Walt Disney World has up to date its leisure schedule, quietly including daytime performances of Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade the day after Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering season begins. This publish shares the schedule replace, why it’s seemingly occurring, and the total dates you’ll be able to anticipate to see MOUACP for “free” in November and December 2024.
After Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering kicks off on November 8 for particular occasion company who buy the $189 per particular person exhausting tickets, Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade will as soon as once more be proven throughout Magic Kingdom’s common park hours on Saturday November 9, 2024 and Sunday, November 10, 2024.
Because of this Annual Passholders, common ticket holders, and all different day company will have the ability to benefit from the vacation parade, included within the common worth of their admission. It’s not actually free–everybody pays to enter the park, a technique or one other–however you aren’t paying something additional (therefore the air quotes round “free”). Should you’ve already purchased an AP or park tickets, no double-dipping–which is form of a giant deal for company attending the parks this time of 12 months!
When it comes to planning data, Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade (MOUACP) will happen at 2 p.m. on each November 9 and November 10, 2024. With a purpose to accommodate the schedule change, Competition of Fantasy Parade has been cancelled on each days.
For individuals who miss the mid-November performances, Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade will nonetheless be carried out twice nightly throughout Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering. Following the conclusion of that, it’ll virtually definitely be proven throughout common Magic Kingdom park hours from December 21 by December 31, 2024.
Whereas MOUACP can even be “free” throughout the dwelling stretch of the vacation season, there’s inarguably extra of a catch then. That’s the most costly time to go to Walt Disney World from the attitude of lodges, park tickets, Lightning Lanes, and doubtless airfare.
Including insult to harm, it’s the busiest week-plus of your complete 12 months, each single 12 months. And by a large margin. We’ve “joked” that the group calendar ought to go to 11/10 particularly for the week between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve, as a result of that interval is to date above a traditional 10/10 that it skews the dimensions.
This marks the second consecutive 12 months that MOUACP has been carried out throughout common working hours over Veterans Day weekend. When the change was first made final 12 months to the leisure lineup, a whole lot of followers speculated that it was merely a scheduling error. Actually, not essentially the most outlandish thought, as that sort of factor has been identified to occur.
If truth be told, it was in order that ABC may movie the “Great World of Disney: Magical Vacation Celebration” and “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” at Walt Disney World, which air over Thanksgiving weekend and (as you most likely gathered from the latter’s identify) December 25.
I assumed that may be the case–not that it was a scheduling error–so I spent your complete day of those tv specials being filmed in Magic Kingdom, from park opening till virtually 2 a.m. final 12 months. Should you’re questioning whether or not to do or skip Magic Kingdom on as of late, I’ll cowl that right here…
Through the years, we’ve caught a whole lot of bits and items of parade filming. A part of that is purely unintentional, as we’ve been in the best (or mistaken) place on the proper/mistaken time. The opposite half is…properly, additionally coincidental. Earlier than Disney began doing the Thanksgiving weekend particular in 2016, the Christmas Day parade filming often occurred the primary week of December.
As we’ve talked about numerous occasions, that’s been our favourite week to go to Walt Disney World for the final ~15 years. So we knew that there’d be overlap with the parade filming and didn’t keep away from the parks. These had been less complicated occasions, and the way in which the parade was filmed–particularly again when it was an precise parade–was far much less intrusive.
We’ve by no means supposed to observe the parade filming, it’s all the time been a matter of excellent/dangerous luck. Final 12 months was the primary time ever that I’ve particularly sought out the filming of the ABC vacation tv specials. And I’m glad that I did!
Up to now, we’ve beneficial avoiding the parks the place the Disney Christmas Day Parade is being recorded. It’s boring to observe in particular person and creates congestion. What you’re seeing on tv would possibly look actually enjoyable to see in particular person, however that’s the ‘magic’ of meticulous work in capturing, re-shooting, and cautious enhancing.
This isn’t to say it’s not gratifying to observe, however there may be a whole lot of stopping, pausing, and restarting. The songs you see carried out on stage will not be like a conventional live performance with the performer singing a wide range of completely different vacation hits. It’s the identical tune a number of occasions, after which the following performer shifting on to their tune…additionally carried out a number of occasions.
It additionally doesn’t assist that the specials are actually filmed over Veterans Day weekend, which makes the ‘worst’ aspect of our checklist of the 10 Greatest and 10 Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. Specifically, November 4-11, 2024 are anticipated to be very busy dates, albeit not practically as dangerous because the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New 12 months’s Eve.
In opposition to my higher judgment, I arrived at Magic Kingdom simply after opening. After I first approached safety, I instantly thought, “what have I gotten myself into?!” There have been enormous strains to enter the park, and the parade route was already packed.
Some moron had given everybody a heads up that parade filming can be occurring, and roughly half of the Sunshine State descended upon Major Avenue. Although the primary parade wasn’t for a couple of hours, the entrance row of the sidewalks was already full of company. In doing a fast scan of the group, most had been simple to clock as Annual Passholders. (If you recognize, you recognize.)
And who may blame them? It was a uncommon alternative to see Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade with out dropping $150+ per particular person for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering or visiting the weeks of Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve (when most Annual Passholders are blocked out, anyway). That definitely sounded good to me, so I joined the group!
It had been a few years since I’d seen the daytime model of Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade, in order that was gratifying. There have been a couple of modifications for the ABC Christmas Day Parade, however nothing main–a gap banner, added characters, plus each Santa and Mrs. Claus.
It was additionally neat to see the cameras swooping up and down in the course of Major Avenue to seize footage of the parade. Except for a few occasions when it appeared just like the parade slowed down and lingered only a bit in that space, Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade was offered as a traditional parade.
In contrast to the stops and begins of musical numbers, this implies there’s just one take of MOUACP (most likely why they do it on two completely different days). It was perhaps 1-2 minutes longer than regular, which isn’t dangerous.
Past this, there have been execs and cons to the ABC Vacation Specials being filmed in Magic Kingdom.
The nice was that wait occasions had been decrease than they’d’ve been in any other case. Crowd ranges, as measured by wait occasions, had been solely 3/10 with the typical wait over the course of the day being solely 29 minutes. It ought to go with out saying, however that is fairly removed from “worst” week checklist materials.
This could be fairly good on a traditional day, however it was unbelievable on a vacation weekend when Magic Kingdom. There’s no assure of a repeat of this in November 2024, however crowds this low in Magic Kingdom on a weekend with longer hours in November or December is superb. I’d extremely advocate visiting on a day like this.
One cause that historical past could not repeat itself is park reservations. Or slightly, the shortage thereof.
Though Annual Passholders nonetheless must make park reservations, the overwhelming majority of different company don’t. Furthermore, Park Hopping restrictions are now not in place, which primarily obviate the reservation barrier for APs, anyway.
Level being, park reservations artificially restricted attendance final 12 months at Magic Kingdom throughout Veterans Day weekend as Walt Disney World sought to maintain crowds manageable throughout parade filming. Disney gained’t have that very same “test” on crowds in 2024.
The dangerous of the filming was that Major Avenue, Cinderella Fort Forecourt, and the parade route had been packed all day. Navigating MK was a problem at occasions. Varied thoroughfares had been closed and site visitors turned one-way in different elements of the park. I needed to backtrack round virtually half the park as a result of a most important route was blocked in Fantasyland/Liberty Sq..
Because of restricted viewing house, Major Avenue crammed up about 45 minutes upfront of Fortunately Ever After, and bulletins had been performed encouraging company to view it from elsewhere. I caught it from the Rivers of America as a result of Fantasyland was closed, and even the waterfront promenade was pretty full.
The added leisure undoubtedly pulled crowds away from sights, and the longer hours diluted the attendance all through the day as folks opted to reach late, take noon breaks, and return for the night. It additionally helped that it received surprisingly chilly and windy when the solar went down, which cleared out the group a bit. Clearly, chilly climate conserving crowds down isn’t one thing we will forecast for 2024 at this level.
The factor is, each had been proper. The Magic Kingdom was each jam-packed and useless…all of it depended upon the place you had been. As measured by experience wait occasions, crowd ranges had been low. As measured by congestion within the core of the park, it was a very completely different story.
The entrance of Magic Kingdom was loopy and chaotic. Similar goes for areas of Fantasyland and different elements of the park impacted by the filming. Then there have been giant swaths of Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and extra distant areas of the park–completely away from all filming–that felt downright useless.
My day was fairly properly balanced.
I watched the parade filming when that occurred, however ignored the entire stage present stuff throughout the center of the day. As famous above, this space of the park was packed, and I didn’t have any should be a part of that.
Accordingly, as soon as Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade was over, I principally averted Major Avenue. I crossed by the hub a few occasions simply to test issues out, however left instantly. The majority of the center of my day was spent doing rides within the numerous lands.
This method paid off, and is the technique I’d advocate. The company who arrived early and tried to observe no matter was occurring throughout the daytime hours largely weren’t using sights noon, after which received burnt out and left their Cinderella Fort spots by dusk.
That’s once I was beckoned by the nice and cozy glow of lasers and lights at round nightfall, and was shocked by how few company had been nonetheless round. As a result of Disney needed a bigger crowd for the opening dance sequence, so in addition they gave company within the overflow space little finger lights.
It nonetheless wasn’t an awesome view of the celebrities and musicians, however it was adequate for me. It additionally helped that the searchlights and lasers themselves had been entrancing, and that Walt Disney World stored capturing off fireworks throughout the numerous performances.
Watching the musical opening, particularly, was a extremely enjoyable expertise. This can be a prolonged musical medley with fast transitions and, to this clumsy and uncoordinated man’s eye, a whole lot of fancy and hard dance strikes. However as a result of it’s fancy and hard, the performers stored messing up about halfway by and having to do it over again.
This was completely high-quality by me and everybody else within the viewers, as a result of attending to a sure level within the routine triggered pyro. So we stored seeing fireworks, then they’d goof up, and it’d all need to be completed once more. If the pyro was triggered (and it typically was), there can be an extended delay between takes, as they’d have to attend for the fireworks to be reset and the smoke to clear.
In mixture, this was essentially the most pyro I’ve ever seen in a single day at Walt Disney World. That’s actually saying one thing, since we’ve completed New 12 months’s Eve and Fourth of July at each Magic Kingdom and EPCOT numerous occasions! The fireworks had been clearly enjoyable, however there was additionally a unbelievable communal power as everybody was cheering for the performers to get it proper. It felt like being at an elementary college competitors filled with optimistic dad and mom, however with a lot, a lot better performers. (Sorry of us, however your youngsters aren’t as gifted because the Hough siblings!)
I additionally watched a bunch of musical performances all through the evening, most of them after Magic Kingdom’s official midnight closing time.
I’m not going to call the entire names since I don’t know many of the performers, however I’d say I say about half of the checklist for the Thanksgiving particular. That undoubtedly included the Smashing Pumpkins, Robin Thicke, and Chris Janson. I do know who all of these dudes are!
Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins was like a childhood dream come true, and in Magic Kingdom of all locations. By no means would’ve guessed that sometime Billy Corgan would do Disney.
Finally, spending all day in Magic Kingdom for the ABC vacation particular filming was undoubtedly a singular expertise, and one I’m very blissful to have had! Primarily based on how a lot enjoyable I had final 12 months, and the small print kind of lining up for Veterans Day Weekend 2024, I might advocate different Walt Disney World followers do that.
For an much more granular suggestion, I’d go for watching Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade on November 10 over November 9, 2024. There are a whole lot of bloggers, vloggers, influencers, and Florida followers who wish to be “first” at all the things. These teams will disproportionately go to on November 9. That’s additionally a Saturday, and trend-wise, Saturdays are busier than Sundays in Magic Kingdom. That is my rationale, at the very least, and why I’ll be doing Magic Kingdom on Sunday as an alternative of Saturday. (If I’m mistaken, at the very least I’m placing my cash the place my mouth is!)
The very giant caveat I’d add is to mood your expectations. It’s fully doable that I received (insanely) fortunate. Many/many of the prior occasions we’ve been within the parks for stage present filming weren’t as optimistic or memorable (besides as a result of crowds and congestion). It’s fully doable that “phrase will get out” this 12 months and extra folks will go to Magic Kingdom than will keep away from it, that Walt Disney World will improve the variety of park reservations, the climate gained’t be as favorable–the checklist goes on and on. Level being, I would like you to be cognizant of what you’re getting your self into–it could possibly be superior, terrible, or someplace in between.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be attempting to catch Mickey’s As soon as Upon a Christmastime Parade for “free” on November 9-10, 2024? Have been you in Magic Kingdom throughout the day or at evening when the Vacation Specials had been filmed final 12 months? What was your expertise? Have you ever been in Walt Disney World or Disneyland throughout previous filmings? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
