Christmas…it only comes but once a year. Unless you’re at the most Magical Place on Earth where it comes 20 nights in 2012 as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Our family never misses a chance to get in the holiday spirit at the Magic Kingdom. We are usually surrounded by a group of friends each year at “the Party” but this year we decided to do things a little different. This year we let our 13-year-old gallivant with her friends while my husband and I opted for a romantic MVMCP date night.

Because we weren’t “speed touring” with the teenagers trying to ride Space Mountain 30 times in a row we were able to slow down and take notice of the details.  Here’s some special lighting I noticed in Tomorrowland over Stitch’s Great Escape…

I could spend an hour on Main Street USA taking in all the holiday decorations and people watching.

Having a quiet sit-down date night dinner is difficult at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party as there are only quick service locations open for dinner. We headed over to Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe and found a quiet spot in the corner of the dining room to eat and sit for a spell.  After that we ventured out for our complementary dessert of cookies and hot cocoa.

There were some healthier options available as well.

We opted to skip Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade this year so we could spend that time riding rides. We walked right on to Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Pooh and Peter Pan are rides I dearly love but are rides that have long lines during normal park hours. These rides were “walk-ons” during parade time at “the Party”. Gotta love that!

After we got a few rides in we headed back down Main Street USA to go pick up our special MVMCP Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card from the Main Street Firehouse.  I had to make a pit stop over at the Confectionary to check out the Christmas treats there.

Here’s Daisy Duck in her Christmas Party attire dressing the window…

If I wasn’t so full from all of the free cocoa and cookies one of these would have been mine!

A Mickey Rice Krispy Treat literally as big as my head!

Even specially decorated candy and cupcake Christmas trees are sprinkled throughout the candy store…

One thing I would NOT miss is Holiday Wishes!  Christmas and Halloween bring with it this wonderful gift called “perimeter fireworks”. Sure, Wishes is amazing but you just can’t beat the spectacle that is “perimeter fireworks”. Cast Members even have to shut down the service roads around the Magic Kingdom so these special pyrotechnics can be launched and they are nothing short of spectacular!

The hubby and I headed back behind Cinderella Castle and grabbed a table outside Pinocchio Village Haus in Fantasyland to watch the fireworks with Mrs. Hidden Mickey Guy.

Here’s a link to another perspective of Holiday Wishes from Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower.

After the fireworks the hubby and I headed over into Tomorrowland to hop a ride on the People Mover.  Via social media I knew that the girls had headed into Club Tinsel to do a little line dancing with Goofy so we had to go check that out.

At this point the night was starting to wind down. It was almost midnight so we headed over to Cinderella Castle to admire the Christmas Dream Lights.

We met back up with the girls and were walking thru a flurry of snow on Main Street USA as we made our exit from the Magic Kingdom at just past midnight.

This is one of the things that I love about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I can come back year after year and always have a different experience. Our MVMCP Date Night was a smashing success and the girls walked out of the park happy campers indeed!

You still have time to attend the 2012 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Dates include December December 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 21.  For discounts and pricing check out my other Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party post.

Special thanks to Disney  for providing my family and I with complimentary admission to the event. I was not required to write this post and all opinions are my own.