Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Review

I have always loved Christmas and it has always been my favorite holiday. I first experienced Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 6 years ago when I took my youngest daughter for her golden birthday trip (6 on the 6th) and we loved it. Since it was her trip, I let her be the guide of what we did. It involved a lot of cookies, hot chocolate and rides.

I took my family last year, but that experience was totally different from what I am going to tell you about in this blog because my daughters only want to ride rides when they are at Disney. They don’t care much about parades, character meets, shows, or fireworks, so we didn’t make that a priority. We enjoyed the low wait times and got to ride everything we wanted, so if rides are a priority for you, a party is a great way to experience a lot of attractions in a shorter amount of time.

It was about 45 degrees out. It was 80 degrees 2 days later. Be prepared for all weather!

However, for this trip, my friends and I focused on the things my family does not. We only rode 3 things (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - walked right on, Jingle Cruise - waited maybe 20 minutes, and my favorite, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, which was probably also about 20 minutes) and while I do love rides, I was perfectly satisfied with watching shows, parades, and fireworks. We did enter the special party virtual queue for TRON that opened at 6pm, but our group was called while we were waiting for the parade on Main Street USA and we missed our hour ride window. We didn’t mind since we all had ridden it in April when we were there for the runDisney Springtime Surprise Weekend. 

We did not do any character meets because the wait times were fairly long, but we did stop for a couple of non-character pictures. 

(The shadows on our pants are so funny in this pic.)

It was way too cold to wear these shirts we planned, but we braved the cold for a castle picture.

Guests without a park ticket for the day can enter Magic Kingdom at 4pm and we arrived to a long queue. Don’t worry, it moves quickly and they keep it as organized as possible. Party guests receive a wristband as identification and you are asked to show it a lot. We headed down the special party entrance and it was snowing (also referred to as snoap since it is not actually snow and it is made from soap. I will be calling it snoap for the rest of this blog). They had some picture spots set up and some characters out, including a toy soldier from the parade, but the line was . You also received a special ornament.

I had made dinner reservations before the party because when I went 6 years ago, you couldn’t find anything but cookies for food once the party started. I need some protein in my life, so we headed to Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:30pm. It was delicious as always, but with the food offerings this year, they did have some sandwiches and other savory offerings available for purchase, so it wasn’t completely necessary to have a pre-party meal. This was a needed change and I am glad they did it.

Once we finished eating, we went right to the castle to wait for the Frozen stage show where Elsa “lights” the castle. It was adorable and a must see for any Frozen fan. 

The party officially started at 7pm, so by the time the show was over, we had a little bit of time before any of the cookie stops opened. They did open a few minutes early, so we got our first cookie and beverage (hot chocolate this time - other spots had egg nog and cider) made the loop through Fantasyland, Liberty Square (missed the cookie stop here because the line was really long and we never made it back), Frontierland, and Adventureland.

We watched the 8:30 parade from Frontierland and I will tell you it was not as magical because we ended up in a spot with a very bright spotlight in our eyes. If you watch the parade from here, stand on the side closer to the water to avoid this issue.

While the party includes pre-packaged cookies and beverages, they do still have some special treats for purchase. We tried 3 of them and the 2 desserts were quite good! It was nice to have 2 other people to share them with. 

Santa’s Belt Buckle from Sunshine Tree Terrace

Peppermint Snowman from The Friar's Nook

Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show was at 10pm and we ended up with great spots near the castle. I absolutely loved this show! It was so good. The music, the projections, the amazing fireworks (some I had never seen before including one shaped like Minnie!)...it was all magical. I will even go as far to say that this show is my second favorite nighttime spectacular at Walt Disney World any time of the year.

After fireworks, my friend Katie went to stake out a parade spot on Main Street while Mattie and I went to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train (this was at my request - I just love that ride!). This is a benefit of having multiple people in your group with different party goals. Yes, we watched the parade twice and I have no regrets. It is really important to get a spot early if you want to watch the parade from Main Street, but it is SO worth it. It snoaps during the whole parade and you get the castle in the background. It was magical.

We decided to take in the last showing of Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration, which is a different castle show that happens a few times during the night. The last one started at 11:55pm and the party officially ends at 12am, but they don’t kick you out right away, they just shut down the ride and cookie queues. It was such a fun show with so many different characters!

All in all, I think the Christmas party is my favorite party out of the ones available in Walt Disney World. Is it worth the price of admission? I say yes. You do have to prioritize what you want to do because there isn’t enough time to do it all, but if you have discussed with your travel party what you each want to do the most, that is the easiest way to get the most enjoyment out of your experience. Staying until the end of the party was also definitely worth it. I had never made it to the end of a party before and it was really fun to stay and see it all.

Have you been to a Disney party? What did you think?