I am relaxing back at BWV absolutely exhausted after a long day but I just wanted to add a few words about JBJB for anyone who is on the fence about it.
Tonight was our long awaited dessert party and I thought it was great. Some of that is that I was meeting up with online friends who have been planning our trips together for the last year almost? something like that... but it was also just a very nice event.
I am cramming a lot into our trip including the DxDDP so I did not show up particularly hungry and I did not actually sample much of the food. I am really not a sweets person and I have already had more dessert this trip than I really care to... I did, however, have a few gingerbread martinis which were as good as everyone said they were and a can of angry orchard, which was refreshing on a warm evening. I did like the spinach artichoke dip, did not like the meatballs (again I think I am sweeted out already, lol) My kiddo had some of the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream - he left the cake and ate the ice cream. He also enjoyed the rice krispie treats and we did bring some of those and some of the round gingerbread cookies back to the room for later. I know they are "ubiquitous" to dessert parties but for someone who goes to WDW infrequently and for whom this is a huge treat, they are cute and a pretty safe hit with the kiddos.
I thought the atmosphere of the party was superb and whatever bumps they had at the beginning seem to have been worked out. zero line at the bar, very small line at the food stations, and we were informed tonight that they have listened to guest feedback and provided seats for all who want them so really no reason at all to line up early anymore. The courtyard in front of GRM is a great place for a party... it felt so nice and a bit glamorous without being stuffy.
Our party was fully booked as far as I know and neither the party nor the viewing area felt crowded AT ALL. Our group stood at the back and I had no one directly in front of me and a great view of the show. My son said he couldn't see (he is 8) so I let him go into the wheelchair section with another boy he met around his age with directions to wait near the tree when it was over and it worked out fine, he had a great view and I was able to retrieve him when it was over no problem.
Also it seems like Santa Goofy was very well organized, they went around and made sure he saw each party and took photos... he passed us by a few times and interacted with my son a bit between photos with families. It was cute.
On the show, I will say that I went in with very low expectations but I really really enjoyed it!
It is NOT a fireworks show but rather a holiday projection show with a fireworks finale. Period. Do not go in expecting a "fireworks show" because that's not what it is, any more than the castle forecourt shows are fireworks shows even though they shoot off some small pyro during the show.
As far as the story goes, it was plenty cohesive for me, but we watched prep and landing before coming and are nightmare before christmas fans. For people who felt the story made no sense... in NBC, oogie boogie kidnapped santa. That's why he appeared when he did, because prep and landing rescued santa from oogie boogie. It was super cute and I enjoyed it, even the "we're all happy now" part with scenes from other disney movies. The fireworks finale was really nice too, I was expecting so little I was pleasantly surprised.
I have no pics of the food since it's all over the internet now but here is a pic I took of the fireworks - we stood mostly to the right and were on center but since the fireworks are all the way to the right, I shot in that direction.
finally, it was really nice meeting both
@yulilin3 and
@FastPasser . Both really nice people who help people make magic on their disney vacations.
I think the general feeling at least in the group of people immediately around me was confusion about why people don't like this show. We don't have SWaGS to compare it to but it was a REALLY nice evening from start to finish and I don't mind that the pyro was just the finale. I would not like every show going that way but i like that there are different shows with different feels in different parks. It did not feel thrown together really to me, I liked that the lights on the trees also coordinated with what was going on in the show, the snow, the lasers... it was a lot of fun.
Just my $0.02 but I loved it and so did my son!