Enjoy this special episode with Kris and Vanessa where they review Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party to get you in the mood for the holidays. They provide helpful tips to help you start dreaming and planning for your 2020 holiday trips.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
Enjoy this special episode with Kris and Vanessa where they review Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party to get you in the mood for the holidays. They provide helpful tips to help you start dreaming and planning for your 2020 holiday trips.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.
[inaudible].
Speaker 2:Welcome to the dislove podcast with Vanessa and Chris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson. Kris Johns, we'd like to welcome you to show number 33 in. In today's episode we are going to do things a little differently, but before we get started, if you're listening for the first time, our show features, things that we enjoy at Disney and we typically have a guest in most of our episodes who has some sort of business or provides some sort of service to guests who are planning their next Disney vacation from vacation planners to product producers. Our guests bring Disney magic into your life and as a reminder to our continued listeners, we appreciate if you can take a few moments of your time to rate us on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, any of the platforms that you listen on that helps more individuals find our podcast and of course helps us grow. So on today's show, instead of having a guest, we're going to continue with some of our reviews from our recent trip. And today we're going to talk about Mickey's very Merry Christmas party and probably if you're traveling at this year, it might be a little late for this, but we thought it'd be good to share our holiday experience and then you can of course, I'm sure you're already making plans for your trips for next holiday season in 2020 so we're gonna talk a little bit about the logistics of the event, how we experienced it, and then just maybe a few tips that we think that might be helpful for you. Now, if you're not familiar with the party, it does run usually from the end of the first week in November until right before Christmas. So if you're actually going over the Christmas holiday, those typically end the 21st or the 22nd of the year depending on, and so don't expect to be able to attend this unless you come beforehand. Now what happens is they closed down the magic kingdom to other park guests and the party officially kicks off at seven o'clock and the pricing can vary. It depends on the day of the week you go at what part of the season you go and there's a lot of different things that go into it. I think we paid around$125 and it does vary and of course I'm sure for 2020 there will be price increases. Don't you think Kris, of course. So we're going to talk a little bit about the logistics of getting the tickets you do. You can purchase them ahead of time. I know some individuals suggest waiting because the party goes on whether or not there is bad weather. However, it is important for you to figure out what's best for you. Like for us, every time we've ever attended the Christmas party, I do purchase those tickets in advance. My family was even there one year when it rained out. We still got to enjoy and partake in some things and Disney did compensate the guests a little bit, but they're not going to give you a full refund because it's an act of God so to speak. So if you are trying to plan your day, another thing is we typically use that as a non park day because with your ticket admission, you can get in as early as four o'clock if you're a DVC member, you can in as early as two o'clock so you really get, and then the party goes until midnight. So you get a lot of time in the park and have you our guests that's just going to magic kingdom. Be mindful that by six o'clock they're going to start pushing the day guests out of the park. So you may want to consider, if you're not going to the party on a day, you may want to go to a different park. And you can see that in the times guide, you'll see that the magic kingdom is closing early on a particular day. And that typically means because there's a Christmas party going on. So let's talk a little bit about that. Now, one thing that is kind of nice is that starting as soon as you're able to get in the park, you are able to set up some FastPasses up until the party starts. So you're able to squeeze in three fast passes. And for this trip I was able to book us out. And what did, what was the first ride we went on at the party? Do you remember Space Mountain? Yes. So we were able to get on space mountain and we had some FastPasses for some other things we didn't do this time. But in the past when we've done that, we've been able to get on all of the rides. Now we also, one of the things that, so how this is broken up, why, how is it different than a regular day at the magic kingdom? Well, they have some special shows. They have unique food and beverage that's just for that particular party. And then they also have holiday treats throughout the park. So lots of cookies, pretzels, different things like that. Hot chocolate eggnog. And so you'll see these treats stations, they have a big like candy cane shaped, um, thing that will alert you that there is a, he treat there and we stopped. I don't think we did. Maybe what, three or four of those treat stations? Yes. I mean it's cookies. It's kind of straight forward stuff now. We did purchase a few of the exclusive food and beverage things. I got an orange bird Christmas that was had white chocolate mousse and orange curd and some orange peel on it. The things that we really spend our time doing was watching some of the holiday entertainment and one of Kris's favorites movies had a show that we watched. What was that? It was a frozen holiday wish. What did you think about that? I really enjoyed it and this one took place right at the castle and so queen Elsa comes out and they had all the usual suspects so to speak, all off and soften and a and spin. So it was a nice little thing and that was right before the first showing of the Christmas parade. Mickey's once upon a Christmas time parade. So how that works. Of course there are two times of that if you're not really interested in the frozen show. A good tip is to go later on to the later one. But we were already in a good spot by the castle to see the frozen show. So we just stayed for the parade. A tip that usually starts towards the back of the park in frontier land. So if you just want to see the parade, if you kind of stake out a spot back there, sometimes that's nice. You can see them right as they're coming out. And they have a lot of other special shows. So Mickey has a special show that's on the castle stage Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration and the fireworks are minnie mouse. Christmas time fireworks. They had a new show for this year and we were doing some other rides and stuff. So we didn't get to see it by half. Heard some nice things. And then there are some other things on the, some rides that are kind of converted over. So on the rides, the jungle jingle, jungle cruise turns into the jingle cruise and then we went on space mountain and again, later with our friends. And why did we do that Kris? Cause he had Christmas, the music and the lights were very nice. Lights inside of it. Yeah, so we didn't even know that was happening. It wasn't in the guide or anything, but we went on the people mover and we saw these lights and Christmas music, so we were like, we have to go on that. And we went on it and I enjoyed it. What did, what was your personal, so it was nice. You got to see more of the ride and the music was a nice touch because it was fun, upbeat music and so that was something we really enjoyed. There's also some shows in tomorrow land, a totally Tomorrowland Christmas. We didn't do this this time. It was okay when we did it a couple of years ago. They also have a couple of acapella performances. We did hear part of that and that was nice. And then if you have little ones in your group, they have some a dance party at cosmic Ray Starlight cafe. We saw, we went through there and they had big polar bears dancing with the kids and a lot of different fun things taking place. And during the party itself, they do offer some specialty dining. There's a minnie's wonderful Christmas time. Fireworks, dessert party. and Tony's town square has a all you can eat, it's called Tony's Merriest. town square party. They have orders, sweet treats and beverages. And then what happens is you get reserved seating for the Mickeys once upon a time, once upon a Christmas time parade. My personal opinion on the fireworks dessert party and that tone is Tony's town square party, is that you only have a small amount of time during the party unless you're coming more than once. I would really suggest that you may be consider doing one of those sorts of like the dessert party or something on a regular park day. And we were talking to a waiter and he kind of mentioned when he was talking about the turnover time in the restaurants and he said that sometimes guests don't realize it's going to take you a little while to get in and out of these events. And you may miss out on some of the things that the party. So that's an important thing to remember. Now, one of the things is that you can experience all the rides, all the rides will be open during the party. And we did quite a few. What were some of the ones that we did? Oh, we did thunder mountain. Yeah, I did haunted mansion. We did, um, space mountain again. We also went on pirates of the Caribbean. And then when you get off some of the rides, like when you get off pirates, Jack Sparrow is there. So a lot of different specialty characters. So here's kind of a general rundown of the characters that were available there that night. You had captain Jack Sparrow, you had Moana, you also had some of the country bears were there. I'm moving into the back area. We had who was your favorite that we got to meet that night? Yes. So Scrooge McDuck and Donald were together, Minnie and Daisy. And they were all in holiday garb and we also met Santa goofy. So those are in the back of the park near Dumbo. Now, in the past we came two years ago and there was extremely long lines for a lot of the characters like this. Um, Scrooge McDuck we didn't get to get last time we did luck out. They also have the seven dwarfs. We got them in 2017 this time we didn't wait for them, but you really have to be strategic of when you go. When we went this last time to get Scrooge McDuck, we went during the later parade and so we didn't have to wait near as long as sometimes people wait hours for some of these characters. I know even before the party started, people were lined up. We walked by where? Pooh and friends, so Pooh and Tigger and all of them are together. That line was quite long. I know scrooge mcduck was long earlier in the evening, so try to check back, look and see how those lines are doing. I don't think we waited longer than 30 minutes for a character. I think scrutiny duck was the longest that we waited, but there was also two other characters there, so it made it worthwhile and attraction. And we did. And there's also in tomorrow land we were able to meet with Zootopia. Characters were there. So you get, and then I think I already said moana, but you get some of the characters that aren't traditionally out in the park. So that's a definite perk. And of course Santa and mrs clause are there up at the front of the park as well. Now some of the, I'll just give you a quick rundown of some of the treats that were there. They had a peppermint cookie, ginger molasses, cookie chocolate chip cookie, snowman pretzel, snicker doodle cookie. Then you got Phanta hot chocolate Apple cider eggnog. Here's a tip. The Apple cider is not Apple cider. We're from Michigan where we have really good Apple cider. To me it just tastes like Apple juice. Yeah. So don't get your hopes up for dice Apple cider that evening. Now, besides doing the rides and meeting with the characters, another great thing is that they have really unique photo opportunity set up. So if you take advantage of coming into the park early, they're going to take you one of the back routes and they're already gonna have some of those stations set up with the frames and with pictures that you can do poses with different props throughout the party. You'll come across specialty photo opportunities. And another thing that they also have of course for Disney is they have event merchandise. So there are a couple locations throughout the park. When you first come into that party, they'll have a cart set up that will have all those different things. They have special ornaments, um, pin tree or trading pins, events, spirit shirts. They also, if you're an annual pass holder, they had quite a few different options as well. So you can get all of these only in three main parts. You can get them at the Emporium, the big top souvenirs in the back and star traders. And then they, the pins, they will have those. And a special magic band at frontier of trading post. And then of course the ye old Christmas shop has a lot of holiday decor and the exclusive ornament for the event as well. Now something we didn't check out, but they do offer, if you haven't bought the memory maker for your entire trip, they do offer a special for a memory maker, one day offer that you can purchase at the party. So if you take advantage of the character meet and greets and some of the special photo opportunities, it's,it may be worth it for your family to purchase that one day memory maker option. And that price does change of course each year with Disney. But it can be a good advantage for you if you're just looking to get those special holiday photos and maybe not everything from your entire trip. So those are some things to keep in mind really. It's a great overall experience. We went to this the last time was in 2017 I've been with my family in the past as well. And what's your overall impression impression of the Christmas party? Kris? I thought it was really well nice. I mean the parade is cool. The activities of the castle and what is also nice in terms of Disney is that you know, if you're willing to stay up, you can go on a lot of rides. And I think that's the very fun part. But just to see the park lit up with the trees and the decoration, I mean that's really nice. And they do have of course all kinds of extra festive things that start in what, Oh, I forgot to mention what's something that we saw in main street that's normal for home but not in Florida. Yes, so there was snow on main street during the parade and we got in even towards the end of the night we were getting ready to leave. We closed down the party, like we stayed till the end and they were doing the snow. So we have some cool pictures on main street with snow going down in the background. So you get that advantage if you're not from a colder climate, you get that advantage to experience a little bit of a white Christmas right in central Florida. So that's also a nice thing as well. Overall, we've been to both the Halloween party and to the Christmas party and we have an earlier episode where we compare the two, but if you had a choice to do one or the other, what would you say, Kris? What would your choice be? Oh, Christmas. You would pick the Christmas. What would you say is the biggest reason why? In terms of just decoration. There's just more to do. That's true. I and plus the weather, it's a little cooler. So for me I know it's not a bad deal cause again I think the lowest a guy was maybe like in the upper sixties but it's sweatshirt and shorts weather, which is perfect for me. And so that's kind of my preference. And I lean towards the Christmas one as well. I, I l ike the Christmas season but I l ike some of the little added extras. The Halloween thing, I think the most fun for me is just seeing all the neat, unique costumes that people come up with. So that to me is the biggest advantage of Halloween. And I do like the treats a little better for Christmas because I mean I like candy and you get a good amount when you do the trick or treating. But to me it's just a little, they can't, we're not going to eat. We usually don't ever eat all the candy we get at the Halloween party. So unless you have little ones, the treats at the Christmas party are sufficient. And I would definitely come back again in the future. I'll put in their show notes, a link to the show where we compared the Halloween and the Christmas party so you can get a little bit better feel for both of them, but wanted to share our experience and I'll share photos and different things for Mickey's very Merry Christmas party 2019 and as you start thinking and dreaming for that 2020 trip, hopefully this gives you some tips and a couple other things. We had a car rental, so what we ended up doing is we had lunch at fort or at wilderness lodge, because they have a unique, they have a log cabin made out of a gingerbread house. So we went there, we parked our vehicle there and then because we had eight there, we were able to leave our vehicle there. We headed over to the grand Floridian to check out their big gingerbread house as well as their tree before. And then we took transportation over to magic kingdom from grand Floridian. So we kinda did a Christmas loop. We started at wilderness lodge, went over to grand Floridian before going over for the party. So that was nice too. We took advantage of some of the other holiday happenings in the area. So I highly rate, we both highly recommend attending the Christmas party and making a nice day for your family. It is well worth the extra dollars in my opinion. And I think in kris's opinion as well. I agree. So we're gonna move on and finish out today's show with our trivia question and our wisdom from Walt. Yes. All right, Vanessa. Um, you know, because it's Christmas, I'm going to ask you a Christmas related question. Okay. And I'll give you a thousand. I'll give, I'll give you a 100 tree buffer. So a swing plus or minus a hundred that's good. So how many trees are decorated throughout Walt Disney world resort? Let's say 1500 very close. According to the internet. And these are not my facts. 1300 trees. Oh, I was even off more than a hundred dark. Well, you know what? I bet you in future years you'll be right because there's, it seems like Disney just has, they put a tree and do the decorations anywhere they can. Well that's really well. So our six or seven trees in our house sound pretty lame compared to 1300. Huh. Uh, so that, and if you get a chance, there are some really amazing backstage tours that take place during the holiday season. My family did one, many years ago where we got to see the shop where they work on the holiday decor. And that's always a great experience in a lot of fun to see. So we're going to end out today's show with a wisdom from Walt quote. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. And I think if you are dreaming, thinking about doing something exciting or something new in your life, just kind of think of that quote and hopefully it will be that inspiration you need to be able to continue on. And as a kind of a side note, where are we recording this right now? Kris, we are in Castaway cay in the Caribbean right now. Yeah, so we're on Disney's Island. We're getting ready to go out and do some fun things in some future episodes. We'll share a little bit about our cruising experience. So, but to end today's episode, thank you for joining us on this episode of the dissolve podcast with Vanessa and Chris. I'm Vanessa and I'm Kris.
Speaker 3:This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney company or its holdings, and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.