Free Hot Cocoa & Cookies, an exclusive fireworks show, Mickey in his adorable Christmas outfit and more. I managed to catch this exclusive annual event last year in Nov 2022 and here are my thoughts!
Yes it's November, you know what that means....the Halloween decor comes down and the giant Christmas tree is up! Ho-Ho-Ho!🎅🤶 One of the most coveted Disney World Special Ticket Events is the Mickey's Very Merriest Christmas Party. However due to the pandemic, in 2021, Disney introduced a conduced version of this party and called it the Very Merriest After Hours. These Special Ticket Events are similar to our Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore (USS) where you will need to pay for a separate ticket to enter the event.
In 2022 Disney brought back the original Mickey's Very Merriest Christmas Party (MVMCP) and I'm here to give you guys the rundown - is it worth the extra $$? What do you get out of it? Well, continue scrolling and find out if you should include this in your Disney World vacation this Christmas! (And to watch me make bad planning mistakes)
Disney Photopass photo op at Magic Kingdom, Nov 2022
As mentioned, these Special Ticketed Events are an additional cost on top of your regular park entry ticket. But you do have the option to purchase the ticket for the party only. This would mean you would only be able to access the park from 4pm for the event, which is honestly a great deal! You can take the morning to relax in your room, have a stroll around your resort or Disney Springs before heading over to Magic Kingdom. Or use this day as your Magic Kingdom day on your itinerary; ride lines won't be as long and you get a special night time view of the park.
Tickets
The one downside though was the hefty price tag from this year's MVMCP which shocked me initially - I paid USD149 (before tax) per ticket, which is almost the same price of a normal theme park ticket. Prices are listed below and yes, the earlier you go during the event period, the cheaper the ticket.
Perks - What's included in your special event ticket?
Free, unlimited cookies and hot chocolate
Party exclusive, specialty Christmas themed snacks and drinks, at an additional cost. I didn't try any, unfortunately, as i did not budget for them.
Special party exclusive fireworks show hosted by Minnie Mouse! (aka Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks)
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade - an exclusive MVMCP parade down the Magic Kingdom with Mickey and his gang. My suggestion is to grab a spot by Main Street for the best view.
Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration - a stage show that happens twice during the party featuring a yuletide of holiday songs!
Character Greetings - Mickey and Minnie in their holiday costumes!! (I missed this and i lowkey regret it)
And yes, when I mean free unlimited cookies, I do mean unlimited. I went up to a cast member and asked for 4 Snickerdoodle cookies because I loved them so much, she went "sure! do you want more?"🤣. There were a total of 4 different cookie + holiday beverage pairings served:
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hot Chocolate
Snickerdoodle Cookies (spiced cinnamon sugar flavour) with Hot Chocolate
Sugar Cookies with non alcoholic Apple Cider (there was one with red icing and one with green icing so I count them as 2 cookies haha)
This was a great chance for me to get my Character Greeting fix - 2 pairs of princes and princesses whom I hardly get a chance to interact with were available at the parks and at minimal wait times! I got to say hi to Snow White and Prince Adam as well as Princess Aurora and Prince Philip. Snow White complimented my gingerbread ears and we shared a lovely convo about baking. She likes baking gooseberry pie, I like baking cookies.
Afterwards, I went off to my dining reservation at the Be Our Guest Restaurant, one of the most beautiful dining spots in Disney World. Themed after the movie and located INSIDE the Beast's castle, this Beauty and the Beast themed dining experience was one of my most memorable meals in 2019. So I decided to take the chance to treat myself to a solo date night during my 2022 trip.
This visit I got to sit at the Grand Ballroom which was absolutely stunning and so empty of the usual park crowd! It was nice and peaceful haha , a short getaway from the party crowd outside and I got to reunite with the oh so famous GREY STUFF! This time, it was served in a chocolate tart shell with an adorable white chocolate Chip decoration (ba-dum tsss *pun slayed*). The treat was served in a little dessert platter with two other desserts - a raspberry macaroon and a dark chocolate truffle!
Though this led me to miss Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade 😭and almost miss Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks show, I still had a wonderful time seeing the Beast again in his castle. Haha butI wouldn't recommend planning a dining reservation in the middle of a special event party. (Bad planning on my part)
Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks starts at 10pm and is only shown once for the whole party. This is a must watch - fireworks are superb and the castle projections were amazing! BUT GET THERE EARLY to save a good spot, this is a trick and tip I would advise always if you are someone who likes to watch these shows. The fireworks can be seen anywhere in Magic Kingdom but the best views are always by the green lawn in front of the castle or down at Main Street. I got there kind of late cause of my dinner reservation, so I only managed to inch my way through from the side of the castle coming out of Frontierland. To top it off, both my phone and my camera were slowly running out of battery! So I had to be super strategic about when to record and snap pics of the castle since I wouldn't be able to capture the whole thing. I did manage to get some great shots of the fireworks and the castle so thank goodness for that.
All in all, I think Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is worth going as a bucket list thing-to-do once. If you are a diehard Disney theme parks fan like me, then it could be more bang for your buck to see the parks during a special ticketed event. Objectively, the $200SGD ticket did make a dent in my pocket but it cannot equate to the experience had with all the special entertainment shows and activities, plus the free cookies I got to bring home. Prices in WDW aren't likely to go down any time soon* so it really boils down to how much space you have in your budget and the priorities you have set for your trip.
*Just a note: At the time of writing this, the Be Our Guest Restaurant character dining experience saw a price increase from 67USD to 70USD per adult and 39 USD to 41USD per child (as of Oct 2023 via AllEarsNet )
Well, that's all from me folks, and if you have any questions about the MVMCP or visiting Walt Disney World or any Disneyland park, just leave a comment or drop me a message @nickelocity on Instagram.
See ya real soon friends!
And remember your daily scoop of pixie dust! ;)
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