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Fantasmic Dessert Party - A Disneyland Special Event Review
by Carolyn Brooke-Millward

On our first visit to Disneyland in California last November, we wanted to do as much as we could to make this a very special and memorable week.

Therefore, we decided to book tickets for the Fantasmic Dessert Party for one of the evenings. Fantasmic is my husband's absolute favorite show at Walt Disney World, and we were really excited to be able to see the show done in a different way on a different coast! On our first full day in Anaheim, we were up bright and early, and walked to the Disneyland Park from our hotel across the road. We paused at the ticket kiosks to collect our Fantasmic Dessert party tickets for later, as I only had an emailed confirmation of the booking. We were told that we didn't need actual tickets, and the email would do.

We then spent a wonderful day exploring the park, including checking with a Cast Member near New Orleans's Square at one point to learn when and where we would need to check in for the party. I again checked with him that it was okay to use an email to access the party, and that we wouldn't need physical tickets. He confirmed that this was indeed acceptable.

At 7:45 pm it was time for us to check in and choose our seats, so we made our way to the podium in front of the lake and joined quite a long queue. Fortunately, this queue moved quite quickly, and we were soon at the front. We were asked for our tickets, and I explained that I had been told twice today by different Cast Members that I only needed my confirmation email. However, I was then told that I should have been issued with proper tickets this morning! I grumped about this a bit, as I had been led to believe they were not necessary, and the Cast Member eventually accepted the situation, and let us choose our seats for the show. There were a couple of roped-off areas with maybe 30 seats in each, and we chose a couple of seats in the center section, in the third row. We were told people seated in front of us were not allowed to stand, so we would have a good view. We now had about 45 minutes before we needed to be back at the viewing area, so we decided a quick ride on the nearby Pirates of the Caribbean would work! It was showing as a 15 minute wait, so we happily joined the queue; however, it took us 30 minutes to get through, as the line was moving really slowly, and when we left the ride we had to speed-walk the short distance back to Fantasmic to take our seats. We were seated by 8:50 pm, and were given some coffee and cans of Sprite, and told we could order as much as we wanted of any drinks available.

We were then given quite a large plastic box each, which was our Dessert Platter. There were loads of tiny, bite-size desserts in each box. We each got a lemon tart, coconut swirl, chocolate lava cake, cheesecake, a cookie with jam in the middle and chocolate coating, two chocolate truffles, a small bunch of grapes, two packets of crackers, three mini Babybel cheeses, and a small slab of both Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses. The show began at 9:00 pm, and we nibbled our way through as much of the platters as we could! Hubby finished all of his, but I had to take the cheese and crackers back to the hotel with me, as I couldn't manage it all, (we had eaten dinner about four hours earlier and were still a bit full!). We got more coffee at one point, and thoroughly enjoyed the show – it was really lovely. Hubby enjoyed this version so much that he had tears in his eyes at the end! I cry at any Disney show, so it was no surprise that I was blubbering by the end. We thought that the Dessert Party was well worth the money, the desserts were gorgeous and generous, it was really nice having a 'special' roped off area, and we appreciated the seats too. The Cast Members were incredibly attentive, and if you glanced up and caught someone's eye, they immediately came over to offer you more drinks! (The cost for this event was $56 each, by the way).

The seating area is a nice size, but they do cram a lot of seats into each area, so there isn't a lot of elbow room! It was slightly difficult to balance the big plastic box of desserts on one's knees, and deal with coffee and cold drinks at the same time, as there is not a lot of spare space. However, it is understandable that Disney would want to maximize capacity, and to be fair we had a fantastic view as no-one was standing up in front of us. There were notices up saying that tonight's show was sold out, but we had about half a dozen empty seats in our section – not sure whether that was just folk that had bought tickets and not turned up for some reason, or whether they keep a few seats back in case the President decides to make an unannounced visit at some point!

About 10 minutes after Fantasmic ended, we turned our chairs around and watched the "Dreams Come True" fireworks show that started behind us. When I originally called the Disney Holiday Company in the UK to book the Fantasmic Dessert Package, the Cast Member had told me that we could do this, and it is a nice little perk that they allow you to stay in your seats for this.

We were really tired at the end of the fireworks, having been in the park for 14 hours non-stop, so we bundled up my leftover cheese and crackers and made our weary way back to the hotel. We had absolutely loved this experience though, and would definitely do it again on any future visit, (although it doesn't seem to be being offered in the same way at the moment.)

Added to PassPorter's Article Collection on 04-29-2015 05:04 AM

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