We booked and attended the Wishes Desert Party Tuesday 4th October 2011, we booked using visa debit on the US Disney website, I?d advise booking as quickly as you can after the dates are released as it's a popular experience and books up quite fast due to limited places.
It?s held at the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant, which is easy to find on your map and navigate to, you will know where to go in as they put a billboard advertising outside the entrance.
When we arrived we were given paper wrist bands (so we could leave/ re-enter as we wished) and shown to our table for two. The table had a card placeholder stating our party's name in the middle with confetti stars and was front row to the open fronted area facing the castle and fireworks.
You can then go and help yourself to the free unlimited deserts and drinks.
These are all mini deserts and some examples of what was on offer were chocolate dipped strawberries, brownies, rice crispy treats, cheesecakes, tiramisu, crème brulee, mango shooters, cookies, bannofee cakes, fruit tarts and cream filled pastries. There were also a selection of fresh fruit such as various melons and apple.
Drinks were, milk, various tea's, lemonade, pink lemonade and water.
Service was good as when we left to fetch another plate of deserts by the time we were back the old plates were gone and our table clean again. (Beware if you leave something you wanted to come back and finish though as they clean it all away, finished or not!)
Another plus point is that there was a photopass photographer available at the balcony all night, this is a lovely spot to get a special photo with the castle backdrop without the crowds behind you.
When the 10-minute countdown to the fireworks came over the tannoys we made our way to the balcony, many other families joined us but it was never even slightly crowded with room for all.
The view of the castle is slightly to the left as Tomorrowland Terrace is not directly in front of the castle, so it?s not the perfect view but it was still a great view in our opinion and a much better option then fighting with thousands of others on the main street or camping out on the curb for an hour prior to show time for a good spot.

Overall I would highly recommend the dessert party, unlimited desserts and drinks at your own personal table in your own time with a great crowd free view of the fireworks. We will now always try to book at least once every holiday from now on!

We visited Homosassa springs Wildlife Park on Sunday 19th October, We were staying on I-Drive so it was a fairly long drive, but it was nice to get out Orlando and see abit more of the real Florida. We arrived at the entrance with the visitor centre and had a look around at the exhibits about Manatee education, Florida fish and birds there was also a gift shop here with very reasonably prices souvenirs. When we went to pay our admission fee we were given a discount by a very friendly staff member (even though we were not really entitled to any discount!) park maps, and our hands were stamped with a little green manatee. At this point there are two ways to get to the main park, boat or carriages pulled by a 4x4. We wanted to take the boat ride to the main park but unfortunately due to the torrential rain this wasn?t running and we had to take the carriages, we were the only ones here but the driver didn?t wait and took us promptly to the park.
The park itself is around a mile long walk along a path with exhibits on one side and the river on the other, it?s sort of like a zoo/rescue centre where you will see a lot of native animals, naturally beautiful plants and the bright clear blue springs. There are Florida deer, panther, black bear, bobcats, red wolves, alligator and a selection of birds and for some reason a not so native hippo, plus a building of reptiles. There is also a second gift shop and a café.
The main draw for most though is a guaranteed manatee viewing, they have several residential manatees that live in the springs all year round. We headed to the underwater viewing observatory after a walk around the park to wait for the manatee-feeding program, the view from underwater is amazing the river was full of fish. Two staff members then came and greeted the small group of us waiting to see the manatees, this was nice as we got to ask all the questions we wanted and learnt a lot about manatees in general, the residential manatees and the park itself. They then threw whole lettuces into the water and as the manatees are used to it and can hear the lettuces hit the water they all came to eat. You get a great view of this as you can go and see them underwater in the observatory or watch them from above.

Overall we found this to be a great half-day out and worth the drive, it was nice to escape the busy parks, see some native animals and learn about manatees. The staff were amazingly helpful and friendly and I would recommend this park to natural beauty and wildlife lovers.