Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is an event in Magic Kingdom. It’s the cliché celebration with all of the magic and characters and happiness you’d expect from a Disney holiday event. And it’s wonderful.
If you visit Disney World in December, the Christmas Party is the place to really lean into your inner child. It’s fabulous over-the-top Christmas kitsch that makes you feel like you’ve launched yourself into a Christmas movie.
We attended Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on Dec. 15. It’s a separate ticket from your regular park day, so we didn’t have a daytime ticket for Magic Kingdom. Party guests may enter Magic Kingdom as early as 4 pm, regular day guests have to leave at 6 pm, and the party runs from 7-midnight.
Pre-Party
We showed up at Magic Kingdom around 5:00. We actually were in the area park hopping, and when we saw the chaos lined up at the gate at 3:45, we decided to wait to go in and instead took a boat ride to Wilderness Lodge for a cocktail and a peek at the lobby Christmas tree. It made for a very chill escape. Because of our detour, when we got there at 5 we were able to walk right through the check in line with no wait at all. They steered us behind Main Street USA, double checked our tickets, and gave us a party schedule and event ornament.
The party wouldn’t start for a couple of hours, so we took that time to ride a couple of rides. Ethan was still at a business conference, so we wanted to save some of the thrill rides for after he arrived. We started with It’s a Small World, then saw Philharmagic.
At this point we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at Casey’s corner for some supper. A little word of warning here: as they were trying to get regular day guests to leave, a lot of the food options closed temporarily, and it was difficult to find something to eat right before party time. Sit down restaurants were still open, but I’m not sure I’d recommend taking the time for a sit down meal during your party ticket. I’d just plan ahead better for the time we decided to eat.
After supper we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, and walked back to the castle for the start of the party.
Party Food
Once the party begins at 7 pm, there are several places you can stop for free cookies and holiday drinks like hot chocolate and apple cider. There are also seasonal and party-specific treats that you can buy during the party, like the Holiday Dog at Casey’s Corner or the cream puff at Friar’s Nook. We chose to stick to the free snacks as much as possible. The cookies were quite good and tasted fresh baked, even though they were individually packaged. The two we tried were the frosted sugar cookie and the frosted gingerbread. We intended to stop for others, but were so busy doing other things that we ran out of time!
Ride Overlays
There are several ride overlays that are only available during the holidays, and some that you can only experience during the parties. (A ride overlay is additions they make to a ride for the holiday–usually changes in decor, lighting, and music/sound effects.) We wanted to make sure we hit as many of these as possible, so after the party started we focused on riding Space Mountain, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, and Jingle Cruise. We weren’t interested in riding the go-carts at the speedway, so we rode the Peoplemover instead to see the decorations on the Speedway from above.
On Space Mountain a lot of red and green flashing lights were added, as well as a Christmas soundtrack. This made a huge change to the ride, as you could see the track around you for much of the ride rather than riding in complete darkness. Ethan said he preferred the excitement of riding in the dark, but thought it was a fun way to change up the ride.
Tea Cups had flashy red and green disco lights added, especially around the edge of the circle, and they played popular Christmas songs in double time. We don’t ride the Tea Cups very often, so I can’t tell you how big of a change this was from the ride outside of the Christmas Party. It was a fun ride, however, and did a great job of pulling us into the excitement of the Christmas Party atmosphere.
The Speedway has a variety of modern lit up trees and lights added around the route. It was fun to be able to look down from the speedway and see the decor that way. We also got a good look at the testing of Tron.
We were so excited to ride Jingle Cruise. I
love the corny jokes on Jungle Cruise, and our skipper did a great job with adding in the holiday humor. If you don’t appreciate this ride on an average day, you won’t appreciate it at Christmas, either. But for those of us who love this ride, it was really fun to have it changed up and not know the punchline to most of the jokes. Our skipper was great and we laughed a lot.
Entertainment
There are several party exclusive options for entertainment. Most of them run multiple times through the night, so keep an eye on your schedule. We started out the party with the castle show, though we only were able to see a modified version because it was sprinkling. It was very cute and included lots of characters and some very talented singers on the castle stage.
The next show we saw was the one in Tomorrowland. Like the castle show, we saw a modified version. But still were able to see Buzz Lightyear, Stitch, and Mike Wizowski, as well as do a sing-along with their musicians. We’re guessing there was supposed to be a lot more dancing, but the stage was wet, so we missed that part. Still very fun.
The fireworks were our favorite entertainment of the night. I love all Disney fireworks, no matter which park or which season. And this was my parents’ first time seeing a Magic Kingdom fireworks show, so it was fun to see them completely blown away. The projections on the castle amaze me, and the sheer volume of fireworks they set off each night is impressive. This is the one item on the entertainment list that’s only shown once, so make sure you’re in the right place at the right time if you want to see it.
We went to the second showing of the Christmas parade. I was surprised that it was quite a bit longer than the regular Magic Kingdom parade. And it was so full of characters and Christmas cheer, it would be impossible not to watch it and just be happy.
The one thing we didn’t do in the entertainment category was wait in line for characters. We were too busy conquering the rest of our to-do list. But it should be noted that there are several rare characters that can be found at the Christmas party. Many of the princes appear with their princes, Abu was out with Aladdin, and Jack and Salley from Nightmare Before Christmas are a crowd favorite.
Overview
I would completely recommend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party if you are going to Disney World in November or December. We used the party as a replacement for our park day, and that worked great. We were able to get on all of the rides we wanted to during party hours. And the Christmas entertainment and free snacks were an added bonus. It really put us in the Christmas spirit on the first day of our trip.
Check out this article for our last experience in Magic Kingdom! Or go here for a list of our favorite things to do at Disney World at Christmas Time!
