What You Should Know Before Attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom

Celebrating the most wonderful time of the year at the happiest place on Earth sounds too good to be true, but after seeing even the most bah humbuggiest of our friends (you know who you are) make Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party one of their annual holiday traditions, we had to check it out firsthand. And get the inside scoop on how to make the most of your trip, so all that joy—and lights! And snoap*! And sugar!—doesn’t cause a full-scale meltdown mid-vacation. Here’s what you should know before heading there yourself.

*That’s soap bubble-snow, for the uninitiated, and it flurries throughout Main Street as you enter the park, making for a great photo opp.

Hosted on select nights at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Kissimmee, Florida, from November 8 through December 22, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party provides you with full access to the park rides—with capped attendance, so the park is less crowded overall—as well as free treat stations serving cookies and hot cocoa, and a special parade, stage show and fireworks display that you can’t catch outside of the event.

The party runs from 7 p.m. until midnight, but you can get into the park as early as 4 p.m. with a ticket to the party. (Expect to see massive lines outside the park by 3:30, though they move quickly once the clock strikes 4. And prepare for larger crowds from 4 to 6, since the park is open to regular guests and Christmas Party ones at that time.)

Tickets will set you back $149 to $199 per person, depending on the date you attend, compared to $124 to $179 for a standard day at Magic Kingdom. In our experience, the park seemed half as crowded that night as a typical day at the park. Waiting a maximum of 40 minutes per ride, instead of up to 2 hours, made the late night well worth it in our book. (Not to mention all the free treats.)

If you don’t already have tickets for the 2022 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, we have some bad news: It’s completely sold out this year. However, tickets typically go on sale to the general public in July of each year, so mark your calendar to be first in line for 2023. (Disney hasn't set the official dates for 2023 sales yet.)

Dinner reservations can be made 60 days ahead of your trip, and they also fill up quickly, so once your tickets have been secured, set a second calendar reminder two months out to book that. (Be Our Guest, a Beauty and the Beast-themed restaurant, offers a three-course, French-inspired meal—including the famous Grey Stuff Lumiere sang about. Spoiler: It’s a cookies and crème-esque mousse atop a chocolate tart.)

You can get in at 4 p.m., but given the crowds, you might be better off using 3:30 to 5 p.m. as an opportunity to get the kids to nap or unwind at the hotel, so you’re ready to hit the ground running as soon as the party starts.

There’s so much to see and do that if you want to make it to midnight—and there’s a good chance you will, given how empty the park is at the 11^th hour—that a mid-day recharge is a must.

You can use a Magicband—essentially, a smart bracelet—to get into the park, into your hotel room (if you’re staying at a Disney resort) and pay for goods at Disney parks, but there’s another perk to the Magicband+ design. If you wave it in front of any of the gold statues within the park, they’ll play festive songs and greetings. (See the video above for an example.) It also vibrates as you pass a statue and flashed various colors in sync with the fireworks display.