I think that we mostly thought it would be a good idea to do this because of the limited amount of people that were to be allowed into the park. I didn't really see a huge difference in the amount of people in the park from before the party to during the party. I don't know if people just didn't leave the park when the party started or what but during the first 3 hours of the party the park was still really crowded.
The first thing I would definitely NOT recommend people to do which is something we did is to schedule a table service meal at 7pm at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The meal and service was mediocre and it wasted an hour and a half of our party time.
Another qualm I had was that the park is decorated at all times - beautifully as it is - and the only addition to this is the snow on Main Street. Is the snow worth 60 bucks per person? I'm not really sure.
We are also not big show people so we didn't partake in the different shows going on around the park. From what we saw the parade was really cool and I would recommend it if you're into that sort of thing.
One major good thing I could see for families is the abundance of characters spread out around the park. The four of us got our picture taken with all seven dwarfs and I think that helped salvage the night for us.
The lines for the rides are pretty comparable to late night extra magic hours during the off season. As in there were no lines whatsoever for SM, BTMRR, POTC, and one of our favorites the Haunted Mansion. Everything else had short to moderate wait times so that was a huge plus, but again if you stay on property the same lines occur during night time EMH during off peak times.
The special Holiday Wishes were pretty cool - but I'm more partial to the sentimental message of the regular Wishes show so again it wasn't a huge selling point for us. The Celebrate the Magic projection show is amazing but can also be seen during the regular non-party nights.
One other thing that kind of irked me is that not one CM asked to see our wrist bands. We were all wearing sweatshirts that were obstructing our wristbands but no one asked to confirm that we actually had them, which leads me to believe it would be somewhat easy to infiltrate the event without paying for it.
Overall, it was a good night. I'm not sure if it is worth the price, and if you're attending in the less crowded weeks leading up to Christmas, it may not be worth paying if you're looking to experience smaller crowds and shorter ride times. If you are looking for more magical times with characters, if you love cookies and hot chocolate, and if you like parades and special fireworks performances you would probably love the party.
