Photos & Review: Is Disney Very Merriest After Hours Worth It?
We attended Disney Very Merriest After Hours at Magic Kingdom, the new Walt Disney World special event for the holiday season offering lower crowds & shorter ride wait times, plus Christmas fireworks, stage show, and partial parade. This review shares party photos, whether it’s worth the money, or is a worthwhile replacement to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
If you’re looking for info and advice about the event, ticket prices, dates, and all of the other basics, consult our Guide to Disney Very Merriest After Hours. We’ll be updating that with more photos and strategy based upon our experience, plus whatever common questions might arise from this review.
For those who are new to this event, Disney Very Merriest After Hours is the successor to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party–hopefully just for this year. Disney Very Merriest After Hours tries to replicate that atmosphere, while offering an entertainment lineup that’s similar to that beloved hard ticket event. In a lot of ways, this is basically a “Taste of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.”
This is a significant departure from Disney After Hours Boo Bash. When it came to that upcharge event, we repeatedly reiterated that it was unlike Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and was a fundamentally different event. The heart of that After Hours event was low crowds and short lines at attractions, with the entertainment being the icing on the cake.
By contrast, the reverse was true with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. The heart of that event is the entertainment, and short lines for rides are the icing. In fact, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party has been anything but a “low crowds” event in recent years–despite wait times that were still mostly short for attractions.
It’s harder to pinpoint what, exactly, Disney Very Merriest After Hours is attempting to be. The name states it’s an After Hours event, but the lineup suggests it’s a Christmas party.
As we’ve said before, Very Merriest strikes us as an internal compromise between competing factions in Walt Disney World management. The end result is a combination of the two events and the cost of the two added together for one outrageously priced evening.
It’s thus likely that Walt Disney World views this “combined event” as sufficient to justify a significantly higher price point than After Hours or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. That’s true on paper, but due to time constraints, guests must choose what this is to them.
For attendees, Very Merriest is either an entertainment-centric Christmas party or a limited-capacity After Hours event with low wait times. While it’s promising both, it cannot deliver both simultaneously to guests. They have to pick one type of event due to the practical realities of physics, the space-time continuum, or whatever.
We chose to experience Disney Very Merriest After Hours as a Christmas party for pretty simple reasons. First, we absolutely adore the holiday season and it had been two years to the day since we had last enjoyed that event. It used to be something we did at least once per year, often twice.
Second, basic economics. Now that Genie+ and Lightning Lanes have debuted, it’s pretty easy to quantify the value of bypassing lines on popular Magic Kingdom attractions, and it’s nowhere near the astronomical prices being charged for the After Hours events.
Even assuming the After Hours event is somehow fundamentally different since it’s no-hassle and doesn’t require booking Lightning Lane return times via Genie+ (that feels like a stretch to me, but I’ll humor it), there’s still another replacement: Extended Evening Hours.
As you can read in Photo Report: Extended Evening Hours at Magic Kingdom, we had a blast at that and enjoyed lower crowds than during Boo Bash (or this).
If having a pleasant night in Magic Kingdom were our aim, we’d either rent Disney Vacation Club points or use the opaque booking sites to score a cheap rate at the Swan or Dolphin. Either of those options would be cheaper than what we paid for these Disney Very Merriest After Hours tickets and they would include a hotel stay.
The point with all of this is that I don’t see how Disney Very Merriest After Hours makes sense as anything other than a seasonal entertainment-centric event. Then again, I don’t see why people pay $100+ primarily for trick or treating when a bag of candy costs a few dollars at CVS. I understand that not everyone approaches these parties from the same perspective.
However, that’s the double-edged sword of Walt Disney World’s insatiable thirst to upcharge everything. When you ascribe a dollar value to each individual component of the experience, comparison shopping becomes easier because each facet of the vacation is quantifiable.
Personally, I don’t enjoy putting a price tag on what should be a carefree vacation, but I’m not the one who made the decision ‘monetize the magic’ to this degree. I’m simply following the company’s lead.
If you were to choose doing Disney Very Merriest After Hours as a substitute for Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, you would encounter minimal wait times for pretty much everything. Above is a look at wait times as of 10:25 pm. This more or less reflects waits throughout the upcharge event.
At past After Hours events, we’ve been able to accomplish about 4-5 attractions per hour. However, that number really depends on ride duration and what you do in between–if you just looped Peter Pan’s Flight all night, you could rack up way more rides per hour than that.
Officially, Very Merriest lasts 4 hours and costs roughly $200 per ticket, making that $50 per hour or about $10 per ride. The per attraction cost decreases if you factor in the pre-party mix-in, which is a good time to knock out some attractions regardless of your intentions during the event.
The pricing for Disney Very Merriest After Hours actually is “fair” if you’re comparing to Individual Lightning Lanes for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but decidedly less so if you’d otherwise do a mix of Genie+, standby, and Individual Lightning Lanes. We’ve already become incredibly adept at using Genie+ at Magic Kingdom, so I’d rather just spend the $16 on that as opposed to the $200 on this. Your mileage may vary.
As for what we did, let’s start with the new stage show. “Mickey & Minnie’s Very Merry Memories” on the Cinderella Castle Forecourt Stage plays like a greatest hits of classic Magic Kingdom holiday stage shows, including “Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas,” “Celebrate the Season,” and “Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration.”
We loved Mickey & Minnie’s Very Merry Memories. It has great performances, cute costuming, and endearing Walt Disney World goofiness. Rather than simply being a greatest hits medley, it’s a fairly smooth montage show. It doesn’t include all of our favorites from that past trio, but it’s well done–perhaps the highlight of Disney Very Merriest After Hours.
With that said, I don’t think Mickey & Minnie’s Very Merry Memories reaches the heights of any of its predecessors. Like the event itself, this stage show strikes me as a compromise–probably out of necessity due to ongoing logistical constraints. (Given the circumstances, we can give this one a pass.)
It’s sort of like when television shows used to do flashback episodes weaved together with a few minutes of new footage to save on salaries. If that’s the baseline, Mickey & Minnie’s Very Merry Memories easily surpasses expectations. If you’re expecting the personality, polish, and production value of Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration, perhaps this would be mildly disappointing.
Continuing on a positive note, let’s turn to Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks. This debuted two years ago, so is still relatively new. We had only seen it twice previously, and the first time doesn’t really count since it was a mess of haze and terrible weather.
Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks is another instance of reviews being colored by perspective (and nostalgia). If you just watched Disney Enchantment earlier in the night and that’s your only exposure to Magic Kingdom fireworks, this is a home run. It’s unquestionably better than that.
If you last visited a couple of years ago and you fondly recollect Holiday Wishes, perhaps not so much. That’s us. Holiday Wishes is an all-timer, and “Spirit of the Season” is one of my favorite Christmas songs—not just Disney Christmas songs, any of them.
While it needed updates in this era of projection mapping everything, Holiday Wishes had an excellent soundtrack, sentimentality, and flow. It was a 10/10 fireworks show.
To be sure, Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks is no slouch. Setting aside nostalgia to the greatest extent possible, I’d say this is a mostly-worthy replacement.
There are some excellent projection effects, and most of the song choices are solid. There are a couple of perplexing picks, but nothing on par with Enchantment, Harmonious, or the new-ish Halloween fireworks show.
I know Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” is one of those songs that it’s cool to hate, but I love it. (Again, sentimentality and nostalgia.) I like the way this was weaved through the show in a way that’s both catchy and original.
While I’d prefer Holiday Wishes 2.0, Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks is a winner–and that was my take two years ago. Now that the normal comparison is to Enchantment rather than Happily Ever After, the new holiday fireworks show is like a hall of famer.
The final piece of major entertainment at Disney Very Merriest After Hours is the parade. This party marks the triumphant return of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, and is being billed as a full parade. It’s definitely much more than a cavalcade, but it’s also very far from a full parade.
We’d call this a partial parade–a significantly truncated version of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade.
Several floats were cut out of the show entirely, including the Goofy’s Gumball Machine, Anna & Elsa’s Sleigh, Cinderella’s Coach, and Santa’s Workshop.
Ground level performers were significantly reduced, with a few groups absent entirely–the ballroom dancers wearing their holiday finery, Santa’s elves, and more.
The most shocking scaleback came in the the toy soldiers unit. If Walt Disney World were to solicit my advice about one thing that should not be cut, it would be these guys. Heck, I’d get rid of Santa Claus (sorry, dude!) before I’d mess with the toy soldiers.
The toy soldiers were the showstopping scene of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, and the ‘wow moment’ of that came thanks to there being a veritable army marching and playing their instruments in unison. The cut here is the equivalent of halving the number of gravediggers in Boo to You. Total nonsense.
Nevertheless, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade was fine and probably quite enjoyable for first-timers who have nothing against which to compare it.
As long-time fans, we’ve been so starved for an actual parade that it was great just to see something. And that’s probably the point–target first-timers who don’t know any better and fans who have had nothing for so long that we’ll accept whatever.
Perhaps that will work out for Walt Disney World and will prove a viable strategy going forward. It’ll certainly work out in the short-term, but it seems unsustainable in the long-term.
To that point, I only watched both performances of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade to take more photos–and for lack of better options. Sarah loves Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade and she wandered around Magic Kingdom rather than watching it again. She has never done that before.
In terms of other entertainment, Disney Very Merriest After Hours is a disappointment.
This event is missing A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas, various musical acts, pre-parade performers, most attraction overlays, a couple of dance parties, and most meet & greets. Even if you don’t stop for these things, it all added a lot to the festive energy and atmosphere of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. The cumulative absences are very noticeable.
Disney Very Merriest After Hours does offer a handful of character “sightings,” almost all of which were considerably distanced or not conducive to selfies. To my knowledge, only Santa Claus had a PhotoPass photographer present.
This would’ve been forgivable last year at this time, but we’re well past the point where outdoor selfie stations should be a feature of the event. Disneyland has been doing this for months during normal operations, and took it to the next level for Oogie Boogie Bash. Aside from adding a few new indoor spots, Walt Disney World’s approach is virtually unchanged since last July. The contrast between the California and Florida parks underscores the laziness of the latter.
Then there are the PhotoPass Magic Shots. One of our big complaints about Disney After Hours Boo Bash is that there were not nearly enough PhotoPass photographers to accommodate demand for the Magic Shots.
Well, it would seem that Walt Disney World’s solution to this issue was not to increase the number of photographers, but to reduce the number of Magic Shots…and not tell anyone what they are. This didn’t really solve anything. PhotoPass lines are still longer than ride lines, but now with more confusion and without the payoff. Ours haven’t shown up in My Disney Experience yet, but I believe we have several of us holding Tinker Bell. Hopefully she’s wearing a festive scarf.
I don’t want this to read overly negatively, as there were some aspects of the event we thought improved upon Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. While I’m a total sucker for peppermint bark cookies at MVMCP, this event featuring Cheryl’s Cookies is an unequivocal upgrade.
Also, the weather for this event was much nicer than the last Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party we attended.
Speaking of which, this event is atmospherically is comparable to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Same beloved background music loops, projections throughout various areas of the park, and snow on Main Street. (The snoap machines were dialed up to 11, and I’m not complaining about that–hopefully that solution isn’t too bad for my lenses!)
I’m an absolute sucker for the ambiance of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and this hit those same sweet sentimental notes. Whereas past experience with MVMCP undoubtedly hurt my impression of the parade, it lifts my view of the vibes. Hearing this music still gives me flashbacks to our first MVMCP together in 2007 after getting engaged, and I very much enjoy that stroll down memory lane.
One big head-scratcher on the atmospheric front is the lack of holiday projections on Cinderella Castle. For reasons beyond me, the underwhelming Beacons of Magic glow remained on Cinderella Castle throughout the night (aside from during the fireworks and stage show), including during Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade.
This might seem like a minor nitpick, but this was disappointing. I also talked to several others who were likewise letdown by this, so I know it’s not just me.
In addition to impacting parade photos, this also means no festive background for the PhotoPass shots you wait ~20 minutes to get, and nothing during the parade, either.
This seems like an oversight, as Disney did reanimate the fireworks projections to account for the 50th Anniversary decor, so they did the work…it’s like they forgot to flip a switch or something. (Hopefully this is remedied for subsequent parties–it’s such an easy change that would measurably improve the experience.)
As for whether Disney Very Merriest After Hours is worth the money? No.
You probably surmised that would be the inevitable conclusion based on the 2,000+ words that preceded it, so I doubt it’s necessary to fixate on this.
To be brutally honest, there is absolutely no way to justify this price from anything but an emotional or sentimental perspective. And that’s fine–if you want to splurge for some holiday fun, that’s your prerogative.
That’s exactly what we did, so I’m certainly not one to judge. Just go in recognizing that this doesn’t offer commensurate value for money as compared to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or even the upcharge line-skipping alternatives.
This is the first year that’s an unequivocal “no” when weighing whether Magic Kingdom’s holiday event is worth the money. Assessing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party over the years amidst its price increases, we’ve always said it’s a high price to stomach and hard to rationalize…but an event that we’d continue to attend every year because we’re suckers for MVMCP and the event puts a smile on our faces. It’s hard to put a price on that joy, at the end of the day.
Disney Very Merriest After Hours is different. It does not hit the same emotional notes, and the significantly higher price weighs heavier. If we were doing this only for fun and not for the sake of research, I would feel no such compulsion to attend another Disney Very Merriest After Hours. It would be a simple one and done.
Ultimately, this is because Disney Very Merriest After Hours amounts to a “Taste of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party,” but at “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party: Platinum Edition” pricing. In addition to the significantly higher cost, it’s shorter, the entertainment is scaled back, and Magic Kingdom simply lacks the same holiday energy and cheer without all of the characters and performers that would be offered at the full event.
Like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, this is still festive fun. However, it does not ooze holiday spirit or have the same je ne sais quoi quality as MVMCP that kept us returning year after year–even if we couldn’t justify it from any logical perspective. Consequently, we have a hard time recommending this event to most consumers, save for first-timers who won’t know what they’re missing, fans who really love Christmas or wanting to do something special, or those for whom money is no issue–or can at least justify a big splurge. For everyone else, there are better ways to allocate the money while visiting Walt Disney World.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you attended Disney Very Merriest After Hours? What did you think of the event? Disappointed that it’s not on par with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party? Did you focus on rides or entertainment? How many attractions were you able to experience? What was your average and/or highest wait time? What’d you think of the atmosphere and entertainment? Would you attend, or is it too pricey? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
At $200/ ticket for 4 hours… ouch! It would “hurt” not to go but that’s outrageous.
WOW! This was hard to read but this is why you can be trusted. I had heard the parade was shorter and the entertainment light. Is it inflation? Is it worker shortages? This is seriously worrisome going into 2022 when real parades & shows should return. If they are shorter & lesser too then I fear we’ll have to start calling it what it really is, Bob Chapek World.
Staffing is still an issue, but I don’t think it’s as big of one with entertainment–there are still performers waiting to be recalled.
First, THANK YOU Tom for your brilliant blog and detailed insight to keep true Disney fans we’ll informed of WDW happenings. As APHs we reserved a day at MK so we could maximize our time at the Very Merriest the same evening. Also we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the Genie/Lightning Lane (LL), which was less stressful than anticipated. This concept is a brilliant marketing strategy and is a fair opportunity to all, especially to infrequent guests that travel from far away. At minimum, you don’t waste precious TIME waiting in long lines and have a chance to experience top attractions if you play your cards to your advantage. LOCK IN YOUR PARK RESERVATIONS EARLY and choose your TOP TWO (PAID) “ LL“ ATTRACTIONS (2 MAX/DAY) EARLY if possible as later in day your favs may not be available. The (PAID) GENIE is good for all day experiences, however you may only book ONE AT A TIME until the experience is scanned.
It is CRITICAL to obtain the EVENT GUIDE & strategize to maximize your experience, else you may miss out on something. The special & spectacular VM fireworks extravaganza in my opinion was like no other we’ve ever seen as APHs and was well worth the price of admission. The entire event exceeded our expectations. The crowd on Tuesday was perfect. The castle stage show was scheduled FOUR times up until 12:30am, which gave us ample time to enjoy other things. The Christmas parade that appeared two times was lovely and personally emotional since there hadn’t been one since 2019. The “Once Upon a Christmastime” theme song gets me to the core every time. The over abundance of treats was insane. Cast members continually handed out tons of Mickey Ice cream bars and other choices of ice cream bars, popcorn, the standard snickerdoodle cookies and hot chocolate, bottles of soda, and marshmallow cookies upon exit. A couple of things that could use improvement include alleviating the long line bottleneck to obtain the required WRISTBAND. Also there was no special event MERCH. Overall our time was well spent and we would do it again next year without hesitation. Life is too short not to make great memories with the family and is a must at least once.
Thanks for sharing your experience, perspective, and thoughts on the event! Always good to hear differing opinions especially when they don’t totally align with mine! 🙂
An uptick in cost without the increased benefit to justify it seems to be Disney World’s new mantra. A shame really.
Since the average private VIP tour is $50/hour (we did one in October) I agree everything starts to become very quantifiable in terms of money for rides. This is much better for the entertainment compared to the other options like you said. However for my dates this treat the Xmas party is $250pp. The only thing I can think to compare it to is a Broadway play or expensive concert tickets. We are going to skip this year 🙁 it looks fun though.
The website mentions the Reindeer Wranglers and Club Tinsel Dance Party. Were those there?
Were the Reindeer Wranglers there? We enjoyed seeing them 3 years ago.
We’ll be at Disney the first week of December & I had considered doing the Christmas party. But when I saw the price of the tickets, I immediately clicked off the page. There’s no way I can justify paying $600 for a few hours. That’s more than our airfare cost!
And we’re only going in three weeks because we rescheduled our 2022 trip to get it in before the Magical Express goes away and the military-discounted tickets expire on the 16th of December. Disney finally released their military discount prices for 2022 & they’ve gone up by close to $30 a ticket. Disney is no longer the “happiest place on earth.” It’s now become the “greediest place on earth” and this Christmas party is just another example why
Hey Tom. I agree and disagree. I love the Christmas atmosphere and the Halloween atmosphere (Halloween more to be honest) and we have done both events in the past.
The issue I have is the cost. The people that value time should definitely not go to the Christmas party. You can get the equivalent of 6 Christmas parties for the same price as far as time is concerned. The 4 hour Christmas party price can be as high as the same cost as two 12 hour days from 9am-9pm) for 24 hours in the park.
What you cannot argue is the atmosphere and exclusivity of the event. If that’s worth it to your, then it’s probably worth it. Just not for us (and it seems you). Most are “1 and done” it seems.
The toy soldiers were back in the parade on Tuesday night!!!!
Thanks for the honest review! I am a little disappointed though. I was really hoping you could tell me it was worth every penny and I wasn’t crazy for waking up early to book one of the $249 dates for my family of five on the first day it was released. Had I known Genie+ and ILL would be coming, I probably would not have made the same choice. But, I’ll go and enjoy the nostalgia and try not to think about the cost.
We went to Boo Bash and are now going to the Christmas party and more excited for the Christmas party than Boo Bash. Was Boo Bash 100 percent worth it? Probably not (it was the one thing my husband said we could have skipped). In ten years though will I love the memories and photos of my son dressed as a little pirate watching the cavalcades and dancing to spooky music? Yes. Will I remember how much it cost? No.
I’m really glad I was able to take my family two times to MVMCP. For 5, $100 a person seemed expensive. When Disney doubled the price and slashed the entertainment, I knew we wouldn’t go this year. $1000 for an evening was too much. I did wash a couple live steams and then I did enjoy seeing it he entertainment, parade and fireworks. People who splurged on tickets will no doubt enjoy themselves. It just irks me that Disney has the audacity to charge more for less. I’m a DVC member, and I do love Disney.
Thank you for the review! I’ve been wanting to hear about the event 1st hand!
Was the capacity lower as promised? I know this was a sold out night, how did that compare to years past? Thank you!
Disappointed to read this, but not surprised. We bought tickets for 11/ 30 when they first went on sale because we were concerned they would sell out and the Christmas party has always been our favorite MK event. We were fortunate that Disney extended the Salute to Service ticket expiration date so we manage to stretch our park hopper plus days across our February and August trips. Since we felt like we came out ahead there we decided to make the splurge for this event. I am still looking forward to it, but definitely believe I will have more realistic expectations thanks to your article. I am curious to see if they will tweak things in response to feedback from these first few dates. I do hope MVMCP will be back next year at a price we can afford. Thanks for working tirelessly to keep us all informed.b
The price is crazy! I planned on taking my daughter and 6 year old twin granddaughters when we visit in December but with tax it’s close to $1000 for the four of us. Not to mention 9p-1am?! If I’m not mistaken events we went to in the past started earlier. Sadly we will pass and enjoy other things.
I was definitely hoping for a more positive review, but always appreciate your candor. I never thought it was going to be worth the huge price tag, but my daughter wanted to go on her birthday next week. I know we will have a great time. I’m just not going to think about how much we paid.
Thank you for the feedback, though it is disappointing. However, I am slightly shifting plans for the Christmas “after hours/party/event” based on your article. We (thankfully, I guess) bought the tickets on the cheapest night next week. Still, it will be nice to stay later than 7p and not have to wear masks outside like we did in May. We’re taking a future son-in-law whose never seen Disney fireworks either, so we’ll try to wring out the $169 per ticket through rides, treats, the look on his face, and the joy of being on Main Street. Thanks!
Slash the entertainment/perks and jack up the price – come visit Bob Chapek’s new Disney Worldâ„¢ï¸!
Darn! I’ve already purchased a ticket for my trip the first week of December. I’ve never been to a Disney Christmas event, so maybe it will be fine.