Official 2021 Disney Very Merriest After Hours Thread

[patty57]

so much great information here! Thank you to all who took time to give tips. We are going to the party tomorrow and driving in from over 2 hrs away! Any advice for parking for the easiest and fastest exit after the party ends? Can we park at contemporary and walk over? What will our parking options be for this party?

You can't park at the Contemporary to go to the party. You wouldn't be let into the Contemporary parking lot, or any other resort parking lot. I think the only parking option would be the MK parking lot.

 

[Lsdolphin]

You can't park at the Contemporary to go to the party. You wouldn't be let into the Contemporary parking lot, or any other resort parking lot. I think the only parking option would be the MK parking lot.

MK doesn’t have their own parking lot you will need to park at the Ticket & Transportation Center and than take a monorail or ferry boat across Bay Lake to MK.

 

[patty57]

MK doesn’t have their own parking lot you will need to park at the Ticket & Transportation Center and than take a monorail or ferry boat across Bay Lake to MK.

Yes, you are right. I think of the parking lot at the Ticket and Transportation Center as the MK parking lot, but probably should have been more precise in my wording.

 

[soniam]

I may have missed this, but if you are in the park before 7, what time can u get your party wristband at Tortuga or Tomorrowland? I’m hoping before 8!

We got ours tonight about 10 til 7pm. People were already in line. This was Tomorrowland.

 

[whiporee]

so much great information here! Thank you to all who took time to give tips. We are going to the party tomorrow and driving in from over 2 hrs away! Any advice for parking for the easiest and fastest exit after the party ends? Can we park at contemporary and walk over? What will our parking options be for this party?

I know it's easy to say, but I bite the bullet and pay the extra $25 for preferred parking. At the end of the night it's a lot closer than the regular lots, and after 1 am that matters.

 

[mindeola]

We had such a disappointing time on Thursday the 19th. Just catching up on the thread and glad to know I’m not making something out of nothing. It was my daughters birthday and all she asked to do. Such a bummer and really clouded my thinking on the the trip.

 

[cincystamper]

So are party exclusive stuff (photopass, Santa meet, gingerbread funnel cake) not starting until 9 even though MK closes at 8?

Correct. Party stuff doesn't start until 9. That said, people start lining up early. We went to meet Santa and got to his spot shortly before 9 (like 10 minutes before). There was already a line. I knew when he came out because people started cheering. It was fun.

Also, the gingerbread funnel cake isn't party specific. It's HOLIDAY specific, but you can get it during the day, not just at the after hours event. (And sadly, we were disappointed in it...it wasn't as good as we wanted it to be...)

 

[4simpsons]

We will be at the Very Merriest party on 12/5. Our question is whether or not the quick service locations are open with their regular menus during the party?

 

[4simpsons]

I'll answer my own question - just found this

https://wdwprepschool.com/disney-wo...merriest-after-hours/#Quick_Service_Locations

 

[scrappinginontario]

We will be at the Very Merriest party on 12/5. Our question is whether or not the quick service locations are open with their regular menus during the party?

I'll answer my own question - just found this

https://wdwprepschool.com/disney-wo...merriest-after-hours/#Quick_Service_Locations

Post 1 of this thread also has a list of locations open plus a ton of other helpful information! @monique5 has done a great job of gathering information for this thread!

 

[CaptainCook]

We had such a disappointing time on Thursday the 19th. Just catching up on the thread and glad to know I’m not making something out of nothing. It was my daughters birthday and all she asked to do. Such a bummer and really clouded my thinking on the the trip.

I'm sorry to hear this. Can you expand on what didn't go well? Or did I miss another post that explains it?

 

[katyringo]

I'm sorry to hear this. Can you expand on what didn't go well? Or did I miss another post that explains it?

I don't want to speak for the OP- but this was an evening with poor weather and Disney didn't handle it very well.

 

[andremo]

Reporting back for the Thursday, November 18th party (sorry it's so late! but maybe it's helpful?)

There were two of us. We're both early 30s. We got to the park about 6:35PM. They started letting people in right at about 6:50. Logistically, was annoyed because there was a bottleneck to put on wristbands. If there were a "next" time I would just skrrt past that area and snag one from the park somewhere while settling in for fireworks.

There seemed to be a bottleneck on mainstreet for no particular reason - I guess everyone wants to stop and take photos. Once we got out of it, it opened up. We had a stellar view of the castle. We got a really good spot for to watch the 8PM fireworks (not as good as Happily Ever After IMO but my partner cried so that was worth it haha). It was drizzling the whole time but still not bad enough for us to put on ponchos. The moment the show ended we booked it to Space Mountain and walked right on with minimal wait. We got off and decided to walk over to Buzz and got on that with less than 10 minute wait - at this point they were checking wristbands. We got out and saw the line for the one carts of ice cream, popcorn and such at Tomorrowland and it was too much. DO NOT waste a moment of time in those lines. They will be out alllll night. I promise you will get you fill of popcorn and ice cream if you want. Instead, we made our way to watch the new Philharmagic saying hi to Tweedledee and Tweedledum at the carousel. I wanted to check the Reindeer Wranglers in Frontierland for a bit before heading to Big Thunder. The Wranglers were great. I love a good hoedown, but I was getting stressed about time so we left a little early to get to Big Thunder. There was maybe a 10-15 minute wait but still nothing compared to a normal line. After that, we had to decide if we wanted to ride a ride or get back to the main hub for fireworks. We decided fireworks. The Christmas Fireworks are better than HEA but the projections were better for HAE, IMO. Both were fun to get to watch. At that point, the rain became a solid rain and we put on ponchos. We stayed near the edge of the hub to try and get to Jingle Cruise right after fireworks hoping we'd beat the crowd. Seems like a lot of folks didn't do fireworks if they did Jingle Cruise because that line was the longest of the night at 30-35 min. So instead we walked to Big Thunder to ride in the rain and ponchos and walked right on no wait. Ton of fun. From there we wanted to catch the second parade at 11:45 only to be announced at 11:40 they were canceling it. I was so sad. I really wanted to see the parade, heard it was awesome. The cavalcade was so dumb. Another frustrating point is they had to know they weren't going to do the parade over an hour ago with the weather. We wasted time waiting for a parade and would have been happy to then wait for Jingle Cruise in that same amount of time or do BTM for a 3rd time haha. My advice: If the weather is dicey, just do more rides. We strategically picked a spot so that we could get to 7DMT right after the "parade" so the moment the cavalcade passed us going 30mph we walked there. 7DMT was probably our actual longest wait at 15min. We headed to try to catch the last stage show at 12:50 and vowed "if we hear an announcement we're running to Space Mountain." which is exactly what happened (was still so sad to miss the stage show!). We hoofed it to Space Mountain for a third time (love that ride!) and got off exactly at 1AM. The buses were running and we were back to our resort (Pop) easily before 2AM.

Overall, we had a really good time and made the best of the party in a decent bit of wet weather.

Would we do another after hours event? Probably. We like riding the rides. No lines was dope. If the weather had been better, it would have been 100% worth it with the parade and shows. Disney nor us can predict or control that but stinks we totally missed out. Honestly, the four hours FLEW. We wished it went until 3AM.

I do think there is a way we could have done all we wanted big but it would have taken some crafty planning ahead of time and willing to give up duping and tripling some rides... still don't know if we'd have time to boogie at the dance party tho. Hence the 3AM comment. Need more time!

I grabbed a bunch of extra cookies cause they were so soft! Any time I walked past a station I went in and got one. If you wanna make a little magic of your own, and you're into it, we brought in airplane bottles and leveled up our hot chocolates.

Cheers to all y'all's holiday seasons. And if you're going in the coming weeks, may your weather be cloud free!

(Edited to correct the date. Thanks, Uncle Coaster!)

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Thursday was the 18th. Are you meaning Thursday the 18th or Friday the 19th?

 

[andremo]

Thursday was the 18th. Are you meaning Thursday the 18th or Friday the 19th?

Turkey brain. Thursday the 18th. Good catch!

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Turkey brain. Thursday the 18th. Good catch!

Thanks. I was there on the 18th too and had a blast. From the sounds of your great report we were on opposite ends of the park pretty much the entire time.

My brainless part of the night was that I never figured out where the cookies were. I kept looking for carts and never thought to look inside. I’m sure I read where they’d be at some point but just didn’t remember.

 

[soniam]

Did the Tuesday party. It was good. Lines weren’t terrible. They were giving out wrist bands in Tomorrowland before 7pm. Line wasn’t bad. Get them early if you can, because the line was terrible after Enchantment. The party fireworks were excellent. We can’t eat popcorn. It was cold, so we didn’t get any ice cream. Line at Pecos Bills right about 9 moved fast. DS got 7 hot chocolates, one at a time. Golden Oak Outpost was slow moving.

 

[magicwdw]

I guess we were lucky enough to get perfect weather earlier this month when we did the Christmas after hours event. We got to see full stage show, fireworks, and parade. The parade was our favorite. Lines for rides were low and just about everything was walk on by 11pm. We will pay up for this event once a year and hope for decent weather. I can see how rain could impact the night especially when things get cancelled. Easy to say "make the best of it" but I'm sure it would still dampen the festive mood. Since November is Florida's driest month we would choose a date earlier in the month. Should be a bit warmer in November vs. December also. Totally worth it for us.

 

[andremo]

I guess we were lucky enough to get perfect weather earlier this month when we did the Christmas after hours event. We got to see full stage show, fireworks, and parade. The parade was our favorite. Lines for rides were low and just about everything was walk on by 11pm. We will pay up for this event once a year and hope for decent weather. I can see how rain could impact the night especially when things get cancelled. Easy to say "make the best of it" but I'm sure it would still dampen the festive mood. Since November is Florida's driest month we would choose a date earlier in the month. Should be a bit warmer in November vs. December also. Totally worth it for us.

Even leaving for our whole trip the Sunday before, the weather looked so good we didn't bother to bring rain jackets. The ponchos were for a literal emergency. We got unlucky. I do kind of wish if they are going to cancel that much stuff, they give you a partial refund or a small Disney gift card or something. A friend told me if you talk to guest services night of, and they're in a good mood, and you do a little sweet talk you might be able to get a full refund or tickets for a different night (which doesn't always help if you're not from FLA)

 

[andremo]

Thanks. I was there on the 18th too and had a blast. From the sounds of your great report we were on opposite ends of the park pretty much the entire time.

My brainless part of the night was that I never figured out where the cookies were. I kept looking for carts and never thought to look inside. I’m sure I read where they’d be at some point but just didn’t remember.

You can pick up the map, but between the map and the park itself, they don't do a good job of really marking or showing where the snacks are.