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Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party Review
Several months before our last trip to Disney World, a friend mentioned a “dessert party” that they had enjoyed in Magic Kingdom. I was intrigued at two thoughts – tasty desserts and having a reserved location to watch the castle show and fireworks. I hate crowds, especially after pounding the pavement across a theme park all day. I quickly began to research this so-called party and found that it is called Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party.
Here’s the deal with this party… it takes place on the Tommorowland Terrace. By day, this area is a quick service restaurant. Each evening, the terrace is closed off to the public and set up for a reservation-only dessert event.
The price (as of February 2015): $28 for adults, $15 for kids
Important: Not only is a credit card required at the time of booking, this party is non-refundable and charged at the time of booking.
Handy parenting note: Strollers ARE permitted into this party, as long as they can be pulled up to the table and aren’t blocking a walking path. We were really worried about Landon holding up for this party because it’s a later-night event and the kid is usually in bed by 7 pm. Disney usually makes you park your stroller at pretty much every ride, show and restaurant, so we were pleasantly surprised when they let us in with the stroller, no questions asked. We had our City Mini Double that we rented from Kingdom Strollers. Landon laid down, snuggled under the blanket and slept through the entire castle show. :)
When to arrive: Your arrival time for the Dessert Party is going to depend on that night’s start time for the Wishes Spectacular. About a week before your party date, check out the published schedule from Disney for the start time for Wishes. I recommend re-checking on the day of your party as well – schedule changes do sometimes occur. You can start checking in at the Tomorrowland Terrace ONE HOUR before the Wishes Spectacular is scheduled to begin. We were expecting a huge line outside of the terrace and weren’t sure how early we should get in line. For our 10 pm Wishes show, we lined up at 8:45 pm. We were about 15th or so in line. Tickets for this party are hard to come by as there are only 100-200 spots available. At 9 pm, guests were able to start checking in with the hostess and were escorted to their tables.
We had a a table waiting for us and were told that the desserts were all self-serve and we could begin helping ourselves.
I have read some reviews from others stating that the buffets were ravaged early on and that they were not restocked.
We found the complete opposite to be true. Our desserts were restocked once, if not twice. The only wait that we had was for the coffee – for some reason it was not ready to go when the party started. After about a 10 minute wait, the coffee was flowing.
Our party had a whole bunch of desserts to choose from, including an ice cream sundae bar (not pictured) and hot beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate).
We were sat at our table by about 9:10 and had at least half an hour or so to eat our desserts before the castle projection show started.
Here’s a look at the desserts!
Location reigns supreme: Let’s talk about what kind of view you’re going to get by purchasing a ticket to this party. The Tomorrowland Terrace sits directly across from the side of the castle. I thought the location was great, and the reflection in the lake was gorgeous.
Once the show starts, guests are encouraged to leave their tables (though you can certainly stay!) and line the railing of the terrace for a front row view.
Fairy Fun: On most nights (nights that aren’t deemed too windy) the fireworks show is kicked off by Tinker Bell who appears at the top of the castle and “flies” down a zip line over the crowd. The zip line ends on TOP of the Tomorrowland Terrace building – which means that Tink flies pretty much right over your party!!
Here’s the view – not too shabby! (And wayyyy fewer people to bump elbows with than on Main Street!)
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the fireworks show –
After the show: After the last firework burst, we decided to get one more cup of coffee as we waited for the park crowds to disperse a little. We sat for about 10 or 15 minutes before a cast member came over and let us know (politely) that they were getting ready to close up and we would have to start gathering our things.
The kids were beat (Landon was still sound asleep, he seriously never even stirred!). We popped Lily into her side of the double stroller and by the time we walked back to our room at Bay Lake Tower, she was sound asleep too! Neither kid woke up as we put them to bed.
Would we recommend this party? Yes! We really loved it. We enjoyed the treats and the coffee and thought that it was worth it to have a reserved spot to relax and enjoy the show. The view was great and a bonus was getting to bring the stroller inside so that Landon could snooze.
Changes are coming: The Wishes Dessert Party is changing. Rolling out July 5th, the prices are increasing (almost DOUBLE). I’m not sure if the menu is staying the same. I could see us still paying to attend this party even with the increased pricing, but we’d probably make that our costliest meal that day. This year we ate dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian) and THEN hiked over to the dessert party. I think next time we’d skip a sit down dinner, grabbing cheaper snacks to hold us over until the dessert party.
Also worth noting: You will miss the 9 pm Main Street Electrical Parade if you attend this dessert party. (You can see the parade from afar from the party.) However, there is an 11 pm Main Street Electrical Parade you can catch, if you can stay up!
Here are a few videos I took of the castle show and the very beginning of the fireworks:
Other posts you might enjoy…
How to Ship Snacks (and More) to Your Disney Resort
10 Awesome Snacks to Eat in Magic Kingdom at Disney World
Disney World Tip: How to Make a MagicBand Child-Sized
