The Trip Full of Thanksgiving and Christmas 11/19-11/28 - Page 17 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Okay, here goes the not so fun part that I have been dreading writing. Not a lot of pictures, more words than anything. Sigh.
We walked around the Workd Showcase because Tim wanted to head over to Canada, but I don't remember why. We stopped at one point, I don't remember why, and clearly Caden got in the path of a duck, who just continued to walk right over his foot! He found that amusing.
We turned around after doing nothing in Canada and got in line for the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party. There were maybe 20 people in front of us. Soon there were a lot more behind us. After standing there for about 25 minutes they let us in.
If was mass chaos. People were running for tables and pushing people out of the way to get by. There was no order or control. We got to a table and it was so wobbly we couldn't set anything on it. So we tried another. Same problem. People near us asked a cast member and they said they didn't know how to fix it, so that was that. Okay then. At this point all of the tables were taken.
If was hard to tell if we were at a table with a good view. Tim went further down but all of the tables were taken and most of them were blocked with a six foot hedge. We at least didn't have that in front of us. We he brought me some champagne while I stayed holding our table, literally, so it wouldn't tip. I then had one of the boys bring me some desserts.
Tim's sticker fell off almost immediately. They don't stick at all really. It landed on a duck who caused quite a commotion at being assaulted by such a thing. A cast member came over to tell us not to mess with the ducks. Really? We had no intention of messing with them.
This is the picture I snapped while balancing the table with one hand.
And this was a plate of desserts the boys brought me. The cannoli was good.
The desserts were good, probably some of the best of the dessert parties. Caden, in particular, liked the baklava.
This was Caden's plate.
At this point it was an hour before Illuminations even began, so the boys and Tim sat on the ground and I sat across from the mom a ledge between a lovely lady from the UK and another lovely lady from China. The lady from China spoke some English and we chatted some, but the lady from the UK and I had a wonderful conversation.
Eventually Illuminations began so we stood up at the rail.
Only to have this view.
We couldn't see anything due to the boat launch awning. Nothing. Now, we were tired from this fabulous trip, so I probably was a bit more short tempered than I normally would be. But with everything that had already gone wrong I just got angry. Tim said he just wanted to leave. This was so disappointing.
We went to leave and a cast member asked us why, and I said because we couldn't see anything. She ushered us over to an area where we were now standing in front of people and there was a hedge that I had to stand on my tip toes to see over. Short girl problems. So now we are watching Illuminations from actually outside the party area, in front of people who are yelling at us for getting in their way. Think level 10 crowd mob scene. I was in tears. I knew the holiday tag on was coming and I also knew I couldn't enjoy any of it at this point.
Tim and I looked at each other and just left.
The holiday tag on playing as we trudged to the bus, tears streaming down my cheeks. This was not how I wanted our vacation to end.
While in the bus I shot off an email to guest services. I did hear back from them a few days later. They refunded my money, which is something they don't often do. They said they would talk to the team and train them properly. That isn't going to help the lack of tables with a view.
So from a person that does dessert parties and loves them, we will never do this one again. I know others have had a good time at it, but it was not for us. We will just watch it from our favorite spot in Japan.
Firsts this day: Via Napoli, Candlelight Processional. Voices of Liberty, Holiday Storytellers, the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert party, emailing guest relations
Next update: an early morning departure.
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Last edited by dutchdisneyfamily; 12-30-2015 at 10:48 AM..
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Oh my goodness, what a horrible end to your vacation. That is so disappointing about the IllumiNations dessert party. I am so sorry that happened to you, but at least Disney refunded the money. I think that's the least they could've done.
Sorry that the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party was such a fail! The time we did this party, several CMs lead us in so there was no wild stampede for tables. But even without that there really aren't enough good spots to watch the fireworks display from. Glad Disney refunded your money as they should.
OMG. How disappointing and not what you expect from WDW. Hope it didn't spoil your holiday too much.
It didn't ruin it. It was just such a disappointment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
I can't believe they'd have blocked views from a reserved viewing area! That's not acceptable!
I 100% agree!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh my goodness, what a horrible end to your vacation. That is so disappointing about the IllumiNations dessert party. I am so sorry that happened to you, but at least Disney refunded the money. I think that's the least they could've done.
It really was disappointing. I know Disney isn't perfect but this was ridiculous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sorry that the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party was such a fail! The time we did this party, several CMs lead us in so there was no wild stampede for tables. But even without that there really aren't enough good spots to watch the fireworks display from. Glad Disney refunded your money as they should.
It was definitely a fail. But I guess with how well the rest of the trip went, something had to fall short lol! At least I got my money back.
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I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I know how much you love the dessert parties. We've yet to do one, but I'll be sure not to add Illuminations to my list. I'm surprised Disney doesn't have the whole area with prime viewing. There has to be something they can do.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I know how much you love the dessert parties. We've yet to do one, but I'll be sure not to add Illuminations to my list. I'm surprised Disney doesn't have the whole area with prime viewing. There has to be something they can do.
I was surprised by that too. Seems crazy to charge $50 a person to not be able to see! When the kids get older I would definitely recommend it. Just not that one. Any other one but that one actually.
We were up really early the next morning. We ate some of our snacks for breakfast, checked the room a few times to make sure we didn't forget anything, and walked with our suitcases behind us to the front. Now Tim and I each had two. That was interesting. We were there at the check in desk at 4:45, which opens at 5 am, just so you know. Caden wasn't nearly as happy about leaving as this picture shows. I think he was so tired he was slap happy.
I was a bit worried about flying today because the Saturday after Thanksgiving is typically insane to fly. But we got our boarding passes printed quickly at the resort, didn't have long to wait for the bus that person caked us up at 5:30 am, and soon we were on our way.
We had no delay in our flight, which was good. We ate a more solid breakfast at Au Bon Pain, which was the only place open besides Starbucks, which had an insane line. Soon enough we were on our flight. It was a bit of a turbulent one, and can I just say how much I hate having to use airplane bathrooms? Anyway, we landed and saw how brown and cold and gross it was here. I was really missing Florida already.
It took quite awhile for our luggage to come. The intercom kept apologizing for the delay. Finally it started coming and ours was some of the last. And it was dirty! What is it with how filthy it comes back? Anyone ever notice that? It only seems to happen coming from Orlando. And my nice new Mickey suitcase had a huge scuff on it. Oh well, at least we had it all. I got the notice that my luggage had been searched when we got home. That happens to mine a lot.
Tim called the limo and soon they were there and we loaded up, completely exhausted.
As you can tell. But it was good to have someone else do the driving. My brother Facetimed us during that ride, so no sleeping happened.
When we got home, we unloaded everything, unpacked only the essential stuff, I got a load going in the laundry, then we took a nap. A long nap.
It took a few days to get everything unpacked, but when I unpacked these ornaments, I noticed the fingers were broken off. I emailed Disney about it, but never heard back.
Caden ate one of his snacks that night.
We all did actually. It was a magical vacation. I was sad to see it come to an end.
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I got me 3 of those, I might go broke on my next trip to WDW. 
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I am so sorry that happened to you, but at least Disney refunded the money. I think that's the least they could've done. 
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