We are going in mid December on a day sandwiched between MVMCP. I am expecting it to be very crowded. What time would you check in? The official time is 7:45pm. 7pm? I would rather wait a little up front then feel rushed through.
 
We were at the plaza party last night when it was supposed to be CL 9 and it was wonderful! We thought the assortment of desserts were wonderful although frankly after a week in Disney World we just weren't that hungry. We literally lay down and waited for the fireworks. When they started people sat up but no one stood. There just wasn't any need. There was plenty of room. It was a wonderful part of a wonderful evening.
 
Other than getting the wristband, do you need to attend the dessert part of the party? Could I just go straight to the Plaza viewing? We are going on a the Christmas Party night and don't really care about the desserts, just want the priority viewing because we get miserable when people are on top of us.
 
Other than getting the wristband, do you need to attend the dessert part of the party? Could I just go straight to the Plaza viewing? We are going on a the Christmas Party night and don't really care about the desserts, just want the priority viewing because we get miserable when people are on top of us.
They made it clear to us that they would escort us down to the viewing area whenever we were ready.
 


What is the crowd level like this week for the garden viewing? I am considering it for week of January 20, but not sure if we'll need it. I've seen many a posts where there is more than enough room, plus some on average days. I'm just curious with the insane crowd levels what it's like this week. We are expecting moderate crowds that week...
 
Well let me know what they say. I have also done the Star Wars Dessert Party. It seemed that with it there was more of an accommodation to make sure everyone could see. I remember disabled and kids in front others in back plus other room further back. When letting into the Garden it was definitely once you are in you are on your own. I have thought about addressing the issue with Disney but will probably just let it go. I am looking at it as a sunk cost at this point but do feel bad about it. I was really hoping my other 2 girls would have a similar experience to what D9 and I had in August.



The delay with check in I think had to do with people insisting they had a reservation and Disney not being able to find a record of it. Instead of the CM trying to handle the line while someone else looked they were trying to solve the problem. That held it all up. A lady in back of us got in the line because it was so long she thought it must be a line for a character...maybe people like that were ahead of us too. :)

I think there were definitely more people in the park as compared to August. Earlier that day we had been at MK and finally left without using our Pirates FP because the line was clear backed up into the walkway. In August it was not like that; it was also rainy and that cut the overall crowd. The CM told me that the party last week was sold out; I assume most all the parties sell out given how hard it is to book but perhaps they have added the number of guests. I couldn't tell how many people were seated as compared to August since most had left by the time we were seated but I do know that the food was mostly gone and not being replenished. They had closed the desserts on the one side and only had it open on the one. They weren't making the plates for the kids anymore either...I just asked for a bunch of mickey straws. (Shallow enough I at least wanted a couple of those to take home).

I'm guessing this is the case. We went to the Wishes Dessert Party with Plaza Viewing on 12/19/16 and were quite late showing up for the party (got stuck in a torrential downpour at BTMRR). When we finally got there (probably a good 20 minutes late), the upper area was already packed, so they sat us at a table just above the terrace party guests (I'll call it "mid-mezzanine"). We were the ONLY people sitting there (keep in mind, this is 6 days before Christmas!). They then escorted us over to the garden and it was so spacious, we could have done cartwheels in there and wouldn't have hit any one. Fast forward to the last week of August 2017 and we booked the HEA dessert party with plaza viewing thinking we'd have a similar experience - yeah, nope! We got there late again (this time on purpose as I wanted to sit on that level again). We were seated on the same level, BUT this time, THAT was packed! Lines at the buffet were nuts and they ran out of coffee cups (CM said they didn't have a lot to begin with . . .huh? It's a dessert party with a coffee service, you need coffee cups.) No CM's escorted us to the garden and by the time we got there, we realized people had been camping out there for a while. We found a spot, but it was packed. It also wasn't secured well as we saw an entire family (led by the dad), jump a rope and sit in the area (I told a CM and that was taken care of). I have the party booked again for Dec. 20, but I'm re-thinking it as it sounds like this is par for the course at this point. No sense in paying extra if the garden is going to be as packed as the general viewing area.
 
Other than getting the wristband, do you need to attend the dessert part of the party? Could I just go straight to the Plaza viewing? We are going on a the Christmas Party night and don't really care about the desserts, just want the priority viewing because we get miserable when people are on top of us.

Some experiences appear to be different above, but from the times I’ve done it (including the dessert party during MNSSHP back in Sept) there’s really no reason you have to go to the dessert part. They’ll take you to a table, but after that you can do whatever you want - including leaving. I’ve never used the escort to get over to the garden... just walked over myself.

As always, YMMV!
 


Some experiences appear to be different above, but from the times I’ve done it (including the dessert party during MNSSHP back in Sept) there’s really no reason you have to go to the dessert part. They’ll take you to a table, but after that you can do whatever you want - including leaving. I’ve never used the escort to get over to the garden... just walked over myself.

As always, YMMV!

This was my experience as well.
 
We attended the plaza garden party last night. Desserts were good, but nothing special. It was nice to sit at a table and relax for a bit. We checked in at 8:15 and there were already a good amount of people there.

We walked down to the viewing area with a CM at about 9:15 and headed straight to the back railing. Thank you for that tip!

I’m glad we did it considering this is a holiday week, but I wouldn’t book it again. Some ask if it’s worth it. I don’t think any Disney meal/food event is ever really going to be worth it for the dining aspect. The viewing area most definitely is when you have holiday crowds. We were so spread out it was great. Everyone was friendly and kind to each other. Overall it was a good experience.
 
We went last night. It was supposed to start at 8:45 but they were letting people in at 8:15 so we decided to go ahead and go on in. I think getting there early is one of the keys to making it better. When you walk up the ramp the plaza garden viewing is to the right side and the terrace viewing is to the left. There is a cast member who checks you in a a podium on the ramp. You just go up and give your last name and she finds your name on the piece of paper and marks it out. Then another cast member comes down and welcomes you to the party and walks you, giving you a brief description of what is available. We had 5 people so she helped us find a table that had 5 seats. She gave us a good tip, which is to go ahead and grab your sparkling cider as you walk in and that way you can set it down on your table and its a good way of marking your seat. That way someone else doesn't grab your table as you are up getting your food. That cast member also gives you a bracelet (the paper kind like you get at the hospital) which is what you use to get access to the plaza garden viewing area.

We thought the food was amazing. But we are not used to eating fancy food either (we are country folks), so it was just wonderful for us. My favorite was the smores. My wife saw they had cheese and she got excited and said "I'm in heaven." My 11 year old son was eating everything available and said "Its so good I want to pass out." Even my teenage daughter (who is hard to please) said "I threw up a little in my mouth, and it tasted good." We all busted out laughing when she said that.

When you are done eating, make sure you use the bathroom after before you go down to view the fireworks. There is a bathroom right there near the tables where you eat. Because we got there early, we were done eating before 9 and so we went and flagged down one of the cast members and he walked us down to the plaza garden viewing immediately. There was a lady at the gate, checking to see if you had your paper wrist band on, before she let you in. I was glad that we ate early and was able to be one of the first ones in. We went straight to the back fence and just sat down and rested (listening to that wonderful Christmas music in the background). My kids laid down in the grass and we took some pictures of the castle. There was plenty of room to move around and we struck up a conversation with another family who also was on the back rail.

I think at Disney (and pretty much everywhere) there is always this "see and do" mentality. In other words, you see someone else do something and you do it too. That's why (being one of the first ones there) we purposely sat down or laid down in the grass. Others were doing the same and then eventually once the place filled up, pretty much everybody was sitting down. And they stayed that way during the fireworks. It was awesome. Some people even brought blankets to sit on. People were generally nice in that if they saw you sitting down they would try not to stand in front of you. There was a couple of rogue people who stood up. And this one lady kept driving her scooter back and forth making people have to move to get out of her way. She eventually got off the scooter and walked over to stand. And of course there was the one guy who put his kid on his head and stood right in front of me. But it wasn't a big deal as I just asked my wife to scootch over a little so I could move out from behind him. I do think the back is still the best and I don't think the front would have been any better because if you decided to stand up right at the front of the fence you'd be blocking all those people behind you that are sitting down. Also, at the front of the fence there is just a lot of hustle and bustle going on with people going back and forth and there is a lot more of a chance of someone getting in front of you there. So yeah, get there early and get to the back fence for the best experience.

I purposely did not tell my wife how must this costed, as I'm sure she would have freaked out and it would have taken away from her enjoyment of the experience. I wanted to do this as a once in a lifetime thing for my family. And by them not having to worry about how much it costed and thinking about "getting their money's worth" they were able to just be free and happy and focus on having a good time. And we made memories that will last forever.
 
I’m glad we did it considering this is a holiday week, but I wouldn’t book it again. Some ask if it’s worth it. I don’t think any Disney meal/food event is ever really going to be worth it for the dining aspect. The viewing area most definitely is when you have holiday crowds. We were so spread out it was great. Everyone was friendly and kind to each other. Overall it was a good experience.

This. I don't think anyone can reasonably eat $60-$70 worth of desserts, so I agree that it isn't "worth it" from that perspective. But you get an uncrowded area to watch the fireworks without having to stake out a spot hours in advance, only to be crammed in a crowd so tightly that you can barely move. So what you're paying for is basically a hassle free fireworks viewing experience, with some really good desserts thrown in.
 
We went last night. It was supposed to start at 8:45 but they were letting people in at 8:15 so we decided to go ahead and go on in. I think getting there early is one of the keys to making it better. When you walk up the ramp the plaza garden viewing is to the right side and the terrace viewing is to the left. There is a cast member who checks you in a a podium on the ramp. You just go up and give your last name and she finds your name on the piece of paper and marks it out. Then another cast member comes down and welcomes you to the party and walks you, giving you a brief description of what is available. We had 5 people so she helped us find a table that had 5 seats. She gave us a good tip, which is to go ahead and grab your sparkling cider as you walk in and that way you can set it down on your table and its a good way of marking your seat. That way someone else doesn't grab your table as you are up getting your food. That cast member also gives you a bracelet (the paper kind like you get at the hospital) which is what you use to get access to the plaza garden viewing area.

We thought the food was amazing. But we are not used to eating fancy food either (we are country folks), so it was just wonderful for us. My favorite was the smores. My wife saw they had cheese and she got excited and said "I'm in heaven." My 11 year old son was eating everything available and said "Its so good I want to pass out." Even my teenage daughter (who is hard to please) said "I threw up a little in my mouth, and it tasted good." We all busted out laughing when she said that.

When you are done eating, make sure you use the bathroom after before you go down to view the fireworks. There is a bathroom right there near the tables where you eat. Because we got there early, we were done eating before 9 and so we went and flagged down one of the cast members and he walked us down to the plaza garden viewing immediately. There was a lady at the gate, checking to see if you had your paper wrist band on, before she let you in. I was glad that we ate early and was able to be one of the first ones in. We went straight to the back fence and just sat down and rested (listening to that wonderful Christmas music in the background). My kids laid down in the grass and we took some pictures of the castle. There was plenty of room to move around and we struck up a conversation with another family who also was on the back rail.

I think at Disney (and pretty much everywhere) there is always this "see and do" mentality. In other words, you see someone else do something and you do it too. That's why (being one of the first ones there) we purposely sat down or laid down in the grass. Others were doing the same and then eventually once the place filled up, pretty much everybody was sitting down. And they stayed that way during the fireworks. It was awesome. Some people even brought blankets to sit on. People were generally nice in that if they saw you sitting down they would try not to stand in front of you. There was a couple of rogue people who stood up. And this one lady kept driving her scooter back and forth making people have to move to get out of her way. She eventually got off the scooter and walked over to stand. And of course there was the one guy who put his kid on his head and stood right in front of me. But it wasn't a big deal as I just asked my wife to scootch over a little so I could move out from behind him. I do think the back is still the best and I don't think the front would have been any better because if you decided to stand up right at the front of the fence you'd be blocking all those people behind you that are sitting down. Also, at the front of the fence there is just a lot of hustle and bustle going on with people going back and forth and there is a lot more of a chance of someone getting in front of you there. So yeah, get there early and get to the back fence for the best experience.

I purposely did not tell my wife how must this costed, as I'm sure she would have freaked out and it would have taken away from her enjoyment of the experience. I wanted to do this as a once in a lifetime thing for my family. And by them not having to worry about how much it costed and thinking about "getting their money's worth" they were able to just be free and happy and focus on having a good time. And we made memories that will last forever.

Wow! I loved reading your review! It made me smile, thanks for sharing!
 
Sorry, another question! Do you have a good view of Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration from the Plaza viewing? TIA!
 
I'm glad you posted this as I just booked the dessert party for our May trip and some of the most recent posts had me a little concerned! We are looking forward to the party and I hope it's not super crowded and chaotic.


My family is also attending a HEA dessert party in May, too:-) I hope it's not too crowded.
 
We loved the Garden Viewing. For us, the key is to not try and get up front. Get to as far to the back of the viewing area as possible and pick something with a good sightline. You'll have more room and a better view than the people who are in the front of the area.

Im sure there are plenty of pics out there but this video (6:40 mark) is from our July trip and we were some of the last people in the viewing area and had an absolutely perfect view.

I️ enjoyed your video so much! What a wonderful trip:)
 
Can someone please confirm if this includes Mickeys XMas parade viewing area with the dessert package?

I have seen it mentioned in other threads that last year during the Xmas party people would then have access to an area that was exclusive, less crowded area for parade viewing.

TIA!!
 
Can someone please confirm if this includes Mickeys XMas parade viewing area with the dessert package?

I have seen it mentioned in other threads that last year during the Xmas party people would then have access to an area that was exclusive, less crowded area for parade viewing.

TIA!!

I have seen a couple of references to it being offered to people at the party this year, but I don’t think I’ve read anything conclusive. But I also haven’t followed it super closely, so I’m not sure. Hopefully someone else may know.
 

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