MK "Happily Ever After" Dessert Party (Parties) Discussion

[IrishNYC]

I cancelled. DH heard about the after party sharing the space and said NOPE! We're doing EMM instead.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I cancelled. DH heard about the after party sharing the space and said NOPE! We're doing EMM instead.

I LOVE EMM!! Consistently solid -- AND UNCHANGED -- since inception!

 

[areno79]

I'm on the fence. Generally I take blogger reviews with a grain of salt because they go so often I feel like their reviews can be somewhat...cynical.
I have the before party booked for 9/17, but DH and I have never seen HEA. From what I've seen so far, it appears that even with the extra people attending the After party in the same Plaza Garden space, it's still far less crowded than outside of the Garden in the HUB.
And while the idea of the After party is a good one for touring, it defeats the purpose if people are showing up to sit in the Garden for an hour before the fireworks. I personally wouldn't do that, but to each their own.

 

[LindaOwl1]

We are booked for the before party on 8/23. Dining is showing an after party on the same day - at 8. Fireworks are at 9 - and park closing also says 9. When do they get the desserts? Even if they add an hour as it gets closer making closing at 10, - that's only going to give the after party people less than an hour for the desserts? Am I reading this wrong?

 

[hiroMYhero]

We are booked for the before party on 8/23. Dining is showing an after party on the same day - at 8. Fireworks are at 9 - and park closing also says 9. When do they get the desserts? Even if they add an hour as it gets closer making closing at 10, - that's only going to give the after party people less than an hour for the desserts? Am I reading this wrong?

After Party guests enter the viewing area at the designated time (8:00) and then go to Tomorrowland Terrace after the firework show has ended. They have an hour or so to enjoy their desserts.

The park doesn’t remain open for a dessert party that’s set up in this manner; it closes at its scheduled time and dessert guests leave when finished eating.

 

[Raimiette]

hmmm, I'm not so sure about this now. It would be nice if we could know potentially how many tickets could be sold for each party.

I booked a before party for November 11 since the MVMCP is on 4 days during our stay and we don't have a lot of options to see the HEA fireworks. I liked the idea of not having to rush or stake out a spot for the fireworks but if Disney is basically doubling the amount of people in the small hub space, I'm not sure it's worth it. If I have to wait an hour to get a reasonable spot then I could do that in the main hub for free lol.

I read the review on EasyWDW and it seems that during his review the hub was only filled with before party people as the after party dessert section was empty. If that's the case it doesn't even really seem like they could FIT double the people into the small hub area.

I am a bit worried but I will leave my reservation for now until I hear more. I will not be waiting an hour though if I have to pay for it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I'm on the fence. Generally I take blogger reviews with a grain of salt because they go so often I feel like their reviews can be somewhat...cynical.
I have the before party booked for 9/17, but DH and I have never seen HEA. From what I've seen so far, it appears that even with the extra people attending the After party in the same Plaza Garden space, it's still far less crowded than outside of the Garden in the HUB.
And while the idea of the After party is a good one for touring, it defeats the purpose if people are showing up to sit in the Garden for an hour before the fireworks. I personally wouldn't do that, but to each their own.

The good thing is that you have plenty of time for more real-world reviews to come in so we start to see more of a ‘body of work’ as to how this thing will operate when/if the After Party portion gains a lot of traction.

 

[Carol unsworth]

We did the Plaza garden firework Dessert party twice in December, once on a MVMCP night and once for a HEA night. Enjoyed the space both times, didn’t really care for the desserts.
Booked for June 23rd already, and not really in a hurry to cancel it. Yes you could wait for an hour in the hub but I still think you will be more comfortable in the hub and the view from the Plaza garden is great.
Have a booking already for October on a non MNSSHP night, will definetly not be cancelling that after seeing how busy the hub was on non-MVMCP nights in December!

 

[Jlane5000]

hmmm, I'm not so sure about this now. It would be nice if we could know potentially how many tickets could be sold for each party.

I booked a before party for November 11 since the MVMCP is on 4 days during our stay and we don't have a lot of options to see the HEA fireworks. I liked the idea of not having to rush or stake out a spot for the fireworks but if Disney is basically doubling the amount of people in the small hub space, I'm not sure it's worth it. If I have to wait an hour to get a reasonable spot then I could do that in the main hub for free lol.

I read the review on EasyWDW and it seems that during his review the hub was only filled with before party people as the after party dessert section was empty. If that's the case it doesn't even really seem like they could FIT double the people into the small hub area.

I am a bit worried but I will leave my reservation for now until I hear more. I will not be waiting an hour though if I have to pay for it.

I agree, looking at his after-fireworks party photos showing the large number of empty tables in the desert area it shows just how few of the people in the garden that eve were actually after-fireworks party guests!! So I have a feeling the crowding shown in the easywdw pics is nowhere near what it’s going to be once word of the after party gets out Sadly I’m leaning towards cancelling but will wait for more reports over the coming months.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I LOVE EMM!! Consistently solid -- AND UNCHANGED -- since inception!

Although people have been predicting its demise too, since the beginning. So far it hasn’t happened.

Yet!

They can tweak this dessert party all they want, but don’t touch EMM!

 

[kat_lh]

Let's say Disney can fit 500 people in the plaza garden. They looked at all the booked before parties and said, on this night we've sold 475 tickets. We're going to stop selling tickets to the before and make 25 tickets available for the after party. I don't know how flexible and intelligent their IT systems are, but perhaps they're still selling the same total tickets but able to fluidly split the number of tickets between both parties.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Although people have been predicting its demise too, since the beginning. So far it hasn’t happened.

Yet!

They can tweak this dessert party all they want, but don’t touch EMM!

What is EMM?

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think it's safe to assume that the Plaza Garden viewing space for these parties will always be less crowded than a good spot in the Hub. If it gets *that* crowded, there will be many, many people going to get their money back!

Anyway, for me, I'm not so concerned about the viewing area. I am starting to feel a bit uneasy about the price. $69 pp is really pushing it and the food doesn't look any better than before. I was hoping that the savory options would look better than they do. I imagine for $50 pp I would have a different impression

 

[IrishNYC]

I LOVE EMM!! Consistently solid -- AND UNCHANGED -- since inception!

Although people have been predicting its demise too, since the beginning. So far it hasn’t happened.

Yet!

They can tweak this dessert party all they want, but don’t touch EMM!

Only the price has changed, and it's gone up quite a bit, I think. I'd really rather do the after hours event, but I know my 9 year old won't make it up that late. She'll be thrilled with EMM, though.

 

[IrishNYC]

What is EMM?

Early Morning Magic - paid early entry to MK with exclusive rides on PP, SDMT and Pooh, along with AYCTE breakfast buffet.

I think it's safe to assume that the Plaza Garden viewing space for these parties will always be less crowded than a good spot in the Hub. If it gets *that* crowded, there will be many, many people going to get their money back! I can't imagine a situation, even with two parties, where you will have to go an hour before the fireworks to get a good spot. Now if you want a specific spot, sure.

Anyway, for me, I'm not so concerned about the viewing area. I am starting to feel a bit uneasy about the price. $69 pp is really pushing it and the food doesn't look any better than before. I was hoping that the savory options would look better than they do. I imagine for $50 pp I would have a different impression

I emailed guest services about my displeasure of the change, and they called me to discuss. Then I emailed them again today to tell them I canceled based on reviews and the timing of after guests entering while pre-guests were "partying" and that I'll be steering clients away from it in the future as well.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Only the price has changed, and it's gone up quite a bit, I think. I'd really rather do the after hours event, but I know my 9 year old won't make it up that late. She'll be thrilled with EMM, though.

Are you sure about that? I would need to go research it, but I was under the impression the price has been the same since it started in 2016.

 

[Meglen]

Early Morning Magic - paid early entry to MK with exclusive rides on PP, SDMT and Pooh, along with AYCTE breakfast buffet.



I emailed guest services about my displeasure of the change, and they called me to discuss. Then I emailed them again today to tell them I canceled based on reviews and the timing of after guests entering while pre-guests were "partying" and that I'll be steering clients away from it in the future as well.

What did u talk about ? Any info to share ?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I think it's safe to assume that the Plaza Garden viewing space for these parties will always be less crowded than a good spot in the Hub. If it gets *that* crowded, there will be many, many people going to get their money back!

Anyway, for me, I'm not so concerned about the viewing area. I am starting to feel a bit uneasy about the price. $69 pp is really pushing it and the food doesn't look any better than before. I was hoping that the savory options would look better than they do. I imagine for $50 pp I would have a different impression

Can’t say I disagree with you there. Relatively speaking, since the Plaza Garden price is now equal to comparable dessert parties at Epcot and HS, which while they don’t offer a better show, they do both offer a better overall product (in my humble opinion)... it does make me think twice about what sort of things we want to do on any given trip.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Not sure if this link has been posted for the after party. If it has been posted, well, here it is again.

https://wdwnt.com/2018/05/review-ne...he-magic-kingdom-is-it-worth-your-time-money/


And Josh's thoughts.

https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/r...arty-at-magic-kingdom-for-happily-ever-after/

 

[zipuzee]

If you are going during Party Season (MNNSHP or MVMCP) on a non party night than the dessert party is so worth it. It is INSANITY at the hub before HEA fireworks you can hardly move.

This is why I booked it. I don't like fighting crowds for an hour or more waiting for a show; and DH doesn't like the crush of people leaving so he always wants to be out of the park before the fireworks. The price tag makes him stay, as well as the place to hang out for a bit to let the crowds die down. But I don't want to book the after party because we won't eat that late. So I'll keep the before party reservation and hope the garden is not super packed.