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

[DisneyCowgirl]

There are actually several of us on this threat that have been waiting oh so patiently for July 3rd and 4th (and oddly Sept 17th) to open. I have called (just in case), and they have no idea when it will open.

Count me in on the waiting and watching then!

 

[Brocktoon]

This has probably been answered buried in a previous response but ... is this currently bookable at 180 days or 180+10 ? My ADR window opens tomorrow and I'm wondering whether I can reserve while doing my other ADRs or will I need to wait til the actual 180 days out?

 

[kat_lh]

This has probably been answered buried in a previous response but ... is this currently bookable at 180 days or 180+10 ? My ADR window opens tomorrow and I'm wondering whether I can reserve while doing my other ADRs or will I need to wait til the actual 180 days out?

I think 180+10. It doesn't sell out day of release though. I'd forgotten about it and booked it a week after my 180 days during a busy holiday weekend and there were spots for 5 of us on my preferred night.

 

[yulilin3]

Obviously we're not in high crowd season, i booked it a week in advance, also I was a party of 1

 

[Shelleyfs]

Did the terrace view yesterday, got in line at 6pm because I was going to be live streaming and wanted the best possible table for that, party of 1.
They checked us in at 7:15pm because, believe it or not, there's a mom duck with ducklings that would not leave the dessert area
They started checking the garden view around 7. My reservation for the terrace view said 8pm, show was at 8:55pm

Do you feel that you missed out on anything by not going to the plaza? I keep going back and forth on whether we should try and move or just stay at the terrace. I know my husband would rather sit, but I don't want to feel like I can't see everything either.

 

[Brocktoon]

I think 180+10. It doesn't sell out day of release though. I'd forgotten about it and booked it a week after my 180 days during a busy holiday weekend and there were spots for 5 of us on my preferred night.

Thanks ... as of this morning I can confirm it's 180+10. It just made things easier to reserve this while I was doing my other ADRs. The only thing that seemed a bit odd was that I was able to make all my ADRs with Firefox, but FF would stall with the dessert party tickets. It would pick up an available time, but when I clicked on the time nothing would happen ... worked great for my other ADRs though. Switched to Chrome and had no problem booking the dessert party.

Also, the Disney web page states:

For events on or after May 28th admission is $69 per adult

When I checked out it was stated $65 per adult and the total credit charge was based on $65 per person

EDIT: I think the $65 was before any taxes ... I was charged a total of $207 which works out to be $69 x 3

 

[yulilin3]

Do you feel that you missed out on anything by not going to the plaza? I keep going back and forth on whether we should try and move or just stay at the terrace. I know my husband would rather sit, but I don't want to feel like I can't see everything either.

Well my answer my not help you make a decision so I apologize in advance
First off I have seen HEA about a dozen times and can still tell you that you can not see everything this show has to offer in one viewing...this show is massive and each time I watch I discover something new.
I have seen the show from the Plaza viewing area and when you are there you will get a more centered view, fireworks behind the castle and a great view of the castle and the projection
From the terrace the show will not be centered, the fireworks will be to the right of the castle, you get to see most of the projections (not the super lower ones) but you can still see them and Tink basically flies right on top of you.
To me I never needed the show to be centered with the Castle but to some people this is important. Also the peace of mind that comes with the terrace view is pretty great, you can basically sit and relax for almost 2 hours and enjoy the atmosphere, with the Plaza view, even though it is reserved viewing you might still end up with a tall person in front or someone holding a baby over their shoulders.
Also I forgot to mention that after the show the food stayed on for about another 5 minutes before they picked it up, actually a CM came around after the show to tell us "last call for desserts"

 

[quandrea]

Well my answer my not help you make a decision so I apologize in advance
First off I have seen HEA about a dozen times and can still tell you that you can not see everything this show has to offer in one viewing...this show is massive and each time I watch I discover something new.
I have seen the show from the Plaza viewing area and when you are there you will get a more centered view, fireworks behind the castle and a great view of the castle and the projection
From the terrace the show will not be centered, the fireworks will be to the right of the castle, you get to see most of the projections (not the super lower ones) but you can still see them and Tink basically flies right on top of you.
To me I never needed the show to be centered with the Castle but to some people this is important. Also the peace of mind that comes with the terrace view is pretty great, you can basically sit and relax for almost 2 hours and enjoy the atmosphere, with the Plaza view, even though it is reserved viewing you might still end up with a tall person in front or someone holding a baby over their shoulders.
Also I forgot to mention that after the show the food stayed on for about another 5 minutes before they picked it up, actually a CM came around after the show to tell us "last call for desserts"

I suspect with the terrace view you stay dry in the event of rain.

 

[yulilin3]

I suspect with the terrace view you stay try in the event of rain.

not if you want to stay seated at your table, all the tables and chairs are in the area that has no roof so you can properly see the fireworks, you can move back if you don't want to get wet but you might miss part of the show elements

 

[zipuzee]

We have the plaza garden view for September. When the fireworks are over, can you either hang out in that area, or go back to where the desserts were served to wait out the crowds leaving the park? I really would prefer not get caught in that initial mad rush to leave if I can help it.

 

[DIS_AWC]

Just wanted to quickly share our experience from the Plaza Garden dessert party from last week (Thursday 4/19). When I checked a few days before our party date, the party was showing as sold out.

We were a party of 4 adults and 2 kids and attended the party on our arrival day. Check-in time was scheduled for 7:45 with the fireworks scheduled for 8:55. We ended up in the Tomorrowland Terrace area of the park around 7:30 and were talking about possibly killing time on the Peoplemover when I saw that the check-in area was already open (but there was no line at all), so we decided to just check in early. We were checked in and given our wristbands and shown to a table at the very back of the seating area (farthest from the buffet area). There were people at two other tables when we arrived. Getting there early ended up being a great move as we had the buffet to ourselves and the desserts were all freshly laid out. We filled plates and enjoyed the desserts at our table. In addition to the sweets there was a large platter of fruit including pineapple, watermelon, grapes, and other melons, and a plate with cubes of a few different types of cheese.

The crowds really started pouring in around 7:50 and by the time I went up a second time to the buffet, most of the fruit was gone, the dessert platters were very picked-over, and it was hard to navigate with so many people up at the dessert area. Still we all managed to eat our fill of desserts and had some coffee and juice. We decided to head down to the garden area around 8:15 because it had gotten really loud in the seating area and we were all full. We grabbed some bottles of water to take with us and then went with a group of attendees led by one CM down to the garden viewing area.

The last time we had seen the fireworks in MK was when you could use a FP+ for the viewing area, so we already knew we wanted to be at the back along the railing since that is what we did on our last trip. There were already a lot of people in the viewing area when we arrived, but we found a spot on the far left/inside along the back railing area. My husband and one daughter sat on the ground in front. Everyone was sitting in the grass area. The viewing area definitely filled up as the fireworks start time approached, but it never felt full and there was still plenty of personal space between our party and the parties in front and to the sides of ours. The entire group in the garden probably would have remained seated for the duration of the fireworks, but two men (with blinking light-up Mickey ears) in the middle of the viewing area stood up a moment after the fireworks started, so then everyone else also stood up and a few little kids went up on shoulders. I had a pole blocking some of my view of the castle itself, but it in no way diminished my overall enjoyment of the show. We were all wowed by HEA and all agreed that the viewing location in the garden was 100% worth the cost of the dessert party.

As soon as the fireworks ended, we headed over to the garden exit and were able to make a quick (relatively speaking, of course) getaway out of the park. We had originally planned to stay in the garden area to watch Once Upon a Time at 9:45, but after a long travel day we were ready to get to bed. The park was closing at 10:00 (or 10:30, can't remember), so a lot of people seemed to be staying after the fireworks, but being so close to the park exit made leaving the park much easier than if we had been further inside the hub.

We really enjoyed the experience and would likely do it again.

 

[dbenlee]

We have the plaza garden view for September. When the fireworks are over, can you either hang out in that area, or go back to where the desserts were served to wait out the crowds leaving the park? I really would prefer not get caught in that initial mad rush to leave if I can help it.

When the fireworks are over you can not return to the dessert area, but, you can hang out in the garden area. We did that to avoid the rush after the fireworks.

 

[Shelleyfs]

Well my answer my not help you make a decision so I apologize in advance
First off I have seen HEA about a dozen times and can still tell you that you can not see everything this show has to offer in one viewing...this show is massive and each time I watch I discover something new.
I have seen the show from the Plaza viewing area and when you are there you will get a more centered view, fireworks behind the castle and a great view of the castle and the projection
From the terrace the show will not be centered, the fireworks will be to the right of the castle, you get to see most of the projections (not the super lower ones) but you can still see them and Tink basically flies right on top of you.
To me I never needed the show to be centered with the Castle but to some people this is important. Also the peace of mind that comes with the terrace view is pretty great, you can basically sit and relax for almost 2 hours and enjoy the atmosphere, with the Plaza view, even though it is reserved viewing you might still end up with a tall person in front or someone holding a baby over their shoulders.
Also I forgot to mention that after the show the food stayed on for about another 5 minutes before they picked it up, actually a CM came around after the show to tell us "last call for desserts"

This actually helped a lot. Something not centered won't bother me so much, but my husband in pain would wreck the night for everyone. Thank you very much for answering.

 

[B. Shoe]

Do you feel that you missed out on anything by not going to the plaza? I keep going back and forth on whether we should try and move or just stay at the terrace. I know my husband would rather sit, but I don't want to feel like I can't see everything either.

You can browse YouTube for videos from both locations. That will give you a pretty decent view of what you'll be seeing. That helped in my decision. I could suffice being at the Terrace with the seating, but my DD10 will definitely want to see the castle projections, so I opted for the Plaza Garden.

 

[Dan Murphy]

but two men (with blinking light-up Mickey ears) in the middle of the viewing area stood up a moment after the fireworks started,

 

[mckennarose]

We are doing this party in two weeks and I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer regarding an allergy notation.
I did an allergy notation for gluten on our reservation but the Disney dining person could not tell me how this works, only to say to make sure I remind the person at check in. Does anyone have an experience with this? I know I've seen a post somewhere on here about a special gf plate prepared for them in advance. I'm hoping they still do this and need to know who I have to locate inside the party to find it. TIA!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We are doing this party in two weeks and I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer regarding an allergy notation.
I did an allergy notation for gluten on our reservation but the Disney dining person could not tell me how this works, only to say to make sure I remind the person at check in. Does anyone have an experience with this? I know I've seen a post somewhere on here about a special gf plate prepared for them in advance. I'm hoping they still do this and need to know who I have to locate inside the party to find it. TIA!

I'd mentioned it at check in and they should find the manager who will come out and talk to you and then bring the plate out. We had this 2 weeks ago and actually forgot to mention it at check in but they had it noted for us and came over right away to share what was possible to have on the dessert bar as well as bringing out a special plate.

 

[sjrec]

I enjoyed reading this thread before our trip and wanted to share our experience with the Garden View last Sunday (4/29).
Although check in information is 7:45, we walked by at 7:15 and saw they were seating people already. The nice cm, Patrick, gave us our wristbands, showed us the buffet and invited us to choose our table. Everything looked lovely and we thought the desserts we tried were very good as was the fresh fruit.
He emphasized we could stay as long as we liked or leave and do other things and enter the garden when ready-he suggested not much later than 8:30.
We headed for the back railing slightly to the right-the paved walk was in front of us. It was an unobstructed view. Although fairly full, not wall to wall people. The majority of people remained seated. No children on shoulders.
We thought it was a great way to view the fireworks and show (which we loved!) and would definitely do it if traveling at a busy time of year.

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

We did the HEA garden party last week; it was our third time to do it. I noticed way more people in the garden area than prior trips so I think they are selling more tickets to this event. In our prior parties, kids were running around and even doing cartwheels preshow. (Not my kid, he is too old for that lol). This time, it was NOT wall-to-wall people, but the area was quite full. We came down to the viewing area at 8:20 and got the very last spot along the back railing (our preferred place). Would I do it again... yes. Looking out at the crowds packed like sardines outside of the garden... oh yes. I want no part of that. LOL.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Also the peace of mind that comes with the terrace view is pretty great, you can basically sit and relax for almost 2 hours and enjoy the atmosphere, with the Plaza view, even though it is reserved viewing you might still end up with a tall person in front or someone holding a baby over their shoulders.

True. This last time, we had arrived in the plaza viewing area really early and sat near the front of the reserved area. A little later, a large party entered the wheelchair reserved area, with multiple really tall people accompanying them. Even though there’s a buffer between that section and the plaza viewing area it still made a huge difference. One guy even put a child on his shoulders when the show started. It made it so that if we stayed seated in the reserved area during the show we would have missed a great deal of the castle projections — so we stood — no problem — I’m fine with that.

We then had a couple of people behind us start yelling to us to sit down, because now they couldn’t see the show from their lying down positions. We explained that we couldn’t see otherwise but they couldn’t care less - said we should still sit so that they could see better without standing. Said we were being really inconsiderate.

Honestly put a bit of a damper on the show for us, until we decided to shrug it off. Some people might book this party to eat a week’s worth of desserts. We book it for the viewing.