Talk my husband into MVMCP...

[MichaelaF]

So we're going in November. We did WDW in October and did MNSSHP last year. We enjoyed it, but in hindsight maybe didn't feel like it was worth the $140 we spent on it.

So it's a little harder to convince the husband to do the Christmas party this year! He'll do it happily if I really want to, but I want him to be at least a little excited about it. What is it that you really love about the Christmas Party that I can tell him about?

 

[btk2333]

So we're going in November. We did WDW in October and did MNSSHP last year. We enjoyed it, but in hindsight maybe didn't feel like it was worth the $140 we spent on it. So it's a little harder to convince the husband to do the Christmas party this year! He'll do it happily if I really want to, but I want him to be at least a little excited about it. What is it that you really love about the Christmas Party that I can tell him about?

Please no one say the free cookies and hot chocolate lol $140 cookies and hot chocolate... We really like the tomorrow land Christmas show- the castle show is corny but cute- the view of the snow falling on Main Street during the parade is priceless- ride lines are short and there are unique character meet and greets

 

[MichaelaF]

Please no one say the free cookies and hot chocolate lol $140 cookies and hot chocolate... We really like the tomorrow land Christmas show- the castle show is corny but cute- the view of the snow falling on Main Street during the parade is priceless- ride lines are short and there are unique character meet and greets

Funny you should mention....I was like "Free cookies and hot chocolate!" My husband: "$70 cookies and hot chocolate!"

 

[JennyDrake]

Don't count me in. The party tickets have become outrageous even by WDW standards. You CANNOT (repeat!) CANNOT count on short lines. I have been twice when the place was PACKED (early December, week night) Waited 45 min to buy a Coke.....

So I ask (myself --and other) it is worth the price for snow on Main Street + the parade? For me, it is "no,"....

I thought MNNSHP was closer to being worth the money.

YMMV.

 

[MichaelaF]

Um...thanks...but....let's assume I already do want to go.

Hence the title of the thread....

And the question I asked.

 

[btk2333]

Don't count me in. The party tickets have become outrageous even by WDW standards. You CANNOT (repeat!) CANNOT count on short lines. I have been twice when the place was PACKED (early December, week night) Waited 45 min to buy a Coke..... So I ask (myself --and other) it is worth the price for snow on Main Street + the parade? For me, it is "no,".... I thought MNNSHP was closer to being worth the money. YMMV.

Interesting- what parties did you go to? We've gone twice, both times around December 15th and found crowds very easy to work with.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

Do it. I don't think it's worth it!

 

[HM]

MNSSHP is much better than MVMCP in my book. I'd say don't do it. If you didn't think the Halloween party was worth the cost, you won't think the Christmas party is either.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We did the Halloween party once... For the money, that was enough....we enjoy WDW , a lot, 51 trips worth but these parties are getting just too expensive... They need to restrict attendance like they did with E-night's.....5000 tickets and lower the price... I couldn't get excited over the Xmas party...

 

[MichaelaF]

For what it's worth...(maybe nothing, at this point!)...

I think part of the issue was more that we aren't really Halloween or dress-up people. Plus, we only had a 5-mo-old at the time, so we didn't have a kid at the right age to really enjoy the trick-or-treating. (We brought costumes, but it was CRAZY hot, so we decided against wearing them.) We did enjoy the parade and fireworks immensely.

But we are way more into Christmas than we are Halloween, and we have never done Christmas at Disney before...that's why I would like to do the party.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

Forget about doing the rides if this isn't your only time at MK and think about all the photo ops that aren't there on non party nights, so many, you only get the Seven Dwarves on party nights for example, a lovely Christmas parade, the fireworks, snow on Main Street. I booked my ticket today and I admit that I hummed and hawed about it, but, I do enjoy it.

 

[lucyem]

Don't count me in. The party tickets have become outrageous even by WDW standards. You CANNOT (repeat!) CANNOT count on short lines. I have been twice when the place was PACKED (early December, week night) Waited 45 min to buy a Coke.....

So I ask (myself --and other) it is worth the price for snow on Main Street + the parade? For me, it is "no,"....

I thought MNNSHP was closer to being worth the money.

YMMV.

This. We also went early December, mid week.

First the negatives: the crowds were horrible. Anywhere on main street you were making really good new friends Lines for food etc were long. Main street to the castle was so hard to navigate. Often you just stood. Super expensive bad hot chocolate and cookies. My DS was kicked in the head as someone tried to climb over him at one point.

The positives: we were able to ride favorite rides over and over again. And as long as you stayed far away from the center you were good. The snow on main street was really neat.

Due to FP+ we might do it again just for the rides. We would skip main street and the parade and fireworks. Otherwise no. Not for that price. MNSSHP we thought was more fun. We enjoyed the parade, and the trick or treating spread people out more.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I went last year only b/c I knew it would be a LONG time before I'm back at Christmas time. I was only paying for myself so thought it was worth it. I really wanted to see the parade and the toy soldiers. I didn't actually go on any rides, but met 7dwarfs, Mary Poppins/Bert/Penguins, & pooh and gang. Watched fireworks and 2nd parade. I was quite tired then and decided to go back to room. I will say the night I went was the tue after thanksgiving and it was a sellout. Not sure if that has to do with the weather or not (it was in the 80s earlier that day). But it was crazy crazy packed. I am going in Oct with my sis and her family and decided it is not worth the extra $420 it would cost for the 6 of us.

 

[JennyDrake]

Interesting- what parties did you go to? We've gone twice, both times around December 15th and found crowds very easy to work with.

I was there Dec 4th (I think) on a Thursday. It was PACKED. I waited 45 min for drink in Tomorrowland. Main street was all but impassable all night.

Another time Dec 14th (Saturday or Sunday), light crowds. Most rides were walk ons.

Then Dec 9th, very crowded. Waited 40+ min to get to order food at Cosmic Ray's. Rides were 20-40 min.

And lastly Dec. 11th, lines for rides were only 5-15 min, parade route was very crowded (both times), waits for CS were 20-30 min.

*My* issue is paying so much for a ticket and not experience shorter waits nor lower crowds--and twice they were both worse--than a regular admission day.

With all of that said, I think everyone should go once and decide for themselves. For ME, it was/is a lot of money to gamble on possibly miserable crowd levels.

 

[skier_pete]

I was NOT impressed with the hard ticket events. We went in November last year and had low crowds, but DD wanted to leave by 7:30 PM and we had an awful time (after having an awful time at MNSSHP a few years before). I would advise going in November if you can, the December parties have gotten very crowded.

But I will give you this:
1) The Christmas parade is a nice parade, and the only way to see it at night is during the party. You have to line up an hour ahead of time to get a decent spot, though - at least for the early one.
2) Christmas Wishes is a very different fireworks show than Wishes. It has quite an awesome finale if you are in front of the castle/on main street. Again, the crowds are terrible, but it's still a good show.
3) The ride lines in general were really short - though we went for a November party. Except the Jingle Cruise (Jungle Cruise variation) which was ridiculous. Since you can ride the Jingle Cruise during non-party time, avoid it.

{As a side note, I can't believe that people aren't starting to stop going to these things. You can pay $40 or less (on a multi-day pass) to be in the park from 9 AM to 7 PM for 10 hours, yet they charge you $70 for 5 hours in the evening. No wonder they schedule so many of them! }

 

[jcjen519]

We went to both the halloween party and the christmas party last year. we're doing the christmas party this year and maybe the halloween party. We enjoyed them both very much. We saw super short ride lines at both parties and the christmas party we attended was a sell out. We did wait a long time for a soda around parade time at the halloween party but not the rides.

We waited until the last minute to watch the earlier Christmas parade and while it was crowded we found a good spot. We love disney at Christmas and if you've never been to the party I think its at least worth visiting once and checking it out for yourselves.

I guess it is expensive when you compare it to adding an extra day onto an already multi-day ticket. our son LOVED the parties so much though, that made it worth it to us if nothing else did. If I was trying to get my husband excited I'd talk up the short lines on his favorite rides, the special parade, holiday wishes, the snow on main street and how awesome it will be to watch our son enjoy himself. maybe this isn't the best logic but we're already spending quite a bit to be at disney, the extra party money isn't going to break the budget.

 

[SueDonym3]

I am going to the Christmas Party for the third time...and the reason I am going is for the parades, the shows, the snow, the hot cocoa, the cookies and shorter ride lines. I did not experience the wall to wall people described by others at my previous parties. I enjoyed it, but I am also not one who calculates out how many dollars per hour equates to how much fun I am having.

 

[KeroKero]

I went to my first MNNSHP last year and LOVED it. The lines for the rides were pretty much non existent, I got to meet the seven dwarfs, trick-or-treating was fun and the Halloween Parade and Hallowishes were amazing!

So ... this year I'm going again! PLUS ... I'm giving MVMCP a go too! I enjoyed Halloween so much I want to see if Christmas is worth the extra money too

 

[mickey1968]

I enjoyed the MVMCP a couple of years ago when I went, then the last two years I have done the MNSSHP (twice each year and on Halloween night). It was definitely packed but I loved every minute of the Halloween parties! I made the decision to go in November this year so I could see the Osborne Lights and all the Christmas decorations and parade. I also love the Castle Dream Lights during the Christmas season (but you don't have to do the party to see those or Osborne). I am only doing one night of MVMCP compared to two nights for MNSSHP.

 

[lroger01]

I did the Christmas party last year (mid november), but have not yet been to the Halloween party. Although the MK in full Christmas deco way before Thanksgiving, wasn't enough to get us in the Christmas spirit, the Christmas Party was another story.

At 7pm, they changed the lighting and turned up the Christmas music. The MK felt very much more Christmassy! We throughly enjoyed the parade - Cinderella's coach pulled by 6 white ponies was adorable. Rides were easy to get on. We didn't do the meet and greets but enjoyed passing by them. The snow on Main St was a full on snow shower - not the occasional flurry I was expecting. The Christmas music was lots of instrumental orchestra music the same format as standard park music, so it had that unique Disney feel and was very classy.

I don't think I'd go back to Disney during Christmas deco time, unless it was closer to Christmas. If I did though, I'd definitely return to the party.