Hey, all of you lucky folks heading off to Disney World next week — we’ve got some big news for you that might affect your holiday vacation plans!
Mad Tea Party at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
As much as we hate to be the bearer of bad news, we know you could be in for a MAJOR bummer if your trip itinerary has you visiting the Magic Kingdom on Monday, December 2nd!
So what’s all this December 2nd noise all about? It has to do with the significantly shorter park hours that the Magic Kingdom has posted online. If you’ll notice below, according to Disney World’s website, the Magic Kingdom will only be open from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. Yes friends, 4:30 PM!
©Disney
This is drastically earlier than Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party nights when the park closes to regular park admission guests at 6 PM. We confirmed that Magic Kingdom is closing early for a Cast Member Party — an annual event that Disney World hosts each year to show their appreciation for their hardworking team!
Cinderella Castle
While we’re so happy the Cast Members will be enjoying the Magic Kingdom all to themselves at this exclusive shindig, we hope this doesn’t mess up any of your plans! Magic Kingdom will still be open until midnight both today and tomorrow, November 30th, while they’ll be closing at 6 PM both Sunday, December 1st and Tuesday, December 3rd for separately-ticketed Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties, so start thinking about whether you’ll be altering your course, or not!
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Were you planning on visiting the Magic Kingdom on Monday? Will you still be heading there, or will you be altering your plans? Let us know in the comments below!
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As a long time Disney fan and Passholder, it was a tradition in our family to attend Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party every year. That is until last year when I finally had enough. Those without a Party ticket remain in the Park without a care for those who purchased separate tickets. Although it may be true they can’t get on the rides. They certainly take up valuable viewing areas for shows and fireworks. Cast members can’t control the amount of unticketed people. I wish Disney would do as in years past and empty the park before the Party. My point being even if the park closes at 6:00, that will not stop people from staying through the Party.
Just curious who runs the mk while the employees are having their party? Can you ride the ride and run the ride at the same time ?lol.
Plan on heading to MK on that day purposefully. Hoping for lower crowds since other may not want to “waste” a park day there. Fingers crossed my plan works out lol
Its for the cast members who are celebrating their 10, 15, 20, 25 etc anniversary milestone with Disney this year. They do this for one night about this time of year.
This is actually a service milestone award party. It’s not for all cast members. People who celebrated 5, 10, 15 years, and so on, with the company.
I’m glad I’ve seen this. Monday is my birthday so it looks like we’ll skip our trip out to the MK.
Not that I’m not happy for the CMs that are being thrown a party. Congrats.
Disney needs to come up with a way to clear out the guests that do not have a Ticket for Mickeys Christmas Party.. The price for those who do is quite high for 6 hours so if this doesn’t change this will be our last time.
I’m tired of all the special events. I totally understand the one for the employees but there’s way too many other special events. The Christmas parties take up too many days of the week And then the extra magic hours have been honed down For resort guests. Used to be able to be in the Magic Kingdom till one or two in the morning for magic hours and I’m an evening person so it makes it great to hang out the park when there’s not too many people there. Now you have to pay for extra on an already expensive trip. Disney unfortunately feels ruined to me now :(.
In the old days of these parties, they started at 7pm. At 6:30 they were clearing out the park of other guests. Any guest already in the park for the party (and you couldn’t enter the park only on a party ticket until the party started), would be moved to one section of the park. I remember we were told to go to Tomorrowland. All the other sections were cleared out completely. And everyone in Tomorrowland was checked for the party wristband.
We went to the party last year and I was really disappointed. The crowds were unbelievable. And no one was checking the bands. So many of those folks did not pay for the party.The lines were very long, for all of the rides. And I could not get any good views of the shows, or parades.I like to visit at Christmas, but I will not pay any extra for any of the parties anymore, they r not worth it .
Not worth paying the extra, DIsney never clears the park….too many people don’t leave
The service awards party celebrates those cast member starting with milestones anniversary celebrations of 10 years and higher.
In regards to the special event parties, there actually is a park sweep/clear that occurs starting from the back of the park moving all the way up to the main entrance. You’d be surprised at actually how many Guests without wristbands are in fact escorted to the front. Is it 100% perfect-there’s always a few that slip through, but it is in fact a very organized process. They sell more tickets now than they used to which accounts for heavier crowds.
We attended the MNSSHP this year and also experienced ridiculous crowds for parade and firework viewing. I didn’t see wrist bands on many of the people sitting along the parade route and standing in front of the Castle. We won’t be purchasing these expensive tickets again unless something changes.
Is very nice they honor their cast members this way. However, you would certainly think they would not do during a peak time of year. Silly.
Well, as I sit here in a southern FL rental home ready to drive to Orlando tomorrow for my 7 day stay, yes my day Monday was scheduled with FP, and dining resv. Already. We were booked at Hoopdy Doo, I’m bummed I wont get that ticket again this close for 6.
Grew up Disney, great-uncle Wolfgang Reiherman started Disney Animation at the studio with Walt and we live fifteen minutes from Disneyland. It’s now a total rip-off and not “the most magical place on earth” any longer. It’s a lost art, even with this corporation in today’s world. So sad today’s generation and those to follow will never know the good old days.
I think it’s absolutely a wonderful idea and a brilliant time to honor their cast members that work so very hard for us! And some of us are so ungrateful for what they do at times, are yelled at, cursed at, but at the same time are given praises,given those comment cards, gifts, etc! They deserve a Christmas party just like the rest of us in the most magical place on earth!
Roxane, the thing is, Dec 2 isn’t the peak time of year. It’s one of the slowest times of the year for the parks.
We are here in Disney on vacation at the moment, and I can tell you it definitely is not a slow time of year! It is bad enough when they close the park for a ‘separately ticketed event,’ which just means they are selling the park twice over, but to have two such early closures sandwich an even earlier closure for their own people just shows a total disregard for their paying guests. It has spoiled the last three days of our vacation as we love the magic kingdom and have paid for admission. Shame on Disney.
This is a lovely event for cast members who are celebrating their major anniversaries this year (10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th , 45th and 50th ). It’s a great event that is held every year.
I agree with so many others that I probably will not be paying for MNSSHP or the MVMCP until they come up with some way to empty the park and assure the only people in the park are those that have paid for the special event. There are more people without wrist bands than with them. Lets face it, most of these people are there to see the special entertainment and fireworks, not the rides. Maybe this is the way Disney likes it because even those people will continue to spend money in the park. Another good idea gone bad – at least for those who fork out the extra money for special events.
How about a special evening just for pass holders. It doesn’t even have to be during the holiday season.
Agreed with many here. The party tickets are expensive and it’s not fair that Disney can’t seem to do their magic and get those that haven’t paid extra for them OUT. We attended a Mickey’s Merry Christmas party the beginning part of November and there were a lot of people with no wristbands there. If they were plainly visible to us, why weren’t they to cast members? But they will buy food and merch so why kick them out? These events are overpriced for those of us who are honest and buy the tickets, however we won’t be doing so any longer.
Do you know if they will be having fireworks tonight during the Cast Member Party? I have family wanting to see fireworks tonight, staying at the GF to see them. Dining reservations and everything…first timers!
Steve, I would guess yes, but I don’t have confirmation on that.
Terry, I thought you couldn’t buy food or merchandise during party hours without a band. If you don’t have a band, you shouldn’t be able to purchase anything except a party ticket.
How can you go to the anniversary party? Like how many people are the cast members allowed to invite?
Katy, I don’t know!
I think it’s pretty ridiculous that people are complaining about the party for the milestone CM’s. They are the people who keep the show going for you! And they are not nearly paid enough to deal with some of the ridiculousness that some people bring to the parks, but they’re pretty much always smiling or being helpful, huh?
As a former CM, and now educator, this is the time when many people treat their most treasured employees to dinner, host retirement functions, or just throw holiday parties. So stop acting so entitled! If you want to complain about the special parties, go on right ahead, but ONE DAY where they honor their long-time employees will not kill you. It’s not like you’re without options? Go to Studios or Epcot! Take in a dinner-show! Designate a chill day to hang around the resort. There are so many amenities! Decide to do an extra early day and collapse a little earlier in the evening.
I really dislike seeing these types of comments because they just seem so entitled and neglectful of something very basic: empathy and understanding.