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magic kingdom holiday parties

8 Tips for Magic Kingdom Holiday Parties

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Everyone loves the Holiday Parties that are held in the Magic Kingdom every year, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Between September 8 and December 22, 2016, the Magic Kingdom has several parties a week in the Magic Kingdom. These are extra ticket events, your normal Disney park pass does not gain you access. Separate tickets just for the party are currently available, and run between $72 and $102 per person plus tax. You must purchase a ticket for a particular date, and tickets are non-refundable, so make sure your date is exactly what you want before paying out the cash.

While hundreds of thousands of people visit the parties every year, make sure you know before you go. A little knowledge and planning can make your Magic Kingdom holiday parties perfect.

Top 8 tips for getting the most out of the Magic Kingdom Holiday parties

  1. Show up Early – While the party may not start until 7 PM, you can enter the Magic Kingdom with just your party ticket starting around 3 hours before party time. This is a great option for those who want to relax during the day, or maybe want to visit a water park or Disney Springs and not pay for a regular park pass for that day. This will give you time to catch a few rides so that during the party you will be able to do party things.
  2. Wristbands – For party goers, Disney gives you a wristband as you enter the parks in exchange for your party ticket. This gives Disney a way to easily see who is supposed to be there and how isn’t. But, what if you are already in the Magic Kingdom during the day? No one wants to head all the way back up to the front gate and wait in line to just get a wrist band. Stop by Castle Couture in Fantasyland and show your party tickets, they have wristbands there for you.
  3. Eat Early – The parties are very short. While it seems like 5 hours is a lot of time, there is way more to see and do that you can ever do in 5 hours. Showing up early helps. While it may sound awesome to dine in Cinderella’s Castle during the party, you are paying roughly $20 per hour per person to just be in the park during party time, do you really want to spend 90 minutes of your time sitting in a restaurant? Eat before you go, grabs snacks as needed to keep you going.
  4. Dress Up – While you often see people dressed up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, consider, even as an adult, dressing up for both parties. While you may not want to come in your Halloween costume for the Christmas Party, consider dressing up in nice clothes or your ugly Christmas sweater to make it an even more festive event. If you are going to dress up, make sure you are aware of the new rules for 2016: While costumed attire may be worn, guests ages 14 and older are strongly discouraged from wearing layered costumes or costume props that surround the entire body as they may be subject to additional security screening. Additionally, costumes may not contain any weapons that resemble or could easily be mistaken for an actual weapon.
  5. Plan Ahead – Before you go, find a guide map online, they are usually pretty easy to find once the parties start. Make sure you know what special events are going on, where and when they are, and which ones you want to go to. These parties are pretty popular, especially on weekends, much more crowded than the parks will be during the day than when you are there. You can ride Space Mountain anytime, but you can only see Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade once (well, twice a night). Know what special merchandise is available only during the parties. For 2015 they had special Magic Bands, t-shirts, pins and other small items.
  6. Know What is Free – During the Halloween Party, kids are able to trick or treat at quite a few places in the park, while at Christmas, some restaurants have Holiday treats for the kids, including hot chocolate and cookies. Also, watch for other items like ice cream and treats throughout the parks.
  7. Plan and Work from Front to Back – As most party visitors arrive sometime around 7 PM, and all enter the front gate, most party goers start their event going down main street and working out into the park. Start your party time away from the front entrance, where the crowds will be light.
  8. Avoid the Early Parade – Each night, there are two night time parades, Mickey’s “Boo-To-You” Halloween Parade and Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, usually around 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM, though I can promise you that the parades the night you will be there will not be at those time. The Halloween Parade tends to be later, the Christmas Parade is earlier. During either event, avoid the early parade, it is by far the most crowded, as it is a MUST DO, and many people go to the early one so they don’t have to worry about it later on. Don’t be like everyone else, get other stuff done while everyone is at the parade and stop by and see the last one.

Whatever you do, have fun. These are fantastic events and a great way to see the Magic Kingdom like never before. You may not ride one ride, but it is something you and your family will remember for years.

best hollywood studios restaurant

Best Hollywood Studios Restaurant for Adults

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Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a great place for adults to spend a day without kids, plenty of great adult rides, shows and other things to see that you can spend some extra time enjoying. While the construction for both Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land have reduced the number of attractions you can visit, it is still worth your time to see the park. But as adults, where do you eat without Mickey coming to your table? There are two restaurants in Disney’s Hollywood Studios that I consider the Best for adults, but there are a few others that are also pretty decent. Both Sci-Fi Dine-In and Mama Melrose’s are fine restaurants with decent food, but just don’t quite make the cut.

Best Hollywood Studios Restaurant for Adults

  • 50’s Prime Time Cafe – For many older adults, this is like a blast from their past, a reminder of what it was like to visit an aunt’s or grandmother’s house back in the 50’s and 60’s. Black and white TVs are placed at each table with shows such as I Married Joan, the Mickey Mouse Club and Leave it to Beaver among many others. The food is exactly as you would expect, home cooked comfort food. The fried chicken is fantastic, as is the meatloaf is some of the best I have ever had. Oh, and don’t miss out on the Peanut Butter and Jelly Milk Shakes, so good! Plus, make sure you eat your green beans, keep your elbows off the table and leave that cell phone in your pocket or you will get on the bad side of your server and may have to stand in the corner for a while. It is all fun, great food and fantastic place to eat.
  • The Hollywood Brown Derby – Disney’s Hollywood Studios only “signature” restaurant, as the cost to dine here is 2 table service credits per person for those on the dining plan. While I am not sure it is the best signature restaurant on property, it is very good. By far the nicest restaurant in Hollywood Studios, the Brown Derby is designed after the original location in Hollywood, complete with the caricatures of famous faces all around the restaurant. The Brown Derby is home to the Cobb Salad, created first sometime around 1930 at the original location, and perfected for the last 80+ years. In addition to the Cobb Salad, the Brown Derby also features entrees such as Roasted Rack of Lamb, Faroe Island Salmon and my favorite, Pork Three Ways (all three are fantastic). And for dessert, you only need to know one thing: Grapefruit Cake. The Brown Derby features a first class, relaxing, upscale restaurant in the middle of a theme park.

What is your favorite Hollywood Studios Restaurant for adults?

art of animation little mermaid rooms

Art of Animation – Little Mermaid Rooms

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After the successful opening of Disney’s Pop Century is 2003, Walt Disney World planned a second “half” of Pop Century, which would be themed after the Legendary Years of 1900 – 1940, to be located on the other side of Hourglass Lake. Construction started on the main building and several of the outer buildings that housed the rooms, but then was stopped due to a downturn in the economy. The buildings and foundations sat for years, like a ghost town. Finally, in May, 2010, Walt Disney World announced a new resort was to be built on the site, but not an extension of Pop Century. It was going to be a brand new resort called Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, themed after Disney and Pixar movies, which makes a whole lot more sense. How many kids want to stay in a room themed after the 1920’s? Not mine.

Pop Century Abandoned

Pop Century Legendary

One big change to the plans was that Disney would make this new resort mostly family suites. There were two existing buildings, as you can see in the photo above, that had sat in place for years, which Disney completed, along with a third building as standard rooms, very similar to the rooms at Pop Century, all themed after The Little Mermaid. The rest of the resort was built on the existing foundations, and made into all family suites, themed after The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.

There are 864 Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, each with two double beds (there are some handicap accessible king bed rooms), and each room sleeps up to 4 people. In addition to the rooms, there is also a Little Mermaid themed pool, the Flippin’ Fins Pool. The Little Mermaid Rooms are just standard Disney Value Resort rooms, but with a Little Mermaid Theming. Without a doubt, these rooms are the most popular in all of Disney, they are ALWAYS sold out.

Little Mermaid Rooms
Existing Little Mermaid Rooms

Pros of the Little Mermaid Rooms

  • If you have kids the love Arial, or you want to blame the attraction on your kids, the Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation are the only Ariel themed rooms on property.
  • Art of Animation is Disney’s newest resort, and the rooms are the most “up to date”.
  • The pool choices at the resort are better than any other value resort, from the Little Mermaid Pool to the main Finding Nemo themed Big Blue Pool are fantastic.
  • You may have family members staying in a family suite at Art of Animation, but you don’t need one, and want to stay somewhere close. These rooms are less than half the cost of the family suites.

Little Mermaid Room

Cons of the Little Mermaid Rooms

  • Discounts! Ever since the Little Mermaid rooms opened in late 2012, Walt Disney World has excluded the rooms from every single discount released. So, if you want to stay there, you pay full rate. Especially when we see discounts like free dining, that is a huge premium just to stay with Ariel.
  • The room location isn’t the best. The Little Mermaid rooms are the furthest away from the lobby and bus stop at Art of Animation, as you have to exit the Little Mermaid area, walk through the Lion King area and into the Finding Nemo area where the main lobby is. While on paper it isn’t too far, when you get off the bus in the evening with tired kids and even more tired feet, that 5 minute walk to your room will feel like a marathon.
  • All of the standard rooms at Art of Animation are in the Little Mermaid section, but none of the family suites are located there. So, if you have a group that needs a mixture of family suites and standard rooms, you will be spread out throughout the resort, there isn’t any way to get those two room types near each other.

Art of Animation is a fantastic resort, by far my favorite Value resort at Walt Disney World. However, unless you must stay in a Little Mermaid room at all costs, then consider looking at some of the other value resorts, you will get more for your money.