The first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the season is tonight, and we wanted to preview our expectations for the event and what we’re looking forward to this year. For a more detailed background on the nuts and bolts of what to expect from the party, check out our guide to the 2024 version of the event. This article will assume that you have a foundational knowledge of the event without trying to paint too much of an overlap with our previously published guide.
2024 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Preview & Expectations
I want to start by providing some context and trying to identify some of my own shortcomings when it comes to my expectations for the event. Due to the nature of running this website, I make it a habit of ensuring that I visit special events at least once per year, regardless of any big sweeping changes that Disney might announce. To that end, the newness or novelty of an event like the annual Very Merry Christmas Party starts to lose some of its shine when the majority of the event is unchanged from years past.
Where this article may have a blind spot is in appreciating the event through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it for the first time or someone who hasn’t experienced it in many years. In short, if you fall into the category of having never experienced Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party before, your experience this year is going to be much, much better than my experience, and I think that’s worth calling out here at the top of the article.
Ok, with that out of the way, let’s jump in and work through the evening’s activities and plans.
Very Merry Must-Do’s
We’ll start with some of the must-do’s for the event. The big entertainment offerings are really the main draw for something like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. There is perhaps nothing better to set the mood of the holiday season than Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Parade. Characters are in special costumes, “snow” is falling on Main Street USA, and when you start to hear the stomping of the Toy Soldiers ahead of the arrival of Santa Claus, it’s hard to not feel a little bit of holiday cheer – even for seasoned Very Merry veterans.
For that reason, the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade is at the top of our must-do list. That said, there are no announced changes to the parade this year. Nothing new to look forward to, so our expectations are set accordingly. We’ll enjoy the vibe but not expect anything to really catch our attention.
Another must-do for us is Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration – the Cinderella Castle stage show. The show is unique due to the fact that it puts microphones in the hands of singers who perform holiday hits live. Of course, you pair the live singing with wonderful dancers and festive costumes for favorite characters and you have yourself a must-do.
We’ve got a couple more must-do’s for the party before we start to check out some middle-tier offerings. Originally, I was not going to add Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show as a must-do, but I caught myself and thought of the blind spots that I outlined earlier. If you’re going to the party, exclusive fireworks have to be a must-do. You don’t necessarily need to watch from up close, but we’d try to work it into your evening if you can. If you can’t, we have a video of the show from last year embedded below.
Our last true must-do is to grab some of the complimentary cookies and festive beverages at select quick-service locations throughout the park. While Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has trick-or-treating, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party has its own complimentary goodies!
A semi-must-do is the wonderful Space Mountain – Holiday Run overlay for the classic attraction. Rockin’ holiday music is paired with an impressive light display inside the building to provide a thrilling and unique ride. Of the holiday overlays, I think this is the best and the one that I’ll be trying to prioritize tonight.
Of course, not everyone can ride Space Mountain, so I hesitate to put it in the must-do section (but it really is that good). Here’s a low-light video from 2022 showcasing the holiday overlay.
Very Merry Festive Fun Finds
While the items in this section don’t fall under “must-do”, they are fun things to include in your evening if you have the time.
Character Meet & Greets
Character meet and greets are tough to recommend in the “must-do” section simply because of the amount of time that you typically have to dedicate for some of the top priorities. Jack Skellington (aka Sandy Claws) with Sally are the top draw, followed by the Seven Dwarfs and then Winnie the Pooh and friends. Technically, Walt Disney World has not released the list of characters yet, so we’re guessing a bit about who will be meeting during the event, but we’ll know more once the first event night is in the books.
More Attraction Overlays
While Space Mountain – Holiday Run is the undisputed #1 holiday overlay exclusive to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, it’s not the only attraction to receive a holiday overlay for the event. Another fun overlay is the Tomorrowland Speedway’s Race Through the Holidays, which includes holiday decor scattered throughout the freeway. If the wait time is 10 minutes or less and you’re in the area, drop by for a unique spin through Tomorrowland.
Another notable attraction overlay that is not exclusive to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is the Jingle Cruise. If you have another day planned for Magic Kingdom, I’d skip it during the party itself due to the fact that you can ride during normal operating hours.
Dance Parties
Last on our festive fun finds list is the two dance parties that are available to guests exclusively during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. You can find the dance parties at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe and the Tomorrowland Rockettower Plaza Stage. Both are fun stops with kids who have some energy to burn. As a blogger without kids in tow, I don’t have a lot of energy to burn, so the dance parties aren’t high on my own to-do list.
Low Wait Times at Attractions
With the massive increase in ticket prices for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party post-COVID, there is an increasing number of guests who simply replace a day at Magic Kingdom with a party ticket. If you’re one of those guests, know that attraction wait times will be lower during the party, and guests will be able to experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure without a Virtual Queue.
Again, riding attractions is not a high priority on our list, but it might be for you!
When Does Tradition Become Stale?
I was originally planning on expanding on this thought as a standalone article, and I might still do so, but I’ve been wondering: when does tradition become stale?
In its press release, Disney lists merchandise as the only new thing for the 2024 version of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party before listing a number of returning entertainment offerings before noting that the returning offerings “[ensure] that the holiday magic and traditions continue”.
It’s a thought that I presented at the beginning of the article, and one that I’ll lean on a bit now. I’ve been to numerous Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party events at this point, and while the nature of the website demands that I continue to visit, there really isn’t anything interesting this year for returning guests.
If you’re a first-time visitor, or you haven’t attended the event since before 2019 or so, you’ll have a great time. Of course, you can still have a great time if you’ve attended in recent years as well, but my expectation is to come out of the event with no significant takeaways. I’ve been close to writing that Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has felt stale too in recent years, and Walt Disney World has found little ways to update entertainment and keep the event somewhat fresh, but I’m simply not seeing that this year for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
At this point, tradition might be turning stale.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
