Is It Time Already?! OKW and POR, November 2013 - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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All caught up and loving it! I love that Sophia wore the ears the whole trip. I appreciate the tips on using FP+. I agree with you that it's a pain to now have to pin down times for meals and rides. Glad to hear, though, that the FP+ are more flexible than I originally thought. Sounds like you have a perfect spot to finally see Wishes. Hope the desserts are good! The photo of the kids on the monorail is wonderful. Sophia's reaction to "having" to see Bill Nye on vacation--
Sounds like things are going well. Sorry for all the noise. When we stayed at okw we didnt experience that.
Now that I've stay there, I can see where location makes a big difference at OKW. If I were in a room right next to the loops where the bus turns around, I wouldn't have been too thrilled...although mercifully the bus noise would be gone between midnight and 7am!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great day so far - I can't wait to hear more about the dessert party, as it sounds like you've got a great spot.
Good to know that you can change your Fastpass + if you don't need to use it, as I never realised that.
The only times I tried changing around FP+ were before the window opened, when I knew I wouldn't be able to use it at the chosen time. It was a CM I hear who was instructing some people ahead of us in line that they should just go through the regular line and then switch the FP+ to something else...which implies you should be able to change it even if the FP+ time has begun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you're having a great day! Love the pictures! Can't wait to hear about the dessert party!
It was a great day...a bit grumpy with the kids before the dessert party, but it picked up a bit after we finally sat down!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Sounds like a great time at Epcot! Can't wait to hear about your Dessert Party "dinner"
Nothing wrong with dessert for dinner when you're on vacation, right?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
All caught up and loving it! I love that Sophia wore the ears the whole trip. I appreciate the tips on using FP+. I agree with you that it's a pain to now have to pin down times for meals and rides. Glad to hear, though, that the FP+ are more flexible than I originally thought. Sounds like you have a perfect spot to finally see Wishes. Hope the desserts are good! The photo of the kids on the monorail is wonderful. Sophia's reaction to "having" to see Bill Nye on vacation--
I'm sure they're going to tweak FP+ as it continues to be rolled out to the masses, and I imagine they're looking at how ADRs are working as well. When it's not busy, I think FP+ and ADRs are adequate, because there is flexibility to change things around (even though psychologically you feel like you have to adhere to your original schedule!). When it's busy, though, it's a lot harder! Toward the end of our trip as the crowds grew exponentially, it was much harder to switch our FP+ times around because usually they were only available around 10 or 11 at night, which was usually later than we were expecting to be at the parks.
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I fell behind! Everything sounds like it's going pretty good so far. The FP+ makes me nervous, but glad you're finding it relatively easy. Can't wait to hear what you thought about the dessert party! I'm thinking of adding it on our next trip. DH & I have done it, but the boys haven't.
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I fell behind! Everything sounds like it's going pretty good so far. The FP+ makes me nervous, but glad you're finding it relatively easy. Can't wait to hear what you thought about the dessert party! I'm thinking of adding it on our next trip. DH & I have done it, but the boys haven't.
After the first day or two, I became really adept at changing FP+ times on the fly! Having MDE on your smartphone made it really really easy. I don't know how convenient the FP+ kiosks were, but hopefully they're not too difficult to get to if people don't have a smartphone.
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So great to have low even crowd levels that FastPasses aren't really necessary. Sounds like you had quite a bit of fun at Epcot, and then who can't enjoy desserts at MK.
Our table was in the front row, almost exactly halfway between the entrance area and the buffet area. Here was our view (sorry it's blurry, but it gives you an idea of how great our view was!):
Being at the dessert party was fun, but it was almost like a cattle call! People were rushing to get in line to get food like it was going out of style! We got in line, and we each filled a small plate with things we wanted.
I thought I had taken a picture at the buffet area, but I can't find it anywhere, so I guess I didn't.
We had things like tiramisu, creme brelee, mango shooter, cupcakes, cookies, fruit, cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, ice cream, milk, punch, water, and I think coffee. I was actually expecting hot chocolate, but there wasn't any.
We really didn't eat a lot of the dessert...I mean, we tried a lot of stuff, but we didn't go crazy like I saw some people did!
When we were seated, the CM showed us to our table and told us that we should expect people standing at the railings. Our fantastic table location wouldn't really do us any good unless we got up early to snag a spot at the railing. I already knew to expect it, and little by little, people started to fill up the railing space. Wouldn't you know it, the tallest man at the party stood right between us and the castle! There was no way we'd be able to stay seated and see ANY of the show, lol!
Before the spaces filled up at the railing, I got a few pics:
The Electrical Parade started going by a little after 8, and we could sort of see it. I love that parade. It's part of my childhood growing up "at" Disneyland. I miss it so much, and I was really happy to see it...more importantly, to hear it!
Once Wishes began, we all moved around trying to find a good spot. Evan was doing his best to get a good view (sorry, my phone takes terrible pics in the dark):
After the fireworks, we took a few more pics and then slowly headed out (Evan looks like he's done for the night, right?).
We had a good time at the party, but it's probably not something I'll do again...maybe I would, but I wouldn't be upset if I couldn't go back. I'm not a huge sweets person (but that didn't stop me from having two creme brulee's that night!). I went back a few times to get more food or drink, and things were empty or almost empty a lot of the times (I'm telling you, it was almost like a Black Friday sale...there was no pushing or shoving, but people were seriously inching up on you unable to wait until they could pile up their plates with food!). I think the CMs had a hard time keeping things stocked. For me, I did it for the convenience of having a seat and something to munch on while waiting for the fireworks, and it was very much worth it for that. The food was good, not fabulous but not terrible. I had enough to eat (although I could've done with one more creme brulee, but they were out ), and the kids did as well.
We meandered out, took some PhotoPass pics at the castle and on Main Street, and we didn't have to wait too long for a bus back to OKW.
Next: Really?! Again?!
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So great to have low even crowd levels that FastPasses aren't really necessary. Sounds like you had quite a bit of fun at Epcot, and then who can't enjoy desserts at MK.
The first 5-6 days, the crowds were really small (the crowd level was a 2 on most days).
The Dessert Party was fun, and I'm glad I did it. The way they serve smaller portions is perfect for me...I like to have a little taste of all of it!
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It's really too bad that everyone stands at the railing for the dessert party. If everyone stayed seated, everyone could see! What a view you would have had from that table. I guess I'll stick with the crowds on Main Street.
It's really too bad that everyone stands at the railing for the dessert party. If everyone stayed seated, everyone could see! What a view you would have had from that table. I guess I'll stick with the crowds on Main Street.
What I've read is that the tables are assigned in the order they make the reservations, so the earlier reservations get the better seats. I'm pretty sure I was one of the first ones to reserve because I remember checking every day starting late September until I saw it available (I think it was in the first or second week of October). I guess there's really no incentive to book early.
I think the people who sat in the back row probably would've had an obstructed view due to the overhang over the seating area, but I think most people would've been able to see fine if they had remained seated. Evan got bored soon after the fireworks started, but Sophia and I wanted to see the fireworks. We ended up walking all the way to the buffet area where there was some railing space open and watched it from there.
I wasn't joking when I said the tallest guy at the party stood at the railing in front of our table. He had to have been at least 6'6" and not a skinny guy either! And then another guy stood next to him, and if he had stood still, we would've been able to see some of the castle show, but it was like he had hot feet because he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot and swaying left and right (and not to the beat of the music if that's what you were thinking!). LOL, I love people watching, so it was actually sort of fun to watch the people who were blocking my view!
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I am glad you all enjoyed the Dessert Party. We have done it 3 times and will probably not do it again. The very first time we were told as we entered that we'd be expected to remain seated during Wishes. We had a table like you all right at the railing. Perfect! The next two times it was a free-for-all for the railing spots, and so where you were seated didn't matter. I enjoyed the desserts and the view but not enough to fight for a spot anymore.
Too bad with some of the attendees at the dessert party! At least you had a good time in general. Can't beat two creme brulees, as that would be me! Not a big sweets person either but those are one of my faves along with chocolate and various sorbets!
I went to a dessert party about four years ago and there wasn't any problems. Of course it was a sponsored event for this site's Decade of Dreams celebration for Fantasmic at DHS. Much more organized and civilized too, than what you encountered! No creme brulee for that! Only disappointment there. All Passporters for that event.
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Glad you had such low crowds at Epcot. Love the pictures from the MK, glad you tried the dessert party, we have done it several times and it definitely can be a cattle race for dessert and I agree the best seats really do not matter as everyone is standing up, we usually grab a spot and just enjoy but after a few years of going I think my girls are dessert partied out.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
There was no way we'd be able to stay seated and see ANY of the show, lol!
At least you had a good time in general. 
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