Special Events at the Magic Kingdom

Joshua Olive By Joshua Olive
on December 01, 2008 at 8:19 AM, updated December 15, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Life-sized gingerbread men march through the Magic Kingdom during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade.
You may be planning a trip to Disney World soon and you may have to make a decision on whether or not you should attend a "special" event. By that, I mean: should you throw down the extra bucks and buy tickets to the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or the Very Merry Christmas Party? It's been an interesting debate in our family. I have done both parties and, honestly, they are great - but there are pros and cons to everything, right?

Is it worth it to spend the extra dough on a "private party" when you already have tickets to the park that day? If you are looking for very small crowds and very short lines, the answer is YES! If you are looking for extra special characters, shows and parades, the answer is YES! If you want to get "free" trick-or-treat candy or hot cocoa and cookies, the answer is YES! Then the extra money you spend will be well worth it.

My personal opinion on the matter is that, ultimately, you are paying for privacy. You are paying the extra money to ensure that only you and a few other thousand guests will be in the park. You just bought yourself five rides on Thunder Mountain Railroad in less than 30 minutes instead of waiting and waiting and waiting to ride it once during normal park hours.

I have done both the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and the Very Merry Christmas Party, and I think they definitely have the best parades and fireworks that you can see at the Magic Kingdom. "Hallowishes" is especially fantastic. The hot cocoa and cookies was something we really took advantage of, but the trick-or-treating candy lines were ridiculously long, so we skipped it.

The one disadvantage to opting out of going to the parties is that, when you look at the schedule of hours for all the parks, you may find yourself with nowhere to go except your room. When they kick you out of the Magic Kingdom at 6 p.m., Animal Kingdom is already closed. Hollywood Studios and Epcot may be closing at 9 p.m. unless one of them has an extra magic hour option. It definitely helps to plan out where you will be and, if you have the time and money, to be at the Magic Kingdom that night. On my last trip, they had five NSSHP's going on the week we were there. If you didn't go to one of the parties, you were pretty limited to your time at the Magic Kingdom at night.

I think the special events are perfect for people who have never experienced them before and for people who, maybe, don't have park tickets for the day, people who can only go for a few hours, or will only be in town that day, etc. They let you in the gates at 4 p.m. and don't kick you out until midnight! Now that is a party. It's definitely not a cheap party; on average, the ticket cost for an adult is right around $50, but I think it's worth it, at least once.

Once you have gone to one, you may not want to go back again, or you might be like me. I go to a special event whenever I can. I suggest that you at least check out one of these specially ticketed events; try it on and see if you like it.