Very MerryTime Cruise vs Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

[dtk07]

We are doing a MerryTime Cruise in Nov 2019. Our cruise lands in Miami on a Wednesday. We will be driving to Orlando afterwards for Disney World. Thursday would be our only full park day before flying home from Orlando on Friday. Based on prior schedules there is a solid chance of a MVMCP on that Thursday.

Assuming there is party that Thursday what would you do? I'm leaning towards the party because of reduced crowds at MK. Since it would be our only MK visit for about 18-24 months, we could get real bang for our bucks vs normal park hours.

I do have a relative cast member so the potential of free single day park hoppers is an option too. I have thought about starting at MK and park hopping to Epcot later in the day too. We will have a six year old in tow with a current bedtime of 8pm but should be able to hang ok till 11pm based on past experiences.

My main question is: How do the festivities on the cruise compare to the MK party? I hear Christmas character M&Gs are a big draw at MVMCP, would we get our fill of that on the ship?

We are Disney World vets with multiple trips under belts so it would be about enjoying MK decorated for Christmas for the first time and getting some favorite rides in. It would be cool to get a picture with all seven dwarfs but I wouldn't spend two hours of MVMCP time waiting for that.

Thoughts???

 

[supernova]

Yes. They do run the Christmas parties every Thursday so there's no guess work there. While it's hard to blow thousands (and thousands) on an overpriced Disney cruise, you will want to save up some money to attend the Christmas party. Heck, unless you are planning on hitting any other parks that day, I would even suggest not purchasing park tickets that day (to spend 120+ on a park ticket that you would only use until about 4 or 6pm is a waste of money. Just buy the hundred dollar Christmas party ticket and go to the MK at 4pm. That'll give you a solid 8 hours to enjoy the rides and the Christmas festivities.

 

[dtk07]

Yes. They do run the Christmas parties every Thursday so there's no guess work there. And since you're not blowing thousands (and thousands) on one of the rip-off Disney cruiseline boats, it might be nice to save up some money to attend the Christmas party. Heck, unless you are planning on hitting any other parks that day, I would even suggest not purchasing park tickets that day (to spend 120+ on a park ticket that you would only use until about 4 or 6pm is a waste of money. Just buy the hundred dollar Christmas party ticket and go to the MK at 4pm. That'll give you a solid 8 hours to enjoy the rides and the Christmas festivities.

The Disney Cruise is the main part of the trip with Disney World being the add-on.

Another question I thought of: How do ride lines compare between MVMCP and earlier the same day?

 

[supernova]

The Disney Cruise is the main part of the trip with Disney World being the add-on.

Another question I thought of: How do ride lines compare between MVMCP and earlier the same day?

My apologies. I misread. I thought you were doing a Christmas cruise with another cruise line. I cruised with Disney once, then after trying out other lines, I can no longer justify paying top Disney prices to go to the same exact destinations as other companies.

As far as lines, depending on what time of year you go, the lines can be shorter, though not significantly. I'm always annoyed that they do not offer FastPass opportunities for those evenings. As you mentioned, there will be longer lines for the better character picture opportunities, so that will take some of the sting off the rides. I'm not going to blow 2+ hours to meet sweaty local Florida high school students dressed up as Jack and Sally, so let the rest of the guests go there and leave the rides to me. I can usually walk on to Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Pirates. Sometimes the Mansion has a small wait, but everything is manageable. Peter Pan will still be stupid long, although I have jumped on during the fireworks and had no wait. Since you said that you have been to WDW multiple times, I would concentrate more on the holiday offerings and do the rides you really really care about. Let's face it... Dumbo will be there on your next trip. The snow on Main Street won't.

Be sure to take advantage of tasting all of the treats and drinks... you paid for them, you might as well get them all.

 

[kj2mom]

Last year I helped some friends plan going to MNSSHP. Something to keep in mind is you should be able to schedule a couple of FP beginning at 4pm with just your party ticket so you could hit a couple of the big rides before the party time actually kicks in.

Another thing to keep in mind though, is the tiredness factor. I watched a youtube video yesterday where the family got off the ship and went to MK. The kids were done after the parade and even though they had hopes of getting back to MK for a dinner reservation they ended up cancelling and never made it back. I know for you your MK day will be the next day, not immediately after leaving the ship, but party tickets are a pretty big chunk of change and then to be too tired to make it worthwhile would be a serious downer. I am NOT saying it won't work...it totally can (I would probably have a super low key morning and pretty much do nothing until getting to MK for 4pm with the party ticket and just go as long as I can) but I do think it takes some thought and preparation (and appropriate expectations).

 

[MomOTwins]

The Disney Cruise is the main part of the trip with Disney World being the add-on.

Another question I thought of: How do ride lines compare between MVMCP and earlier the same day?

Ride lines prior to 4pm on party day are actually fairly short because people staying at WDW that week often choose a different park to avoid the early closure at MK. Ride lines were short during the party too, but we actually found we did less because it took so long to move around in the heavy crowds from one ride to the next.

 

[dtk07]

Another thing to keep in mind though, is the tiredness factor. I watched a youtube video yesterday where the family got off the ship and went to MK. The kids were done after the parade and even though they had hopes of getting back to MK for a dinner reservation they ended up cancelling and never made it back. I know for you your MK day will be the next day, not immediately after leaving the ship, but party tickets are a pretty big chunk of change and then to be too tired to make it worthwhile would be a serious downer. I am NOT saying it won't work...it totally can (I would probably have a super low key morning and pretty much do nothing until getting to MK for 4pm with the party ticket and just go as long as I can) but I do think it takes some thought and preparation (and appropriate expectations).

Good point.

Our last (and first) cruise we did a day a Magic Kingdom before our cruise followed by a 3 night Wonder cruise. After the cruise we did Epcot/MK the next day and were beat by 7pm. Granted the MK day before the cruise was harder on our feet than the cruise IMO just based on the ground covered.

This time we would lay low and sleep in before the party.

Any thoughts on Christmas characters between the ship and MVMCP? Would the ship cover most of that if we don't want to wait for Jack Skellington or The Seven Dwarfs?

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We LOVED all the Christmas activities on our Very MerryTime cruise, but I'd still jump at the chance to "jump start" my holiday vacation with a night at MVMCP. That sounds magical!

 

[lilsonicfan]

We were at MK one day when the MVMCP was scheduled; we weren't planning to stay for the party and in fact it was my bad planning that we even ended up at MK. It was honestly one of our worst days. MK was packed in the afternoon, super long lines for everything, and it took us FOREVER to even get back to TTC. The lineups for the monorail and ferry were completely insane. Never again.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Our last MNSSHP our then 6 year old, who had a regular bedtime of 9 pm, passed out in his baby brother’s rented stroller before the parade started. I will never do another hard ticket party while my kids are still small. Just don’t get my money’s worth even entering early.

 

[dtk07]

MVMCP seems to have some people who don't care for it.

 

[DCLPrincess]

Any thoughts on Christmas characters between the ship and MVMCP? Would the ship cover most of that if we don't want to wait for Jack Skellington or The Seven Dwarfs?

On our Christmas cruise in November we saw the main characters dressed for Christmas (mickey, minnie, donald, chip and dale, etc) but not some of the more unique characters that you can see at the Christmas and Halloween parties. Keep in mind the lines for the characters can be really long at the party. But if you have good timing they can be short.

 

[cpfolk]

We did a MVMCP following our Dream cruise last November. Our reasoning was financial. I wanted to see holiday fireworks at MK, and that was only possible if we went to the party. I didn’t want to lay out cash for a one day pass and a party ticket. In your position, I may want to use the free tickets and see the holiday decorations in a couple of parks.

The lines for character meets and greets were LONG. CRAZY STUPID LONG. We used the time from 4-12 to ride, see shows, and watch the parade through the Florida snowfall. We were able to secure three fastpasses between 3-6 pm which helped. The longest ride waits we had were mine train and Peter Pan each at 25 minutes. Contrary to what I read on the boards, nothing was a walk on. The park was crowded, and this was for a predicted low crowd Tuesday evening.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Personally, I would skip the party and try to secure the free park hoppers. I'm not a huge fan of MVMCP. WDW does such an amazing job of decorating for the holidays throughout the resort, I just don't see the reason to pay extra for the party. Plus, some of the activities and events that are included with your park ticket at EP and DHS are better than MVMCP, IMHO. The holiday storytellers at EP are lovely and the decorations and JBJB show at DHS are really fun, too. Personally, I would ask your CM friend for the hoppers, start your day in MK and then either hop to EP or perhaps consider a monorail ride and boat ride to visit, particularly, GF and WL to see the decorations at those resorts - they are spectacular. You could even have dinner at one of the MK resorts and then see Holiday Wishes from there (Cali Grill is spectacular). Another fun activity which would cost less than MVMCP would be HDDR at Ft. W which incorporate holiday songs into the show in December. HDDR plus a sleigh ride around Ft. W to see the holiday decorations is a lot of fun, less expensive and not such a late night as well. We've done MVMCP and though the parade and fireworks were fun, the rides were not walk-ons and the treats were tasteless. I definitely enjoyed the other holiday offerings around WDW more than MVMCP and felt it was a waste of money.