Mickey’s Not Very Merry Christmas party has free cookies and cocoa, but if you’re stepping beyond that there it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the variety. Never fear, TouringPlans is here! Our parks team sampled most of the dishes from the MVMCP-exclusive menus in the Magic Kingdom. Here’s the scoop about which seasonal specialties are worth your dollar, and which should be left in the coal bin. And we have the free cookies and cocoa list and locations too!

A couple of notes before we get started. First, some of the desserts are cute but most of the seasonal theming is in the flavors. If “must look super cute and party-like” is in your requirements, you’ll definitely want to stick to the sweets. Second: when you can buy. Party-exclusive food at carts and kiosks goes on sale at 7 pm when the party starts. At locations with doors (Cosmic Ray’s, Pecos Bill’s, etc.) you can enter with a party wristband at 6 pm and place an in-person order at the counter. Mobile Order for party-exclusive items at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party turns on at 7 pm.

There is a ton of party food this year, so if you’re looking for the TL;DR, here it is at the top (but please keep reading anyway). If you’re busy with other stuff and need to fuel up in only a couple of stops, the Friar’s Nook, Cosmic Ray’s, and Sleepy Hollow are your winners. Pinocchio Village Haus is not worth your time or your money, and everywhere else is a mixed bag. Be careful of the end times because not everything is available all night.

Mickey’s Very Merry Cookies and Cocoa Stops

Cookies and cocoa are free with your party admission, although you should know that sometimes it’s cider or eggnog instead of cocoa. There are five cookie stops this year; check your party map or look for the big candy cane pop-up as you tour the park. Here’s what you’ll find as the cookie and beverage at each location.

• Columbia Harbour House (Liberty Square) – Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie
• Tortuga Tavern (Adventureland) – Red Velvet Cake Cookie, cider
• Gaston’s Tavern (Fantasyland) – Buttercream Frosted Gingerbread Cookie, eggnog
• The Lunching Pad (Tomorrowland) – Buttercream Frosted Sugar Cookie, cider
• Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Tomorrowland) – Buttercream Frosted Sugar Cookie, hot cocoa

For those with allergies, there are two allergy-friendly choices at each stop. It’s the same two cookies everywhere, and you can get water at most of the stops if the holiday beverage is a problem for you. The available alternates are the Safe+Fair Gingerbread Cookie Granola, and the other is Home Free Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Party-Exclusive Food

Aloha Isle

• Holiday Pineapple-Orange-Guava Juice Float – $9.00
  Pineapple-orange-guava juice, coconut soft-serve, and a spiced pineapple tree pop (Available until 11 p.m.)
• Cranberry Citrus Float – $6.49
  Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry and fruity boba pearls topped with DOLE Whip (Available until 11 p.m.)

Both drinks were outstanding but the cake pop gave the edge to the POG float. A Christmas cake pop makes any drink a party, our float had way more Dole Whip than advertised, and we just love all of these flavors. But honestly the cranberry citrus was another huge yes, and we’ll be getting both again even when the boss is not paying.

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe

• Holiday Pot Roast Melt – $13.49
  Slow-cooked beef on thick toast with cheddar, provolone, and beef gravy
• Holiday Turkey Burger – $13.19
  Turkey burger topped with traditional stuffing, provolone, and cranberry chutney on a brioche bun
• Christmas Cookie Cake Roll – $6.79
  Christmas cookie roll with buttercream topped with festive holiday sprinkles
• Peppermint Éclair – $6.99
  Éclair with white chocolate peppermint mousse and chocolate pieces
• Christmas Punch – $5.49
  Cranberry and citrus punch with amaretto syrup and Seagram’s Ginger Ale

You could park it for a bit at Cosmic Ray’s and just enjoy seats, a dance party, a view of the castle, and restrooms, but the great news is that the party food here is worth the trip on its own. Let’s start with the Pot Roast: our team loves pot roast in any form, and so this tops our list. We feel like we need better words than moist and juicy, but our brains are in blissed-out holiday leftovers mode and we can’t think of them. Moving to the Turkey Burger: we’re not sure what they did but we mean that in a good way; it tasted a lot less pre-fab than your average Disney World turkey burger. Plus cranberry chutney and stuffing makes this a hard yes. Note that the fries on both of these are very meh and we recommend you skip them to save space for more stuff later.

The Cookie Cake Roll had too much green food coloring but we liked it and it was a very generous size. The Christmas Punch was cheerful and we love the rosemary stem. We don’t understand exactly what’s going on, but the rosemary makes that cranberry into something truly sophisticated and we are here for it. The Peppermint Eclair was the only skip for us here; it was soggy and not great.

Friar’s Nook

• Holiday Pot Roast Hot Dog – $12.99
  All-beef hot dog topped with braised pot roast, Swiss fondue, horseradish mustard, and crispy onions
• Italian Beef Tots – $11.49
  Tots topped with braised beef, cheese curds, zesty giardiniera, and red wine gravy
• Sugar Cookie Hand Pie – $6.29
  Sugar cookie dough wrapped in a flaky crust with icing and festive sprinkles
• Toasted Marshmallow-Panna Cotta Tart – $6.49
  with graham cracker ganache macaron
• Eggnog Shake – $8.49
  Eggnog soft-serve with ginger snap crumbles topped with whipped cream and festive sprinkles (Also available during regular park hours)

One reviewer never orders hot dogs unless they are forced to for work, but this one is so good they say they’ll spend their own money on it. The Swiss Fondue is prone to the “cheese pull” moment you see so often in viral food videos, but you won’t care because the horseradish sauce and pot roast gravy are so worth it. If you get the Tots, take the “zesty” in the description seriously, but know that it’s a good kind of heat – the kind where you keep eating and worry about the sting on the sides of your mouth later. It was wonderful, and we can’t wait to have it again.

The Panna Cotta Tart was lovely and takes a good picture, but the macaron was “kind of meh”. You could do worse, but if you’re going to spend your money on this, you should love Panna Cotta. The Hand Pie is … well, we really want to know what demonic Keebler elf invented this pile of no? Hard pass. Like just do not even try it. You could fill your mouth with straight sugar and it would somehow be less sweet than this! The Eggnog Shake is on the expensive side, but if you’re the person who buys the eggnog creamer the instant it hits the grocery store in late September, this is going to make you very happy. Our call: skip the desserts, just get the shake.

Golden Oak Outpost

• Holiday Chicken Nugget Platter
  Crispy chicken nuggets with sage butter and cranberry barbecue glaze served with mashed potatoes and corn
• Festive Beignets
  Light and fluffy beignets dusted with blue sugar cookie dust and served with cookie butter icing
• Fried Ice Cream Christmas Tree
  Peppermint ice cream rolled in cereal topped with green cookie butter whipped cream and festive sprinkles

The chicken nuggets were really good (OK, when are Disney World chicken nuggets not really good?) but the sauce on ours was quite skimpy. Like, possibly applied with an eyedropper skimpy. This might be great if you have kids who wouldn’t enjoy the glaze – and in that case you can ask to have it left off – but our recommendation is to ask for a bit more if yours looks like ours did. The Christmas Tree is a different story. The crust was way too thin, the tree is just whipped cream, and the peppermint in the ice cream had toothpaste vibes. Unless you are a completionist, we recommend a hard pass.

Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe

• Carne Asada Loaded Fries – $11.99
  Seasoned french fries with carne asada, chipotle queso, caramelized onion, avocado salsa verde, and queso fresco (Available until 11 p.m.)
• Cheese and Chile Tamale – $12.99
  Served ‘Christmas-style’ with mild red chile and green chile-pumpkin seed sauces, citrus-chipotle chicken, cilantro rice, pinto beans, and queso fresco (Available until 11 p.m.)
• Chocolate Eggnog Tart – $6.49
  Chocolate tart topped with eggnog mousse and chocolate antlers (Available until 11 p.m.)
• Salted Caramel Horchata – $5.49 (Available until 11 p.m.)

Our Carne Asada Loaded Fries had salty fries, salty carne asada, salty queso, and salty salsa verde. Queso fresco is generally a bit salty so we’ll give that one a pass, but if you’re guessing this was so salty you could barely taste anything else, you guess right. The Cheese & Chile Tamale was wonderful though; the chili sauce was a delight and the citrus flavors were on point and so good. It’s a hefty serving, big enough to share, and the mild chile sauce was as advertised so even the spice wimps will be all in on this one. For dessert, the Chocolate Eggnog Tart was Insta-worthy but had some structural challenges. The shaped shell around the mousse was tough to get through, and the mousse itself was forgettable once you got to it.

Pinocchio Village Haus

• Baked Brie Flatbread – $13.29
  Brie-cheese spread, mango chutney, green apples, arugula, almonds, and a honey drizzle (Available until 9:30 p.m.)
• Lasagna Flatbread – $13.29
  Italian sausage, meatballs, five cheese mix, ricotta cheese, and pesto (Available until 9:30 p.m.)
• Black Forest Parfait – $5.99
  Flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and cherry chantilly topped with brandy-cherry compote and chocolate popping candies (Available until 9:30 p.m.)

We are always disappointed in party food at Pinocchio Village Haus, and sad to say this year was not an exception. It is so unfortunate, because it’s close to restrooms and cookie stops, has tons of seating – it’s a logistic powerhouse but the food is no bueno. We were really rooting for the Lasagna Flatbread, and honestly, the flavors were nice. But everything on this with the possible exception of the crust was a salt bomb. The Black Forest Parfait was another Insta-worthy creation that fell short. We loved the brandy-cherry compote, but the mousse layer didn’t do a good enough job of keeping it away from the cake, which was super-soggy as a result. Eat free cookies instead, they’re a much better value.

Sleepy Hollow

• Orange Chicken Tenders – $10.99
  Fried chicken tenders with orange-soy glaze, glass noodles, green onions, and crispy garlic
• Szechuan Cauliflower – $8.99
  Spicy breaded cauliflower tossed in szechuan-soy glaze
• Holiday Red Velvet Waffle Sundae – $7.79
  Mickey-shaped red velvet waffle topped with M&M’S Milk Chocolate Candies, peppermint ice cream, and hot fudge
• Milk and Cookies Mousse –$6.79
  Brown sugar cookie cake topped with chocolate chip cookie dough mousse, milk mousse, and chocolate chip cookies

We were shocked how much we loved these dishes. The description of the entrees definitely has mall Chinese food vibes, but they are the furthest thing! The orange-soy glaze was so nice and the crispy garlic on the chicken was just so good! And the cauliflower was some major spicy goodness. We are not partial to the spicy stuff, but this wasn’t painful – just some nice, deep heat with a sweet glaze to take the edge off it. The takeout box plating didn’t look the prettiest with the sauce on the flaps, but it kept everything hot until we could find a seat. Oh, and the portions were huge. Someone in culinary is out there fighting the good fight and these were a big win.

We know that Sleepy Hollow’s waffles are famous, but they’re having a tough year (IYKYK) and that’s the one item that was a miss for us. This is just sweet + sweet + sweet + sweet = no. About all we can say that’s good about it is that it’s cheaper than the $23 red velvet from the Cake Bake Shop. If you want a sweet from Sleepy Hollow, the Milk & Cookies Mousse is perfect if you are someone who enjoys dunking cookies in milk. Which we do.

Have you been to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party this year? What was your favorite treat? Let us know in the comments!