Tonight was the night that Uncle Steven and I have been waiting
for - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Disney's Magic Kingdom.
We headed off to the park around 5:00pm, parking at the
Transportation and Ticket Center before boarding the ferry boat to
the park entrance. We were steered over to the right side of the
main park entrance to enter through the special after-hours event,
where we were given wrist bands to signify that we were allowed to
stay in the park past the 6:00pm closing time. Instead of walking
down Main Street, U.S.A. we were taken to the right, through the
backstage area. Here we were able to stop at special meet and greets
with various holiday characters, such as gingerbread men and snow
angels. We were given a special Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
ornament when we reached the main part of the park, coming out
between The Plaza Restaurant and the Tomorrowland Terrace
Restaurant. Since we were so close to Tomorrowland, we decided to
head that way. While in Tomorrowland I was able to pick up another
popcorn bucket, this one being a Mickey Mouse elf bucket. The
MyDisney Experience app wasn't showing wait times, but we decided to
head to TRON Lightcycle / Run to see how long the line was.
Thankfully there wasn't much of a wait at all, thanks to the party,
so we got in line to enjoy our ride in not time at all. This ride is
definitely cool at night, its just too bad that you aren't outside
for more of it!
While leaving Tomorrowland I tried to do a mobile order for the
Mickey Mouse drummer sipper that was being offered, but the wait at
the closest restaurant that it was available at - Cosmic Ray's
Starlight Café - had too long of a wait. I instead ordered from
Pinocchio Village Haus as there was no wait. As we passed by Cosmic
Ray's, we did head inside, as there were handing out hot cocoa and
cookies to guests of Mickey's party. One we arrived at Pinocchio
Village Haus, I was able to walk right in to pick up the sipper
(well, aside from waiting for what felt like forever for the guy in
front of me to make sure he had his complete order).
From Fantasyland we headed over to Adventureland to take a ride
on the Jingle Cruise, the holiday version of the usual
Jungle Cruise ride. Unfortunately we weren't shown our way to
the Lightning Lane this time, instead we were given a return time to
come back after. With some time to kill we wandered our way over to
Frontierland to take a spin on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,
one of Steve's favorites. The views from this ride were great at
night as well, though I have no complaints about riding during the
daylight either!
While we were here I briefly thought about seeing if Tiana's
Bayou Adventure was available or required the virtual queue for
the Christmas event, but I decided that it was too cold to even try
tonight. I would have like to have taken Steve on it, as he hasn't
had the chance to ride it since it reopened, but tonight wasn't
going to be the night.
We left Frontierland and headed back to Adventureland. We passed
by Tortuga Tavern, and they were giving out cider and cookies as
well, so we made our way through there to enjoy a treat. While we
were close, we got in line for Pirates of the Caribbean, as
there was no wait here as well. I definitely enjoy this ride, though
I still miss some of the old, non-politically correct scenes, but I
understand why they were changed. It just doesn't seem as authentic
this way. Life marches on, however.
We then headed back to take our turn on the Jingle Cruise.
The holiday layover was well done, and I enjoyed the ride at night
more than I thought that I would. I was worried about the visuals,
but they utilize lights on top of the boats to light up the key
scenes at the appropriate times, so it was a great way to experience
the ride.
We headed back to Tomorrowland to stop at Cosmic Ray's Starlight
Café to split a chicken tender meal as we were both getting hungry.
I also grabbed a second Mickey Mouse drummer sipper, this one for
Grandma Terry.
Our next stop was in front of Cinderella Castle, where we were
able to catch the Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration and we stuck
around for Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show shortly
thereafter. The fireworks were certainly enjoyable, and I am glad
that I had the chance to take them in!
At this point I had ridden pretty much every ride that I had
wanted to (though looking back I should have taken Steve on the
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as well, but that one slipped my mind).
We decided to head out at this point, as it was later than either of
us typically stay up, and we were tired from our long day (plus,
Steve had a certain "aroma" that we needed to get back to the hotel
to clean up).
We once again boarded the ferry boat, this time for the ride back
to the Transportation and Ticket Center before we headed back to the
hotel for the night.
All in all I truly had a great time at this event. I could
definitely see going back with the kids, though I think I would
target the Disney Jollywood Nights at Disney's Hollywood Studios
with them - it would be great to have short lines at a park with
more thrilling rides that we would enjoy repeating if given the time
to do so! |