What do you do at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party?

[baivasps]

I know that it is early to be thinking about a trip next December but I have the opportunity to get airfare soon so I'm thinking about the best days to go. It sounds like you can enter at 4:00 that day but the party doesn't really get started until 7. I want to see the parade. I think it would have to be the early one, 8:15 I think. So do people sit out to reserve spots on Main Street at 7:00 like they do for a regular parade in June? I'm worried about spending $300 and only being able to see the parade. If I want to see the parade and get a spot on Main Street, how much time do I have for characters, rides, etc.? Do you skip the rides at the party and concentrate on the things you can only do at the party?

 

[katt789]

In all of the parties I've been do, we've always skipped the rides (with the exception of Haunted Mansion at halloween parties because it's themed up)

Main st is THE PRIME spot to watch the xmas parade since it's the only place that it "snows" so yes, spots will fill up there, and quickly.

My advice/usual plan is this:
-Arrive at 4 or as early as you can
-Take some photos, explore around, maybe ride some rides
-Around 7, maybe 7:30, keep an eye on how crowded things are, grab a spot for the parade
-Depending on your group size/ages, you can have half save spots while the others go on a ride or two or hit up some cookie spots
-Watch parade
-Head from parade to CTM/fireworks/castle stage show
-Meet some characters
-Watch the Tomorrowland stage show
-Catch the final castle stage show if you missed it before.
-Hit up any cookie stops or characters that you may have missed that you might have time for (keep in mind most characters lines will be cut around 11:30, fairytale hall USUALLY remains open right until 12.

Feel free to ask any questions, I've been to multiple parties of both varieties each year

 

[ktlm]

If you can do the late parade, that is the way to go. DD is a character nut and they are the most important thing to her, so we typically do characters for a good part of the night and fit the castle show in, and then we grab a curb spot near Town Square for the late parade about 15 minutes before the parade. We have gone to 2 parties and spent one party focused entirely on the characters, and the other focused on the parade, shows and fireworks. If we do that, we do the early parade....but we often watch the parade from Frontierland because you do not want to take a spot out at early. Our first MVMCP ever several years back, it was a sold out night and we could not find a spot anywhere on main street for the parade (even to be 2nd row) an hour before the parade.

 

[baivasps]

Thanks! There will be 4 of us, including two kids who will be 8 and 10. I'm a little worried about my 8 year old staying up for the late parade. I'm sure he can do it but we will probably be up early again the next morning. I guess we usually do 10:00 Wishes in the summer so it can't be that much later, can it? We could be ready to leave after that. My other thought would be to plan the trip so we pick a park we don't have to arrive early at.

Right now, I'm looking at going the first week of December. We will want to do several characters since they will be in Christmas clothing. Do the lines tend to be long?

 

[lovethattink]

We skip the attractions. The parade, fireworks, shows take precedence. Characters in between, usually the ones with shorter waits.

 

[baivasps]

Is there a list of characters in Christmas attire that you can take pictures with somewhere? Over the years, we have seen most of the characters we love but want to concentrate and the things special to Christmas.

 

[asbyrneva]

Is there a list of characters in Christmas attire that you can take pictures with somewhere? Over the years, we have seen most of the characters we love but want to concentrate and the things special to Christmas.

I havent actually gone but want to! Kenny the Pirate's site has a ton of information on the party and even a list of the characters in priority (and dress) since some of them only come out for the parade. Thanks again to Kenny! His updates make me really want to take DS.

 

[mlnbabies]

We went to the Christmas party on 12-11-15 and we had a blast! We got in at 3:45p, used our 3 FP's, got dinner at Pinocchio's, got in line at 6:50 to meet Mickey, then Tinkerbell, then Mary Poppins, Bert and Mr. Penguin. Went to get in line to meet the ducks (Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge McDuck) and Minnie at 8:20pm and finished them at 9:40p. Headed to Frontier land to watch the second parade. Rode rides and left at 12:30am. Pick the characters you want to see the most and plan from there. We rode at least 6 rides, meet 5 groups of characters, watched the fireworks from the Dumbo area, watched the second parade and got cookies/hot chocolate twice.

We had a great time--just my daughters who are 12 and 16 and myself. Make sure you shop for the exclusive party items while you are there.

We didn't go to a park earlier in the day but had an ADR for CRT the next day and that was rough. We decided to go to the party as we were driving to FL so I couldn't change my next day ADR. Won't plan that again.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Jack Skellington as Sandy Claws and The entire group of The 7 Dwarfs are 2 unique to the party... The lines for both were really long, no FP at all.
I second checking out Kenny the Pirate! His info is spot on!

 

[dmc6469]

what I enjoyed was meeting characters you normally don't; 7 Dwarfs, Jack Sparrow, Jack Skellington. We watched the parade because others in my party wanted to but next time I'm skipping it. I liked that the lines to rides were nonexistent; 20 min for 7DMT, walk on Splash Mountain, walk on Its a Small World. Next time I attend for the short line rides and character M&G

 

[DisneyHardin]

We did the party 2 years ago. We entered MK at 4 and had fast passes booked between 4 and 7. We did attractions and ate dinner at Pecos Bills during that time. Once the party started at 7, we focused on characters and visited several of the special characters (we did have long waits for Scrooge McDuck and the 7 Dwarfs). We watched the fireworks and the 2nd parade and then did a couple more attractions after the parade before the midnight shutdown.

 

[baivasps]

We did the party 2 years ago. We entered MK at 4 and had fast passes booked between 4 and 7. We did attractions and ate dinner at Pecos Bills during that time. Once the party started at 7, we focused on characters and visited several of the special characters (we did have long waits for Scrooge McDuck and the 7 Dwarfs). We watched the fireworks and the 2nd parade and then did a couple more attractions after the parade before the midnight shutdown.

How did you use passes from 4-7? Did you use up Fastpasses from another day?

 

[DisneyHardin]

How did you use passes from 4-7? Did you use up Fastpasses from another day?

I'm not sure how we were able to book them. It just let me and I was still able to use fast passes on all my other days. I have seen a lot of posts here about setting up a dummy account to attach your party tickets to, but I didn't do that.

 

[mlnbabies]

Once my tickets were in MDE, I was able to book FP's between 4-7.

 

[siskaren]

I'm not sure how we were able to book them. It just let me and I was still able to use fast passes on all my other days. I have seen a lot of posts here about setting up a dummy account to attach your party tickets to, but I didn't do that.

You don't need to do that in order to use a party ticket to book FPs (what doing that does is allow you to book 6 FPs in one day). You're able to book FPs for as many days as you have tickets for, so for instance if you have a 6-day MYW ticket and a party ticket, you can book 7 days' worth of FPs.

 

[baivasps]

You don't need to do that in order to use a party ticket to book FPs (what doing that does is allow you to book 6 FPs in one day). You're able to book FPs for as many days as you have tickets for, so for instance if you have a 6-day MYW ticket and a party ticket, you can book 7 days' worth of FPs.

Great! I didn't know that.