Dessert party to book or not?

[Web Owls]

Hi all,
I'm thinking of booking the dessert party for HEA with garden viewing. Is it worth it? We are going the end of July/ August.

[Niki T]

We've booked it. We enjoyed the experience last year: nice place to view the fireworks, enjoyable desserts. Your question as to whether it is worth it or not is will get a variety of answers. If I break down the cost to what you eat, no it's not, but if you factor the experience in I'd say we get our monies worth. The fact that we pay before we go on holiday takes the sting out of the cost and perhaps tricks us into thinking we get more.

[Disneyitis]

Totally worth it. Food is v average but the fireworks viewing experience makes up for it.

[BarryL]

I've posted this before but thoughts haven't changed since the introduction of the new "after party"

Whether it's value for money or not really depends on how much value you ascribe to the terrace seating or reserved hub viewing area.
No-one will ever eat $69 or $84 dollars worth of desserts...the "value" comes from the ease / comfort of seeing HEA.

For us, it's just about worth it, particularly the less expensive Hub garden view in the old fastpass area (IMO a better view that the side view from the terrace).
This avoids having to stake out a spot in advance, it avoids standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the park and it avoids the risk of kids on shoulders directly in front of you.

With limited opportunities to see HEA in October we decided to swallow the cost in exchange for a much more relaxed end to the day.

[Toff Princess]

I can't speak for that one but after my experience of the Frozen one last year.. worth every penny. Its the comfort and even though the food & beverages are nothing special it is a lovely way to spend the evening and see the show with a bit of a better view. I also plan on booking the HEA one if we can!

[suecee]

Like others financially it's not really worth it. The show is free & who can eat that much cake - not even me & I tried 😉

But it is a great experience. Ample room and food. You can get in and seated nice and early so it's a really enjoyable experience.

Providing you are happy to eat cake for dinner there is no need to eat anything else so if you offset the cost of dinner against the dessert party it may not seem quite so expensive.

[lov2dibb]

Yes, do it!
The park will be heaving that time of year and it's a zoo trying to find a good spot.
The dessert party solves that problem.
I enjoyed the new menu too with the egg rolls etc. as well as the desserts.
Fabulous!

[Persnicketty]

Originally Posted by Web Owls

Hi all,
I'm thinking of booking the dessert party for HEA with garden viewing. Is it worth it? We are going the end of July/ August.

See more...

We did the terrace view dessert party 2nd week of July. What follows is going to sound super-negative, but, despite everything I say, we DID enjoy it and have no regrets... but wouldn't do it again. I'm offering our warts-and-all experience so you can go into it with eyes wide open. You will NOT feel special... its an obvious cash grab and it ain't no party

The Good
As long as you get there early and are escorted to a prime seat, it is a delight. Our party of 6 enjoyed HEA far more than usual, thanks to the comfort level...

Although a bit of a negative in some ways, it's only fair to praise WDW for persisting with the show, delaying it until after 10pm, rather than outright cancelling, due to inclement weather. (It was genuinely atrocious... local spectacular storm started 5 mins before showtime).

All told we waited an extra hour.


The Bad
Yes, it is financially unjustifiable, but common sense tells you that before you book.

Frankly, the desserts were mostly mediocre, but we viewed them as mostly the "excuse" to pay for the seats. More irritatingly, we found the dispenser soft drinks limited and not especially pleasant, nor were they sufficiently cold.

We also found it poorly coordinated - some bold garden view guests escaped their holding pen, (not making that up), chanced their arm and snuck in to the terrace. Policing was inadequate after the initial entry queue and eventually any form of challenge just petered out.

One entitled guy, (I assume he was doing the garden view), decided to commandeer a vacant table right in front of us and just rebuffed staff who saw his wristband, asking him to return to the holding area. They tried twice and didn't come back a 3rd time. It was left to us to ensure he didn't spoil our experience. There were several others and we saw exchanges where people asked others to leave their allocated table.

Also, be aware if doing the terrace party. If you are not super early, you might find you are escorted to whatever table is left... and it might not have a desirable view. The tables are not pre-allocated as some previously said.

And even the best tables, like ours, have zero view of the bottom half of the castle, (trees), which is a bit of a bummer for the amazing projection show, considering what you pay and why you pay it. From THAT perspective, the garden view is better.

[Guest]

We do this tomorrow night so can't comment on HEA yet.

However, last nights Frozen dessert party was brilliant. Again, not worth it from the food and beverages front but its just the less aggro, comfort and a good spot. We had table 14 and unlike the reviews I've read and watched parties were split and no sitting with randoms, which isn't a problem just a lottery in who it may be.

[alisonjones]

We went for the Garden View last year for HEA as it was the only choice left so I was a bit doubtful - however, I actually preferred that view of the fireworks and castle than on a previous visit to the Terrace View for Wishes. I loved the fireworks and we had plenty of room and not squashed at all - the desserts were ok but like others have said its the experience. I would do it again just for the view.