Updated 2019 Party Dates

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party/purchase/

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is a special event in the Magic Kingdom. The party offers entertainment such as Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade and Holiday Wishes, which is a special fireworks display. In addition to the parade and fireworks it also offers free holiday treats, specialty foods, and unique character Meet and Greets. Tickets are available on select nights from the beginning of November through Christmas. The Christmas party starts at 7pm, but guests with a ticket can enter the Magic Kingdom as early as 4pm. The park closes early for guests without a party ticket. Generally the party sells out and tickets aren’t cheap for this event.

Free Holiday Treats and Drinks

The locations of the holiday treats are available on the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas map. Not every location offered allergy friendly options but most handed out the same damn bag of chocolate chip cookies. In addition, the Friar’s Nook location offered Dove Chocolates. Needless to say this was somewhat of a disappointment, but they did allow us to take as many bags of cookies as we damn well pleased. Unlike the treats, every drink available was gluten friendly! They offered hot chocolate, eggnog, apple cider, and snow cones. Each drink amounted to a swallow, similar to a shot of alcohol. In other words, they didn’t give you shit to drink. Overall this was a nice gesture but not nearly enough to justify the shit ton of money you spent on Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas ticket.

Specialty Foods

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party offers a select amount of unique foods, specifically created for the party. They offered a couple of gluten free options such as Scrooge McDuck eggnog custard, spiced chocolate yule log, and peppermint ice cream. The ice cream isn’t special because they serve it all day during the holiday season. Since Disney decided to pack the party in like sardines, we only had time to try one item. Disney clearly oversells this event and it was aggravating. With that being said, the gluten free Spiced Chocolate Yule Log we tried was the shit. It reminded me of the same flavor combinations in a chocolate mole sauce. The chocolate and the spice went well together and it was very delicious. If we were able to enjoy all of the treats available, it would’ve been a helluva lot better experience. Instead it just left us wanting more.

Entertainment

I’m not listing all the available entertainment during Mickey’s Very Christmas Party. You can find extra info here

Because Disney oversold the event we had to choose between fireworks, parades, shows, attractions, and character Meet and Greets. First, we saw the Frozen Holiday Wish. It would’ve been a lot cooler if we could’ve actually seen it. We had the perfect spot for viewing but folks swooped in at the last minute with their kids on their shoulders, blocking everyone’s view.

Attractions

As far as attractions, we were able to ride one- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It only had a 5-10 minute wait. Once we finished, the wait was over 30 minutes. Since no FastPasses are available during the parties every attraction had longass waits! Screw that noise. Waiting in lines is for dopes that don’t plan. Hell, we didn’t even wait more than 15 minutes for an attraction on the other days we spent at Magic Kingdom.

Meet and Greets

There are a lot of unique Character Meet and Greets that are only available at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. For instance The Seven Dwarfs, Scrooge McDuck, and the crew from Hundred Acre Wood. Since Disney was being a bunch of dickbags and oversold the party, we had to choose between the character experiences. The Seven Dwarfs seem to be the biggest draw because the damn wait was over 2 hours! I’m a huge fan of Scrooge, but his line was stupid long. Ridiculous! Luckily my kids love the characters from Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh and Friends only had a 20 minute wait. Tigger was kickass. He was jumping around with the kids and he genuinely made it a great experience.

Fireworks

Any way you look at it, Magic Kingdom fireworks are badass. Holiday Wishes is a special display only for the holidays. There is one problem, however- it isn’t the best display at Magic Kingdom. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a 12 minute badass fireworks display with Christmas music. Happily Ever After goes on every other night at Magic Kingdom and in my opinion, is vastly superior. Unfortunately, once you’ve seen the aforementioned fireworks, it makes Holiday Wishes a bit less exciting. It doesn’t even have castle projections! Thankfully, Holiday Wishes can be watched anywhere outside of Magic Kingdom. Not to worry, the dis rumor mill is swirling that Holiday Wishes may be updated! Editors Note: Check out if the fireworks dessert parties are right for you.

Christmastime Parade

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade is absolutely the best part of the Christmas Party. They run 2 parades per party so not even a shit ton of people can ruin this gem, unless you let assholes sneak in front of you at the last second. I didn’t allow that shit. Personally, watching the parade from Main Street is a must. Folks, they make it snow on Main Street during the whole damn parade. Essentially all of the iconic characters are involved and they even have life-sized, wooden Toy Soldiers. At the end of the parade Santa Claus is waving from a big red sleigh. It’s truly a memorable experience.

To sum it up, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party has great potential. The parade is fantastic. We enjoyed ourselves to a certain degree, but the common disappointment was the crowds. As a result, we found ourselves asking if it was worth the madness. If they limit the crowd then this would be a great experience, but we know that isn’t happening. On the other hand, you should buy a ticket and brave the crowds if it’s on your Disney bucket list. With that being said, if you want access to attractions, characters, and Mickey bars without waits I’d suggest looking into Disney After Hours. The cost is essentially the same as the Christmas and Halloween parties, but with literally no crowds.