Reviews of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (Magic Kingdom)
Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/23/2019
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Much busier than daytime. Lines the same wait as day. People climbing over you to see parade and shows, so even if you wait to get a spot people will fight you for it. Felt unsafe. So much rain shows didn’t happen or where stopped. Extremely disappointed.
Pros:
Christmas lights.Cons:
Too many people.Reviewed by scrapfan Review Date: 12/17/2019
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
I had so looked forward to my first MVMCP but it was such a huge disappointment. I have been to 2 previous Mickey's Very Scary Halloween Parties and they were awesome so I just knew the Christmas party would be even better, err, WRONG! My family attended the 12/12 party; first off it rained the whole evening, now I know that is not Disney's fault but the problem was the cast members weren't checking bands to see if you should be there, not once did they check when we waited in line for rides, cookies, food, nothing. I am assuming it was because the weather was so miserable but the lines were crazy! The line for the 2nd parade was 7-10 people deep in some spots. Because of the weather we didn't arrive to the park till around 5:30pm and the lines to get your band were crazy long, people cutting you off or squeezing thru. I felt the cast members were overwhelmed. It has been a few years since I had been to Disney but my impression of them now are they are in it for the $ only and not the guest experience.
Pros:
Christmas decorationsCons:
Crowds, over-selling the parties, food quality, costReviewed by Silvercat33 Review Date: 12/17/2019
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
The 2019 event was the last one I will bother attending. I have been to several of these events in previous years, but the one on 5 December was dreadful - so crowded that instead of staying to the end of the event as in previous years, we gave up after the fireworks and left. These parties are hugely oversold now, the crowds are worse than that experienced during the daytime! Wait times for everything were too long for us, and you could barely get anywhere near the hub in order to view the fireworks or the Castle stage show. The cookies were nice, but it is a lot of money to pay for a small handful of cookies and a couple of cups of cocoa. We watched the second showing of the parade, and tried to use the time to go on rides during the first showing, but then we struggled to get around the park due to the vast numbers of folk watching the parade and blocking the walkways! A struggle all night, and we just didn't enjoy it this year, I'm sorry to say.
Pros:
None - nothing this year was worth the cost.Cons:
Event over-sold, huge crowds, exhausting trying to negotiate the massive numbers of people to ride anything. Too expensive and definitely not good value now.Reviewed by disneyrn77 Review Date: 12/13/2014
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
So not worth the money. Ridiculously overcrowded (attended Tuesday 12/2) and couldn't enjoy anything. No one ever checked our wristbands (we had on long sleeves so they weren't visible). Clearly many people were not wearing bands but got to stay for free. It's very frustrating to spend the amount of money we did and see so many people without bands not being asked to leave. They should do it like the old days where they close the park and empty everyone out. The re-open for people with a ticket. This was defintiely a huge disappointment for us. We had much more fun during the day in the park. It was much less crowded and more enjoyable for all of us.
Pros:
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ChaosReviewed by Fitzboyzmom Review Date: 12/17/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
We attended the party on December 12th (second time we have attended). It was less crowded than I have seen in the past, but still pretty difficult to maneuver around. We loved the snow on main street and ended up with a very good spot for the parade (we never attempted to find a spot on main street because it was just too crowded).
We were excited to go for 2 reasons. One, for the special sorcerer card and for the event pins. We went to the fire house with our ticket for the card. We were told that we had to have our ticket and our wrist band. We went to ask the cast members near the Christmas tree for a wrist band and were told that we had to either go to the rose garden or adventure land or go out of the park and back in...really? So, some nice cast member took pity on us and asked someone to go get us wrist bands. We got our card and headed down to find pins. There are no more individual pins...at all, anywhere. There was a set if you chose to pay that much or wait in the VERY LONG line. We did not. When I asked the cast member, he just said they were all limited editions and they are gone...sorry. That is absurd on December 14th. As an aside, I purchased the 2 pins I wanted on ebay from people who were selling multiple of the same pins...gee, wonder how they ran out so fast. Perhaps Disney should limit the number of pins you can buy. There were also monstrous lines for all the merchandise locations. Not fun.
While we attended, we were asked many times to show our wrist bands and could not do anything, including enter a store without showing our bands. We saw some people being escorted out and thought they had stayed without a ticket and were being shown out. Not so. 3 nights later, we had a 7PM reservation at Be Our Guest. I did not even realize that it was another party night. It was our last night and we had a really lovely dinner. Totally ruined when we walked out and were not able to leave because there were about 10 cast members outside the door blocking our way. They asked us if we were going to the party. When we said no, one of them told us that they would escort us out. We felt like criminals being lead out because we had done something wrong. It was humiliating and just left such a bad taste in my mouth.
I know that Disney has been criticized for allowing people to stay without tickets. But this time you basically could do nothing except see the parade and fireworks. Why in the world would they treat people like that? I think they should risk a handful of people maybe staying to see the parade or fireworks instead of humiliating all of them.
I won't say I will never do something, but as a DVC member and annual pass holder who spends tons of time and money in Disney World, I am extremely disappointed. I took my step mother on this trip and was embarrassed.
Pros:
Snow on Main StreetCons:
Treatment of Park GuestsReviewed by Lovethesouth Review Date: 12/10/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Visit WDW often (FL resident)....This was our 4th MVMCP and probably our last until Disney can fix the crowd problem. We attended 12/5/13 (sold out). We have visited many times and know that there are always going to be crowds in the MK, but what we experienced this night was completely unacceptable. The crowd on Main St and around the castle between the parades and during the fireworks was unimaginable! Standstill is a big understatement. NO ONE was able to move. Walkways completely blocked, people pushing, yelling, and cursing. Disney can't control people's actions but they can and should create a better environment for these events, considering the cost. For a starter, reopen those two paths on each side of the castle so that there are more avenues to move people in and out of the area. Unbelievable that the management continues to disregard this matter. For this reason, we will spend our money on other things.
Pros:
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Cost/lack of crowd controlReviewed by Ohiost13 Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
We didn't feel the wristbands were policed very well. The character lines were long and most times were closed. The stage in Tomorrowland needs to be higher so everyone, especially children can see without looking at the back of heads. The projection show on the castle was not different than the night before. It did NOT snow on Main St. And, the 2nd parade was delayed twice and then CANCELLED! Then our daughter cried the rest of the night and never got to see Santa. It was a very light rain, but stopped by 11 p.m., so they should've gone through with the parade. It didn't rain hard, it didn't pour, lightning or thunder. We, Disney customers, were out in the elements, the Disney cast members should've been too. Including the photo pass photographers with tripods. They could've held an umbrella or clipped an umbrella to their tripod, but they all went indoors. This party did not deliver on their promise. We are very disappointed. We could've added an extra day to our passes a lot cheaper and stayed in the park and watched the parade, the projection show on the castle and the fireworks, just like a lot of people did, without having to spend the extra money for the party.
Pros:
NoneCons:
No snow and cancelled Christmas paradeReviewed by DisneyDana Review Date: 04/26/2020
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
This used to be the event to go to, but like so much in recent years, the price is outrageous for nothing special. They sell far too many tickets to this event so it doesn't feel like anything special is happening. Back in the day it felt like you had rented out the park because every ride was a walk on, they put tape on the ground in Christmas designs for kids to play hopscotch on, there were little activities everywhere for kids to do. The cookies were fresh baked... Not anymore. Now it's bumper to bumper crowds that feel no different from an average busy day at MK. The cookies are disgusting prepackaged garbage and the lines to get them are like trick or treating lines when it used to be that you just walked up and got a couple of cookies casually whenever you wanted to, and they were GOOD! Now people are more interested on getting something free from Disney and they collect as many of those nasty things as they can and take them home since they are in plastic. The Christmas party has sadly turned into just another money machine that is over crowded and offers nothing special to make it worth the price tag anymore. This was once my favorite reason for going to WDW but charging more and offering less has ruined another great thing.
Pros:
There are none anymore.Cons:
Everything about it is a con.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/15/2019
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
My family has done MVMCP for many years and have loved it!! The party I attended 12/13/19 will probably be the last for a while. Crowd levels were ridiculous and there was a lack of cast members helping as in previous years. The entrance to get in was chaos and people kept cutting the lines. There was no welcome cookie (I was there before 8) or cast members directing traffic coming in it was a free for all. The fireworks started a bit early which was disappointing because I had it timed after a ride and they were already going off before 10. The treats were ok but nothing special. I didn't even care to stop at all of them. I will say the parade was great as usual and the \"snow\" on main street was nice. Overall not a great value at all for $115 a person. The cost was reasonable in past years but since then it has gone from under $70 to up to $130 in just a few years. I think that's crazy. I've done way more at previous parties paying less money and could've just gone during regular hours and done so much more. I am starting to see the greed everyone is talking about over the experience with Disney..very sad. I expected a better experience.
Pros:
Wonderful parade, good fireworks, snow on main street is prettyCons:
Crowd control, ticket prices, disorganizationReviewed by EPCOTFanboy Review Date: 12/13/2019
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Had never been to MK Seasonal party so I was excited to try. Really disappointing experience. Went to 11/21/19 Party with extended family as part of long visit.
SUPER crowded. Like lines for Country Bears crowded. And of course, no fast-passes, so select the two rides you may be do to carefully.
You get free cookies, but they aren't very good. Like if a coworker brought them to work, you would take a bite, politely smile and then throw it out when they left good.
Did enjoy the Space Mountain overlay and the Speedway decorations, but can't justify cost for that.
