Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party returns to Magic Kingdom for Walt Disney World’s holiday season with dates starting in early November 2023. Here’s a sneak peak at the entertainment lineup and details for the hard ticket event, plus our commentary about the likely popularity of MVMCP after every single night sold out last year–and in light of “competition” from the new Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Party at Hollywood Studios.
This announcement about 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates and details occurred as part of the Disney Parks “Halfway to the Holidays” celebration featuring announcements, fun surprises, and someone having the bright idea to spam social media with GPS coordinates with absolutely zero payoff.
Before we dig into the details, let’s start with the basics. Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) will be held on select nights in Magic Kingdom from early November through the week of Christmas 2023. Here are the details from Walt Disney World, followed by our commentary about crowds, pricing, etc…
Holiday joy will unfold at Magic Kingdom as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party returns this year! On 25 select nights, November 9 through December 21, 2023, this separately ticketed event will invite guests to Magic Kingdom for an evening of merriment.
Join Mickey and his pals at the Cinderella Castle stage for the ultimate must-watch Christmas extravaganza – “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration.” The show features nostalgic and modern medleys of holiday music paired with dance performances.
Minnie Mouse orchestrates a sparkling spectacle over Magic Kingdom as a part of “Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks.” Full of holiday magic, the show includes dazzling castle projections, fireworks and seasonal songs.
With his famous flying reindeer leading the way, Santa Claus will join Mickey Mouse and friends in the must-see “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade” as it makes its way through the park.
Speaking of Santa Claus, he isn’t the only one who likes cookies during the holidays. Partygoers can indulge in complimentary cookies and hot cocoa at locations throughout Magic Kingdom–in Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and beyond.
Speaking of which, go to infinity and beyond alongside favorite Disney characters during an out-of-this-world holiday show, “A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas” on the Rockettower Plaza Stage.
Nearby, Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café becomes the coolest place to get down when denizens of the North Pole drop by for an intergalactic dance party! The fun continues for young partygoers and Disney Junior fans of all ages at Storybook Circus during the “Disney Junior Jingle Jam” as Disney Junior characters take part in a fun-filled dance celebration.
Also during the party, you may have the opportunity to experience some of your favorite attractions including TRON Lightcycle Run. Here’s the current list of attractions that will be open during the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party:
Adventureland
- Jingle Cruise – a classic attraction with a holiday twist
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Swiss Family Treehouse
Frontierland
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Liberty Square
- Haunted Mansion
Fantasyland
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- “it’s a small world”
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mad Tea Party
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Storybook Circus
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- The Barnstormer
Tomorrowland
- Astro Orbiter
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- Space Mountain – with a holiday twist
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
- TRON Lightcycle Run
TRON Lightcycle Run will use a virtual queue during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, allowing guests to enjoy all the festivities while they wait to enter the Grid. Stay tuned for more details!
Tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party may be purchased online or by calling 407-939-4240 by the general public beginning July 6, 2023. Guests of all Walt Disney World resorts and other select hotels (see below) can begin purchasing tickets as early as June 29, 2023.
The 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party event dates are:
- Thursday, November 9
- Friday, November 10
- Monday, November 13
- Tuesday, November 14
- Thursday, November 16
- Friday, November 17
- Sunday, November 19
- Tuesday, November 21
- Wednesday, November 22
- Sunday, November 26
- Tuesday, November 28
- Thursday, November 30
- Friday, December 1
- Sunday, December 3
- Tuesday, December 5
- Thursday, December 7
- Friday, December 8
- Sunday, December 10
- Tuesday, December 12
- Thursday, December 14
- Friday, December 15
- Sunday, December 17
- Tuesday, December 19
- Thursday, December 21
- Friday, December 22
Ticket prices will range from $159 to $199 for the 2023 MVMCP. (No date by date breakdown has been released yet, but expect the stretch in mid-November to be cheapest, with dates increasing around Thanksgiving and in December closer to Christmas.)
Last year, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was held on 24 nights between November 8 and December 22. It started the second Tuesday in November and ended the Thursday before Christmas. There are 25 nights of the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which is only an increase of one night.
It’s common for Walt Disney World to make events longer and try to squeeze more ticket sales, which is why I figured MVMCP would start on November 7 this year. Even with that, it wasn’t possible for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to get significantly longer–which is probably why they “expanded” to DHS with Disney Jollywood Nights instead of trying to force even more party nights at Magic Kingdom.
As always, the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party will take place from 7:00 pm until midnight. Ticket holders will be admitted to Magic Kingdom as early as 4:00 pm on the valid date of their ticket–giving them even more time to enjoy park favorites before the event begins! These date-specific event tickets do not require an additional day theme park ticket or theme park reservation.
Discounts – Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members can save $10 per ticket to the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, valid for select event nights.
Purchase Tickets Soon – Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels can begin purchasing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party tickets as early as June 29, 2023. All other guests may purchase tickets beginning on July 6, 2023.
In addition to guests of all hotels that are Disney-owned, this advance purchase window is available to guests of:
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Resort
Tickets are limited and may not be available for purchase on the day of the event (or earlier).
If you still have questions about what the event does and does not include, when tickets go on sale, eligibility to purchase, crowds, and much more, see our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party FAQ.
We wrote that MVMCP FAQ in response to the most common questions in the comments to last year’s version of this post. If you have a question, there’s a strong probability that FAQ answers it. (As soon as I’m done with the rest of the Halfway to Holiday announcements for Walt Disney World, I’ll be revising that with new questions from this post.)
For more details about the substance of the event, strategy, and a review of whether it’s worth the money, see our comprehensive Guide to the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
One thing we do want to caution up front is that you should go in with realistic expectations about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party if you’ve never attended or haven’t done MVMCP since 2016. In the last few years that the event has been held, its attendance levels have absolutely exploded.
If past precedent is any indication, attendance caps for hard ticket events only increase and never decrease. Both Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party have gotten progressively busier over the years (save for the off-season or anomalies like hurricane-induced cancellations). That’ll likely be true once again in 2023.
With that said, the issue is more a matter than distribution of crowds rather than raw numbers. In a nutshell, even though attendance is capped, it doesn’t always feel that way because a disproportionate number of people crowd into the front of the park. The result is that area being packed–directly in front of Cinderella Castle feels downright unsafe between the parade, fireworks, and stage shows–while other areas are practically empty.
Trying to draw event attendees or underutilized areas of Magic Kingdom is precisely why Walt Disney World added the Tomorrowland ride overlays a few years ago. That helped, but the problem persists. (If only there were an actual theater back in Tomorrowland. Oh wait.)
Now let’s turn to the hottest topic: pricing.
The price range for the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is only $10 higher on the low end and unchanged on the high end (last year – $149 to $199; 2023 – $159 to $199). This comes as a slight surprise because last year’s MVMCP was more popular than ever, with all dates selling out. That was the first time that had happened, and it occurred despite the steepest price increases for MVMCP ever.
Prior to last year, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was last held back in 2019 and the price range for the party was $99 to $139. That’s right, the highest price that year was lower than the lowest price last year.
All in all, MVMCP ticket prices increased by about 50% last year with the highest hikes coming after Thanksgiving. That didn’t seem to put a dent in demand as, again, tickets sold out faster than ever. Of course, that was also after Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was on hiatus for 2 years, which distorted both demand and the degree of the increase.
Nevertheless, there was a significant amount of unsatisfied demand for last year’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. It’s thus impossible to say how much higher Walt Disney World could’ve priced last year’s MVMCP tickets and still sold out every night. Could the starting price have been $199 and the maximum been $249? We’ll never know–but my guess is those numbers would have pushed the upper limit, and resulted in far more guests balking at pricing.
Regardless, it would seem that Walt Disney World does NOT think that it can push prices much higher for the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Our guess is that this is not a charitable move on Disney’s part, but a realization that last year was an anomaly due to pent-up demand and MVMCP being on hiatus for the 2 previous years. Those are two variables that no longer exist this year, which plays into the calculus for Walt Disney World increasing prices–or not.
Which brings us to the next common question or concern among readers: when will tickets to the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party sell out?
You do NOT need to worry about 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party tickets selling out…yet. If you’re reading this when the announcement is first being made during Halfway to the Holidays, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Even with last year setting the record for sold out dates, nothing was gone until September 19, which is when the cheapest date of the year (and second party) sold out. Following that, a scattering of additional dates sold out in late September and another batch were gone by the end of October. All Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates sold out by November 20.
In other words, the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is not going to sell out within days of tickets going on sale. That applies to both the presale window and the general public window. Our expectation is that 2023 MVMCP tickets will sell significantly slower than last year, but we’ve been wrong before.
To both of these points–about 2023 prices and tickets selling out–there are a lot of potential ways to explain why Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party sold so well and quickly last year. Pent-up demand is a big one; both for MVMCP as an event that hadn’t been held for a few years and for Walt Disney World in general. Many fans had postponed fall trips for several years, dating back to 2019 when the feared “crowd-pocalypse” caused many visitors to delay trips until 2020…and then cancel again.
There was also stimulus money, higher household savings, and a renewed emphasis on traveling or making up for lost time. Another underappreciated factor is the lack of new Annual Pass sales at the time, which means some locals likely purchased Christmas party tickets to get their Walt Disney World fix.
Since then, a lot has obviously changed. Household balance sheets are still surprisingly strong, but American consumers are clearly pulling back on spending. CFO Christine McCarthy warned investors of a slowdown in demand as Walt Disney World “lapped” the 50th Anniversary. Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro reiterated this recently, contrasting the performance of the Florida parks with Disneyland, which reopened almost a year later.
We’ve seen a slowdown in crowds ourselves, with wait times data being down relative to the same dates last year. Annual Pass sales have resumed and Walt Disney World is attempting to lure back fans and locals with better ticket deals, AP appreciation, and measures to remedy sagging guest satisfaction scores.
Still, we wondered until today whether the holiday season would defy those trends. November and December always outperforms, even at times when the rest of the year is slower. However, Walt Disney World released 4 different discounts for October to December prior to revealing its Christmas 2023 lineup, including up to 30% off for the general public (the first broad promo for this timeframe since 2019!), up to 35% off for Disney+ subscribers, and up to 40% off for Annual Passholders. That pretty much answers our question.
With that said, the popularity of last year’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party should not be minimized as a relic of its time frame or an anomaly. Nor should you assume that the situation is dire. This is a return to reality from the stratospheric levels of pent-up demand–a normalization and not a catastrophe. The holiday season is still the biggest time of year for Walt Disney World, and the company is pulling “levers” to entice more bookings, not sounding a five-alarm fire.
Even back in 2019, about half of all Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates sold out. Granted, the prices were significantly “cheaper” back then…but those are air quotes around cheaper since that was not the perception at the time. Prices reached record highs that year, up significantly as compared to only a few years prior. So it’s all relative.
In other words, there are explanations for the popularity of last year’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that may not apply in 2023. However, it would be foolish to forecast significantly lower sales as a result; there were many factors driving the popularity of MVMCP, and at least some of those will once again be present in 2023, just as they were in 2019 and years prior to that.
Ultimately, we’re looking forward to the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Like so many Walt Disney World fans, attending MVMCP is a holiday season tradition for us, and we were really excited to have the event back last year. Admittedly, we aren’t quite as excited for the event this year, but that’s more due to personal circumstances than anything about the Christmas party itself.
Our hopes for the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are two-fold. First, that not as many dates sell out and that there are more manageable crowd levels and breathing room as a result. (If Disney Jollywood Nights ends up cannibalizing MVMCP ticket sales to some extent, that’d be fine by us.) Second, that more of the entertainment and character meet & greets are restored, and at least a few new things are added to the event roster this year. (Which, in theory, would also help with the first point.)
If you’re already planning ahead and thinking about when to do the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, your best bet from a low crowds perspective is attending on a Tuesday night. If you’re a local with even more flexible dates, attending one of the earlier events in November (but not the very first night) is your best bet for avoiding the crowds. Of course, that assumes not every date will sell out; if last year was any indication, that might be an overly bold assumption.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts about all of this? Excited for the 2023 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party? Will your family be buying or sitting this holiday event out? What are your thoughts on ticket prices, demand, crowd levels, or the likelihood of the 2023 MVMCP selling out to the same extent as last year? Do you agree or disagree with our perspective on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
