I think this might be a new-ish offering for Universal, so I thought I would offer a review of the first night of the Sweets and Sounds Dessert Party. For some background, we were WDW AP's, and are now first-time UO AP's. Also, we've never been to a dessert party at a theme park before.
TLDR: We didn't think it was worth it tonight, because the reserved seating at Mannheim Steamroller was in a terrible location, and there was plenty of seating 20 minutes before the show where you could actually see everything.
For $50 each ($40 with AP discount), you get three things - the food and drink, the fenced-off parade viewing spot, and the fenced-off concert seating.
The meal: you get all-you-can-eat of coffee, cocoa, mini-desserts, some savory veggies and pita, and sparkling wine starting at 4:30pm at Cafe La Bomba. There was seating inside and outside, but not configured well inside for the party. Too many big tables, not enough two-tops or four-tops. Apparently this was open until 6:30. There were some first-day pains - not enough food coming out, not everything was labeled, ran out of forks on one side, but all of that is easily fixable. The cocoa, hot water, and coffee was in a weird spot that made it awkward for more than one person to try and fill a cup, and only one person at a time could put in milk or marshmallows or crushed peppermints. Separating this into two tables would be an easy fix. We didn't try the sparkling wine, so no idea if there was a limit or if it was decent. The desserts were full size cupcakes, and mini eclairs, cheesecakes, brownies, and a few other things. The savory option was carrots, peppers, greek olives, pita points, and maybe some other things?
The parade: The spot is great - it's right where the parade enters and exits the park. Not everyone will get front row viewing, however, so keep that in mind. Also, you can get the same view for free by just lining up on the other side of the street (in front of the horror make up show). There is also an AP viewing area, but that looked kind of packed early on. I'd stake out a spot outside early on - maybe 5:10pm (20 minutes before) at the latest. If you don't get front row for the outgoing parade, stick around and grab a spot for when the parade leaves the park, it had cleared out a lot.
After the parade, there is some time to yourself, we walked over to Diagon Alley to check out the Christmas decorations.
The concert: TERRIBLE reserved seating. The seating was off to the far right (facing the stage), front row. So you could get a decent view right next to the fence line, but if you weren't there early, the angle to the stage would be terrible. There's also a big, bright tv just above it. We walked over at 6:40 (they said you would be allowed in at 6:45, but this isn't the case. I don't know when it opened). We took one look at the sight line from where we would sit and told the polite host that we were going to sit somewhere we could see the show. There were plenty of spots on the artificial turf directly in front of the stage at 6:45 (15 minutes before the show). That said - it was a cold night at Universal (55F), this was the first show, and I would imagine the crowds would be bigger over either Thanksgiving or Christmas week, so maybe arrive earlier for those times?
Concert itself was great if you like that sort of thing - a singing quartet came out at 6:45 to warm up the crowd, and they were good! The concert went until a little after 8, and the park closed.
Happy to answer any other questions, but that's all I can think of for now.
TLDR: We didn't think it was worth it tonight, because the reserved seating at Mannheim Steamroller was in a terrible location, and there was plenty of seating 20 minutes before the show where you could actually see everything.
For $50 each ($40 with AP discount), you get three things - the food and drink, the fenced-off parade viewing spot, and the fenced-off concert seating.
The meal: you get all-you-can-eat of coffee, cocoa, mini-desserts, some savory veggies and pita, and sparkling wine starting at 4:30pm at Cafe La Bomba. There was seating inside and outside, but not configured well inside for the party. Too many big tables, not enough two-tops or four-tops. Apparently this was open until 6:30. There were some first-day pains - not enough food coming out, not everything was labeled, ran out of forks on one side, but all of that is easily fixable. The cocoa, hot water, and coffee was in a weird spot that made it awkward for more than one person to try and fill a cup, and only one person at a time could put in milk or marshmallows or crushed peppermints. Separating this into two tables would be an easy fix. We didn't try the sparkling wine, so no idea if there was a limit or if it was decent. The desserts were full size cupcakes, and mini eclairs, cheesecakes, brownies, and a few other things. The savory option was carrots, peppers, greek olives, pita points, and maybe some other things?
The parade: The spot is great - it's right where the parade enters and exits the park. Not everyone will get front row viewing, however, so keep that in mind. Also, you can get the same view for free by just lining up on the other side of the street (in front of the horror make up show). There is also an AP viewing area, but that looked kind of packed early on. I'd stake out a spot outside early on - maybe 5:10pm (20 minutes before) at the latest. If you don't get front row for the outgoing parade, stick around and grab a spot for when the parade leaves the park, it had cleared out a lot.
After the parade, there is some time to yourself, we walked over to Diagon Alley to check out the Christmas decorations.
The concert: TERRIBLE reserved seating. The seating was off to the far right (facing the stage), front row. So you could get a decent view right next to the fence line, but if you weren't there early, the angle to the stage would be terrible. There's also a big, bright tv just above it. We walked over at 6:40 (they said you would be allowed in at 6:45, but this isn't the case. I don't know when it opened). We took one look at the sight line from where we would sit and told the polite host that we were going to sit somewhere we could see the show. There were plenty of spots on the artificial turf directly in front of the stage at 6:45 (15 minutes before the show). That said - it was a cold night at Universal (55F), this was the first show, and I would imagine the crowds would be bigger over either Thanksgiving or Christmas week, so maybe arrive earlier for those times?
Concert itself was great if you like that sort of thing - a singing quartet came out at 6:45 to warm up the crowd, and they were good! The concert went until a little after 8, and the park closed.
Happy to answer any other questions, but that's all I can think of for now.