"Official" Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2017 - Believe in the Magic

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Looking for opinions. We are a family of 3 arriving MCO at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 15. Is it worth it to try to go to MVMCP for just 7 p.m. to midnight? Could we even get from the airport to our hotel and then over to MK in that amount of time? We have ADRs for BOG that night because it was the only time I could get one. Still, spending $300 for just 4-5 hours at the party seems steep. If we decide not to do it that night, what would be a suggestion for a fun arrival evening/Christmasy activity that wouldn't require Park admission? We are staying at CBR, which is of course under construction. Thanks for any input!
 
Looking for opinions. We are a family of 3 arriving MCO at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 15. Is it worth it to try to go to MVMCP for just 7 p.m. to midnight? Could we even get from the airport to our hotel and then over to MK in that amount of time? We have ADRs for BOG that night because it was the only time I could get one. Still, spending $300 for just 4-5 hours at the party seems steep. If we decide not to do it that night, what would be a suggestion for a fun arrival evening/Christmasy activity that wouldn't require Park admission? We are staying at CBR, which is of course under construction. Thanks for any input!

No, sorry. And no, sorry. With that ADR, you’d be fortunate to get 3 hours of party time.
 
For those of you who have been to the party already - how were the standby lines for Jingle Cruise and BTMRR? Our goal was to ride Jingle Cruise around 6:15/6:30 pm and then head over to BTMRR, but I could switch out an earlier FP+ to Jingle Cruise if need be. Thanks for any advice!
WeDSC00433.JPG rode Jingle Cruise twice on 12/7. Once during regular hours (9:36) and once during the party (8:30). Both times it was a straight shot to boarding.
 


I know that there were a lot of comments from last year's parties about people staying in the park without wristbands. At both of the parties we went to the cast members were extremely diligent and insistent about checking wristbands, even going up and down the parade route checking everyone's wrist.
 
I didn’t get the 2017 MVMCP ornament on our party night (12/5) and now I’m regretting it. Is there a way to order one online?
 


Thought I would share the times of our Christmas Party Character meet and greet experiences.
This information is from the party on Sunday, December, 10th. I recorded the times on my phone, so I could share! :)
In line Time - Character - Finish Time
5:10 Seven Dwarfs - 6:27
6:30 Pooh and Friends 7:06
7:10 Snow White / Aurora with Princes 8:10
8:30 We watched the Parade in Frontier Land
8:56 Aladdin and Abu 9:22
9:37 Cinderella and Prince Charming 9:48
9:53 Nick and Judy 10:23
10:29 Minni and Daise 10:46
11:06 Jack Sparrow 11:22
11:26 Moana 11:34
11:40 Bell No wait
11:46 Eric and Ariel 11:49
11:50 Tiana and Rapunzel and princes 11:59
 
We attended the 12/8 party and had a blast! We were second in line and let in right around 3:40. We saw dapper dans on Main Street and then had fast passes for haunted mansion, space mtn, and thunder mtn. We rode thunder with the FP right at 6pm. Next up was splash, POTC, and jingle cruise and all were walk inside with nobody in line. We grabbed sno cones and pretzels from Tortuga while we were there.

Then, we headed to Main Street and held a spot for the parade right across from the bakery. I would guess this was around 7:20. There was rain in the forecast for later, so we didn’t want to chance the second parade being cancelled. While we waited, we had Starbucks and the kids went and rode buzz light year and the speedway. They didn’t mention a wait. Kids were back at 8:15 for the parade. It was delayed a few minutes, but once it came, loved it!

We went on people mover and then came back to watch the Mickey show and then the fireworks. We walked right up to the middle of Main Street - right next to the garden viewing area. This must not have been a sold out party because Main Street was not full for the fireworks.

After, we headed to fantasyland. Rode Winnie the Pooh, it was a walk on. The line for the Pooh characters looked like 20 mins. The mine train line was 40 mins. We headed to storybook circus and saw Santa Goofy (5 min wait). Then we got in line for the Dwarfs - the worker said it was 15 min, it ended up at 25 mins. While we waited, kids rode barnstormer twice (no wait), and shopped a bit. The Dwarfs were adorable!

It was 11:30pm and we rode the little mermaid, walk on. When we got out, the rain started so we went and did a little shopping on Main Street and headed out.

I love the vibe of the party and would do it again. I personally would have liked more character meets but our party wanted more rides so that’s what we did. We weren’t hungry so didn’t bother with the free snacks and didn’t have photopass so we didn’t bother with the pictures.

One of the workers in line for Santa Goofy said it was a slow night and the night before was slow too. Everyone we met was so nice.
Sounds like you had an awesome time!! Were there a lot of people lined up for the parade at 7:20? I wasn't sure if we were still allowed to hold spots in advance but hoping I could camp out while the kids ride some rides before the parade!
 
Thank you all so much! I'll snag that JC FP+!
We went to the parties on 12/7 & 10. BTMRR was generally a walk-on, but broke down at one point on the 7th, causing people to flood other rides. Did JC after the 10 pm fireworks and walked right on. Both nights seemed crowded with 7DMT around 50 min to 1 hr wait.
 
Sounds like you had an awesome time!! Were there a lot of people lined up for the parade at 7:20? I wasn't sure if we were still allowed to hold spots in advance but hoping I could camp out while the kids ride some rides before the parade!

Most of the curb spots on Main Street were filling up -I would say full by 7:30. We were a group of five. Two of us held the spots for the five with no issues - many people were doing He same and nobody around d us had issues with it. Collectively, we all made sure kids in the area could all see when the parade started.
 
Most of the curb spots on Main Street were filling up -I would say full by 7:30. We were a group of five. Two of us held the spots for the five with no issues - many people were doing He same and nobody around d us had issues with it. Collectively, we all made sure kids in the area could all see when the parade started.

Great post and so glad to hear, that's what Disney and Christmas should be about is to make sure all the kids collectively can see, not just your own.
 
Looking for opinions. We are a family of 3 arriving MCO at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 15. Is it worth it to try to go to MVMCP for just 7 p.m. to midnight? Could we even get from the airport to our hotel and then over to MK in that amount of time? We have ADRs for BOG that night because it was the only time I could get one. Still, spending $300 for just 4-5 hours at the party seems steep. If we decide not to do it that night, what would be a suggestion for a fun arrival evening/Christmasy activity that wouldn't require Park admission? We are staying at CBR, which is of course under construction. Thanks for any input!

I am confused. You have an ADR for December 15 but don't have party tickets? You will not be allowed into the park after 6pm that night without party tickets. Are you going to cancel it if you don't get the tickets?

We are at CBR right now. We checked in on a Saturday. It is our first stay here & we were stuck by how chaotic the check in process is. If you need to stop at the check in building, plan on up to 20 minutes after you complete your activity there to get to your room. You must wait for an internal shuttle which seems to take about 15 minutes between buses. Then another 5-10 to get to your stop & add in the walk to your room. Even if you don't go to your room, you will need to get an internal shuttle to the first bus stop then get off & wait for a bus to the park. Really not a guest friendly process.

And then hope nothing goes wrong during check in. We arrived at the resort at around 10 am & had 2 issues that took til almost noon to fix. And then we had a 3rd issue when we got to the park which caused another trip to check in.

Disney Springs has the Christmas tree trail which would be a nice start to your trip. We haven't seen this yeas version yet but it has expanded from last year & sounds nice.
 
Can you cross to the opposite side of the park through Fantasyland throughout the entire party, even during parades and fireworks? I don’t want to be trapped on one side so I’m trying to visualize the map and parade route and make a path! Thanks!

Yes. If you search through this thread, I believe @Robo posted a map with the parade route and path crossovers.

Looking for opinions. We are a family of 3 arriving MCO at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 15. Is it worth it to try to go to MVMCP for just 7 p.m. to midnight? Could we even get from the airport to our hotel and then over to MK in that amount of time? We have ADRs for BOG that night because it was the only time I could get one. Still, spending $300 for just 4-5 hours at the party seems steep. If we decide not to do it that night, what would be a suggestion for a fun arrival evening/Christmasy activity that wouldn't require Park admission? We are staying at CBR, which is of course under construction. Thanks for any input!

I agree with the PP's. There is no way I would do the party that night if I were landing at 5:30 pm. Even if you used a private car service to get to CBR, you are looking at getting to CBR no earlier than 7 pm. If using DME, add another 30 minutes to an hour. You could then uber over to CR and walk to MK, but the party will be well under way at that point. I think it would be a massive waste of money. If you decide not to do it, make sure you cancel that BOG ADR so you aren't charged a no-show fee.

I would recommend, after getting to CBR, taking a bus to MK and taking the monorail around to see the decorations at CR, Poly and GF (you could also uber to CR and simply monorail from there). I would just do QS that night for dinner (all 3 of those resorts have good QS). Depending on where you are around 10 pm, I would watch Holiday Wishes from one of those resorts (CR has a 4th floor observation deck, you can see the fireworks from the boat dock or right outside Gasparilla's at GF and the two beaches and marina at Poly). GF might be a nice place to try to do this. The tree is gorgeous there and you could get QS at Gasparilla's and see the fireworks right outside.
 
We have just decided rather than stress out over fitting everything in just to book two parties, there's only two of us so not such a big financial pull out.
Our strategy the first night is to see the 7.40 Mickeys Merriest stage show, 8-15 Frozen show, hop over to Plaza Garden Dessert party for Holiday Wishes then watch the second parade.

The next night we aren't doing the Dessert Party so will partake of cookies and drinking chocolate, hopefully meet Santa Goofy, maybe watch the fireworks behind the castle away from the crowds and just soak up the atmosphere. We're in Disney for fourteen days so no need to get any rides in as we've got FP's for them on other days.

We also probably won't show up to the parties til about six as it goes on way past our bedtime!
 
Thought I would share the times of our Christmas Party Character meet and greet experiences.
This information is from the party on Sunday, December, 10th. I recorded the times on my phone, so I could share! :)
In line Time - Character - Finish Time
5:10 Seven Dwarfs - 6:27
6:30 Pooh and Friends 7:06
7:10 Snow White / Aurora with Princes 8:10
8:30 We watched the Parade in Frontier Land
8:56 Aladdin and Abu 9:22
9:37 Cinderella and Prince Charming 9:48
9:53 Nick and Judy 10:23
10:29 Minni and Daise 10:46
11:06 Jack Sparrow 11:22
11:26 Moana 11:34
11:40 Bell No wait
11:46 Eric and Ariel 11:49
11:50 Tiana and Rapunzel and princes 11:59

Wow you got a lot done!! I guess those brave enough to stand out in the cold were rewarded with short character lines! We were at the same party and just did Aurora/Snow/Princes and left about 9pm. It was a chilly night!
 
Is there anyone yet to attend a Christmas Party that can help me out... I am looking for the Christmas Party Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom SOMK card for my son and daughter for Christmas. Trying our luck to see if anyone can grab me a spare or two? (Also I am in Canada) Thanks.

(please let me know if this is inappropriate).
 
Can anyone enlighten me to what the "bypass" is? From what I gathered it sounds like a route of some sort that party goers take once they enter the park at 4:00p. I gather it goes on the right hand side as I've seen some mention of easy access to Tomorrowland. We are planning on entering at 4:00p and heading right to Liberty Tree Tavern for an ADR. Will the bypass force us to go all the way around the back side of the castle or will it end at some point that allows us to cut across? Oh and...

8 more days until we leave for our Disney Christmas Vacation!!! :dancer::jumping1:
 
Can anyone enlighten me to what the "bypass" is? From what I gathered it sounds like a route of some sort that party goers take once they enter the park at 4:00p. I gather it goes on the right hand side as I've seen some mention of easy access to Tomorrowland. We are planning on entering at 4:00p and heading right to Liberty Tree Tavern for an ADR. Will the bypass force us to go all the way around the back side of the castle or will it end at some point that allows us to cut across? Oh and...

8 more days until we leave for our Disney Christmas Vacation!!! :dancer::jumping1:

The bypass comes out right where the bathrooms are by Tomorrowland Terrace.

I'm sure you'd be allowed down Mainstreet should you wish but the bypass doesn't add much distance.
 
Does anybody have a rough estimate as to how many people attend the party on a given night? By that I guess I mean, how many tickets do they sell for the parties?

Thanks.
 
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