Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2011 Overview
You read the title right. It’s time to take down those Halloween decorations, Christmas is here! With Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party beginning on November 8, 2011 (I would make a snarky comment here, but we’re putting out our Christmas decorations this weekend, and those in glass houses…), it’s time for those of you visiting Walt Disney World this Christmas “season” (internal projections show that by 2016, the Christmas Season at Walt Disney World will encompass 7 months of the year) to start thinking about whether or not you should attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. While the first party has yet to be held, here’s what can be expected of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in 2011.
First of all, for the uninitiated, what the heck is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party? Well, each year Mickey hosts a wild underground Christmas party from the hours of 2am until 5am at an undisclosed location in Walt Disney World. My sources indicate this year he’s occupying the former site of the Adventurers Club. To gain admission to his party, you must know the secret signal (I’ve heard it’s similar to that of The Van Buren Boys) and it’s also recommended that you bring your own 20 pound ham for the races.
Although the above made-up event sounds awesome (to me, at least), in actuality, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a hard ticketed special event held from 7pm until midnight in the Magic Kingdom. Conceptually, it’s akin to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. The Party has a separate admission, and Guests are given colored wristbands to verify that they are permitted to roam the park during the Party. Although the tickets are expensive, if you’re not an Annual Passholder, the expense isn’t too bad if you plan correctly since the Party ticket allows you to enter the park as early as 4pm. I recommend you do not use a regular park ticket earlier in the day, but instead visit a water park or do a self-guided resort Christmas tour. Sarah and I have done this (free!) tour for years, and always have a blast. Doing this instead of using a park ticket on the day of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a great way to offset the expensive cost of party tickets!
A lot of people rave about the short wait times that can be found during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I’m not here to editorialize or tell you how to spend your time at the Party, but riding attractions during the Party is foolish. In the many Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties we’ve attended, we’ve ridden a grand total of one attraction. There is so much special entertainment at the Parties, and such great ambiance to enjoy that you’ll be remiss if you spend your time at the Party riding attractions.
Just what special entertainment is available, you ask? The highlights are “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade,” the “Holiday Wishes” fireworks show, “A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas” and “Celebrate the Season.” In addition to these highlights, there are also dance parties called “Woody’s Hootin’ Holiday Open House” at The Diamond Horseshoe and “Cosmic Ray’s Jingle, Dance and Play” at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. On top of that, character meet and greets abound, including rare celeBEARties from the Country Bear Jamboree. I mean, who doesn’t want their photo taken with Big Al?! (Judging by the non-existent lines we encounter and general “who’s that?” reaction from kids, I’m guessing the answer to that is “most people.”) Expect to see the new additions of Phineas and Ferb to the Christmas Party in 2011.
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade is my favorite parade in the Magic Kingdom, although I am partial to Christmas, so it gets the nod over the Boo To You Parade. The Toy Soldiers and Reindeer seal the deal for me. This parade runs from Frontierland to Main Street twice per night. You absolutely should view this. The earlier parade is generally (slightly) more crowded, so if you know you only want to see it once, watch the later parade. That said, this parade is so awesome that we always watch it both times. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend viewing the first showing just in case you want to watch it a second time. If you bank on “just” watching the second showing, you don’t have the option of watching it again if you really enjoy it! Rumor has it that Duffy the Bear will be featured on Mickey and Minnie’s float for the first time this year!
Holiday Wishes – Celebrate the Spirit of the Season is a fireworks spectacular that occurs once per night during the Party. With an amazing soundtrack and special effects, this show is not to be missed. The best viewing location is unquestionably on Main Street, USA. If you aren’t attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on a Party night and have nothing to do, head over to the Transportation and Ticket Center or beach of the Polynesian Resort and enjoy the show from there. Both locations offer breathtaking views.
A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas is shown on the Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland multiple times throughout the night. This is a relatively new addition, and is the “replacement” for the brilliant “Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas.” While not nearly as good as its predecessor, we’ve found it surprisingly enjoyable. It does have a high cheese factor, but it’s a fun show, nonetheless. My wife and I find ourselves quoting some of the especially cheesy lines from the show throughout the Christmas season. The show is a high energy Christmas bash with Buzz Lightyear, Stitch, and crazy space-dancers. It features singing, dancing, and the typical mischief of Stitch as he hunts for Santa Claus. Similarly, Celebrate the Season is performed on the Castle Forecourt Stage a few times per night. This show features the Fab Five plus other Disney characters in their holiday finery and includes an appearance by Old Saint Nick…as a dog?! I recommend catching one of the earlier showings of this, as you just might want to watch it more than once.
Now, what is so special about the ambiance, you ask? For starters, the Christmas spirit is palpable during the Party. There are decorations galore, some of which are put up specially for the Party; Cast Members wear awesome festive costumes (imagine the best Ugly Christmas Sweater Party costumes imaginable, and I mean that in a good way; these costumes are intentionally over-the-top, and look very cool); special area music in each land that is only played during the Party (the Main Street USA and Tomorrowland loops are personal favorites of mine); unique lighting used throughout the park to make all of the buildings a little more festive; special merchandise; and, of course Cinderella Castle is lit up with the Castle Dream Lights. Oh, and on Main Street it even snows! Snow in Florida?! How cool is that?!
In addition to the entertainment and ambiance, special treats are offered for free (well, you did pay for admission) during the event. Several stations offer hot chocolate, sugar cookies, and apple slices.
Overall, as you can probably glean by my upbeat summary, I highly recommend attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party if you’ve never been. While I think overall Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party offers a little more bang for your buck, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is definitely well-worth the money. For my less-objective summary and review, read this.
Now that it’s settled that you’re attending the Party, here’s some helpful information to assist you in planning when to attend.
Dates:
November 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 27, 29, and 30
December 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, and 18
Note: After December 18, the parade and fireworks will be offered daily during regular park hours with no extra cost.
Pricing (all prices listed include tax):
Advance Purchase Price: $60.66 (Ages 10+), $55.33 (Ages 3-9)
Day of Event Price: $67.05 (Ages 10+), $61.72 (Ages 3-9)
Disney Vacation Club or Annual Passholder Price: $56.40 + tax (Ages 10+), $51.07 + tax (Ages 3-9)
Note: DVC and AP discounts valid only November 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 29, 30 and December 4, 6.
Click here for a list of attractions open during the Party.
So, will you be attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in 2011? Have you attended in the past? Think it’s a good or bad value? Let us know in the comments!
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We are surprising our boys with this event tomorrow evening… after all your comments I am ready to feel the Holiday Spirit! Should we be in line waiting before 4pm and what time should we plan to try to park? Thank you!!!
The MVMCP is on our “must do” for every trip! Your article was perfect and had me chuckling out loud because you are clearly as starstruck with this party as my husband and I are. Last year we wore elf hats and got lots of attention from cast members. We’ve got our tickets for the December 11 party this year and just can’t wait. Christmas morning is a wonderful time, especially now that our daughter is nearly 6, but if I’m being honest I would have to say that the MVMCP is one of the most special, festive times of the whole holiday season.
I got Park Hopper tickets for 7 days since I’ll be there from Nov. 26-Dec.3. Is this all included in my park hopper ticket?
No, this is a separete event. Prices are listed in the article, but you pay extra for the party. It’s completely worth it!
Oh yes, take advantage of the early admission. The people who went during the day are leaving and the lines to everything are minimal. I rode Splash Mountain all by myself and there were no people in the logs in front of me or behind me. Find a bench and sit and watch the children who are under the spell of Disney’s Christmas, it is beautiful.
I have been to at least 6 MVMCP’s and love it more each time. I will visit this year on December 16th. I am an “Older Child” and sometimes I even take my grandchildren! The Hot Cholocate is very good and not watered down and the cookies are big and yummy with no limit! Nobody does Christmas like Disney and I love that the still call it “Christmas” and not a Holiday Party.
What time does it snow on Main Street? As the park closes or during the parade?
Will an additional touring plan for MVMCP that will focused on the party activities be published? The plans I have read only show the parade, fireworks and Celebrate the Season show. I would really like a plan that showed the dance parties, character greetings and the Tomorrowland show.
We are going to WDW Dec 4-10 and not planning to attend the party–too late in evening and too expensive. I was under the impression that the Holiday Wishes fireworks with snow would be presented sometime when we were visiting the parks simply because the holiday decorations were up. Am I mistaken? When we visited Disneyland in early December they showed the Holiday Wishes with snow every evening instead of the regular Wishes show. Do you know?
You will not see Holiday Wishes during your visit nor will you see the parade, unless you attend the Party. Disneyland does it differently (for now at least, they’ve already moved their Halloween events to a hard ticket party).
How long did the Christmas resort tour take? We would like to try this!
It could take all day if you wanted. We took about 4 hours.
I tend to plan meals around the resorts I want to visit. I’m only going to Whispering Canyon b/c I want to see the fabulous WL Christmas decor. Kills two birds with one stone and it’s after the regular MK hours (during MVMCP) so I’m not missing MK park hours.
Will likely go back again this year, 3rd year in a row a little before reunion. I LOVE the costumes and snow. Last year, our family was able to get a visit with Santa at 11:55pm with no wait as we were walking out of the park. I am looking forward to doing more of the special parties this year as in past years, we took advantage of the very short lines for attractions. The biggest plus is that as an AP passholder, I’m only taking my 2 1/2 year old down for a special trip so the cost is less than $60 for both of us.
Awesome! We’re attending twice this year during Reunion.We just can’t get enough of Christmas!!!
We attended for the first time last year, and had a really great time. I highly recommend it if you have never been. We would do it again without hesitation. A few observations…
Some of the floats in the parade have scents that waft off of them, pine, Christmas cookie…it is a little bit of extra magic.
There is a great photo opportunity with all 7 Dwarves. We got in line at about 6:30ish last year, and had our picture done soon after 7pm when they came out to start. I got in line, and my husband went and got burgers from Pecos Bills for us to eat while we waited. For the rest of the evening, the line/wait was an hour+ and steady. Although you can get in at 4pm, the special party activities don’t start until 7pm. We felt that getting our wait time in in a short timespan before the special events began, and using it to eat dinner, was a really good use of our party time.
Last year there was a special Photopass at the party with discounts on photo purchases. If you have already pre-purchased the Photopass cd to get all of your pictures, you can add these Photopass pics to your account, too, so that they are on your cd with everything else.
Special party merchandise sells out in the shops on Main Street. The locations further back in the park, the one in Frontierland for example, often have a better selection. (T-shirt colors/sizes, pin selections, etc.) If there is something that you really want, get it early in the evening. Don’t count on buying it at midnight on your way out of the park.
Okay…in the course of raising some excellent points, you’ve opened up a can of worms. That “great photo op” with the Seven Dwarfs USED to be a photo op with them, plus Snow White. It changed last year. You’re right about the timing for that (we ALWAYS line up for that at 6:30–why waste actual party time, right?!), but the fact that they moved Snow White really irks me. It’s as if they wanted to create the impression of more entertainment without really adding anything.
The rest of your tips are spot-on. Thanks for the addendum!
No I won’t be attending, but I don’t celebrate Christmas.
Thanks for the party over view we are going for the first time on November 15th can’t wait. I love the humour in your blogs!!
Humor? I am dead serious in everything I write.
…HA!
We’ll be at the December 9th party. We did our first MVMCP last year and were impressed. We’ve done the Halloween party more, and I think my daughter will say that’s her favorite (somehow cookies and cocoa just don’t compare with free candy!), but both are a good time. We also manage to see everything we want to see AND hit a bunch of our favorite rides as well.
I enjoy Christmas much more than Halloween, but what ultimately makes MNSSHP better, to me, than MVMCP is the Guests. The awesome costumes Guests where for MNSSHP really put it over the top.
We have attended the Party a few times and have had a great time. This year we are not attending but we do have dining reservations at the Polonesian one evening when a part is going on. I’d love to watch the fireworks like you recommended from the beach, do you have any idea what time the fireworks will be this year?
9:30 pm.
Perfect…Thanks!
We will be attending on Nov 11th. This will be our 4th or 5th time. We love the party and are excited to kick off the Christmas season!
Soooo excited!! Going to MVMCP this year for the first time. I am so happy that they are adding Phineas and Ferb. My kids (okay and us grown-ups too) are totally going to freak out! 🙂 We’re also surprising our parents with tickets too. This is going to be the best day ever! Oh and I’m totally getting Christmas decorations already. I guess the excitement of Disney at Christmas does that to you. 🙂
Disney hasn’t officially announced Phineas & Ferb yet, but I have it on good authority that they *will* be there. Still, I wouldn’t let the little ones know yet, as you wouldn’t want them to be disappointed if they aren’t out for your party.
Have a great time!
We are going to the party for the 1st time on Dec.7th.It’s my husbands birthday! I hope it’s worth the $.I have seen mixed reviews.I think everything is worth doing once( esp in WDW).I look forward to it and I hope it lives up to our expectations:)We love WDW!
Mixed in any sense other than “too expensive” or “offers less than in the past” as negatives? While it’s true that it’s more expensive and less is offered than in past years, I still think it’s a great event. Until science perfects a time machine, we can’t really live in the past. If there are any other negatives, I’d be interested in hearing them.