OT---Need opinions on Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

[annnewjerz]

I currently have a thread like this over on the "Attractions and Strategies" board but wanted to get the opinions of people whose brains I pick regularly.

To maximize our time at MK since we will only have one full day there during our December trip, I am considering doing either MVMCP or Evening EMH at the MK. I know that a lot of you have been to the party and just wanted to get opinions on whether it was fun, crowded, worth the $50 per ticket, etc. and if you would recommend doing MVMCP or the Evening EMH.

I guess to keep this slightly on topic---if I go to MVMCP I will be watching the Christmas parade and special fireworks if they have any rather than regular Wishes and Spectromagic. Which do you all find more interesting/challening/better photographically speaking?

Thanks as always!!

Ann

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I can tell you that we have done both MNSSHP and the MVMCP, and while we love the MNSSHP, we did not care if we did the MVMCP again. Did it once, don't need to do it again. IIRMC, the parade is the same as seen other nights, not exclusive to the MVMCP, you get some hot chocolate and cookies, the decorations are nice, but you can see them anytime. We were just underwhelmed.

 

[spinetnglr]

I currently have a thread like this over on the "Attractions and Strategies" board but wanted to get the opinions of people whose brains I pick regularly.

To maximize our time at MK since we will only have one full day there during our December trip, I am considering doing either MVMCP or Evening EMH at the MK. I know that a lot of you have been to the party and just wanted to get opinions on whether it was fun, crowded, worth the $50 per ticket, etc. and if you would recommend doing MVMCP or the Evening EMH.

I guess to keep this slightly on topic---if I go to MVMCP I will be watching the Christmas parade and special fireworks if they have any rather than regular Wishes and Spectromagic. Which do you all find more interesting/challening/better photographically speaking?

Thanks as always!!

Ann

I have been to the MVMCP twice ... sadly both times were before I had a digital camera so I can't give you anything photographically speaking and when I went the tickets were $35. It was worth the $$ for the tickets to go and I am sure you will find lots of challenging interesting things to photograph since its a night time event. Both times I went there were both a fireworks display and a Christmas parade. It was VERY crowded both times I was there but did start to thin out the closer it got to closing time. I would definately spend the money to go if you have never been to it and if it turns out you arent finding alot to photograph just enjoy being there ... Christmas time is most definately a magical time to be in the World no matter what.

 

[handicap18]

We've done MVMCP twice and we would do it again. Loved it. The parade for that party is my favorite of all the parades at Disney. The atmosphere is great. The shows are really good. Never had ANY issues with lines at all. Holiday Wishes is awesome. Love seeing the characters dressed in holiday atire and also meeting a few rare characters. In '05 we saw Bullseye with Jessie at the Diamond Horseshoe in Frontierland. Other than that we didn't do much for characters that year.

In '07 I took DD to meet Aurora w/Prince Phillip and Cinderella w/Prince Charming who were in the Tent in Toontown. Mickey and Minnie were in another line dressing in their holiday gear. We also meet up with Genie and Abu in Adventureland later in the evening and had a great time with them.

I'm more of a Christmas person than a Halloween person, so MVMCP is great for me and my family. I still do want to get to MNSSHHP, probably in '10.

It is pretty easy to have the Party as your only full day at MK. You can get into the park at 4pm with just your holiday party ticket and stay till midnight (any a little beyond while people are exiting). As it gets later in the night it is much less crowded, especially on the weekday nights. The weekend nights are more crowded. Both times we went it was a Thursday.

I've got plenty of pictures:

2007 Trip

A few from 2005. Before I switch to a dSLR.

 

[Todd_H]

Don't they make it "snow" on Main Street during the MVMCP? THAT would be cool to me.

Haven't been to the MVMCP, but we've done the PPP and MNSSHP and had a blast at both. For MNSSHP, it was our last night of the trip and the crowds were not bad at all... everything was a walk on. To me, if you can walk on the rides with no wait and catch the special parade & fireworks, the price is worth it, IMO.

 

[annnewjerz]

We were just underwhelmed.

I completely agree that "free" rotfl2 hot chocolate and cookies don't do it for me. I'm a huge Christmas person, as we speak I'm listening to Bing Crosy "White Christmas" . I was under the impression that the parade and fireworks were special (like MNSSHP) but I know nothing and could be misinformed. I would LOVE to go to MNSSHP---we were at MK in 07 while people were starting to come in for the party and it looked like so much fun, I'm sorry we didn't get to it. It'll have to be my excuse for dragging DH back next year. That and free dining

It was VERY crowded both times I was there but did start to thin out the closer it got to closing time.

This is what scares me. I'm going in December for (hopefully) low crowds and really don't want to spend 45 minutes in line at the party for a ride that I could do in 10 during the day. But at least it's reassuring that you had a good enough time to go 2x.

We've done MVMCP twice and we would do it again. Loved it. The parade for that party is my favorite of all the parades at Disney. The atmosphere is great. The shows are really good. Never had ANY issues with lines at all. Holiday Wishes is awesome.

It is pretty easy to have the Party as your only full day at MK. The weekend nights are more crowded. Both times we went it was a Thursday.

1. Glad to hear you loved it. 2. Wondering if they will still be doing the Night Before Christmas show since the theater isn't there anymore. 3. I'd be going on a Tuesday or Thursday (15th or 17th) so I guess I'm a little worried that being so close to Christmas it'll be more crowded than usual.

Don't they make it "snow" on Main Street during the MVMCP? THAT would be cool to me.

It does and I agree. While I can see real snow at home all winter, seeing snow on Main Street just seems....really cool.

 

[spinetnglr]

I completely agree that "free" rotfl2 hot chocolate and cookies don't do it for me. I'm a huge Christmas person, as we speak I'm listening to Bing Crosy "White Christmas" . I was under the impression that the parade and fireworks were special (like MNSSHP) but I know nothing and could be misinformed. I would LOVE to go to MNSSHP---we were at MK in 07 while people were starting to come in for the party and it looked like so much fun, I'm sorry we didn't get to it. It'll have to be my excuse for dragging DH back next year. That and free dining



This is what scares me. I'm going in December for (hopefully) low crowds and really don't want to spend 45 minutes in line at the party for a ride that I could do in 10 during the day. But at least it's reassuring that you had a good enough time to go 2x.



1. Glad to hear you loved it. 2. Wondering if they will still be doing the Night Before Christmas show since the theater isn't there anymore. 3. I'd be going on a Tuesday or Thursday (15th or 17th) so I guess I'm a little worried that being so close to Christmas it'll be more crowded than usual.



It does and I agree. While I can see real snow at home all winter, seeing snow on Main Street just seems....really cool.

Actually the rides were not all that crowded .... it was Main Street and the special shows they have that were crazy. If I remember right we rode POTC twice with very little wait. We also did Splash Mountain and BTM with little or no wait. The streets were packed for the parade and the fireworks and a lot of people seemed to not be there for the rides but for the other stuff. I agree the cookies and hot chocolate were nothing to write home about but then I didnt buy the tickets for freebies. December I think the crowds depends on the week you go. The best week I had in WDW crowdwise was the year we went the first full week of December.... its that week in between the week after Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas. The "kid" crowd was light. I guess parents are more likely to extend the Thanksgiving vacaction into that next week and the Christmas vacation to the week before so if you catch that in between week you might be in luck.

 

[boBQuincy]

We have been to MVMCP four times, either the first or second week of December. It used to be fun but we no longer consider it worth the time or $$$. A long time ago (1999) the parties were not crowded, now "limited tickets" seems to mean limited to as many as they can sell. Recent parties have been *very* crowded although TourGuideMike says some nights are not as busy as others.

The fireworks used to be very special, red & green and "in the round". There were fireworks going up from every direction, very impressive! That doesn't happen anymore. We used to get a free 5x7 photo and MVMCP pins, now I hear those are gone too.

We *love* the holidays at WDW and have gone there all but one year since 1997! The parade is really good but you might have to sit in one spot for two hours to get a good view. "Night Before Christmas" is a very good show, especially after dark, but get there early. Sometimes there are extras, like the year Cindy's coach was parked behind her castle, all lit up. The snow on Main Street is nice but it is also at the Studios for Osborne Lights.

Overall we just don't think MVMCP is a good deal anymore and not that much fun with all the crowds. To me a non-party evening is much better.

 

[Suburbanmom]

We've been to MVMCP twice, Dec. 2001 & Nov. 2008. The fireworks were A LOT better in 2001. I still enjoyed the ones last fall, but I knew there seemed to be something missing from what I remembered before. I sorta thought though, that my impressions were different each time because of the ages of my kids. Back in 2001, they were 5 & 6 years old, still buying the Santa-stuff and mesmerized by the parade. Last fall, they were 12 & 13 and happy to sit through the parade because mom wanted pictures and they love Disney, but once it was over, it was all about the rides again. The rides were NOT crowded and we walked onto several attractions.

I don't think I would do MVMCP again until I'm there with my grandchildren. I missed Spectro last fall, and I really really really want to see that again.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Don't they make it "snow" on Main Street during the MVMCP? THAT would be cool to me.

Haven't been to the MVMCP, but we've done the PPP and MNSSHP and had a blast at both. For MNSSHP, it was our last night of the trip and the crowds were not bad at all... everything was a walk on. To me, if you can walk on the rides with no wait and catch the special parade & fireworks, the price is worth it, IMO.

not really snow, as I was hoping, without thinking too much. Since it is very rarely under the freezing mark, the snow would melt only feet from the snow machine and fall like rain thereafter.

it is more like a hard soap bubble or something. about the size of a grain of rice. one or two got into my eyes...


my favorite parade is spectro. the xmas parade was just OK for me. (not the huge broadcast parade taped in november...)


Mikeeee

 

[Amy]

We did MVMCP in Dec. 2005 (1st band trip with DS's), and like others have posted, it wasn't worth the $50 for free cocoa and cookies. Back then, they also had the free 5x7 photo (really long line for that!) and pins. When we went in Dec. 2007 for another band trip there was no way I was paying extra for that. (We DID pay for our DS's to attend, but they only did it so they could stay late and go on the rides, they didn't do any of the "special" stuff.)

I can tell you that we have done both MNSSHP and the MVMCP, and while we love the MNSSHP, we did not care if we did the MVMCP again. Did it once, don't need to do it again. IIRMC, the parade is the same as seen other nights, not exclusive to the MVMCP, you get some hot chocolate and cookies, the decorations are nice, but you can see them anytime. We were just underwhelmed.

"Underwhelmed" is the right word. The parade IS different than the regular evening parade; I think it's not until Dec. 23/24 when the MVMCP parade becomes the regular evening parade. (You might want to check in case that's changed in the last couple of years.) So if you desperately want to see the gingerbread men and the characters in their winter/holiday garb, you might want to cough up the $$ for MVMCP.

Don't they make it "snow" on Main Street during the MVMCP? THAT would be cool to me.

The "snow" is what I was really excited about seeing during MVMCP. Boy, was I disappointed! It's just soap flakes or something. The snow machines spit out just a few flakes, nothing like I expected. From a photography standpoint, if you took a picture of Main Street that had "snow" in it, you'd look at it and think you just had dust on your lens.

 

[annnewjerz]

I'm so torn.

On one hand I think it would be fun to just experience the party once in order to add something a little extra Christmasy to the trip. According to last year's calendar---the Christmas parade is only at the party during our trip (Spectro is listed the other nights) and I would like to see the Gingerbread men/Toy soldiers/etc. Plus, it would give us more time to spend in the parks which is always a plus.

On the other hand, $50 each is not very much money but for the same price, we could buy park hoppers in case we needed them. We were just going to do base tickets and really focus on one park each day---but it would be nice to have the option to hop.

I guess I'll just think it over for a while longer. I'm sure those two dates won't be selling out anytime soon, so there's no pressure to buy tickets just yet.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone!

 

[handicap18]

the parade is the same as seen other nights, not exclusive to the MVMCP.

This is not true. At least not until the few days before Christmas.

The day time parade and the MVMCP are completely different. The day parade (currently Celeberate a Dream Come True) has no Holiday theme to it what so ever. The MVMCP has each float decorated in Holiday theme's, there are also different characters in the the holiday parade along with Mr and Mrs Claus.

Now the parades at DHS and AK during the day DO have a holiday theme to them.

 

[handicap18]

Ann, what week in Dec are you going?

 

[annnewjerz]

Ann, what week in Dec are you going?

December 12-18th.

 

[Michele]

I agree, I think the parade is different except for very close to Christmas. We have gone twice the week before Christmas and the MVMCP parade is shown during the day as well, but I don't think it's like that earlier in December.

Holiday Wishes is defintely different than regular Wishes. The thing with that is you don't 'have' to be in the park to see them. But given the kind of fireworks pics you are probably looking for, you'll want to be in there.

 

[handicap18]

December 12-18th.

I don't think the 15th would be that bad. School is still on so there wont be a lot of local families. School vacations don't start till the next week. There will be a few families that will take their kids out of school early for a Disney vacation, especially with kids that have semester finals and that kind of thing. It'll be nothing at all like the following few weeks.

You should be able to find some posts from the last few years about that week, especially early in the week.

If your a Christmas person and haven't done it, I say do it. I think you'll enjoy it.

 

[Michele]

We've been going Dec 18-23 and the crowds weren't bad even then. I think your dates would be great!

 

[Suburbanmom]

December 12-18th.

As I remember, tourguidemike.com had some very good advice about which night to attend MVMCP. We used his site for the first time in November 2008, and I thought he was very accurate about the crowds and when to go where. We followed his advice, but our friends didn't and went to MVMCP a different night and ran into more crowds and longer lines...and I'm only talking about 3 days difference.

 

[ukcatfan]

The snow is starch water from what I have heard. It will leave a residue on your camera as well as they pop on contact.