Lisa F
is a very wise woman
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2000
Day 3, HEA Dessert party with Plaza Viewing
Before I get into the dessert party, I just wanted to share our beast photo. I ran out of room in the previous post so I'll stick it here. I really love having the photopass with the APs, though I probably wouldn't pay for it because a lot of the people with the cameras don't really know how to use them. But what BoG review would be complete without it???
Okay, well on to the HEA dessert party.
This is my third dessert party. My first was Jingle Bell Jingle Bam on my last trip and we met up with our First week of December planning group and I had an amazing time, but barely ate. I did have a few cocktails and the bartender gave me a can of hard cider for later but I am really just not a dessert person and we had dinner earlier in the day and weren't really hungry. I enjoyed the heck out of this for the people and for the view but didn't care about the food... not that I didn't care FOR it, I just didn't care ABOUT IT.
My second was during MVMCP last year, when it still came with parade viewing. Again, we sat with some new friends, @areno79 and @Candycane83 and their families. It was amazing, so much fun! We had a PERFECT AWESOME STRAIGHT ON view of the parade and we had a front row in the tomorrowland terrace for the fireworks and we had such truly wonderful company, it was pure magic. But again, don't ask me about the food... could take it or leave it and barely ate.
So when I knew I'd be there during a TP predicted 9 crowd day, and I had never seen HEA again and they offered the Plaza viewing option, I booked it for us. Even though before there is no way I could get my money's worth out of this thing, now I DEFINITELY could not get my money's worth. No way no how. But I had never seen HEA and had heard that viewing spot was so important and since we only had the one night at the MK on our whole trip, I wanted to make it worth it. So I booked the party.
I was also hoping that fireworks would be later than 8pm (they were 9pm the previous year) but no dice, so we finished dinner at BoG around 5:30 and had to show up for this thing at 6:45. Kid was not interested in eating more and neither was I. Also I was not interested in dealing with the lines at the buffet. Really, all I was interested in was the fireworks viewing. So I have zero pictures of the food...we went through the buffet line once and I grabbed 3 chocolate covered strawberries, a couple of slices of underripe melon and one of those s'mores things. The kid was interested in the macarons so he grabbed a couple of chocolate and a pistachio flavor and the oreo thing and a s'mores thing and that's it. So we go sit down at our table and I'm like "hey do you care if we just go out and get a good spot for the fireworks?" and he's like "yeah, I'm not hungry." So I cracked open his refillable popcorn bucket that was now empty (and that we never put popcorn in again, lol) and put all of our desserts in there. He ate a pistachio macaron and wasn't a fan, I had a chocolate covered strawberry and it was decent, the strawberry was a nice size and juicy and ripe and it was dipped in dark chocolate, but the chocolate was a bit waxy. They looked nice and tasted better than I expected. The one thing that was annoying is they were out of water bottles and were taking forever to restock them.
Anyway we went out to the plaza viewing area because another friend of mine had gotten out there late and did not like the view from the back. Since I booked this 99.9% for fireworks, I wanted to be in front. We were escorted on over and I quickly walked across the front fence before settling on a small section that had an unobstructed view... next to a couple of other people who had come to the same conclusion. we were right up against an exit gate, the on the rightmost side facing the castle if you are interested (I THINK it was rightmost) and this is the view of the castle, with a lamppost light cropped out (they shut the light before the fireworks anyway so it was not a distraction.
I would say pretty nice view. There was a path in front of us so no one could directly block our view and then the reserved section on the other side of the path was for wheelchairs so most people were down lower. The view was amazing and worth the price of the party to me. There was one shoulder kid during the show who blocked the fountain basically but otherwise we had a perfect unobstructed view for the show.
And I took a lot of shots of these fireworks but here are a few.
I have a ton more but I won't bore you. I will say, this show BLEW ME AWAY.
Illuminations has been my favorite nighttime show of all time for nearly the last 20 years. It still makes me cry when I see it. I love the music, the artistry, the fireworks integrated with everything else, and the message of it all. To me, it is the best fireworks show Disney has ever done.
This is ALMOST as good. I say almost because I think the score is not as good as either Wishes was or Illuminations is... however the visuals blow everything else completely out of the water. I was not expecting it to be this wonderful and it just was. I'm almost glad the score is not as good as Wishes was or Illuminations is, because my heart (and eyes) were already completely brimming over watching this, I'm not sure I could have stood it it if the music was as moving on top of it. You should have freaking heard me cheering for Tinker Bell like a 5 year old little girl wearing fairy wings herself. Bravo, Disney. Bravo. Kiddo agreed. We were both standing there kind of gobsmacked when this thing was over and it was nice to be in the plaza viewing area so we could just kind of stand there slack jawed processing the majesty of what we'd just seen without risking being trampled. So I do not regret one bit the ridiculous amount I paid for two chocolate covered strawberries and the few macarons that ended up being consumed (the kid ended up eating the chocolate macarons when we got back to the room and really liked the chocolate flavor, I ate one more strawberry.) For a first time with zero experience with this show... it was magic and it was worth it.
BUT I think I am done with the dessert parties now though. I just don't like dessert, lol. Unless it's amazing, but mass produced dessert is never amazing. However, I do kind of want to try one last one... the frozen dessert party... because the food is actually appealing and because the spot where it is located is not "my spot" for watching Illuminations. We tried the fastpass area and I got there right when the window was supposed to open, but it was already packed and I had an obstructed view. I was very disappointed but it felt like it could have been AMAZING if we got there early and I think the frozen dessert party gives that view. So I think I might like to try barely eating at that one too. But then I will probably be done with them for reals. or not. there is the star wars thing too. But after that FOR SURE.
Before I get into the dessert party, I just wanted to share our beast photo. I ran out of room in the previous post so I'll stick it here. I really love having the photopass with the APs, though I probably wouldn't pay for it because a lot of the people with the cameras don't really know how to use them. But what BoG review would be complete without it???
Okay, well on to the HEA dessert party.
This is my third dessert party. My first was Jingle Bell Jingle Bam on my last trip and we met up with our First week of December planning group and I had an amazing time, but barely ate. I did have a few cocktails and the bartender gave me a can of hard cider for later but I am really just not a dessert person and we had dinner earlier in the day and weren't really hungry. I enjoyed the heck out of this for the people and for the view but didn't care about the food... not that I didn't care FOR it, I just didn't care ABOUT IT.
My second was during MVMCP last year, when it still came with parade viewing. Again, we sat with some new friends, @areno79 and @Candycane83 and their families. It was amazing, so much fun! We had a PERFECT AWESOME STRAIGHT ON view of the parade and we had a front row in the tomorrowland terrace for the fireworks and we had such truly wonderful company, it was pure magic. But again, don't ask me about the food... could take it or leave it and barely ate.
So when I knew I'd be there during a TP predicted 9 crowd day, and I had never seen HEA again and they offered the Plaza viewing option, I booked it for us. Even though before there is no way I could get my money's worth out of this thing, now I DEFINITELY could not get my money's worth. No way no how. But I had never seen HEA and had heard that viewing spot was so important and since we only had the one night at the MK on our whole trip, I wanted to make it worth it. So I booked the party.
I was also hoping that fireworks would be later than 8pm (they were 9pm the previous year) but no dice, so we finished dinner at BoG around 5:30 and had to show up for this thing at 6:45. Kid was not interested in eating more and neither was I. Also I was not interested in dealing with the lines at the buffet. Really, all I was interested in was the fireworks viewing. So I have zero pictures of the food...we went through the buffet line once and I grabbed 3 chocolate covered strawberries, a couple of slices of underripe melon and one of those s'mores things. The kid was interested in the macarons so he grabbed a couple of chocolate and a pistachio flavor and the oreo thing and a s'mores thing and that's it. So we go sit down at our table and I'm like "hey do you care if we just go out and get a good spot for the fireworks?" and he's like "yeah, I'm not hungry." So I cracked open his refillable popcorn bucket that was now empty (and that we never put popcorn in again, lol) and put all of our desserts in there. He ate a pistachio macaron and wasn't a fan, I had a chocolate covered strawberry and it was decent, the strawberry was a nice size and juicy and ripe and it was dipped in dark chocolate, but the chocolate was a bit waxy. They looked nice and tasted better than I expected. The one thing that was annoying is they were out of water bottles and were taking forever to restock them.
Anyway we went out to the plaza viewing area because another friend of mine had gotten out there late and did not like the view from the back. Since I booked this 99.9% for fireworks, I wanted to be in front. We were escorted on over and I quickly walked across the front fence before settling on a small section that had an unobstructed view... next to a couple of other people who had come to the same conclusion. we were right up against an exit gate, the on the rightmost side facing the castle if you are interested (I THINK it was rightmost) and this is the view of the castle, with a lamppost light cropped out (they shut the light before the fireworks anyway so it was not a distraction.
I would say pretty nice view. There was a path in front of us so no one could directly block our view and then the reserved section on the other side of the path was for wheelchairs so most people were down lower. The view was amazing and worth the price of the party to me. There was one shoulder kid during the show who blocked the fountain basically but otherwise we had a perfect unobstructed view for the show.
And I took a lot of shots of these fireworks but here are a few.
I have a ton more but I won't bore you. I will say, this show BLEW ME AWAY.
Illuminations has been my favorite nighttime show of all time for nearly the last 20 years. It still makes me cry when I see it. I love the music, the artistry, the fireworks integrated with everything else, and the message of it all. To me, it is the best fireworks show Disney has ever done.
This is ALMOST as good. I say almost because I think the score is not as good as either Wishes was or Illuminations is... however the visuals blow everything else completely out of the water. I was not expecting it to be this wonderful and it just was. I'm almost glad the score is not as good as Wishes was or Illuminations is, because my heart (and eyes) were already completely brimming over watching this, I'm not sure I could have stood it it if the music was as moving on top of it. You should have freaking heard me cheering for Tinker Bell like a 5 year old little girl wearing fairy wings herself. Bravo, Disney. Bravo. Kiddo agreed. We were both standing there kind of gobsmacked when this thing was over and it was nice to be in the plaza viewing area so we could just kind of stand there slack jawed processing the majesty of what we'd just seen without risking being trampled. So I do not regret one bit the ridiculous amount I paid for two chocolate covered strawberries and the few macarons that ended up being consumed (the kid ended up eating the chocolate macarons when we got back to the room and really liked the chocolate flavor, I ate one more strawberry.) For a first time with zero experience with this show... it was magic and it was worth it.
BUT I think I am done with the dessert parties now though. I just don't like dessert, lol. Unless it's amazing, but mass produced dessert is never amazing. However, I do kind of want to try one last one... the frozen dessert party... because the food is actually appealing and because the spot where it is located is not "my spot" for watching Illuminations. We tried the fastpass area and I got there right when the window was supposed to open, but it was already packed and I had an obstructed view. I was very disappointed but it felt like it could have been AMAZING if we got there early and I think the frozen dessert party gives that view. So I think I might like to try barely eating at that one too. But then I will probably be done with them for reals. or not. there is the star wars thing too. But after that FOR SURE.
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