tickets around somehow?

2. Quite by accident, we ended up with 2 PS reservations, and I'm trying to figure out which one to keep. We have PS at Liberty Tree at 5:30pm and one at Tony's at 6:05pm. Of course, we'd like to miss as little "action" as possible. Given that, is Tony's the way to go? Or are we better off to be further in the park (by LTT) when the fun begins?

Thanks for your help!

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by Piglette
Embarrasingly, I still don't understand the process.

We arrive to Orlando at 2:30pm on December 19th, and we've got tickets to MVMCP that evening. The park closes at 6pm that day, and MVMCP starts at 7pm. We have APs, so we plan to head over to MK as soon as possible.

Two main questions:

1. What is the process for getting/staying in the park? Do you get wrist bands like you do for e-nights? Or do you have to go to Tomorrowland to get some sort of admission? Or do you just flash your MVMCP tickets around somehow?

2. Quite by accident, we ended up with 2 PS reservations, and I'm trying to figure out which one to keep. We have PS at Liberty Tree at 5:30pm and one at Tony's at 6:05pm. Of course, we'd like to miss as little "action" as possible. Given that, is Tony's the way to go? Or are we better off to be further in the park (by LTT) when the fun begins?

Thanks for your help!

They will be handing out wristbands. You will see CMs with them scattered around the park. Don't worry. They are very organized.

I'd keep the 5:30p PS to be done earlier and head right across from LTT to get your photo over with after dinner and enjoy the quiet park till 7:00p.

Have fun!

 

[DemoBri1]

I was at MVMCP on Dec 2nd and we had 4:30 PS at Crystal Palace. We got stuck at the TTC in monorail traffic, and did not arrive at Crystal Palace until 4:50. We were still able to get in with little or no wait, and thoroughly enjoyed this dinner.

When we arrive at MK the CMs were splitting people up as they arrived at the security checkpoints. If you were not attending the MVMCP you went in one set of gates, while those that were attending went in another set. You received wrist bands when you walked in and then you could go any place in the park until around 6. Since we were at the Crystal Palace until about 6:30 I can't comment on the procedures they used for closing the park to non-MVMCP attendees. Although when we walked out of Crystal Palace, there was a whorde of people filing down Main Street and out of the park.

I think beattyfamily has a good idea. Immediately go and get your photo as soon as possible because the lines will fill-up quickly. We decided to hit some of the popular attractions first, and thus missed out on the photo.

As for the taping of the Christmas Parade, I do know that they were taping on Friday the 5th as well. We walked through the Main Street gate at about 11:00 A.M. and noticed parade floats encircling the tree right outside the Main Street station. We then saw the television cameras on cranes and other lighting stands. So it looks like Friday and Saturday were the days for the taping this year. We had no problems on Friday, as they were wrapping up shooting for the day. Should be interesting to see how they edit this because Friday was cloudy to start with, and Saturday was bright and sunny.

Brian

 

[Bob O]

So if you go to the MK early in the day for MVMCP are they making you leave the park and come back or are they letting you stay in the park like last year where they kept you in tomorrowland???

 

[DemoBri1]

I can't say for sure because we didn't go to MK for the day. We only went for our PS at Crystal Palace and then stayed for MVMCP. I am assuming that if you're going to the park for the day, that you should bring your party tickets with you if you already have them, or go to a Guest Services booth and tell them that you are staying for the party. They will probably give you your wristbands at that time.

From what I could tell, it did not look as though they were making you leave and then comeback. Just certain areas of MK were closed off until the party started, which was 7:00.

Brian

 

[Shutterbug]

Just wanted to add my experience at the Tues Dec 9 party.

I have seen the shows and parades before so my main objective was to ride the rides that are usually crowded during the day.

This is wait times I had(not in any particular order).
Keep in mind this was a weeknight party that wasnt sold out.
I arrived at 7:00

Peter Pan: 2 min

POC: walk on

Snow White: Walk On

Space Mtn: walked on one time, 5 min wait another time.

Mickeys Philharmagic: Did this twice in a row. As soon as it ended I quickly walked around and made it back into the theater for the very next showing

During the first parade I did this:
Rode Big Thunder Mtn RR 3 times in a row without having to get off, I picked the 2nd car to ride in, a car that not very many people want to ride in. If I had picked the back car or the front I probably would have needed to get off.

I then rode Splash Mtn twice in a row without having to get off.

Timekeeper was running, only had to wait for show to start. Only about 10 of us in the theater.

To get a get a wonderful tasting churro: No wait!!!!!mmmmmm

Cookies and hot chocolate: no wait but the weather was great that night.

The lines for family photo: very long, since it was me I passed it up.

I did catch the Country Bears Christmas and the last holiday show at midnight.

Now if you are in no hurry to get home I recommend sticking around after the show. As the remaing crowds left I just sat there in front of the castle watching it change colors. My fav is when the castle is all blue with giant snowflakes all over it. When I finally left, it was like I had main street all to myself. Really neat feeling!

One thing that kinda bummed me out. In years past they had rudolph fly over the crowd before the fireworks. This year they did the regular WISHES fireworks show. A very neat show especially when the fireworks are going off surrounding you but still wished I could have seen rudolph.

I had a great time!!!!!!!

 

[dsneygirl]

We did the party on 12/11 and had a great time. It was the coldest night of our trip but we had gloves and hats. Got there right at 7 pm and went right for our photo at the Adventureland Terrace. Only about 5 minute wait.
We never waited for cookies or hot chocolate all night. Our main goal was to see all the shows and the parade and not worry too much about attractions.
We watched the late parade from Main St and they had "snow" falling which was a really cool effect for the parade.
The lines we did see for attractions were only about 10-15 minutes.

 

[bunnyfoo]

We were there for the Dec 9 party as well I got a chance to go on some of the rides I've never been on like Mickey's Speedway and the Astro Orbitor. The lines for the pictures were very long at most of the locations. We got in line at the photo booth near It's a Small World and waited about 5 minutes ... come to think about it, that's about the only line we stood in all evening!

I was surprised when I got back today to see that our pictures were here ... I was even more surprised to see that we've got someone else's pictures I guess I will have to give the number a call and see what's happened. I guess other people will be missing their pictures as well. I wonder who ended up with mine

 

[mikemelita]

We did the MVMCP the 11th. A little chilly, we got there early, and got to ride everything we wanted, and skipping the 1st parade let us walk around everywhere the parade wasn't like we owned the place!
No great crush of crowds like I had read here and there.
We got to do exactly what we wanted, watched the 2nd parade with lots of nice folks, got our free stuff, and had an awesome time! (no rudolph though, Tink was well lit).
My best tip: SLEEP 2 hours in the afternoon. The midnight hour rushes up quickly!
I highy recommend MVMCP, and I am very glad we got a chance to do it. The pins are a bonus too