Friday was the kick off night for the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! I had always read about this night, and always wanted to go but each year put it off thinking it was maybe just for kids. Well last month we were lucky enough to go to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and you really didnt need kids to enjoy that one, you just may need to BE a big kid! Which was perfect for me! So we figured now was the best time to go to the Christmas Party and see what that one was all about!
As soon as you get your wristband and enter the park, it strikes you how they go all out for Christmas, the decor was just incredible. It might only be November on the calander but in my heart it was already late December! The lights, the wreathes, the music, the smells, everything screams holidays as soon as you enter into the park! I was very excited to see that on Main Street it was even snowing, in Florida, snowing! it was perfect and really got me into the Christmas Spirit!
The first place we headed was to the free Hot Chocolate and Cookies, you can look these up on the park map and also look out for the giant inflatable candy cane that shows you where they are being served. The hot chocolate place we first went to was by the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride, and was extremely hot. Luckily this made me remove the lid and I noticed marshmallows on the top, which I wish they had stated on the signs as being a vegetarian I cannot eat these. Fortunately everyone else in our party could, so after that I just made sure I requested mine without.
Next we headed over to the Jungle Cruise, which, for the first time ever, had been converted into the Jingle Cruise featuring a holiday overlay. The ride was all Christmas themed from the names on the boats to the decorations on the props and the jokes told by the skippers. During the ride there are not many changes to the actual scenes, so guests who have not ridden the Jungle Cruise before would still be able to enjoy this classic ride with only a few Christmas themed jokes thrown in.
By this time we thought we should try get a space for Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade, as it was a sold out night so we knew it was going to be busy. We ended up not really finding a great place to stand, but luckily we could still see over people enough to enjoy all the floats. It was really fun seeing all the characters in holiday attire, but my favorite part in the whole parade was without a doubt the toy soldiers…
I just loved their little routines, their attire and they seemed to have so much personality and flair! Plus you knew once you saw them that Santa was going to be next as he is featured on the last float.
Once the parade ended we walked over to the Hub to get in place for the Celebrate The Magic show on Cinderella’s Castle, which I had seen some of this before but I had never stood in the middle for it with such a fantastic view before!
The show was everything it promised to be..magical! I loved every moment of it, from Tinkerbell flying out, to Walt’s face right there on the castle, the effects were just so beautiful!
The Christmas part at the end was really cool to see, my favorite part was this photo above, where they made the castle look like a giant gingerbread castle! It looked so real!
After the show we decided to stay in the same spot as it would be a great place for the fireworks! I am lucky enough to see the fireworks every day from home, but I rarely get to see them from right on front of the castle like this, its truly a wonderful experience.
I loved how they mixed the fireworks together with the Celebrate The Magic projections too, especially when it made it look like the fireworks were being set off right in front of the castle, when really it was behind!
A great tip if you want to feel part of the show, is if you purchase the new Glow With The Show ears, the ears actually light up in synch with the fireworks and castle show, as can be seen in this photo above! You simply turn them on and they all coordinate, so it really adds another element to the show to enjoy as you get to participate with it.
httpv://youtu.be/9yN5SligZY0
Once we had enjoyed the fireworks we were all pretty tired so we decided on a loop around on the TTA and another stop for hot chocolate and cookies. I came home pretty exhausted but it was very worth it, this was my first time doing this party and it sure won’t be my last!
Tickets are on sale now and do require separate admission to get in. It is running already on select nights up until December 20th, but start looking now as they do tend to sell out some nights.
