Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

We spent much of the preceding daytime trying to rest and relax as much as possible, as we knew we would have a very late night at the Party. Our Party date was just a couple of days before we left the USA, so we spent the morning packing, heading out to the Magic Kingdom just after lunchtime to utilise our FastPass+ reservations for that day.

At about 4:00 p.m., we picked up a Party guide map from near the park entrance, and went into Tomorrowland to get our Party wristbands. (After having been told that if we wanted to get wristbanded at the park entrance, we would have to exit the park and then come back in again!) There was a small queue which we assumed was for the Party wristbands, so we tagged onto the end of it.

The queue went down quite quickly as they had a number of Cast Members with iPads doing the wristbanding, and when our Magic Bands were scanned, our tickets were showing, (I had added them to my "My Disney Experience" account a few days beforehand), so we got our lovely wristbands, did a little happy dance with the Cast Member, and went off to do fun things!

Magic Kingdom was still quite crowded at this point, but people were beginning to leave, so we decided to eat first, picking up burger and fries at Pecos Bills. (Editor's Note: Pecos Bill menu has recently changed and no longer serves burgers and fries!)

After dinner, we walked to the Frontier Trading Post to get hubby's Party pin. We were surprised that there was a lot less choice in the design than previous years, but we still really liked the bauble design of this year's pin, so he picked a colour and character he liked, and we bought it.

We walked towards Main Street with the idea of picking up our special event Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom cards, but it was packed with exiting guests, and guests waiting for the first Christmas Party parade, so we backtracked and went to ride the Jingle Jungle Cruise (with a 10 minute standby), and then Pirates (5 minutes). The park was rapidly emptying of non-Party guests now, which was great!

We stopped at Tortuga Tavern for cookies and hot cocoa, and then happily rode Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row, with virtually no wait.

The castle at twilight during MNSSHP

Cinderella's Castle in the twilight during MNSSHP 2013.

We headed over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, as I had wanted to check out the regular, standby queue to see what the interactive elements were like, but I knew it would be too crowded during regular park hours, so reckoned a Party night would be our best shot. I was right, it was a 30 minute wait, and was well worth it as the interactive parts are really fun! There is a virtual gem-sorting game, and then a bit further on there is another area where you can play with musical spigots. When you finally enter the boarding area, there are barrels full of gems that you have to spin, and if you and other guests manage to get them all to spin at once, an image of Snow White dancing with all seven Dwarves appears on the ceiling. We really enjoyed the ride, particularly in the dark.

We tried to get a good spot to watch Holiday Wishes, although the hub area was quite crowded, and we had to stand by Sleepy Hollow near some easels, but it was still a good view. The fireworks were wonderful, and we noticed that there were a lot of pale pink fireworks in this show, which we'd never seen before. The holiday additions were gorgeous, and there were projections onto the Castle like they had used during last year's Magic, Memories & You celebration event.

Afterwards, we walked round to the Haunted Mansion, which had no wait, and then decided to try Big Thunder one last time, but at a standby of 20 minutes we decided we had probably ridden it enough for tonight. We had a look at Pirates of the Caribbean, which said 5 minutes but looked much, much longer to us, so we gave up for the moment and had a restroom break before finding a spot to watch the Christmas parade, where it began in Frontierland, opposite Splash Mountain. The parade was really lovely, we had forgotten about the scents of peppermint candy canes, sugary sweets, and gingerbread that float out at various points. Predictably, Frozen had been shoe-horned in there, but it kinda fitted with the snowy themes, and the rest of the floats were fabulous too. Santa waved to us, the dancing reindeer were really cute, and we loved the toy soldiers, they are the best bit for us!

We decided that we had been wrong to give up on Big Thunder Mountain too early, so walked over there after the parade, and rode twice in a row with minimal waits. We were getting a bit cold by now, and it was getting late, so we went to Columbia Harbour House for more cocoa and cookies, then walked through Fantasyland and back to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train which we rode for one last time this night, with a 35 minute wait. (Bear in mind that on normal operating days, wait times are usually around 70 minutes plus for this ride!)

Everything was closing as we exited the Train, as it was after midnight, so we walked slowly down Main Street, enjoying the 'snow' as we went. Before leaving, we called into the Emporium and got hubby an event t-shirt, and then suddenly realised we had missed the timeslot for collecting our Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom cards! We don't play the game, but I do like to collect the cards, and I knew this year's was Frozen-themed so was quite keen to get ours (I think I am more of a fan of this film than I am letting on!). The fire station was well and truly closed, so we went into City Hall, where a very nice Cast Member happily fetched us two cards with Elsa on them. We were pleased with this!

We had had a fabulous evening, and had really enjoyed Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We would recommend this to anyone who is unsure because of the extra cost of the event, we really think it is worth the money! You can have unlimited cocoa, cookies, and apple juice; the special fireworks and parade are both really lovely, and the park is decorated with all sorts of colourful themed projections everywhere. The ride queue times are very reasonable, and on top of all that, it snows on Main Street!

About the Author: Carolyn is a life-long Disney fan from the UK, having made many visits to the parks in Paris, Florida, and now California. Next year should see her first visit to the Disneylands in Tokyo and Hong Kong, hopefully! Her husband is also a huge Disney fan, although he claims he only goes along with her plans to keep the peace!