"Official" 2018 Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Holiday Magic

[emmabelle]

Not looking to start a huge debate, but I was wondering if people hold a spot in line while waiting for characters or does your entire party stand in line? Thoughts?

hmmm...


I think I've come up with a new business plan? "Line waiter" You pay for a stranger to wait in the lines for you. May need to work out the bugs.

 

[Kristin0713]

I’d love your review of ride times if you can!

I don’t know if this was clear from my post but all the rides were a 5-10 min wait last night (Tuesday 11/13) which was basically walk right on except Peter Pan and SDMT. Those fluctuated between 20-35 min each time I checked but started dropping after we left at 11. I’m sure if we stayed until the end we could have gotten on pretty quickly and even at 20 min it would have been fine, but my family didn’t want to wait.

The only time I felt like it was massive crowds was when we got stuck behind the end of the parade. That was PACKED, we couldn’t get out of it for over 30 min. I’m still kicking myself for that planning glitch.

 

[dachsie]

So we’re back from the party. It was great, low crowds IMO, low wait times on rides. We focused on rides and not the other stuff so that’s what I can report on. Here’s the rundown of our night:

5:30/6 enter park, dinner at Casey’s

Look around Emporium

Pirates

Splash twice

Btmr twice

pretzel and snow cone
—kids needed the bathroom and a break at this point. I wish I had gotten them to Fantasyland first.

Pic with Peter Pan

Carpets

Between 8:30/9–poor planning—got stuck behind end of parade for over 30 min trying to get to Fantasyland, ugh

Small world

Pinocchio - got all the cookies, ate them all, loved them

Little Mermaid

Shopping at Big Top Souvenirs

Barnstormer twice

Pic with Goofy Santa

Buzz twice

Space Mtn

More cookies and snow cones

11- wiped out, left as crowds were building for parade
______
Peter Pan and Mine Train were around 20-25 min for a lot of the night but my family didn’t want to wait and we have FP’s Thursday anyway. Although I think it would have been shorter if we’d gotten in line but they were cranky about it. If I had gotten the kids into fantasyland before the 8:30 parade crowds dispersed, I’m sure we would have done those two rides. That is my one planning regret, not paying attention to the parade crowd. When we were on the monorail around 11:15 I checked and it said Peter Pan 10, SDMT 20.

It did seem to be packed viewing for the parades, but maybe not more packed than normal?

I bought the MVMCP ornament and a long sleeved tee, love them. All in all we are very happy we went and it was well worth the cost for us.

What time did you get your Santa Goofy shot and how were the lines for the Ducks and Minnie/Daisy?

 

[Kristin0713]

What time did you get your Santa Goofy shot and how were the lines for the Ducks and Minnie/Daisy?

The Goofy pic was around 10:15, hardly a wait for that. I didn’t check the waits for other characters in the tent, sorry!
ETA - Goofy was right outside the Barnstormer, not inside with the others

 

[GatorGirl]

Here’s a short version of our party experience last night (Monday, 11/12)
I have nothing to compare it too as far as crowd level bc it was our first time in WDW, let alone MVMCP, but I thought it was packed and another person said “the park is empty tonight” lol so there’s that lol

We arrived at 4pm, went in and went to the right towards Tomorrowland. Stopped for PhotoPass, Santa cookies and party shirts at the first little cart. Walked into the second half of Move it Dance it parade, which was awesome for us and our daughters. Rode Astro Orbiter with a 15 min wait then walked over to meet Nick and Judy (got in line at 5:40 and they came right out at 6:20, we were out of line probably at 6:30- then walked over to Casey’s and mobile ordered some food. Food came out in maybe 15 min also, and the inside of the restaurant was packed. Took our food over to the hub area and sat In the “second row” of people on the parade route right in front of the castle.
We watched the first Mickeys Merriest celebration, followed by Frozen Holiday Wish and Christmas Parade immediately after. I sent my husband to snag treats from different places while we ate and waited for everything to start.
The 2 shows and parade were nothing Short of incredible.
As soon as the parade ended, we walked over to Frontierland. We walked on Splash and Thunder. Walked back over to the bridge and caught the Wishes fireworks from Frontierland edge. Walked over to Advertureland, it was about 10:30, and walked into Tiki Room to meet Moana. Waited maybe 30 minutes. She was awesome. Talked to my 5yo so much! Then went back to Tomorrowland, walked on space mountain. Headed over to mainstreet and decided for one last meet and greet!! Got in line for Sandy Claus and Sally at 11:30. The cast member said 30 minutes. We didn’t get out until 12:30. They were totally worth the wait. We were next in line and they needed to take a break. At that point, my 5yo was passed out on the floor, literally, sprawled out lol (she wanted to meet them so bad, please no parent shaming hahaha) so jack and sally peeked around the corner and saw her, jack said to us “is she alive?” And sally bent down and was whispering to her. She never woke up. It was awesome. Of course they came out 10 min later or so and we finished our pics and they interacted with her. It was a memory well never forget. It was not a perfect planned evening but it ended up being 110% worth the cost.

TY - very helpful! We are arriving today

 

[GatorGirl]

We are back from our trip, and had an amazing time at the party! Myself and my two kids entered at 4pm, used our three fast passes we had booked for pre-party, took a bunch of pics, then rode 7DMT (my son has a DAS), then headed to Scrooge and Donald's line at 630. We were out of there by 730 and headed over to watch the castle lit up. Then rode a few rides with zero waits (Haunted Mansion, Carousel, Small World). Headed to Tony's right at 9:30 for the party. I posted a couple of pics from our parade viewing spot earlier in the thread. But, it was seriously a million dollar view! Definitely worth the $99. I booked the party while on the bus on the way to the MK. I was SO happy I did! It was a nice break from the heat also, it was HOT on Friday!!! We did watch the fireworks from that same spot, some of them were blocked a little. But, we still enjoyed it! There were several non party goes trying to camp out in our area, they were eventually booted. There was still SO much space in our immediate vicinity during the parade. I guess because there were only a little over 130 guests at the party ( I saw the check in sheet). It still didn't even seem like 130 in that area though! I sent my two kids to meet Mickey while I stayed in our parade spot. The posted line was 10 minutes. Only 10 minutes! They are almost entering the room, and then my 19 year old son says he doesn't want to go in for whatever reason!! (Autism kicks our butt at least once a day lol). So they came back to our parade spot! LOVED the parade! So awesome, so much snow! We enjoyed the food and the desserts at the party, I'm not a drinker, and it was way too hot for hot cocoa! But, the soda and bottled water were good!

Right after the parade we ran to Tortuga for a snow cone and pretzel, then to Thunder Mountain and there was NO wait. This was at 11:50pm. My kids rode once, then got off wanting to go again, but at that point the line was closed. We headed back to the castle to watch a blip of Donald singing Feliz Navidad, then went back to Tony's for a second round of dessert on the patio. We stayed there until 12:30, Tony was around and signing! Since it was now my birthday, we ran over to City Hall for my Birthday Button, but the line was SO long and my daughter was complaining! I said seriously?! It's my birthday! LOL. I've never been IN a park ON my birthday! We didn't stick around in the line, I said I'll get one at the resort. I was a little bummed...won't lie! But, I get it, long day, tired! But, the best was my son...he said "Happy birthday mom" as we were walking out....I was surprised to hear that from him, as he doesn't usually just say stuff like that without being prompted (Happy Mother's Day, Father's day, etc.)...made my day!

TY - your photos are fantastic

 

[lambdabeta]

To anyone going to the parties in the next few weeks. I was wondering how the waits for Scrooge and Donald, Minnie and Daisy and Pooh and friends are? Those are the ones I want to get photos with. Especially Pooh. He is my DH favorite. What time did they start? TIA.

 

[pravado]

Can somebody please tell me if the Snow White/Prince and Aurora/Philip meets are two separate lines? I saw in a video they are right next to each other but couldn’t tell if there was just one line or two.

 

[yulilin3]

Can somebody please tell me if the Snow White/Prince and Aurora/Philip meets are two separate lines? I saw in a video they are right next to each other but couldn’t tell if there was just one line or two.

one line and you meet both sets

 

[yulilin3]

apologies if this has been answered but do we have confirmation that the flag pole spot is open to anyone for the first parade?

 

[mamaofsix]

I don’t know if this was clear from my post but all the rides were a 5-10 min wait last night (Tuesday 11/13) which was basically walk right on except Peter Pan and SDMT. Those fluctuated between 20-35 min each time I checked but started dropping after we left at 11. I’m sure if we stayed until the end we could have gotten on pretty quickly and even at 20 min it would have been fine, but my family didn’t want to wait.

The only time I felt like it was massive crowds was when we got stuck behind the end of the parade. That was PACKED, we couldn’t get out of it for over 30 min. I’m still kicking myself for that planning glitch.

We are planning to be in Adventureland during the end of the 1st parade. Do you think it's possible to cross over to the walkway along the water (across from Tom Sawyer Island) to skip getting stuck in the post-parade crowd? Then we could just skirt our way over to Fantasyland?

 

[monique5]

TY - very helpful! We are arriving today

We'll be there tomorrow!

 

[monique5]

apologies if this has been answered but do we have confirmation that the flag pole spot is open to anyone for the first parade?

Yes, on one of these pages. PP posted area wasn't marked off until around 10:10pm or so after the fireworks.

 

[yulilin3]

Yes, on one of these pages. PP posted area wasn't marked off until around 10:10pm or so after the fireworks.

awesome, thank you

 

[pravado]

one line and you meet both sets

Awesome, thanks!

 

[PRomano]

Has anyone attended Tony's Most Merriest party? I have read the earlier discussion and reviews. I am just wondering if anyone has gone to it and what you thought. Thanks!

 

[Cloe Colton]

I feel you on having to make that decision! Our party is 12/11 and I am very nervous those million dollar parade spot views people are getting will not be easy to get if our Tony’s party is really popular. I am just a nervous Nelly though, my mom always says if I didn't have something to worry about, I would worry about not having anything to worry about.

I seriously go back and forth. Im just like you and worry about it all!

My worries - will I feel like I missed out on 2.5 hours of the party by being at Tonys? But when I look at my itinerary I was planning on watching both the fireworks and the parade at that time of night which I could do both with the party...

We have to eat dinner at some point anyway which would cost me about $40 or more at a quick service for food and drinks, here we'd get food and alcohol drinks which DH would love.

Parade - possibly prime viewing? We probably wouldnt mind standing and we did waste about an hour of our last party waiting for the parade so we would hopefully be able to enjoy some of the food and drinks.

I will probably do it. As much as I don't want to give Disney that extra money it is probably worth it for me to not have to wait an hour on an uncomfortable curb for the parade anyway!

 

[BecuzImaLady]

I seriously go back and forth. Im just like you and worry about it all!

My worries - will I feel like I missed out on 2.5 hours of the party by being at Tonys? But when I look at my itinerary I was planning on watching both the fireworks and the parade at that time of night which I could do both with the party...

We have to eat dinner at some point anyway which would cost me about $40 or more at a quick service for food and drinks, here we'd get food and alcohol drinks which DH would love.

Parade - possibly prime viewing? We probably wouldnt mind standing and we did waste about an hour of our last party waiting for the parade so we would hopefully be able to enjoy some of the food and drinks.

I will probably do it. As much as I don't want to give Disney that extra money it is probably worth it for me to not have to wait an hour on an uncomfortable curb for the parade anyway!

I totally agree with your points above. We all have to eat, we all will need a nice place to rest, we all want to see the parade, and we have already spent the money on the MVMCP in the first place so this is like an insurance policy that we will have all of the above without too much extra thought or effort on our part. Because, like I said, we are all going to be doing those things... might as well just do them at Tony’s. So, the good out weighed the bad (extra price, possibly missing party time) for us.

 

[Louie7080]

Yes, on one of these pages. PP posted area wasn't marked off until around 10:10pm or so after the fireworks.

I want to make sure I understand this correctly - one can snag a spot for the first parade in the same area as the Tony's people can during the second parade? For some reason I assumed there was a different party there for the first parade. Do they ever film there and block of that area for other reasons other than dessert parties, etc..? How early do you have to snag a curb seat in the center? 2 hours or more? Do the CMs let people wait super long there for the parade? Sorry for all the questions - never went to this party before and am trying to catch up on all the info.

 

[Kristin0713]

We are planning to be in Adventureland during the end of the 1st parade. Do you think it's possible to cross over to the walkway along the water (across from Tom Sawyer Island) to skip getting stuck in the post-parade crowd? Then we could just skirt our way over to Fantasyland?

This is actually what we were doing, but before making it all the way through DH had to go to the bathroom and DD needed water. So we backtracked (stupid move) and I took the kids into Pecos Bill for water while DH went to the bathroom and took forever. By the time we got out, the last float was going by and it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, we couldn’t get our bearings or figure out where to go. If I had a plan in place and knew where to go immediately I think it would have been fine. I hope someone else can advise you better!