Hurricane? What hurricane? Universal & Disney Sept. 2017 - Day 11, AK & SW dessert party

[sha9]

The dining report for today is here.

The curfew was over, parks back open and weather glorious and we could finally get out!

We had originally planned today as a day off with only the Star Wars Dessert Party arranged but when making our FP I decided to throw in some extra AK days for Flight of Passage. The FP I’d booked were all later though, early evening, and we couldn’t wait that long . I managed to change the FoP FP to 1.45pm but couldn’t change Everest so we hoped to do what we could in the standby queues. I changed the Everest FP to Festival of the Lion King at 9.30am so we could at least try and get a 4th FP earlier.

We were in no rush so got up around 8ish and had breakfast in the room of a latte and a banana nut muffin. We got ready and were at AK for 9.30am. FoP was already at 210 mins according to the app!
It was announced on the tram that the safari was closed for clean up after the hurricane.

We didn’t make our Lion King FP but weren’t too bothered. We don’t tend to do the shows but also reckoned it probably didn’t need a FP anyway. Instead we went to Asia for Everest in the hope the queue wasn’t too long.
Looks busy.

Monkeys

Everest standby had said 10 mins but in reality it was more like 5.

We did the jungle trek again and saw some more birds. It was at this point I suggested to Marie we try and see Flights of Wonder. We really like birds and have never seen this before. Unfortunately it was closed, presumably related to the hurricane but I’m not sure. There was a pathway from Asia to Africa that was closed for a few days following the hurricane and it was near Flights of Wonder.

More bird photos.

We headed to Africa to at least do Gorilla Falls and on the way they were calling people in to the Festival of the Lion King as it was starting in 5 minutes. I suggested to Marie that this would be a good time to do it since we’d never seen it. We enjoyed this but it wouldn’t be a must do for us.

It was now time for our Dinosaur FP so we headed over to Dinoland and did this.

Afterwards we were getting hungry so time for lunch. We had already decided we really enjoyed the Yak & Yeti so we planned to use the Landry card to get a table and just pay OOP. We also felt we’d had fast food for 2 days and just wanted something fresh and tasty. With having the dessert party later we didn’t want a big dinner so a big lunch was planned instead! This was really nice again although a touch expensive for lunch at $80.

We wandered round Gorilla Falls while we waited for it to be time for our FoP FP. The staff at the safari entrance were saying they hoped to have it open later although we didn’t expect to be in the park.

FoP was amazing again but I did find the glasses kept slipping which was a bit off-putting. I tried using one hand to keep them in place but that was distracting.

We headed back to the hotel for a drink and a cool down. The weather post-hurricane was really hot and there wasn’t much humidity.

We got changed for DHS into Star Wars tops and headed back out around half 4. We’d had lunch early so were a little hungry. We decided to get the nachos at Min & Bills and share them again. Marie also got a Kaluha & Baileys chocolate milk shake.

Mooching ducks

I had made a FP for TSM after we rode FoP so we rode that then made a FP for Star Tours which was another hour away. We therefore wandered across to the Launch Bay and discovered Boba Fett doing a meet & greet! We’ve never seen Boba Fett out and about before! A guy in the queue reckoned it was because the Galaxy Far, Far Away show wasn’t on. This was so exciting! He told be Jabba was looking for me and would be pleased to find out I was there . I couldn’t stop grinning!

I also tried again to get some Stormtrooper pics.

We next went to the Star Lord and Baby Groot meet & greet as we hadn’t seen Baby Groot the last time. It was a different Star Lord but he was very good. We ended up talking to him about Star Wars as he asked if my top was a Star Lord top.

I tried to get some pics as the scrim was still down but you still can't see much.

We popped to the loo on the way to Star Tours and encountered a woman Facetiming someone in the toilet. And I mean in the toilet cubicle as we could hear her and she continued to talk to the person while washing her hands and faffing about. I mean there’s a time and a place.

We arrived at Star Tours too early for our FP slot so just joined the standby queue. It was only 10 minutes.

We then saw The Muppets show which we hadn’t managed the last DHS day. I do think this is funny but it could be updated given there have been 2 recent movies.

We had a look in the shops until it was time to check in for the dessert party. When we arrived it had already started but there were only a few people there.
We were given these.

We were greeted with cocktails some of which were non-alcoholic so I had one of them. Marie had a few cocktails and I drank the virgin ones. We filled up on cake really quickly, to the point I really couldn’t force anything else down. I say quickly, not because we wolfed loads down but just that we didn’t eat much before filling up.
Savoury plate. I blame this for being too full .

Frozen Nutella

Some cakes

There were a couple of Stormtroopers wandering around and I continued to try and get a decent photo.

Eventually one stopped and posed!

We found a seat round the side away from the party area but had been encouraged to take our food outside if we wanted. I really felt like I wanted to go back for more but just couldn’t!

We were taken out to the viewing area around 15 minutes before the fireworks and given our tie fighter popcorn buckets. What I’m going to do with that I don’t know! The Stormtroopers plus 3 kids from the party guests walked us out. The kids were given lightsabers which I thought was a nice touch.

The viewing area was pretty good but the park was quiet so we could have got a good view point turning up 5 minutes before. Of course we weren’t to know there would be a hurricane!

The fireworks were excellent and we really enjoyed them.

The big question, is the Star Wars Dessert Party worth it?

No, probably not. For the price the desserts were fine. I think if you were drinking the cocktails then the price becomes much better and if you thought you’d use a tie fighter popcorn bucket even better! The viewing area was great and it would depend how busy the park was how much it would be worth it for that alone.

The bigger question, would I do it again?

Absolutely! I liked that feeling of being part of an elite little group and the Cast Members were really friendly and made you feel really welcome and special. The food was pleasant and the drinks plentiful. As something special to do it was really nice.

Exhausted after a busy day we headed back to POR and went to bed.
Steps 21726

[OB1LukeLucas]

Boba Fett-WOW! That distracted me from whatever I was going to say, ha ha. A great day and evening after being stuck in the room. The dessert party looks great I'm not sure if it would be worth the money but I would like to give it a go...I would certainly do my best to sample the cocktails. Marie's milkshake looks yummy, I may need to add that to the list too.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas

Boba Fett-WOW! That distracted me from whatever I was going to say, ha ha. A great day and evening after being stuck in the room. The dessert party looks great I'm not sure if it would be worth the money but I would like to give it a go...I would certainly do my best to sample the cocktails. Marie's milkshake looks yummy, I may need to add that to the list too.

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I know we couldn't believe it when we seen him! We were so excited!

[collybird]

We didn't take the popcorn bucket at the Dessert Party, we were struggling with our luggage enough, it cracked me up seeing families with 5 of them, how on earth were they going to get them all home!? I like the Star Wars Dessert Party, I'm not convinced you can get a decent view without it unless you get there super early.

[WileyCoyote]

A great day after being stuck in the resort - sounds like fun at AK and a great afternoon. Love all the great Star Wars interactions and the dessert party sounds cool.
And some top food today too !

[sha9]

Originally Posted by collybird

We didn't take the popcorn bucket at the Dessert Party, we were struggling with our luggage enough, it cracked me up seeing families with 5 of them, how on earth were they going to get them all home!? I like the Star Wars Dessert Party, I'm not convinced you can get a decent view without it unless you get there super early.

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Yeah I'm not sure why we bothered making room for them! Mine is still lying in the kitchen somewhere and I think Marie gave hers away!

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

A great day after being stuck in the resort - sounds like fun at AK and a great afternoon. Love all the great Star Wars interactions and the dessert party sounds cool.
And some top food today too !

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Yes it was a great day! So good to be out!