We went on the 8th which was probably the slowest party of the year as rain was in the forecast (ended up not being as bad as predicted). Plan was to arrive at 4 but that turned into 5:30 due to luggage arriving late and a bus delay. Started by getting our SotMK card and then getting our Santa cookie in the bypass. We went to Cosmic Ray’s to see Sonny Eclipse before it became Club Tinsel. I got the Bah Humburger and Very Merry Berry Slush. For whatever reason the burger was not advertised anywhere and the first CM had no idea what it was and said it might be in a different ordering bay. I went to the next bay and tried explaining it to the CM who thought I wanted a chicken sandwich. Eventually they rang me up for “the special” and I got what I wanted. I also purchased a side of cheese dip because I knew snowman pretzels were in our future. We ate, watched Sonny, and left around 6 just as they were making the announcement for day guests to leave.
First stop was Big Thunder as I had missed it my last few trips. It was a walk on. Forgot how fun the MK version was. Then we hit PotC and Jungle Cruise; both walk ons. Got pretzels and snowcones next. They were great with the cheddar cheese dip from Cosmic Ray’s. I think it was just before 7 or had just turned 7 at this point since we noticed Jack Sparrow was not out yet. We decided to head to the hub for the first show of Merriest. Along the way we saw a family without wristbands argue their way past two checkpoints. It began raining lightly at this point so we stopped to put on our rain gear. Before we were even finished, the rain stopped. We got a Photopass in front of the castle with the snow globe Magicshot. Unfortunately, this would be our only one of the night as many of the photographers relocated during the rain. We ended up waiting for Merriest beside a planter in the hub which worked out well since no one could stand in front of us. There were so many children on shoulders it would have been hard to see almost anywhere else. The rain had stopped but the stage was too slippery so the show was delayed while they dried it. Eventually the show began about 20-30 minutes late. This caused it to cut into the time for the Frozen show so they did an abbreviated version right after Merriest in which Elsa just showed up and lit the castle by herself. By the time that was over, it was already time for the parade. We decided to just stay put even though we had dessert party reservations. They started it about 10 minutes late. Personally I liked the
Disneyland version better; the song for the MK parade wasn’t as catchy.
After the parade, we went to Tomorrowland Terrace for the dessert party. It had already started, but there were also several people like us that watched the parade first and were now arriving late. One woman in an
ECV got impatient waiting in line to be seated and drove her ECV into the people waiting in line. People ended up grabbing her and forcing her to stop. Eventually we were seated (not sure what happened with the ECV woman) and took our time eating since we knew the viewing area would not be crowded. The fireworks started on time and since it was a slow party we probably could have had an as good or better view without the dessert party, but we would still totally do the party again just for the simple, unadvertised fact that almost every treat from the event, both the complimentary and paid ones, were available at the party. We were able to get all the cookies, the Jack cake pop, red velvet Mickey waffle, eggnog custard with Scrooge McDuck coin, chocolate buche de Noel, and some treats exclusive to the party. I wish the regular dessert party would take a similar approach and offer a “best of” spread of MK desserts.
After the fireworks we went to Pecos Bill’s to get a side of queso which we took to Tortuga Tavern for another pretzel. The queso didn’t work as well with the pretzel as the cheddar did. We did all rides after that. Jack Sparrow was not there when we walked by. There were some people hanging around, but it didn’t look like there was a line. Perhaps he was done for the night already. We never did see him or the Country Bears. We did Buzz Lightyear next. It was a 5-10 minute line and once again some random people’s picture got sent to our Magicband. Space Mountain was next. Line was to the door with a 25 minute posted wait. The wait was accurate and we were on after 25 minutes. We did the photobooths in the gift shop. It was about 11:15 at this point so we decided 7DMT would be our last ride for the night. On our way we took a detour to Storybook Circus because I wanted some chocolate milk. There was no line and plenty of milk. Character lines looked pretty short, but we decided to push on to mine train. It began to rain heavily at this point so we went into the tent and shopped a little hoping the rain would pass quickly. By 11:30 it was still raining so we decided to just head to mine train. Posted wait was 50 minutes. The rain picked up while we were in line but we only saw about 2 groups leave. It ended up being only a 25 minute wait and we were done and on our way out of the park by 12.
Overall, I had a good time and would do the party again, but I’m in no rush to do so. I know we got lucky as the forecast kept people away and then the actual weather didn’t get bad until the end of the night. I don’t think I would have enjoyed myself as much on a busier night. I enjoyed the short lines and food, but the overall atmosphere was not as festive as I expected. I wasn’t a fan of the music they played and it wasn’t loud enough.
Still grateful for the photo....
