Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is a

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

event hosted at

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park is a Amusement park, theme park at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Expe ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

on select evenings from 7:00 pm to midnight in November and December leading up to

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

. It features several activities such as a parade, dance parties, character meet-and-greets, and complimentary treat stations.

History

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party debuted in 1983. In 2014, the show A Frozen Holiday Wish replaced an earlier show that featured

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

and her Fairy Godmother. The show on the stage in front of

Cinderella Castle Cinderella Castle is a fairy tale castle at the center of two Disney Experiences, Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Based on Cinderella (Disney character), Cinderella's f ...

was ''Celebrate the Season'' which it was ran from 2002 until 2015, when it was replaced by ''Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration Stage Show''. From 2003 until November 8, 2019, a holiday edition of the Wishes fireworks show, Holiday Wishes, occurred during the party. It included a medley of the original Wishes soundtrack with some Christmas season songs mixed in. The show started with

Tinker Bell Tinker Bell is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play '' Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation '' Peter and Wendy''. She has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories, in particular the 1953 ...

flying over the castle with narration by

Jiminy Cricket Jiminy Cricket is the Disney version of the Talking Cricket, a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'', which Walt Disney adapted into the animated film '' Pinoc ...

. In addition, a lighting display was projected onto the castle, illuminating it in green so that it resembled a Christmas tree, and featuring Santa Claus. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party did not take place in 2020 or 2021, because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, a Very Merry After Hours Event was held in its place. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party returned in 2022, as part of Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary celebration, and held in 2023, as part of The Walt Disney Company's 100th Anniversary celebration.

Events and shows

The event requires the purchasing of a separate ticket from the general admission ticket counter.

Events

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

The parade proceeds down Main Street, USA twice each night. It features Disney characters including Mickey and

Minnie Mouse Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. The longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue (or pink or red) polka-dotted dress, w ...

along with numerous others such as Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and

Olaf Olaf or Olav (, , or differences between General American and Received Pronunciation, British ; ) is a Dutch, Polish, Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ances ...

from '' Frozen'', the Disney Princesses and their princes, Marching Toy Soldiers, Dancing Reindeer, Gingerbread Men, and Ole Saint Nick.

Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks

hosts a firework display featuring Christmas carols such as "

Deck the Halls "Deck the Halls" is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, " Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

" and " We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Shows

Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration Stage Show

Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration show appears four times a night on the stage in front of Cinderella Castle. It stars classic Disney and Pixar characters dressed up in their Christmas outfits. In addition, live performers sing and dance to vintage holiday carols.

A Frozen Holiday Wish

From 2007 through 2019, Cinderella Castle was covered in roughly 200,000 LED lights from November to the following January to look as if it was covered in ice and snow, an effect called ''Castle Dream Lights on Cinderella Castle''. At dusk, a short show featuring the characters from '' Frozen'' took place in which Elsa used her ice powers to frost over the castle. Before 2014, the show was about Cinderella's wish of covering her castle with twinkling and shining lights coming true by her Fairy Godmother. It was hosted by Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. The show was presented every night during the holiday season and was repeated during the limited-admission Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The Dream Lights effect and show did not return in 2022, and in June 2023, Disney announced a replacement for the show, with Frozen Holiday Surprise, which debuted on November 7, 2023, as part of The Walt Disney Company's 100th Anniversary celebration.

A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas Show

A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas Show is a 20-minute performance that debuted in 2009 and takes place several times a night on the

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world * Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium * ''Tom ...

stage. It features

Buzz Lightyear Buzz Lightyear is a fictional character in the The Walt Disney Company, Disney–Pixar Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise. He is a superhero action figure from an Story within a story, in-universe media franchise. Buzz is recognizab ...

and Mike Wazowski teaching Stitch the meaning of Christmas before they've blasted Santa out of the sky.

Rides and attractions

Attractions

Some popular attractions are open throughout the party. In the past, this has included

The Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, dark-ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called “Doom Buggies”, and a walk-through s ...

, Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Unlike

Haunted Mansion Holiday Haunted Mansion Holiday is a seasonal overlay of The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland that blends the settings and characters of the original Haunted Mansion with those of the 1993 film '' The Nightmare Before Chri ...

and It's a Small World Holiday at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

and Mater's Jingle Jamboree and Luigi's Joy to the Whirl at

Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The park is themed after Disney's interpretation of California ...

as well as seasonal celebrations at non-US Disney parks (Holiday Nightmare at

Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...

), the open rides do not have a holiday overlay.

Jingle Cruise

While not exclusive to the party, Jingle Cruise, which debuted in 2013, is limited to the Christmas season. The original Jungle Cruise ride is modified to include a Christmas theme throughout the queue, the boats' names are changed, and the skippers make holiday jokes.

Character meetups

Numerous characters appear throughout the

to meet guests and pose for pictures. The characters are dressed in holiday themes exclusive to the Christmas season. Along with the regular characters who appear in the park, some rare characters, such as the seven dwarfs, make appearances for special events. There are also generally two character dance parties each night, where guests have an opportunity to dance with Disney characters like Woody and Jessie. In the past, dance parties have been held in the Diamond Horseshoe and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café.

References

External links

* {{Magic Kingdom Events at Walt Disney World Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Magic Kingdom Christmas and holiday season parades Christmas in Florida Mickey Mouse