Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2014

I am not usually this Disney-crazy, but

this year I have managed to go to

Disneyland Paris,

Disneyland in California for 

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

and finally Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

This one started really early as we were there

this first week of November.  (I can't believe that month

has already come and gone!!!)

I went the night

before and trust me, if you can't get a ticket

to the Christmas Party, there was still plenty

of Christmas festivities going on.  

The Christmas party is a separate ticket

item but starting the 18th, all of the

Christmas festivities go on every night.

Of course, our favorite,

Disney's Frozen, is everywhere and

Elsa kicks everything off by lighting

up the Cinderella Castle and turning

it into an ice covered marvel.

The castle is where the action is

during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

There were five stage shows almost right

in a row followed by the spectacular

Christmas fireworks show while the 

castle is changing colors and having

pictures projected onto it.  You could

just park there in front of the castle

for half of the evening.

We can't forget

Olaf and Anna and Christoff.

She and Anna are there for the

fabulous day time Christmas Parade too.

They pull out all of the stops for

parades and shows for

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

This reticulated dragon represents

Malificent and it breathes fire during

the parade - definitely a show stopper!

But I have to admit that night time is

where all of the Disney Magic takes place

for the Christmas Party.  The night time parade

was out of this world!

Look at Cinderella's carriage all lit up

pulled by six white horses and they are

real horses!  Just spectacular.

There are dance parties going on and

all of the workers are dressed in fun holiday

outfits handing out cookies and hot cocoa.

But what brought tears to my eyes was the snow on

Main Street.

After the fireworks end for the

last probably couple of hours,

it is snowing on Main Street, even

though the day time temperatures

were in the 80s!

My oldest daughter went with us

and she hadn't been to the magical

restaurant

Be Our Guest so of course I 

wanted to make sure she went

there.

To our dismay Disney World has a new

Fast Pass Plus system where you have

to reserve your fast passes online and

those who are staying in their hotels

get to reserve theirs two months in

advance.  I hadn't heard of their new

system and we weren't staying in a Disney

hotel, so of course a lot of the good

fast passes were gone (to their preferred

guests) so when we arrived to stand in

line for Be Our Guest we were told

that the restaurant was full and that all

fast passes had been given out.  When I

was last there, a little over a year ago you

just had to wait in line for about 30 minutes

to be seated.

There stood the Beast's Castle

tempting us and we couldn't get in!!

We were told to come back between 2:00

and 2:30 to see if there was any availability.

We were so frustrated with all of the new

fast passes that seemed to create extremely

long lines everywhere and were leaving

the park when I saw people being let

in the line.  We quickly headed over

and were able to get into 

BE OUR GUEST!

As you enter, enchanted coats

of armor entertain you while

you wait in line.  

The food is really good and

reasonably priced.  We had 

the roast pork and French onion

soup.

There are three seating areas and

she chose the ballroom that had the

Christmas tree up in it and it always

magically has snow falling outside the

windows.

She was thrilled that we made it in,

so I suggest that you go back about 

2:05 - when they let us commoners

have a chance to feast with the beast -

it is purely magical.

I have never had the opportunity to

see Gaston do his thing but he was

outside the castle being his cocky, chauvinistic,

hysterical self!  That was fun!!

The other hot new attraction is

the 7 Dwarves Mine Train roller coaster.

Forget even thinking about getting a

fast pass for that one and the lines were

usually an hour and a half but we raced

over after the night time fireworks and

even though the sign said a 30 minute wait

we were on in 20 minutes.  Talk about 

a smooth ride!  This roller coaster is 

the Cadillac of roller coasters!  So glad

we got to try it out.  They also have three

fun interactive entertainments as you go

through the line that make the line fun.

I was surprised at the crowds so early in

November but it was their first week of

the Christmas celebration.  I certainly hope

that Disney doesn't bring their Fast Pass Plus

system to Disneyland.  It is fraught with problems

and I have read all kinds of complaints about it

online as it created waits of 60 minutes at rides

like Haunted Mansion and Pirates all day long which

I have never experienced.  It also locks you into

one park and we had the Rockin' Roller Coaster

shut down so there was nothing we could do but

leave and were locked into those Fast Passes

so we couldn't get new ones

in another park until the time of our last

Fast Pass Plus was up so that wasted 

two of our three allotted Fast Passes.  We

were not feeling the magic!!

Our trip consisted of Universal and

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Diagon Alley

first, and then Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,
and after our time in Orlando
we took off on a cruise on the Allure of the Seas

that Christine
from Christine's Home and Travel Adventures
introduced me to and ever since reading
her adventure I have wanted to go
on that ship.  My friend and I had daughters
who each went on it for their honeymoons
so we decided we should get to try it too.

This was our view out of the back of 

the ship. The lady who helped us on

Royal Caribbean suggested that we

stay in the inside balconies at the

very back where we could see

the Aqua Theater and the ocean.  We

were four rooms from the back on

the left side.  It was a fabulous room.

 What a wonderful way to celebrate being

empty nesters and to mentally prepare

for Christmas!!