Mickey's Not So Merry Christmas Party

Yep, you read that right, Mickey's Not So Merry Christmas Party. A few years ago I posted about Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in Walt Disney World and how great it was. Unfortunately, just two years later, it seems as if everything has changed....for the worse. It pains me to have to write this about my beloved Disney, but I only hope to help those of you who are planning a trip and can't decide if this is worth the extra money or not.

As I've written before, this is a special hard ticket event that requires extra theme park admission. Over the years I've gone to so many of these parties and I love them so much that I welcome the extra cost. One of the biggest advantages of these events like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the fall and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in the winter is that they advertise the crowds to be much lighter. This could not have been more wrong in our instance last week. I had never seen the parks so crowded which made for a not so magical experience.

Normally when the party starts at 7pm, it is more crowded than usual because they are trying to get the day guests out of the parks while the party goers are all arriving. Normally this influx of crowd lasts about an hour and then things start to calm down. This year, that never happened. Unfortunately, when it is that crowded it makes all the other special activities incredibly hard to experience. For instance, they serve cookies and hot chocolate at various places throughout the park for free. But because of the crowds, we found ourselves waiting in line for 20 minutes just to get these treats.

When it came time for the castle lighting, parade and fireworks it was hard to find a spot, but if you did, those three events were well worth the wait. After all, Disney certainly knows how to set off some fireworks and put together an unforgettable parade.

We spent the rest of the night fighting crowds (and the cold) until we couldn't deal with it anymore. The wait times for rides never seemed to go down which made us just want to come back another day when it would be less crowded to ride those rides.

The only picture I got of the parade. Look at all those people! 

Does this party offer unique experiences you can't get on any other night in the parks? Sure, but it comes at much too high of a price. Go to Magic Kingdom any other night and you will see the holiday decorations and be able to ride rides without too long of a wait. Things you get at the party you can't get any other time: Snow on Main Street, unlimited hot chocolate and cookies and a special fireworks display and parade. My recommendation is this, save your money and hop on over to Hollywood Studios to enjoy the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. At least there you get a light show of choreographed Christmas lights without having to buy a special ticket. Not to mention it snows there too! And unless you plan on eating $70 worth of cookies, stay back and enjoy the lighter crowds while everyone is at Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very (Not So) Merry Christmas Party.

Pure joy as we strolled down the streets of the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights!