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

[KStash]

It’s funny, because I went tonight and thought it was not at all crowded. I got there at 7 and walked on Splash, Pirates, haunted mansion and jingle cruise. I had a 15 minute wait for Big Thunder. Got a seat right in the middle of the Hub for fireworks and front row for parade near Pecos Bill. No way I could accomplish all of that during a normal Park night around Christmas. Was definitely worth the price if going during a busy time of year.

 

[Elle23]

It’s funny, because I went tonight and thought it was not at all crowded. I got there at 7 and walked on Splash, Pirates, haunted mansion and jingle cruise. I had a 15 minute wait for Big Thunder. Got a seat right in the middle of the Hub for fireworks and front row for parade near Pecos Bill. No way I could accomplish all of that during a normal Park night around Christmas. Was definitely worth the price if going during a busy time of year.

I almost posted that someone would surely come behind me and say it wasn’t that bad.

Maybe we just hit stuff at a bad time. But it still seemed really crowded to me.

 

[hawaiiangal]

I also attended tonight.
This is my 6th year in a row attending a Christmas Party (the last 3 years we've made it a point to attend two parties each trip) - so my 9th MVMCP I guess. In the past I've attended earlier in the month, usually the first or second week.

Tonight was somewhat unpleasant to me. It was shocking to me the amount of people everywhere. I'm just simply not used to having a party so crowded. I'm used to walking right on rides, and not having such horribly congested walkways during a party.

At 7:15pm Space Mountain still said 30 minutes (didn't ride so it might have been an inflated time). I waited 25 minutes for BTM at 7:45pm, I waited 22 minutes for Winnie the Pooh around 9:00pm. I did walk right on Journey of Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Peoplemover.

I watched the 1st parade easily from an area across from the shooting gallery, showing up at 8:15 I got right to the rope. Then very strangely, everyone stood up when the parade started. I looked around and there were a few people sitting here and there, but basically everyone next to me, down the way from me and across from me were standing. This is new to me, the front row always sits I thought....

I also walked right into the fake grass area in front of Casey's at about 9:40pm for the fireworks and there was still space available - but the hub was packed.
I encountered rude, pushy people during the Mickey's Merriest show (okay, not sure on the name right now, its very late and I just got to my room).
I didn't have any issues watching Voiceplay at 10:20 and that Tomorrowland show at 10:45.

So sure, I accomplished a lot tonight as far as catching the parade, fireworks and all the shows. It was just far more crowded than I've experienced in the last 6 years and the overall atmosphere lacked because of it.

I pre-purchased tickets to go again on Thursday night, and now regret it - I'd rather not attend. While one party was never enough in previous years, that has clearly now changed for me. I realize everyone has different experiences based on expectations and goals for their night, just thought I'd share mine.

 

[DisHeels]

Tonight's party (12/19) was great! Never felt crowded. We rode the People Mover and Winnie the pooh and watched Country Bear Jamboree. We went with a more laid back approach. Most rides we passed or saw on MDE were 5-20 minute waits except for Peter Pan and 7DMT. Those were between 30-50 minutes when I checked through the night.

We met Mary Poppins, Bert, Tiana, Naveen, Rapunzel, Flynn, Beast, Sandy Claws and Moana. We met Sandy Claws and Moana during the last 30 minutes of the party. I thought I read they closed the lines before midnight? Tonight you could line up until midnight.

Lines for treats were good. Went into two with either no lines or maybe 2 deep each line. Even the ones we didn't go into were not bad.

Had an 8:35pm reservation at Be Our Guest. We ate then met Beast just in time to catch Holiday Wishes at 10pm from the back of the castle. Great spot. Fireworks all around you and we could still hear the audio.

We watched the castle lighting on the bridge from the side of the castle. Saved us the headache of finding a spot facing it.

Saw the 2nd parade between Liberty Square and Frontier Land. There are some benches that sit about 3 people each. Probably 4 in a row? We could see the parade from there. Also had the option of walking down near the rope since it was only one row deep and those folks were sitting. Bonus country music trio playing just before the parade started. And Country Bears roaming around!!!

It was my wife's birthday and she loved every minute of it. Same with my 11 year old daughter and friend. If we didn't have the dinner reservation we could have done a lot of rides/stage shows.

 

[kelleybean]

We are going Friday. Any suggestions as to how early we would have to stake out a parade spot in Frontierland for the first parade to get a front row? We've been to the Christmas party before, but never on a sold out night.

 

[Elle23]

Tonight's party (12/19) was great! Never felt crowded.

Were we at the same party?!

I know from reading other threads and posts that people have different perspectives, but I don’t understand how it can not feel crowded when it was indeed very crowded?

I understand that Disney is very crowded this time of year. We went in knowing this and have managed through just fine. But I had different expectations for the Christmas party. I didn’t expect it to be empty, but I expected it to be more manageable than it was.

 

[Kimberly Mitchell]

I’ve been twice for two years not sure it is worth going a third time. Anythng different ?

 

[Madteaparty001]

Were we at the same party?!

I know from reading other threads and posts that people have different perspectives, but I don’t understand how it can not feel crowded when it was indeed very crowded?

I understand that Disney is very crowded this time of year. We went in knowing this and have managed through just fine. But I had different expectations for the Christmas party. I didn’t expect it to be empty, but I expected it to be more manageable than it was.

From reading all the posts it seems the trend for those who thought parties were not crowded either spent a large amount of time in adventure land/frontier land or have a higher tolerance for crowds.

I thought my party was crowded (12/10) but I never made it to Adventure land, the crowds seemed to be following behind us all night so I saw waits building up everytime we walked off a ride. I think it's undeniable that Disney is filling these parties more than the previous years but how crowded someone thinks something is will always be opinion and experience based.

 

[chiisai]

I also went last night. It felt crowded to me. The ride lines were long between 6 and 7, as people were maybe trying to get the last rides in before leaving?

After that the line waits were very variable, up and down 5 - 35 minutes throughout the night. It seems there would be crushes and then moments of calm; it really depended on when you ended up at the attraction.

It felt far more hectic than I expected.

I took a tip from someone above and went to Main Street for the 8:30 parade around 7:45 and looked at trash cans. While totally full elsewhere, the areas behind most trash cans were open, so we got great spots behind the cans next to the ice cream shop.

We enjoyed the fireworks via the plaza party, and most people were sitting (hurray!), so we got a nice comfortable break.

But from 6 -7:30, it was a dash to get to the rides that had low lines, by dash I mean checking times and deciding if you were going to cross the park for the ride with the 10 min line vs where you were for the 35 min one.

We probably won't do it again.

 

[Cluelyss]

How do I get a ticket to a sold out party ?

Unless you’re military, you can’t.

 

[memma05]

Heading to the party tonight! I'm just hoping its not as crazy as the regular nights have been this past week!

 

[GPC0321]

Here's my sold out 12/17 MVMCP experience. First of all, a disclaimer: It would have probably been better if my father hadn't attended. I tried and tried to explain to both of my parents what this was and why Dad might not want to go, but they didn't really listen, he insisted he wanted to go, and so I bought him a ticket. My father wants to walk a million miles an hour through a crowd, get to his "destination" and then be entertained right then. He doesn't stand around and wait very well, and doesn't understand why anyone would. I tried to explain that there was no rush and we needed to simply meander around enjoying the atmosphere, but he just didn't understand. He kept asking, "When does the party start?" and I had to keep saying, "This IS the party," which got a confused and slightly perturbed reaction. *sigh*

Anyway. Upon entering the MK, we made our way to the castle. We stopped at one point when Frozen Wish was starting and watched (good spot, a little distance away, but could make out the characters). The castle lighting was beautiful.

We then kept working our way closer to the castle. I mistakenly thought the first Most Merriest castle show was at 7pm instead of 7:40. We managed to get to the very front with no one between us and the castle. My mom was so excited (and this trip was for her 75th birthday, so this made me glad). When I checked the time and saw that we had over and hour wait before the show, my father looked dismayed, but Mom refused to give up her front row spot and carefully sat down on the ground like those around us (it was already really crowded). Dad begrudgingly did the same, LOL. (My 72 and 75 year old parents sitting on the pavement for an hour, bless their hearts).

We soon noticed a guy beside us who had taken various items (backpack, popcorn bucket, etc) and spread them all around on the ground, obviously trying to hold spaces for family. It was pretty annoying, especially since he almost put the backpack ON my father where he was sitting. A little while later, we noticed a young woman had joined us at the front. She had moved one of the items. The guy and a woman whom I assume was his wife came back and started telling the young woman that they had to have space for 10 people, and she needed to move. She stood her ground and would not leave and they kept getting more demanding. Then another guest (sounded like she was from Australia) swooped out of nowhere and told the young lady not to move, she had every right to be there. This woman turned to the couple who was trying to save the spot and said, "I've been watching this, and it's not right. You can't do this! No!" And she turned around and went back to her place.

Those people gathered up their various items and left. Ha!

We chatted with the young lady who had refused to give up her spot. She was very nice, and I'm glad she stuck up for herself.

Anyway, after the Most Merriest show (which was fabulous from front row!), we went to Frontierland and got front row for the parade. Tigger came over and kissed my hand! <3

After that, Dad was about done, so we got him back to Main Street (which was no easy task), told him how to catch the boat back to the GF, and after using the restroom (which was another wait), we staked out a spot right beside the garden viewing area for the dessert party and watched Holiday Wishes (wonderful).

Happily, we discovered it snows on Main Street after the fireworks, so we made our way down, enjoying the atmosphere, and did a little shopping. Before leaving (we were tired, it was our check-in day), we stopped by and met Mickey, which was fun.

So, not a terribly productive MVMCP, and I probably won't do it again, but we got to see the castle lighting, castle show, parade, and fireworks, and at least met Mickey. Glad we did it.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Wow, so I guess they don't escort out non-party goers anymore after their dining reservations.

I made a reservation at BOG for 5:45 pm on a party night this past Tuesday. Every step of leaving I thought we'd find a CM to escort us out of the park like they used to, but no one ever stopped us. We did see a few lines of CMs at choke points checking wrist bands on the way out, but there were a lot of people hanging out on the BOG bridge and no one ever questioned us. We did make our way out, but we probably could have lost ourselves in the crowds if we had been so inclined.

 

[GPC0321]

Wow, so I guess they don't escort out non-party goers anymore after their dining reservations.

I made a reservation at BOG for 5:45 pm on a party night this past Tuesday. Every step of leaving I thought we'd find a CM to escort us out of the park like they used to, but no one ever stopped us. We did see a few lines of CMs at choke points checking wrist bands on the way out, but there were a lot of people hanging out on the BOG bridge and no one ever questioned us. We did make our way out, but we probably could have lost ourselves in the crowds if we had been so inclined.

I know up near the front of the castle, as we were waiting for Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration to start, CMs came through at least three times and checked for wrist bands. There was a couple beside us who had print-outs of their tickets, but hadn't gotten wrist bands because they were already in the park for the day and didn't know about finding a place to get the bands. The CM told them where to go get them, and said they had to do so if they wanted to stay.

No one ever checked us later in the evening.

 

[Lorelei18]

Still here, but wanted to share my brief thoughts on MVMCP. We attended 12/17. A sold out night. I didn't feel as though as though it was "crowded". However, I also went to MK last night, on what Touring Plans says was a level 10 day, and managed to have a great time with my family. The other family we were traveling with chose not to return to the park in the evening because it was too crowded. Crowded is definitely a matter of opinion and also priorities and expectations. At MVMCP we toured a bit like we typically do at MK. We got there, squeezed in a fastpass ride on SDMT right before 6pm, ran over to the hub on the edge of the hub and pathway to SDMT/Fantasyland and caught the Frozen Castle lighting show. Went back to Fasntasyland to try to get some treats at Pinochio Village Haus but they said "not til 7pm" so rode the carousel. By the time we got off they were handing out treats there so went back, got our 4 cookies and cocoa each (thank you to the Dis'ers with the idea to bring ziploc bags, we each had our own). My kids didn't make themselves sick eating cookies, because they knew we could take them with us in the bags, so that was great. Walked into Tomorrowland and got snowcones and another cookie at Auntie Gravity's I think. After that we crossed the hub and almost walked on Pirates of the Caribbean. Then went to Tortuga Tavern for soft pretzels and another snowcone. Then to Frontierland Shooting Gallery and I grabbed some spots along the parade route right in front of there and sat down. 5 minutes before the parade began my kids came and sat down with me so had front row seats for the parade. For our family, it was great, as my hubby wouldn't tolerate waiting an hour to watch a parade and my kids would require entertainment. For me, personally, I would have enjoyed watching it more from the hub or Main Street for the atmosphere. But, my family was happy, and this is our traditional way to watch parades, as we always used to watch MSEP this way. After that, got on Jingle Cruise with maybe a 10 minute wait? The kids and I enjoyed the things to look at in the line. And I always get a kick out of Jungle Cruise, so the new jokes were fun. We got to sit right up front and our skipper interacted a lot with our kids, our kids even made her laugh a couple times. After that we headed over to the hub to grab a spot and watched part of the Mickey stage show from the back edge of the hub near the entrance to Adventureland and then also watched Holiday Wishes from there. My thoughts on that are, I would have enjoyed being closer for the stage show. It was a much better show than I was anticipating, so I wish I would have made a greater effort for us to get closer, as I think my kids would have also enjoyed it more. Second, while we had an amazing last minute view of the castle, for some reason the fireworks for Holiday Wishes seemed more off to the left than I remember Wishes being. I had thought his would have been a perfect angle based on Wishes, and my kids (and father in law) loved the 180 fireworks near the end, I would have preferred watching it closer to the Plaza restaurant I think, which is the side where we always watched Wishes.

We ended up just leaving after the fireworks because we'd done rope drop that morning (I'd forgot what a difference an 8am rope drop is to a 9am rope drop in terms of being tired, despite getting SO much done in the morning!). And we had Epcot to the the next day.

So, for us, I'm pretty sure just being here at Christmas is a one and done for us, at least for now. The party was a fun thing to experience once, but I think I'd definitely not do a park in the AM, and not have plans to wake up early the next morning, in order to really get the most out of it.

FWIW, I just asked my DS11 what his favorite "Christmas" activity we did so far this week was, first he said, "the dessert party", which was the HEA dessert party. Then he said, "The choir" which was the NPH Candlelight Processional (I will write a separate "review"). My DS4 replied "the fireworks", also referring to the HEA fireworks last night. YMMV, but I don't think the MVMCP made a big impression on anyone in my family, DS11, DS7, or DS4.

 

[Lorelei18]

As for wristbands getting checked, I got to the point I got used to holding up my wrist anytime I passed a CM. They seemed pretty thorough, at least for entertainment. Now that I think of it, I don't think we got checked going on rides.

 

[Indio]

We were at the sold out party on 12/15. We thought it was great! We used FP from 4-6 (PP & SM - had one for Big Thunder also, but skipped it). Ate at Casey's at 6 and there WAS a mass exodus of people leaving - like wall to wall across main street going out. We walked on most rides - everything except 7DMT. Didn't wait over 10 minutes for any rides. We did NOT do any character greets and we only watched the castle lighting and the acapalla group in Tomorrowland. Ate lots of the free cookies and drinks - never waited more than 5 minutes for any of those - most were walk up. We skipped the 1st parade and watched the fireworks from the walkway between the 2 bridges on the Tomorrowland side of the castle. GREAT view - Tink flew directly over us. We grabbed a spot for the 2nd parade in Liberty Square 10 minutes before the parade - and had front row spots. Did some shopping and watched the snow on Main Street on the way out at 12:15. We did not feel overcrowded at all. Maybe we yinged when everyone else yanged!! Anyway, it was a great party.

Oh yeah - my oldest son got engaged in front of the castle right before 6 - that's why we missed our last FP. So in addition to all the above, we actually sat on a wall for about 45 minutes while the happy couple called home and told all the family and friends. So all in all, we had a very productive evening!

 

[Indio]

As for checking wristbands - we were checked thoroughly until at least 8:30.

 

[limabeanmom2003]

Just returned from tonight’s party 12/21. We rode everything and the longest wait was for mine train at the end of the night at 20 min. Walked up to the first parade in Frontierland as it started and had a second row view. Walked up to the hub moments before the fireworks started and had a great view of those too. Crowds were noticeable only around parades and fireworks for us. Never waited more than a minute for treats. Rode several rides more than once. Well worth the ticket price for us!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We are going Friday. Any suggestions as to how early we would have to stake out a parade spot in Frontierland for the first parade to get a front row? We've been to the Christmas party before, but never on a sold out night.

Half an hour to an hour before hand. Maybe do activities in the area to monitor the situation.