Category — q. Reviews

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY: A REVIEW

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (“MVMCP”) is a special event that takes place during the Christmas season at Walt Disney World.

It requires its own ticket, which is entirely separate from regular Disney World tickets, and is only shown on certain nights from early November through mid-December.

(For more on MVMCP tickets and show nights, see this.)

Even though it is expensive (tickets for a family of four will cost over $200) it’s been part of this site’s Basic December Itinerary since the site opened, for a couple of reasons:

Going to it lets people save a lot of time. 

Disney limits the amount of tickets it sells to each show of MVMCP.  As a result, waits for the rides are low–most typically 10 minutes. For just how low, see Josh’s post here. Going to it and seeing some really popular rides with hardly a wait saves a ton of time that can instead be spent sleeping in or at the pool.

For example, above is the Space Mountain wait at a little after 9p at the November 8, 2015 party that I attended.

Going to it guarantees seeing an evening parade and fireworks. 

At the time of year the Basic Itinerary covers, the evening parade and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom may happen just a couple of times a week on non-MVMCP nights.  Sending people to MVMCP guarantees your family will have the opportunity to see an evening parade and fireworks.

Moreover, the parade and fireworks are unique. The fireworks are tied with those of the Halloween party as best of the year, and the parade has a fun Christmas theme!

I recommend people go to Walt Disney World in the early part of the Christmas season…so how can I not send them to this show?

It’s silly and fun!

In early November 2015 I had a chance to see it again, for the seventh time. The rest of this entry is the review of that visit. (Note that some of the photos are from my 2014 visit, as they turned out better that night…)

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY

There’s a couple of components to MVMCP.

Noted already are the parade and fireworks, both in special Christmas versions.

The parade, called Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, happens twice each night, at 8.15 and 10.30p.

I strongly suggest you go on rides during the first parade, and watch the second parade–crowds for the second parade will be much lower, and you won’t have to save a spot like the little guy above.

The parade begins with a bunch of characters…

…then Minnie and Mickey.

Frozen comes next with three floats, beginning with Anna and Elsa…

…then Olaf…

…and then Kristoff.

Next is Wreck-It Ralph…

…then Clarabelle Cow and Christmas cookies–I wonder why no resort is themed to Clarabelle?…

…then Goofy and Christmas candy.

Next up is a sequence of princess-themed floats.

Snow White and Cinderella get their own floats.

A closer shot of Cinderella.

One large float is fronted by the Beast and holds a passel of princesses.

The parade then shifts to a toy theme, including Woody and Jess…

…and toy solders.

Santa Claus is on the last float.

The fireworks, called Holiday Wishes, happen between the parades at 9.30, preceded by a special holiday version of Celebrate the Magic at 9.15p.

Also noted already are the rides.

• Not all rides are open, but all of the most popular ones are (there’s a list of what’s open on the brochure below).
• Because of the limit on tickets sold, the rides are pretty easy to get on to without major waits. The park will feel very crowded on Main Street and near the Castle, but this is because of all the people lining for the castle shows and the parade route.  Away from Main Street and Frontierland the park opens up and ride waits are quite short.

There’s some shows, some unique to this event.

Castle shows Celebrate the Season…

…and A Frozen Holiday Wish are the same as on regular MK evenings. The first is OK but not worth seeing at the mobbed 7.30 showing (the 10.05 or 11.20p show is the better choice), and the second skippable.

Only shown during the party are A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas in Tomorrowland…

…and a dance party in Cosmic Ray’s in Tomorrowland.

(The dance party formerly held at the Diamond Horseshoe in Frontierland was not on during my November 2015 visit.)  The first of these is quite lame, the second a cute way for your kids to burn off energy if they need to.

New for 2015 is “Voiceplay,” showing on the same stage as A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas at 8.10, 9.05, 10.10 and 11.05p.  This will please you in direct proportion to the joy you take in slightly thuggish boy band a Capella gestures towards Christmas songs.

There’s some fun other business: free cookies, free hot chocolate (locations on the map, and marked by candy canes), and snow!

There’s also character encounters, some rare. My first reaction to the bear was “that scarf must be warm.” Yes, my first reactions are often stupid.

You can spend a lot of time waiting in lines for characters–go for it if that’s your thing, but for most there’s much better ways to spend your time given the cost of this party…

I am a member of The Tuba Guy fan club, and am sorry I did not get a better shot…

Both sides of the 2015 MVMCP brochure are below–as always, click them to enlarge them.

Even though the party starts at 7p, Disney traditionally lets people holding tickets for it through the turnstiles beginning at 4p. Show up early, see some of the lower wait rides, and have dinner.  If you show up around party time, Main Street will be mobbed.  If the train is still running–the last run will be 6.45p or so–take the train to Frontierland or Fantasyland to avoid the crowds on Main Street and in front of the Castle.

FastPass+ is not available during the party–but it’s also not needed, as only Anna and Elsa and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train see major waits. If you want to see these, do them as late as you can stay up.

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE NOT FOLLOWING THE BASIC ITINERARY?

As noted, this show is expensive, but worth considering if one or more of the following apply to you:

• You otherwise won’t see the evening parade and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom
• Your plans otherwise leave you short on Magic Kingdom time, and/or
• You are really a fan of Christmas

With kids old enough to be focused on rides, the right plan for MVMCP is to

• Show up early, and eat before the party
• Do rides until a little before 9, and then
• Position yourselves near the Castle for Celebrate the Magic, Holiday Wishes, and the second showing of the evening parade.
• After the parade, do more rides or see the shows!

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I don’t usually warn people off of bad stuff—life’s too short, so mostly I just ignore it.

For example, there’s a Disney Word guide book out there from a famous publisher that claims “Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom now opens at 8 a.m. almost every day, you can see the park in half a day.” Neither of these claims is true (except in the trivial sense that if you skip half of the Animal Kingdom, you can see it in half a day). Rather than warn people off, I just didn’t bother to review it.

Today I’m making an exception because the influential Orlando Sentinel published an article about a new website (from hotels.com) called Orlando.com.

I looked at the new website and was appalled.

Just a few issues I found on it:

From its material on Magic Kingdom park hours and the evening fireworks show Wishes:

“Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World is open every day from 09:00 to midnight…The Wishes nighttime spectacular firework display also runs every evening at 22:00.”

The Magic Kingdom’s operating hours aren’t “from 09:00 to midnight,” but in fact vary substantially, especially in later September through mid-December.

It can be open as long as from 8a until 1a, or as briefly as 9a to 7p (even 6p one or two nights a year).

This week, its operating hours are as follows: 8a-12MN 10/10, 9a-11p 10/11, 9a-7p 10/12 and 10/13, 8a-11p 10/14, 9a-7p 10/15 and 10/16, 8a-12MN 10/17, and 9a-7p 10/18. Note that on not a single date this week is it open “from 09:00 to midnight.”

Wishes does not “run every evening at 22:00.” First, it’s not on every night of the year—it’s on just four nights between 10/10 and 10/18—and while commonly shown at 10p, is also shown some nights at 8p or 9p, and even more rarely 7p.

From its material on attractions at the Magic Kingdom:

“Check out the best attractions at each of these zones below:”

“Adventureland – inspired by the tropical jungles of Africa, Asia and South America, this is the place to delve into the deep, dark world of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, float down the river in the ‘Jungle Cruise’ simulator, or go wild in the long-standing ‘Enchanted Tiki Room’.”

“Fantasyland – this recently-expanded part of Magic Kingdom is inspired by the medieval fayres and carnival featured in Walt Disney’s movies. Top rides and attractions here including the more child-friendly ‘It’s a Small World, ‘Peter Pan’s Flight’, ‘Seven Dwarfs Mine Train’ and ‘Tangled’.”

Not sure that the Jungle Cruise is a simulator; not many would highlight the Tiki Room as either a “best attraction” or a place to “go wild”; and in Fantasyland, “Tangled” is a bathroom, not an attraction.

From its ticket price material on the Magic Kingdom (typos and grammar problems from the original):

“Do not that tickets are sold separately for Disney’s Magic Kingdom, with day-passes starting at around $100. You can then upgrade your ticket to the ‘Park Hopper Option’ which grants access to all four parks at an additional cost $64 per day.”

The park hopper upgrade is not priced “per day” but rather has a single one-time cost that varies by ticket length. A park hopper costs in total (after tax) about $68 for all ticket lengths longer than three days. It’s $53 if added to a one day MK ticket, $62 if added to another one day ticket, and $53 for two and three day tickets.

From its material on When to Go—oddly buried under “Weather”

“Peak Seasons:”

“There are two times every year when Orlando is really busy with tourists …[that] coincide with the school holidays – spring break in March and April and the summer vacation from June to September.”

“Low Seasons:”

“…[T]he tourist numbers (and, as a result, hotel prices) are at their lowest…during the winter months from November to March.”

In fact, the “winter” weeks that include Christmas and New Year’s Eve are the busiest and highest-priced periods of the year, and March other than the first week is both very crowded and expensive.

The site also has a number of “Top Ten Lists” which seem to be simply crowd-sourced with some questionable editorial matter then added.

For example, in its “Ten Best Restaurants” entry, it (not unreasonably) puts Victoria and Albert’s at #3, but begins its commentary with this odd text:

“Fine dining and Disney haven’t always gone hand-in-hand; the first restaurant you might associate with Mickey Mouse and co probably has a giant yellow ‘M’ towering above it or a certain Colonel Sanders plastered on a billboard outside. Victoria & Albert’s, however, flips this now out-of-date stereotype on its head, offering the polar opposite of the old-school Disney fast food joint.”

And then, most tellingly, comes Orlando.com’s proposition for the Number 4 Best Restaurant in Orlando: The Cheesecake Factory!

Enough said.

This website may be of some use, someday. But for sure it is not now. Ummm…get my book instead.

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(For the first page of this review of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, click here.)

DINING AT DISNEY’S BOARDWALK INN

There’s no real dining inside the BoardWalk Inn, but you will find inside my favorite bar among the Epcot resorts, the Belle Vue Lounge.  This bar also serves coffee and pastries in the morning.

Dining, instead, is outside along the BoardWalk…

…where you’ll also find various other fun entertainment, especially in the afternoons and evenings during busier periods.

There’s little in the way of counter service, and breakfast–except at Trattoria al Forno–is overly muffined.

Along the BoardWalk itself you’ll find the ESPN Club (review from our book, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019)

Trattoria al Forno (review from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019):

(Find another review of Trattoria al Forno here.)

The Flying Fish (review from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019):

…and Big River Grille (review from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019):

Also on the BoardWalk you’ll also find the Bakery, the Ample Hills Creamery, and some food stands with even more choices.

The full set of options is on Disney’s page about dining on the BoardWalk here.

PAGES IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S BOARDWALK INN

• Summary and overview of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Theming and Accommodations at the BoardWalk Inn
• A Photo-Tour of a Standard Room at the Boardwalk Inn
• Amenities at the BoardWalk Inn
• The Luna Park Pool at the BoardWalk Inn
• Dining at the Boardwalk Inn

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

STANDARD ROOMS AT THE SWAN

The Disney World Swan completed a room refurbishment in 2016. This photo tour is of one of these refurbed rooms.

Some Swan rooms have balconies, but most don’t.  The floor plan and tour is of a room without balconies. It happens to be of a corner room, so has two windows. Most have just one window, at the end.

Most hotel rooms have at the entry a closet on one side and the bath on the other.  Swan rooms have everything on one side of the entry.

Thus, outside of the full bath there’s a sink on one side…

…and a closet on the other. Although there’s not a lot of width to this closet, the extra hanging rods on the right make great use of the available space.

Beyond these is a full bath, with another sink on one side…

…and the tub/shower combo on the other.

Deeper in the room on one side you’ll find two queen beds.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer shot of a bed.

Between them is a bedside table with some storage shelves…

…and next to them, a little cramped, is an easy chair.

The TV side of the room has a dresser/mini-fridge thingy, and a table that can serve as a desk and chair towards the back..

The TV side from the back of the room.

A closer view of the dresser thingy.

Part of the dresser thingy holds the mini-fridge…

…the rest is four large drawers.

With the four good-sized drawers and the well-structured closet, there’s plenty of storage here for the four people these rooms will hold.

Here’s a closer view of the desk/table and its chair.  Note that the table is on wheels.

As noted earlier in this review, most Swan rooms do not have have balconies, and very few have the two windows my room had.  Most rather have just large one large window and no balcony.

As we’ll see in a minute, the core differences between Swan and Dolphin standard rooms are:

• Swan: queen beds. Dolphin: full beds
• Swan: two sinks. Dolphin: one sink

The two sinks and queen beds make the Swan rooms a better choice for almost all.

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT THE DISNEY WORLD DOLPHIN

This review continues here. 

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

REVIEW: THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

The sister resorts Swan and Dolphin share all amenities, including a band of pools that sweep along a beach and connect the two resorts.

While no single pool in this collection is stellar, as a suite they offer pretty much anything any guest would want of a pool.

Moreover, the sweep of pool after pool after pool after beach after pool is quite compelling–making this overall the third best pool complex at Walt Disney World (Four Seasons is first, then the pools shared by the Yacht Club and Beach Club).

There’s five pools here and a beach with an extensive play area. On the map below, they are not all labeled, but are at center right, connecting the two resorts in a curve around a small lake.

Starting with the pool closest to the Swan, and working our way around…

The lap pool nearest the Swan has no particular kid appeal, but is a fine spot for adults to sunbathe.

It has a small bar with seasonal hours…

…and a hot tub.

At one side is the Swan gym, which is also where you will find towels.

Next begins a beach that stretches all the way to the Dolphin.

It includes a playground (note at the right edge the hammocks)…

…volleyball net…

…and rentable Swan boats.

In the evening you can make s’mores here.

Night at the beach.

Next is the Grotto pool.  This serves as the main family pool, and bridges divide it into three visually distinct areas.

The area closest to the Swan…

…the middle, with a “grotto” and waterfall…

…and water slide.

And the end closest to the Dolphin.

The Grotto pool at night.

There’s several hot tubs near the Grotto pool–images of two of them are below:

At the Dolphin side of the Grotto pool is a small gift and pool toy shop, where you’ll also find the pool towels.

Beyond the Grotto pool is the semi-circular Spring pool.

The Spring pool at night.

Near it there’s a splash pool for little ones.

Finally, there’s another lap-style pool close to the Dolphin.

Here you’ll also find a substantial pool bar and grille, the Cabana Bar and Beach Club.

A closer shot of the bar.

No individual pool here except the Grotto pool is spectacular…but the sweep of pool, beach, pool, pool, pool, pool, along with all the other amenities, is really something!!

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

The Disney World Swan and Dolphin share all amenities except parking lots (vast, a hike), lobby check in (each has its own lobby), and bus stops (in each case, outside the lobby to the left).

The Swan lobby, on its first floor, is small and decorous.

The third floor Dolphin lobby is more grand.

Each lobby floor has gift shops–one good-sized one at the Swan (above) and several varied shops at the Dolphin (below).

There’s also a lot of snack-type items available in Picabu, the 24-hour quick service located on the first floor of the Dolphin, by the registers.

Some of the Picabu stock.

Each also has a lobby coffee bar…

…and a gym–the one at the Dolphin is above. Both are by the pools.

The Dolphin offers the well-regarded Mandara Spa…

…and also child care in Camp Dolphin.

There’s a boat dock between the two main buildings with boats that go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and the Disney-owned Epcot resorts.

You can also walk to either park. To get to the paths, head toward the BoardWalk. (You should also check out the BoardWalk itself, which can be fun.)

Buses serve Disney Springs, the water parks, and the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom theme parks. The bus stops are outside the lobbies on the left.

These hotels are the only ones at Disney World within walking distance of a mini-golf offering.

DINING AT THE SWAN AND DOLPHIN

Counting some seasonal and pool offerings, there’s a dozen dining venues at the Swan and Dolphin.  Leading the pack for adults are three fine dining experiences, each overpriced and aimed a little too sharply (in expense-account pricing and ambiance) at conventioneers.

Because the walkway between the Swan and Dolphin is just 600 feet, I group them here by type, rather than by hotel.

Unless you are committed to steak or sushi, Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin) will likely be the best choice.  Seafood-focused but also with fine beef, bluezoo has a great setting but is quite expensive, and is the place you’re most likely to find a tech conventioneer.

Kimonos (Swan) is a gentle and delightful sushi venue until 9p, when the conventioneers begin belting out karaoke, and is where you’re most likely to find a a pharmaceutical sales rep from a sales meeting.

Shula’s Steakhouse (Dolphin), menu above, entry below, is one of the three or four best steakhouses on property, and is where you’re most likely to find a UAW conventioneer.

Two more table-service restaurants are more family friendly:

Garden Grove (Swan) serves traditional family foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has Disney characters at dinner and at weekend breakfasts. Not worth a special trip, but its dinners are worth a visit if your family is staying here

Il Mulino New York Trattoria (Swan) offers upscale causal Italian cuisine.

More casual options, all at the Dolphin, include the Fountain (above) (salads/ burgers/ sandwiches/ ice cream), Fresh Mediterranean Market (seasonal hours; more healthy options) and Picabu (below), a 24-hour counter-service offering.

There’s even more offerings (some with seasonal hours) near the marvelous Swan and Dolphin pools.

THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

This review continues here!

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