"Official" 2024 Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

[bethy]

The parade is arguably one of wdw's best

Not sure how old your kids are
Or how familiar they are with layout of the park. If going to separate, make a plan where u will meet up later as it's so congested on party nights

The hub & Main Street areas get packed as the time nears for parades & FW. Well, other than the walkways, where the CMs keep People moving. I don't try to navigate thru the area once we've found our viewing spot


Either way, you will need to move vehicle to the MK parking lot.

Official Policy on self parking at monorail resorts is a couple of hours.

Thank you! The "kids" are young adults with lots of Disney experience even though they don't know MK like the back of their hand like they do DLR. So that's nice for me to be able to relax and enjoy the parade - I cannot WAIT to see it OMG!

Yeah I was thinking of parking at the MK lot first and then making our way to a monorail resort to eat. Wondering if that would be less hectic getting into the party. My gut says to stick with the Disney Springs lunch.

 

[bethy]

If you emjiycRaglan Riad then that’s a great choice for your pre-party lunch! You really don’t gain anything by eating at a monorail resort when you have the entire day before the party.

Personally I would allow at least 75 mins and possibly a bit longer from the time you’re driving out of DS to reach the thistle at MK. You need to allow time for:
- driving to MK
- pay for parking,
- parking.
- shuttle to TTC
-,wait for monorail or ferry
- transportation travel tine
- security
- line to enter MK

If it were me I would allow 90 mins

Thanks this is super helpful! 90+ minutes it is! I'll aim for a 12pm ressie at Raglan Road.

 

[Evansvillegirl26]

Thank you! The "kids" are young adults with lots of Disney experience even though they don't know MK like the back of their hand like they do DLR. So that's nice for me to be able to relax and enjoy the parade - I cannot WAIT to see it OMG!

Yeah I was thinking of parking at the MK lot first and then making our way to a monorail resort to eat. Wondering if that would be less hectic getting into the party. My gut says to stick with the Disney Springs lunch.

It may be a pain. But, I’d go ahead and park at the TTC and then either Uber to springs or take the monorail and go to MK to catch a bus to springs. This way when you’re done at springs, you can just take a bus to MK before the party. Or if you have some time after lunch, you can catch a bus to the grand Floridian and chill there while checking out the ginger bread house and decorations there. They really are a must see. Then take the monorail to MK from grand Floridian. (MK will be the first stop and you go through security at the monorail so you can skip it at the gate!)

 

[pixiedust2u]

I’m so annoyed Tron moved to standby line. I’ve been watching the wait times on party nights and it’s been running 40-50 minutes. What a waste of party time, when with VQ you get your time, show up and are on and off the ride so much faster. I realized this is different than daytime VQ when you might still have a wait. After your group is called. But at least for after hour events the VQ at 6pm was so much more efficient.

 

[pixiedust2u]

It may be a pain. But, I’d go ahead and park at the TTC and then either Uber to springs or take the monorail and go to MK to catch a bus to springs. This way when you’re done at springs, you can just take a bus to MK before the party. Or if you have some time after lunch, you can catch a bus to the grand Floridian and chill there while checking out the ginger bread house and decorations there. They really are a must see. Then take the monorail to MK from grand Floridian. (MK will be the first stop and you go through security at the monorail so you can skip it at the gate!)

This is such a good idea! Or park at TTC early, explore monorail resort decorations, then Uber or bus from monorail resort for your DS reservation. So many options!!!

 

[CarolynFH]

go to MK to catch a bus to springs.

There are no buses from any of the parks to DS (also, no buses from DS to any of the parks). From TTC, walk to Poly and take the DS bus from there.

 

[bethy]

Thank you all! This is priceless advice. I'm going to have a fun time thinking about it with the bonus of passing the time till I can make dining reservations!

I vaguely recall that DS is not that close to the TTC. So I think if we start by parking at the MK lot then it might make more sense to eat at a monorail resort (maybe Kona Cafe?) after - to save the trip back and forth.

We are coming from the West Coast and everything will feel like 3 hours earlier and so I don't want too much running around or stress before the party. Your input will help us avoid that so thank you!!

 

[Evansvillegirl26]

Thank you all! This is priceless advice. I'm going to have a fun time thinking about it with the bonus of passing the time till I can make dining reservations!

I vaguely recall that DS is not that close to the TTC. So I think if we start by parking at the MK lot then it might make more sense to eat at a monorail resort (maybe Kona Cafe?) after - to save the trip back and forth.

We are coming from the West Coast and everything will feel like 3 hours earlier and so I don't want too much running around or stress before the party. Your input will help us avoid that so thank you!!

Kona is no where near what it used to be. I’d go with Steakhouse71! Or you can take the boat over to Wilderness lodge and eat at whispering canyon or even the geyser point lounge. WL is another must see Christmas resort. Then you can do a little monorail crawl and hit the gingerbread houses.

 

[bethy]

Kona is no where near what it used to be. I’d go with Steakhouse71! Or you can take the boat over to Wilderness lodge and eat at whispering canyon or even the geyser point lounge. WL is another must see Christmas resort. Then you can do a little monorail crawl and hit the gingerbread houses.

Good to know - darn! Whispering canyon was on my radar. However we are from the Pacific Northwest and also owners at the Grand Californian DVC and so we've never felt terribly drawn to WL. I'm sure we would love it though. I love the resort Gingerbread houses. I know my crew though and we have limited stamina and so I'm prioritizing our energy and time for MVMCP above all else on this particular day (then we head to the beach for a few days haha).

 

[Skywatcher1206]

We have tickets for 12/13 also! Our first Christmas Party also! My current dilemma is figuring out what time we want to be at the gates. Also I'm having fun looking at family tshirts.

I will probably get there by 4:15-4:30 to let some of the line die down. It worked well for this year’s Halloween party. With that said, I will be solo for this trip, so may get there earlier.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

We are eating at Boma for lunch we are at AKL so easy for us. When I eat at Boma for lunch I can never eat a real dinner anyways...

 

[japanese maple]

We plan to just eat something light at The Mara at AKL before party. We will probably arrive around 4, but we have hoppers so we don't have to wait in the party line. I want to get cheeseburger eggrolls and then just eat party food!

 

[japanese maple]

I’m so annoyed Tron moved to standby line. I’ve been watching the wait times on party nights and it’s been running 40-50 minutes. What a waste of party time, when with VQ you get your time, show up and are on and off the ride so much faster. I realized this is different than daytime VQ when you might still have a wait. After your group is called. But at least for after hour events the VQ at 6pm was so much more efficient.

Maybe you can wait in standby before the party starts? It may be shorter due to the volume of guests is less on party days.

We are just going to buy Tron for that day before party hours since we have hoppers and can do that. I'm lazy like that.

 

[LordVader]

I’m so annoyed Tron moved to standby line. I’ve been watching the wait times on party nights and it’s been running 40-50 minutes. What a waste of party time, when with VQ you get your time, show up and are on and off the ride so much faster. I realized this is different than daytime VQ when you might still have a wait. After your group is called. But at least for after hour events the VQ at 6pm was so much more efficient.

Wait times are often inflated, are you using the MDE app? If so, don't always go by those times. When we were in Hollywood Studios, RoTR had a 60 min posted time and we got on in 10 minutes. They often inflate wait times

 

[Pyxie]

@scrappinginontario what is the difference between being 'transferrable' and being able to go into MDE and re-assigning them?

Re-assign means you can transfer to someone on your friends and family list.
Transfer would be to a completely unrelated person outside your friends and family.

Could you add a random person to your list and re-assign it? Sure. But if you are selling and Disney finds out, you run the risk of your ticket being invalidated.

 

[SoCalDisneyFan2708]

I’m seeing lots of people talking about their food plans. Just want to comment on the exclusive food they offer only for the parties. That’s actually one of my favorite things about the parties

 

[bethy]

I’m seeing lots of people talking about their food plans. Just want to comment on the exclusive food they offer only for the parties. That’s actually one of my favorite things about the parties

I keep reading that it's hard to find "real" food during the parties? That and we don't want to do a table service meal during the party because it takes too much time. I just figured that since we have so much time that day before we are allowed inside the MK we might as well spend that time fueling up . . .

 

[dspads]

We are going 12/10! First kid-free trip for me and Dh since having kids, who are now in college. Can’t wait! We are staying four days, and only going to the parks for the party. Trying to decide if we should hit the monorail resorts before the party to see gingerbread houses, ending with lunch at Steakhouse 71 at 130ish to be at park early to line up OR just relax at our resort and do the monorail resorts another day.

How much time does it typically take, including travel and browsing mainly the gingerbread houses? If we do it another day we could also include Wilderness Lodge.

 

[bethy]

Thanks to an earlier recommendation I've discovered Steakhouse 71's lunch menu which I think will work for our family before the party on 12/13. Just to confirm this is how we should get there. We are staying offsite this time:

Drive rental car to MK parking and Park
Take tram to TTC
Take Monorail to the Contemporary
After we eat take monorail to MK, go through security and get in line for the party.

Thinking of making Lunch reservations for around 1:30 or 2.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I keep reading that it's hard to find "real" food during the parties? That and we don't want to do a table service meal during the party because it takes too much time. I just figured that since we have so much time that day before we are allowed inside the MK we might as well spend that time fueling up . . .

Yep that is our issue... watching all this videos on it, it seems easy to get dessert but not real meals...