"Official" Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2017 - Believe in the Magic

[monique5]

Ok, thanks - I must have misunderstood - I thought a PP said that you couldn't make FPs after 6 this year.

Speculation. Really want know until PP get in FP+ booking window of 1st party. That's what it has been on the past. Last year too. Some had mentioned until 6:40pm,but not sure. Those 3 times worked for us & others last year.

 

[monique5]

Not trying to argue with you but we routinely have back to back FP. We've never had a problem where they had to be 5 min apart. THey cannot overlap but one can start at the same time the other ones ends. I just tried again on MDE (have an AP) and no problem booking 3 back to back FP at MK (did 3:30-4:30, 4:30-5:30 and 5:30-6:30)

This. We always do this. They do not have to be 5 minutes apart.

 

[FinnsMom7]

When I was there last December, the night of MVMCP I was able to add a FP for Winnie the Pooh (was taking whatever I could to try to add - this was before the App upgrade and ability to switch or add FP there) and it was for 5:45 to 6:45 I think, at 6:30 it expired before we even used it.

And I will add this, for first time party goers don't make sit down reservations for after 4:45/5pm if you really want to do meet n greets the parade and fireworks - it kills a lot of $$ time - my first party we got a last minute reservation at BOG for 6pm on MVMCP we were psyched. UNTIL we waited 40 minutes to even sit down. CM said a lot of reservations were running over - AKA non party goers trying to hold out so that they could sneak in some MVMCP magic. Sorry but that drove me nuts, people inconveniencing others to try to pull a fast freebie, so tacky. So if this 6pm change it true I am glad, because as someone who pays for those tickets I want the full value. And on party nights FPs are rarely even needed unless it is 7DMT

 

[PSULion]

Last year, we had a SDMT FP for 5:35-6:35. A few weeks after I made it, I got an email that it had been changed to Jungle Cruise from 5:30-6:30. I called right away and was told that all FP running past 6:30 were being cancelled/changed. I know I wasn't the only one, as we were all discussing it on here.

 

[Kirk]

Just bought tickets for Dec 22! I'm excited!

 

[jesschris]

So excited to buy my tickets!

 

[MemoryMakers]

Damn. I set up fake family members and kept trying to assign it to them but the tickets would jump back to mine and my husbands actual names. Probably too late to re-assign. Kind of blows considering I'm using two separate tickets!

Yeah, as my work around, I just created a second MDE account with a different email address. Bought tickets using that account. Know I can only make FP+ 30 days out since I won't have our Hotel stay on that account.

Will enter the park earlier in the day using regular tix, use FP+, then use 3 more FP+ (whatever I can get) that I'll grab 30 days out using MVMCP tix.

 

[Skallywag Steph]

Another crowd question: I was originally thinking of doing MK on a non party day because there would be more hours to do things. However, would I be able to get just as much done on a non party day that has less crowds? In other words are Tuesdays and Thursdays significantly lower crowds due to the reduced hours?

 

[Miniature Tim]

I booked my family for the Thursday, Dec 7th Party hoping for smaller crowds than the weekends here, but we're also going before the vast majority of schools let out for winter break. I'm hoping that the combination of that and a Thursday make for a lower crowd level.

 

[JohnneeO]

Had a very interesting conversation with a cast member today.

After speaking with a couple guest service managers and some others "in the know", Disney World is trying something new this year with the closing hours on party nights.

The party will still run from 7pm-12am, and the regular park hours will still be open to 7pm. However, on the computer system the park hours will stay open to only 6pm.

The change this year to make sure no dining reservations or fastpasses are scheduled after 6pm. This gives those that have dining and fastpasses the time to eat and ride before the party begins. The person did say the rides will still be open till 7pm, of course. The person said this was changed to help with the amount of people with dining reservations all the way up to 7pm, and then still being in the park after the party started.

Well, this would finally explain the posted MK park hours of 6 PM. A few comments relating to subsequent posts regarding FP's.

In prior years, the FP+ system would cut-off at 6:30 PM, 30 minutes prior to official park closing, but not until after folks had made FP+'s with a window that extended past 6:30 PM. This lead to FP+'s being cancelled/revised. Those of us in the know knew to make FP+'s that did not extend past 6:30 PM.

If the official park closing is kept at 6:00 PM, then the FP+ cutoff will likely not only be set at 6:00 PM, but (and this is the key) will also remain set for 6:00 PM. This means that WDW will avoid having to cancel/change FP+'s, as the correct cut-off was always in the system, based on the park hours.

However, if the cut-off time is 6 PM, I believe it will still be possible for party goers to get in 3 FP+ reservations. Last year, we had FP+'s windows of less than 1 hour at the end of the night. For example, 9:15 Pm - 10 PM for Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, when the attraction was closing at 10 PM, and there were other I cannot recall. Assuming the FP+ system will offer 5:30 PM - 6 PM or 5:20 PM - 6 PM FP+ windows on party nights, then party goers would be still be able to have 3 FP+'s they can use, but the third window would be shorter (ending at 6 PM) than in the past.

Regarding the 6 - 7 PM hour in MK, I would expect that shortening the FP+ window by 30 minutes might increase standby times, while day guests leaving around 6 PM based on published park hours would reduce standby times. No way to guess in advance how these factors will balance out.

 

[Imbetterwithbacon]

Just a little something weird I noticed...If you go into the MDE App on your phone and go to the My Tickets section, it shows the wrong date for your party ticket. Mine shows tickets for December 2, 2016 and December 9, 2016 when I just bought tickets for December 1, 2017 and December 8, 2017. I have my confirmation email with all the correct information so it's probably just a bug in the app. Just wanted to let people know just in case they open the app and see wrong dates on their party tickets as well.

I have the same issue, I reached out to my TA and she indicated they are having some tech issue and should be resolved by Monday

 

[suemom2kay]

I bet the dates are showing the next day because it is scheduled to start AFTER park closure that day. Hopefully they fix the glitch.

 

[Acrosthec]

Question for anyone who might know: my husband and I would qualify for the military discount if the party dates above are correct. Assuming they are, would disney refund us for what I bought so we could get the discount? I already purchased and completely forgot about the military discount.

I can't say for sure, but it never hurts to call! I bought tickets and had to completely change my date one year because of a family conflict, and guest services was very kind about letting me transfer the tickets to another date and pay the difference. I would call and explain what happened and see what they offer you. The worst they can say is no! Good luck!

 

[takehertothemoon]

I booked my family for the Thursday, Dec 7th Party hoping for smaller crowds than the weekends here, but we're also going before the vast majority of schools let out for winter break. I'm hoping that the combination of that and a Thursday make for a lower crowd level.

Was conflicted between the 5th or 7th, but picked the 5th! It is Pop Warner week so it might be higher than a normal weekday but hopefully still a lower crowd level!

 

[Trap]

we will be going on the 28th

 

[siskaren]

I've never done a Christmas party so I didn't know that other advance purchase discounts were available, so I don't know what that would be referring to? I already assumed one couldn't stack discounts. What confused me was that as I read it, I thought it meant that in order to get the AP discount, you had to purchase the tickets the day of the party since it said day-of admission, as opposed to advanced sales (I thought if I purchased them online it would be an advanced sale), and that didn't make sense to me since people would want to purchase them in advance.

No, it just means that the AP discount is taken off the day-of admission price, not off the advance purchase price.

Damn. I set up fake family members and kept trying to assign it to them but the tickets would jump back to mine and my husbands actual names. Probably too late to re-assign. Kind of blows considering I'm using two separate tickets!

Yeah, as my work around, I just created a second MDE account with a different email address.

That's what you have to do to make FP reservations with both a party ticket and a regular ticket on the same day, not create fake people on the MDE account you already have.

 

[Rickat96]

FP times are not that clean I.E. 4pm, 5pm and 6pm sharp. Availability times (when you start to pick them) may be 4:03- 5:05 etc- so you may only get 2 for party ticket. This happened to me last year. Keep in mind a lot of folks have park-hoppers and will make FP for MK up until the time to leave (no party ticket) and go to another park. In other words party ticket holders are not the only ones who will try to get FP before the party officially starts.

At least for last December- Went 8-16 last year and pretty much all of the rides were walk on. I remember doing Splash and Big Thunder 3=4 times each, back to back. For those whom are going for the first time- Absolutely amazing.

 

[iheartglaciers]

With all the talk of assigning party tickets to fake family members to book FPs. Is that only if you're using a park ticket for the morning and then using the party ticket for the evening?

My party is getting 3-day park tickets plus a Christmas party ticket. We won't be going to a park on the party day. But we want to book FPs at 60 days for the three park days and the Christmas day (4-6:30pm). Will that work assigned normally?

Thanks!!

 

[laurxx24]

We are going for the first time on November 16! Two adults, but still very excited!!

 

[siskaren]

With all the talk of assigning party tickets to fake family members to book FPs. Is that only if you're using a park ticket for the morning and then using the party ticket for the evening?

My party is getting 3-day park tickets plus a Christmas party ticket. We won't be going to a park on the party day. But we want to book FPs at 60 days for the three park days and the Christmas day (4-6:30pm). Will that work assigned normally?

Thanks!!

Since you'll have 4 days of tickets, you'll be able to make 4 days of FP reservations.