See Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade for “Free” During Days at Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World has updated its entertainment schedule, quietly adding daytime performances of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade the day after Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party season starts. This post shares the schedule update, why it’s likely happening, and the full dates you can expect to see MOUACP for “free” in November and December 2024.

After Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party kicks off on November 8 for special event guests who purchase the $189 per person hard tickets, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade will once again be shown during Magic Kingdom’s regular park hours on Saturday November 9, 2024 and Sunday, November 10, 2024.

This means that Annual Passholders, regular ticket holders, and all other day guests will be able to enjoy the holiday parade, included in the regular price of their admission. It’s not truly free–everyone pays to enter the park, one way or another–but you aren’t paying anything extra (hence the air quotes around “free”). If you’ve already bought an AP or park tickets, no double-dipping–which is kind of a big deal for guests attending the parks this time of year!

In terms of planning info, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade (MOUACP) will take place at 2 p.m. on both November 9 and November 10, 2024. In order to accommodate the schedule change, Festival of Fantasy Parade has been cancelled on both days.

For those who miss the mid-November performances, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade will still be performed twice nightly during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Following the conclusion of that, it’ll almost certainly be shown during regular Magic Kingdom park hours from December 21 through December 31, 2024.

While MOUACP will also be “free” during the home stretch of the holiday season, there’s inarguably more of a catch then. That’s the most expensive time to visit Walt Disney World from the perspective of hotels, park tickets, Lightning Lanes, and probably airfare.

Adding insult to injury, it’s the busiest week-plus of the entire year, every single year. And by a wide margin. We’ve “joked” that the crowd calendar should go to 11/10 specifically for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, because that period is so far above a normal 10/10 that it skews the scale.

This marks the second consecutive year that MOUACP has been performed during regular operating hours over Veterans Day weekend. When the change was first made last year to the entertainment lineup, a lot of fans speculated that it was simply a scheduling error. Honestly, not the most outlandish thought, as that type of thing has been known to happen.

In actuality, it was so that ABC could film the “Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration” and “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” at Walt Disney World, which air over Thanksgiving weekend and (as you probably gathered from the latter’s name) December 25.

I assumed that would be the case–not that it was a scheduling error–so I spent the entire day of these television specials being filmed in Magic Kingdom, from park opening until almost 2 a.m. last year. If you’re wondering whether to do or skip Magic Kingdom on these days, I’ll cover that here…

Over the years, we’ve caught a lot of bits and pieces of parade filming. Part of this is purely accidental, as we’ve been in the right (or wrong) place at the right/wrong time. The other part is…well, also coincidental. Before Disney started doing the Thanksgiving weekend special in 2016, the Christmas Day parade filming usually happened the first week of December.

As we’ve mentioned countless times, that’s been our favorite week to visit Walt Disney World for the last ~15 years. So we knew that there’d be overlap with the parade filming and didn’t avoid the parks. Those were simpler times, and the way the parade was filmed–especially back when it was an actual parade–was far less intrusive.

We’ve never intended to watch the parade filming, it’s always been a matter of good/bad luck. Last year was the first time ever that I’ve specifically sought out the filming of the ABC holiday television specials. And I’m glad that I did!

In the past, we’ve recommended avoiding the parks where the Disney Christmas Day Parade is being recorded. It’s boring to watch in person and creates congestion. What you’re seeing on television might look really fun to see in person, but that’s the ‘magic’ of meticulous work in shooting, re-shooting, and careful editing.

This isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable to watch, but there is a lot of stopping, pausing, and restarting. The songs you see performed on stage are not like a traditional concert with the performer singing a variety of different holiday hits. It’s the same song several times, and then the next performer moving on to their song…also performed several times.

It also doesn’t help that the specials are now filmed over Veterans Day weekend, which makes the ‘worst’ side of our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. In particular, November 4-11, 2024 are expected to be very busy dates, albeit not nearly as bad as the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve.

Against my better judgment, I arrived at Magic Kingdom just after opening. When I first approached security, I immediately thought, “what have I gotten myself into?!” There were huge lines to enter the park, and the parade route was already packed.

Some moron had given everyone a heads up that parade filming would be occurring, and approximately half of the Sunshine State descended upon Main Street. Even though the first parade wasn’t for a few hours, the front row of the sidewalks was already filled with guests. In doing a quick scan of the crowd, most were easy to clock as Annual Passholders. (If you know, you know.)

And who could blame them? It was a rare opportunity to see Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade without dropping $150+ per person for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or visiting the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Eve (when most Annual Passholders are blocked out, anyway). That certainly sounded good to me, so I joined the group!

It had been a couple of years since I’d seen the daytime version of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, so that was enjoyable. There were a few modifications for the ABC Christmas Day Parade, but nothing major–an opening banner, added characters, plus both Santa and Mrs. Claus.

It was also neat to see the cameras swooping up and down in the middle of Main Street to capture footage of the parade. Aside from a couple of times when it seemed like the parade slowed down and lingered just a bit in that area, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade was presented as a normal parade.

Unlike the stops and starts of musical numbers, this means there’s only one take of MOUACP (probably why they do it on two different days). It was maybe 1-2 minutes longer than normal, which isn’t bad.

Beyond this, there were pros and cons to the ABC Holiday Specials being filmed in Magic Kingdom.

The good was that wait times were lower than they would’ve been otherwise. Crowd levels, as measured by wait times, were only 3/10 with the average wait over the course of the day being only 29 minutes. It should go without saying, but this is pretty far from “worst” week list material.

This would be pretty good on a normal day, but it was fantastic on a holiday weekend when Magic Kingdom. There’s no guarantee of a repeat of this in November 2024, but crowds this low in Magic Kingdom on a weekend with longer hours in November or December is amazing. I’d highly recommend visiting on a day like this.

One reason that history may not repeat itself is park reservations. Or rather, the lack thereof.

Although Annual Passholders still need to make park reservations, the vast majority of other guests do not. Moreover, Park Hopping restrictions are no longer in place, which essentially obviate the reservation barrier for APs, anyway.

Point being, park reservations artificially limited attendance last year at Magic Kingdom during Veterans Day weekend as Walt Disney World sought to keep crowds manageable during parade filming. Disney won’t have that same “check” on crowds in 2024.

The bad of the filming was that Main Street, Cinderella Castle Forecourt, and the parade route were packed all day. Navigating MK was a challenge at times. Various thoroughfares were closed and traffic became one-way in other parts of the park. I had to backtrack around almost half the park because a main route was blocked in Fantasyland/Liberty Square.

Due to limited viewing space, Main Street filled up about 45 minutes in advance of Happily Ever After, and announcements were played encouraging guests to view it from elsewhere. I caught it from the Rivers of America because Fantasyland was closed, and even the waterfront promenade was fairly full.

The added entertainment definitely pulled crowds away from attractions, and the longer hours diluted the attendance throughout the day as people opted to arrive late, take midday breaks, and return for the evening. It also helped that it got surprisingly cold and windy when the sun went down, which cleared out the crowd a bit. Obviously, cold weather keeping crowds down isn’t something we can forecast for 2024 at this point.

I posted some videos of the parade and stage show filming on social media, and received responses from others in the park. Some claimed it was the busiest they’d ever seen Magic Kingdom. Others were surprised that it wasn’t as bad as they expected.

The thing is, both were right. The Magic Kingdom was both jam-packed and dead…it all depended upon where you were. As measured by ride wait times, crowd levels were low. As measured by congestion in the core of the park, it was a totally different story.

The front of Magic Kingdom was crazy and chaotic. Same goes for areas of Fantasyland and other parts of the park impacted by the filming. Then there were large swaths of Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and more remote areas of the park–totally away from all filming–that felt downright dead.

My day was pretty well balanced.

I watched the parade filming when that happened, but ignored all of the stage show stuff during the middle of the day. As noted above, this area of the park was packed, and I didn’t have any need to be part of that.

Accordingly, once Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade was over, I mostly avoided Main Street. I crossed through the hub a couple of times just to check things out, but left immediately. The bulk of the middle of my day was spent doing rides in the various lands.

This approach paid off, and is the strategy I’d recommend. The guests who arrived early and tried to watch whatever was happening during the daytime hours largely were not riding attractions midday, and then got burnt out and left their Cinderella Castle spots by nightfall.

That’s when I was beckoned by the warm glow of lasers and lights at around dusk, and was surprised by how few guests were still around. Because Disney wanted a larger crowd for the opening dance sequence, so they also gave guests in the overflow area little finger lights.

It still wasn’t a great view of the celebrities and musicians, but it was good enough for me. It also helped that the searchlights and lasers themselves were entrancing, and that Walt Disney World kept shooting off fireworks during the various performances.

Watching the musical opening, in particular, was a really fun experience. This is a lengthy musical medley with quick transitions and, to this clumsy and uncoordinated man’s eye, a lot of fancy and tough dance moves. But because it’s fancy and tough, the performers kept messing up about midway through and having to do it all over again.

This was perfectly fine by me and everyone else in the audience, because getting to a certain point in the routine triggered pyro. So we kept seeing fireworks, then they’d goof up, and it’d all have to be done again. If the pyro was triggered (and it often was), there would be a longer delay between takes, as they’d have to wait for the fireworks to be reset and the smoke to clear.

In aggregate, this was the most pyro I’ve ever seen in a single day at Walt Disney World. That’s really saying something, since we’ve done New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT countless times! The fireworks were obviously fun, but there was also a fantastic communal energy as everyone was cheering for the performers to get it right. It felt like being at an elementary school competition full of positive parents, but with much, much better performers. (Sorry folks, but your kids aren’t as talented as the Hough siblings!)

I also watched a bunch of musical performances throughout the night, most of them after Magic Kingdom’s official midnight closing time.

I’m not going to name all of the names since I don’t know most of the performers, but I’d say I say about half of the list for the Thanksgiving special. That definitely included the Smashing Pumpkins, Robin Thicke, and Chris Janson. I know who all of those dudes are!

Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins was like a childhood dream come true, and in Magic Kingdom of all places. Never would’ve guessed that someday Billy Corgan would do Disney.

Ultimately, spending all day in Magic Kingdom for the ABC holiday special filming was definitely a unique experience, and one I’m very happy to have had! Based on how much fun I had last year, and the details more or less lining up for Veterans Day Weekend 2024, I would recommend other Walt Disney World fans do this.

For an even more granular recommendation, I’d opt for watching Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade on November 10 over November 9, 2024. There are a lot of bloggers, vloggers, influencers, and Florida fans who want to be “first” at everything. These groups will disproportionately visit on November 9. That’s also a Saturday, and trend-wise, Saturdays are busier than Sundays in Magic Kingdom. This is my rationale, at least, and why I’ll be doing Magic Kingdom on Sunday instead of Saturday. (If I’m wrong, at least I’m putting my money where my mouth is!)

The very large caveat I’d add is to temper your expectations. It’s entirely possible that I got (insanely) lucky. Many/most of the prior times we’ve been in the parks for stage show filming weren’t as positive or memorable (except due to the crowds and congestion). It’s entirely possible that “word will get out” this year and more people will visit Magic Kingdom than will avoid it, that Walt Disney World will increase the number of park reservations, the weather won’t be as favorable–the list goes on and on. Point being, I want you to be cognizant of what you’re getting yourself into–it could be awesome, awful, or somewhere in between.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Will you be trying to catch Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade for “free” on November 9-10, 2024? Were you in Magic Kingdom during the day or at night when the Holiday Specials were filmed last year? What was your experience? Have you been in Walt Disney World or Disneyland during past filmings? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!