Our Fall Disney World Trip - Part 2

By Monico Havier:

In the first part of this blog series I talked about the Toy Story third track and some of the many Star Wars experiences at Disney's Hollywood Studios. If you missed part 1 you can find it here. In this article I'll continue to share some of the new experiences from our fall Disney World trip including more of our adventures in Hollywood Studios. This article will also have a review of the Star Wars fireworks desert party before wrapping up our day.

Park Time

With our morning “must dos” out of the way it was time to do what we love most when we're in a Disney Park - wandering around with no real plan and seeing what happens.

Typical activities for us include: wandering down Hollywood Blvd, going on the Great Movie Ride, taking in the Muppets 3D show, experiencing the Tower of Terror & Rockin' Roller Coaster, eating, drinking and generally enjoying being in a theme park. Here’s a couple of pictures from the middle of my day:

For lunch we tried out the crazy looking “Royal Guard Burgers” at the Backlot Express. I’m not one to experiment with my hamburger buns but I found the pumpernickel bun to be better than I expected…

With lunch out of the way it was time to get back to exploring and using our fast passes as well as grabbing snacks along the way.

The Tune In Lounge

One of my favorite stops has always been the “Tune In Lounge” (that’s the fancy name for the bar where people wait for their table at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe). If you’re lucky enough to get a seat at the bar you can order food, get an adult beverage or engage in a conversation with whomever you sit next to. What’s always brought me back to the lounge is their specialty milkshakes.

With flavors like “Peanut Butter & Jelly” or “Red Velvet Cake” it’s fun to be adventurous with your milkshake choice. On our day in the park we learned that a brand new flavor, Key Lime Pie, was added to the menu that very morning. I love me some key lime so I promptly ordered one up. It turns out I was only the second person ever to order one and I have to say: it really tasted like some key lime pie, but in milkshake form! It may not be for everyone but I sure enjoyed it.

Of course this article is being put together months after my visit so the Key Lime Pie milkshake may not be available. If that's the case then be sure to ask your bartender/server if they have any special shakes that are not listed on their menu. You never know what they might have...

The Galactic Spectacular Desert Party

Authors Note: by the time this article is published the Star Wars desert party will be replaced by a holiday show (called: "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam!"). I'm guessing the holiday desert party will be similar but with the Star Wars theming replaced with holiday theming. If all goes well I expect the Star Wars themed desert party (and fireworks/multi-media show) to return early in 2017.

To make sure we could maximize our time (in other words - not standing in a great viewing spot for hours before the show) we booked the desert party and we couldn't have been happier we did. At $70/person it sounds expensive but I would say that the two hours spent indoors (with snacks, drinks, air conditioning and character interactions) was money well spent. And let's be honest - a single meal in any theme park (with adult drinks and a tip) can easily reach $70/person.

The food and drink sselection was better than I expected and the first thing I did after entering the reserved area was make friends with our bartender, Bryan. From that first drink to my last I knew I was getting my money's worth, if you know what I mean. 

With our selection of themed drinks secured we proceeded to sample everything from the numerous food stations. Overall it was a great selection with plenty of savory items - made with fruits, cheeses, olives and vegetables - to offset all the sweet deserts. What we had easily substituted for a full table service dinner.

But this little event is called a "Desert Party" for a reason. The number of choices for sweets was substantial with ice cream, toppings, brownies and large skillets of bread pudding.

One table that was extremely popular featured custom Nutella Sundaes complete with some liquid nitrogen looking treatment by a cast member:

And of course there were cupcakes. Here's a look some of the at the Darth Vader themed cupcakes:

If you're wondering the Darth Vader cupcakes were a chocolate cake with a peanut butter icing topped with a chocolate Darth Vader helmet. YUM!!!

My thoughts on the desert party

In my opinion there were two things I would consider negatives for this hard-ticket event. The first would be a complete lack of somewhere to sit. The tables were perfectly sized for four people to stand at but after walking around a theme park for a full day it sure would have been nice to sit for a few minutes. I've been to the Magic Kingdom's desert party a number of times and the seating is a big plus after a long day of theme park fun. Here's a quick look at the standing room area of the desert party:

It's my hope that this event is such a big success it gets a permanent home (complete with tables and chairs) when Star Wars Land opens.

The second negative (and this is a little bit of a stretch) was the character  interaction. There were two StormTroopers who were wandering about but they pretty much walked through the party area to go out into the park without stopping. I completely understand they aren't supposed to break character but stopping for a picture or two doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. In fact - there are enough paying guests to cover the cast member expense of having a special guest character that makes the rounds during the party. Here's the only shot I got of a stormtrooper as he walked through the party (and never stopped for an interaction with guests):

I can completely understand why Chewbacca isn't wandering around the desert party (adult drinks and messy deserts are probably difficult to wash out of Wookie hair) but I think this is an opportunity for a very big improvement. Again - it's my hope that the Star Wars Desert Party is successful enough that it gets a permanent home somewhere inside Star Wars Land. If it does get a real location then they can work out the minor issues I had and add in some real character interactions to totally "plus" the guest experience.

Those are some pretty minor gripes and they in no way interfered with my enjoyment. We had a lot of fun eating, drinking and having conversations with other desert party attendees until it was time to walk to our "reserved" seating.

The Fireworks Spectacular

At the appropriate time we were escorted (as a group) to our fireworks viewing area. The roped-off section for party attendees was pretty awesome and featured with a separate section for kids (located in front of the section for adults) and there was even a table where bottled water was available. Pretty classy!

A quick note for people who are expecting to see a bunch of cool pictures here - if there's one thing I've learned over the years it's that you can't really enjoy a live event when you're watching it on the back of your camera (or worse - through a small view finder). I've photographed lots of fireworks in my life, including "Wishes" at the Magic Kingdom, but it's just not the same as putting your camera away and using your eyes to take it all in. In future articles I'll be happy to talk about photographing fireworks - along with some of my personal photographic philosophies - but for this article you'll have to use your imagination as I tell you how it was for me.

Seeing fireworks in Hollywood Studios is something brand new to me. I've heard from some very good friends that it's a very different experience than a Magic Kingdom fireworks show. The reason, I'm told, is because the fireworks are launched from a location much closer to the park than the Magic Kingdom uses. I’m not sure if that's true or not but I can say that I felt incredibly immersed in the show. 

I'm a long-time Star Wars fan and I can remember the excitement of seeing that first movie back in 1977 (and wanting to get right back in line to see it again when the closing credits ended). Whenever those opening notes of the Star Wars music play I’m 7 years old all over again and this show did exactly that for me. Show elements were everywhere and not just where you expect them to be. Deb felt that the reserved location could have been centered better on the Great Movie Ride building but I really didn't mind.

The entire show is (pardon the obvious Disney pun) spectacular! There are fireworks, pyrotechnics, lasers, lighting effects and some great projection on the buildings. Without a doubt this is a perfect marriage of music and effects. I really can't say enough positive things about the entire show.

When the show ended pretty much everyone around me was either clapping and cheering or just saying “wow” out loud. For a fireworks show it ROCKED!

Wrapping up the party

To finish the desert party every guest received a souvenir Chewbacca mug (a $14 value if you’re buying one at a popcorn stand) that I can’t imagine actually using once we get home - much like the BB-8 souvenir mug it’s now sitting next to. Here's a look at my souvenir mug (photographed in my product photography studio after our trip):

We were also offered bottled water "to go" which was certainly appreciated. In typical Disney fashion we were thanked for coming by cast members and, if you ask me, that's a particularly great way to end any event.

So my personal review of the Galactic Desert Party is super positive. If I’m looking at it from a value standpoint I can honestly say that I ate enough food and consumed enough adult beverages to offset the $70 price (if I’m using theme park pricing as a reference). Getting a cool looking mug and a reserved viewing location certainly made it all worth it to me. Long story short - I'd totally do it again!

Ending our day

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series our day began without a good night's sleep so we ended our Hollywood Studios day as soon as the fireworks show concluded. Disney's Hollywood Studios has never been my favorite park in Disney World but I feel like it's made some really big improvements since the last we time visited. Of the four parks Hollywood Studios used to be tied with Animal Kingdom as my least favorite - but that never meant I didn't love either of those parks. I just feel like they're both incomplete and have a ton of potential. I can't wait to see how Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land turn this park into something really special. But until then they've done a nice job of hiding the fact that it's a total work in progress. We really enjoyed ourselves at Disney's Hollywood Studios and hope that these first two articles showed how much fun we had. If you only have a few days in Disney World I'd skip this park in favor of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. But if you are visiting for a week then it's totally worth a visit. If you're a Star Wars fan then it's not to be missed - especially when the holiday fireworks show ends and the Galactic Spectacular (hopefully) returns.

For part 3 I'll be sharing stories (and pictures) from Disney Springs and the Halloween Party.

Monico Havier