Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

I am thrilled to say that I will be going to this event in less than two weeks!  For those of you who are not aware of what this is, let me tell you that it is a treat!  

On selected dates, the Magic Kingdom hosts "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party".  The cost of the ticket is around $53 if you buy in advance and $59 when you buy at the gate.  Why go to this?  Okay, first of all, there are the decorations.  No one does Christmas decorations like Disney.  The Magic Kingdom is decked out with every type of Christmas decoration known to man including a giant Christmas tree when you walk through the Main Street train station.  

Christmas music plays throughout the park and it will snow on Main Street before the night is through!  There is a special Christmas parade and fireworks show, too.  The biggest perk, to me, is that Disney only sells a small amount of tickets to this event so the park closes to the general public at 6 p.m. and then it's only the "Christmas party guests" roaming the park.  

All of the rides are open, there are cooking and hot cocoa stations set up where it's all complimentary.  The last time we did this back in 2004, my older son refused to drink any of the cocoa (because he is not a big fan of it) and would not drink from the water fountains and basically carried on like he had spent 40 days walking the desert!  I think he'll be a bit more agreeable this time around.

We opted to do the Christmas party as our one-day in Disney because A.) it is cheaper than a full-day ticket and B.) it is just magical!  While the event is ticketed as at 7 pm - Midnight time frame, you can usually get in around 5 pm.  So our plan for the day is to go to Downtown Disney in the afternoon and shop and eat an early dinner and then drive over to the Magic Kingdom to get in by 5.  We'll do all of our shopping at Downtown Disney so we won't have to lug bags and packages around the Magic Kingdom and then we can truly just enjoy the holiday magic that Disney does best.

Have you ever been to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party?  Did you love it??  Hate it???  I'd love to hear your stories!