MVMCP or not?

I am debating myself to death here PLEASE HELP ME! We (and by ‘we’ I mean me since DH says “whatever you decide is fine”) are having a seriously difficult time deciding if we want to do MVMCP or not. We are going Dec. 6-14 and have 9 day hoppers, our kids will be 13, 8, 7 and are total troopers. They can handle RD to park close most days as long as we take a little down time in the afternoon, usually just a leisurely lunch works for them. We talked about the party and they are not really interested in the characters. They want to see the parade, fireworks, and hit the rides if we go. But, I am having a tough time justifying the $500 it would cost for all of us to attend. We could go on a Tuesday, which everyone says is the least crowded day to attend, but I am nervous that it will be crammed with people and I will regret spending the $$. If we don’t drop that $$ on the party then we could add in some other experiences. But, we also don’t want to miss out on the party if it would actually be an enjoyable experience for everyone since this is our first Christmas time visit. Me, myself, and I are getting seriously confused here and cannot see the scale moving towards either side, help please!

If you’re having a tough time justifying the money, don’t do it. I was the same, and we did go, it was a lovely evening but the difference from a normal evening in MK is not worth the money in my opinion. I bought our tickets on a dummy account, so we had 6 FP’s. We had a lazy morning and arrived about 2pm, did our FP’s and saw the 3pm parade, before dinner at BOG just after 6, we then spent the rest of the evening watching the parade, castle show and fireworks, ending the evening at a dance party so the kids could get rid the last of their energy. The best part of the evening was meeting up with a friend.

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We’ve never done any of the parties for similar reasons to what you mentioned. We’re not big on characters and it seems like a lot of money for what might be a very crowded evening. If the fireworks are a big draw for your crew, then maybe you could plan a dinner at California Grill? You could watch the fireworks from the balcony and I would think it would be less than $500. Just an idea.

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That’s a lot of money to spend on the party in my opinion. If you have 9 day park hopper tickets, you can go to the MK multiple days and get in all the rides you want. And you can see the Christmas parade during a regular day at MK. Also the park will be decorated the same on a party day vs regular day. I don’t think sugar cookies, hot chocolate and fireworks are really worth that much money.

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I have put this out here before and some will agree and others won’t. I and my wife did MVMCP in Nov of 2016. Here’s how it went. First off you are getting cheated on your regular park entry tickets because they close the park at 7pm for everyone except the MVMCP participates. Normal hours are until 9pm most nights. Ok, that said, at 7pm you hunt for a CM to check your MVMCP passes and they will give you a wrist band to ID your clear for the park and rides. Now the night we were there the crowd was crazy big. Lines for Hot Chocolate and Cookies were huge. Rides were the same. After finally getting our Hot Chocolate and Cookie we hurried over to the big Christmas event at the Cinderella castle. We got there an hour before the event was to start. At say 15 minutes before the event we were pushed and shoved around so those arriving late could get a better view. It was not what I and my wife had expected. Personally I would never do it again for that type of money or any extra funds for that matter. Save your money and hit MK on a regular night when you get the same Christmas Sprit in the decorations and the full park hours. As stated not all agree as many have a great time as I have heard out here. Others, like myself, not so Much .:rage:

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Pretty sure the Christmas parade won’t be going during regular park hours in early December. I think it starts during daytime hours (and Holiday Wishes at night) closer to the 20th or something. We leave the 14th as well and I know it won’t be going on during our trip.

@thinkertink our kids will be almost 9, turning 7, and 4.5, and we have decided not to do the party. We’re going to watch Holiday Wishes from the beach at the Poly one night (from what I understand Wishes is more fireworks, unlike HEA which is projection-intensive). Now, my older two would probably be fine until 10:00 or so but I still can’t justify so much money for what the party is. I may feel differently in a few years, but for now I feel like that $400-500 can be spent a million other ways that will be equally enjoyable for us. Good luck making a decision. It’s hard to purposely not plan things that sound like fun, even if you know they might not be the perfect fit for your family!

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Thank you all sooooo much! These are all exactly what I was thinking! I never thought about CG or the beach at Poly. Which is silly because we have watched fireworks from there in the past. I think we can definitely find a better place to spend that $$ for sure and not feel like we are missing out. Thank you all for talking me down from the ledge :slight_smile:
@polskamichelle the hours are tough for sure, if mine were still that little it would just be paying for the most expensive surroundings for them to throw a fit and take a nap. Maybe we will reconsider when they can buy their own tickets :smile:

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Oh, okay. We went a few years ago in early December and were able to see it during the day, but I know they change things often. Sorry.

No problem, hopefully people check things for themselves but just in case…pretty sure it’s not until late December these days!

That’s really disappointing because we were considering going the first week of December this year. There’s still lots to see, but I love the parade.

We chose to do the MVMCP in 2014 and loved it, but we also went during the same week of 2016 and chose not to do it and still had a wonderful time. So, my suggestion is to go with your gut. It sounds like you are hesitant on spending the money which might taint your opinion of the experience regardless. If that’s the case, then I’d say just enjoy your 9 days and don’t do it. You are going to have a blast either way!

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We did MNSSHP in Oct 2016 and loved it. We plan to try MVMCP this year. However, if I felt like it was too much money I think we could easily fill our time with other experiences such as watched Wishes from elsewhere.

I suggest you celebrate Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas by taking that extra $500, and while the party is going on in MK, go over the Disney Springs and buy TONS of souvenirs and food. :slight_smile:

I’m sure you can get hot chocolate at Ghiradelli’s and cookies at Earl of Sandwich.

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I think we are going to skip it this time. I just am having too much trouble justifying the cost and with the length of our trip we can get everything in that we want to see and then some. Maybe we will do a dessert party instead.
@ryan1 My kids would definitely go for that plan but not so sure about DH

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Hi! So I’ll be a slightly different voice! My group of 10 (5 adults, 5 kids, 3 generations) went to Disney the first week of December 2017. We had park hoppers and debated a lot about MVMCP, but ultimately we decided it would be unlikely that we’d go back at the holidays again and that we may never get to go back in the large group again either. Yes, it was crazy expensive, but I’m glad we did it. We went on a Tuesday that was considered to be a good choice by various Disney blogs. It did sell out the night of, and I won’t lie - it was busy and navigating a large group with 2 strollers wasn’t the easiest. However, we went into it expecting this and in my mind, if you have a good plan, crowd doesn’t really matter - you just have to do the work in advance to set your priorities and figure a way to make them happen.

The kids were 6, 6, 4.5, newly 4 and 2. I planned like mad and we got in line to meet the 7 Dwarves (we were about 7 groups back), hit a cookie spot and booked it to Main Street to secure a spot for the first parade. It was a tight fit but we made it. The kids played with cast members on Main Street while it ‘snowed’ and we waited for the parade. They were transfixed to see the parade close up and afterwards we slowed down a bit and met lots of characters & rode lots of rides and ate lots of snacks. My sister and her 3 kids left early but my husband and I with our 2 stayed til the end and I don’t think I will ever forget the experience. My Mom loved it too and was thrilled she got to experience that with her grandkids. The magic shot photos & seeing Santa were just awesome. If you think there’s a chance that this might be your only Christmas visit, I’m in the camp of “Go - but with a solid plan & the understanding that it will be crowded BUT that won’t matter if you have the right mindset!”.

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That does sound really amazing and it sounds like you definitely were ready for what you were getting in to. Thank you for sharing your experience with the party! We really debated for these reasons. And you are absolutely right, a good plan makes all the difference. Ultimately we came to the conclusion that while this will be our first trip during Christmas it will likely not be the last. As the kids are getting older we tend to do trips and experiences rather than buying gifts. Our original plan was to have a big family trip but then everyone else backed out :confused: If we were all going to be there together then it would have made the decision to attend a no brainer as we are all rarely in the same place at the same time any more. But, with it just being us we feel that there are other ways we would rather spend that chunk of money.
I have to admit though, I am still feeling like we are missing out on something magical.

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I think based on your description, you are making the right choice for your family! I hope I didn’t guilt you in any way, but I do think that if you are likely going back at the holidays then it’s not quite as worthwhile.

Because our trip was such a splurge, something else we did might interest you - on one of the MVMCP nights when MK closed early, we scheduled a private fireworks cruise out of the Poly Marina. We did MK during the day for light crowds, left and took the monorail to the Poly, ate and then got on the pontoon boat with our party of 10 (the max number). We watched the Electrical Parade close by and got a bit of a boat tour with a nice captain, then motored over near the boat docks at MK to watch the MVMCP fireworks and hear the soundtrack on the boat. It was soooo nice to have a quiet, relaxing time with just our family, and snacks & drinks are included. It’s cheaper than the MVMCP tickets and sometimes people on this forum try to hook up & share costs with another family. We liked it a lot!

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No guilt at all! It sounds like you all had an amazing trip! I am glad to hear about everyone’s experiences. I am a total Christmas freak so it’s hard for me to willingly miss out on the party.

I have thought about the fireworks cruises but I wasn’t sure if you could actually see the fireworks well enough or hear the music. Knowing that you can both see and hear them I will check it out for sure!

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