The buffet dessert format is very similar to the "normal" Magic Kingdom dessert parties, but the ticket tiers, prices and times are different. So for the sake of simplicity, this review will cover the Not-So-Spooky Dessert Party only.
The Not-So-Spooky Dessert Party is NOT included in the price of attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP). You will first need to purchase a Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) ticket for the night that you want to attend. After you've purchased your MNSSHP ticket, then you can make reservations and pre-pay for the Not-So-Spooky Dessert Party. Flipping that around — buying a dessert party ticket first does NOT automatically get you into Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) either.
To make things slightly more complicated — there's two seating "tiers" or versions of the Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party. So, once you've purchased your Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) ticket and then if you want to purchase a ticket for the dessert party, you'll have two choices...
The Plaza Garden Viewing Option
All of the food and beverages you see posted with my review here are included with both versions… so you have access to all of that. On the night that I attended the Plaza Garden Viewing Option, the dessert party started 90 minutes before the fireworks. Guests at this version of the dessert party are seated in a covered mid-floor area directly across from the Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant's food ordering lines (which are closed for the dessert party event).This area has direct access to the restrooms, is quite large (so you don't feel too confined, even when the event is sold out), has good lighting, and might, sometimes, have mechanical air flow (there's vents in the the ceiling, gently moving air around that just might a few degrees lower than the temperature outdoors — calling it air-conditioning would be a stretch — but it's something).
After you check-in, a seating attended will take you to a specific table — which will be your table for the duration of the event. (This is the "Plaza Garden Viewing" seating area for the dessert party portion of the event.)
There's no view of the fireworks or castle from this seated dessert party location. When it's time for the fireworks to start, you'll be guided to a reserved and gated viewing area outside called the "Plaza Garden" (you can't bring food or drinks with you from the dessert party). The area is ONLY for Disney's Not-So-Spooky Dessert Party guests that have purchased the Plaza Garden Viewing Option. It is quite large and gives all the dessert party guests an opportunity to stand far enough apart where you can swing your arms around and not hit anyone else. The view from this location is a little off center from the castle — but you can totally see everything during the Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks — the castle projections, the lasers and lights, the normal, really high, and parameter fireworks are all visible from this location.
So, what kind of view of the castle do you get from the Plaza Garden Viewing area at Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party? A pretty great unobstructed view actually. It's a little off-center, and those light poles are everywhere (but you're going to have those out in the general guest area as well).
Once the fireworks are over, there's no going back to the seated dessert party location. The fireworks are basically the end of the Plaza Garden Viewing Dessert Party event. Truth be told — I think they actually stop serving desserts and drinks once the fireworks start, so you could stay in that area and miss the fireworks if you want — but you won't be able to get more food or beverages at that point.
The Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option
You'll have access to all the same food and beverage options that are posted with my review here. One of the differences though, is the start time. The Tomorrowland Terrace version of the dessert party starts 60 minutes before the fireworks (not 90 minutes like the Plaza Garden option) — and it does cost 20-25% more than the Plaza Garden option.So what's different? The main difference is that your table and chairs are located on the Tomorrowland Terrace balcony, which has a direct line of sight to the castle and all the fireworks. The lighting is a little dimmer, the bathrooms are a little farther away, but you don't have to get up and go anywhere to see the Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks. You can stay in your seats and watch the fireworks. However — there's a 50/50 chance people around you will get up and stand near the balcony railing anyway — so at most, you'll have to stand up and walk like, 10 steps to see the fireworks.
This is the view from the "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing” version of Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party (the slightly more expensive version). Some nights, guests stay in their seats, some nights, they stand up against the rails when the fireworks start. Either way, there's enough room for everyone to be no more that "one person deep"... if you move around slightly.
The Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option version does tend to sell out first — mostly because there's not quite as much seating capacity on the balcony. But is it really 20-25% better??? That all depends on what you're looking for. If watching the fireworks while having a dedicated chair that's just for you nearby is important — the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option is about the only way I know how to insure that's the case.
It is really nice just being able to sit there and continue drinking sparkling wine while watching the fireworks — and you should get a "last call". If you load up a plate with desserts and top of your glass — you could easily stay seated in the dessert party area for 5 or 10 minutes after the fireworks, let the crowds subside a bit, and enjoy your last bites and sips.
While it is definitely a more premium experience — I actually like the Plaza Garden fireworks viewing area better this time of the year. Let's face it — August through October is just plain hot in Florida. While the Tomorrowland Terrace balcony does have the same mechanical air movement system that the Plaza Garden dessert party area does — if there's any breeze at all… it's going to be cooler down in the open garden area.
But … It's Raining
What happens when it rains? Well, that's too bad — but… the dessert party portion of the event will still go on and if you have a reservation, you're expected to be there. There's not going to be an easy "refund" path available if it rains. If lightning and high winds are within a few mile radius — they'll cancel or postpone the fireworks entirely. If it's just a light rain — they may start the fireworks anyway. That's a case where the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option guests have an advantage — they're under a covered balcony the whole time. The "Plaza Garden Viewing" dessert party guests will still have to go out to the garden area, in the rain, if they want to watch the show.Checking In
There's not much to show here... I've seen a check-in podium set up in a couple different places. It's safe to say, if you head on over to Tomorrowland Terrace either 60 or 90 minutes before the fireworks start, there will be several cast members standing around a podium checking guests in.
Hey, where's everyone going? Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party is held at the Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant, which is used more like "flex dining space" these days, and not so much as a restaurant.
Everyone in your party will get a wristband — one color for the Plaza Garden Viewing Option and another color for the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option — and then you'll be escorted to your table for the event.
Once seated, you can actually come and go from the area… your wristband is all that's needed to get back in. But honestly, there's not much time to (for example) go on a ride or do anything other than start enjoying your desserts.
The Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Buffet
The buffet itself is a pretty great set up. All of the photos that are part of this article are from the "Plaza Garden Viewing Option" version of the dessert party.
All of the buffet photos we're showing here were taken at the "Plaza Garden Viewing" version of the dessert party. There's a "warm dessert station" in the center and the two buffet tables to the left and to the right of the center table, have the same desserts on them — so it's a "mirror" setup.
The "Tomorrowland Terrace" version balcony guests have their own buffet setup over on the balcony, and it's exactly the same as everything shown here — except that it's not a "mirrored" set up. This way, balcony guests don't have to walk up into the other buffet area to get desserts or drinks.
This balcony seating area is ONLY for "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing" versions of this event. The pricing to sit in this section is a little higher than the "Plaza Garden Viewing" version. You get all the same desserts and beverages, AND you can stay seated right here on the balcony. It offers a unique view of all the fireworks and the castle.
The Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant isn't really used much anymore so there's plenty of space to put up a nice "mirrored" buffet line. There's a featured, warm dessert in the center — but then the left and right sides leading out from the center are exactly the same on both sides. This keeps any lines that might form at the buffet relatively small.
The mirror, or "same on both sides of the center" station setup helps keep the lines to a minimum for most of the night. Since everything is the same on the right and the left of the center station, just walk-up to where ever there's no people!
It more or less works like any other Disney buffet, pick up a plate and silverware on one end and work your way toward the center. Really though, guests seem to stagger in rather than being all lined up for a "buffet rope drop" effect — so you can pretty much just walk up to the table that has the dessert or fruit or whatever you want without waiting in a "line" per say.
The buffet line at Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Partyworks works just like a buffet line at any of the Disney restaurants. At the far left and right side of the main buffet, there's plates and silverware. Guests can pick up a plate and work their way to the center, where there's a featured "warm dessert item" that both sides can access. The left and right sides feature the same dessert items.
There's a smaller side table (if you're looking at the buffet, the side table is to the right), which has a couple kinds of cookies and a couple of duplicate desserts from the main line. The main attraction here though is that this is a "cookie decorating station" where a cast member can help smaller guests decorate their own cookies with colored icing and sprinkles, etc.
This is the cookie decorating table. There's some cookies on the taller table and some icing and sprinkles on the lower table. I believe, guests... (especially short young guests), are encouraged to ice and decorate their own cookies. This cast member was great by the way... (sorry I didn't get a shot of your nametag). She was totally "on" and interacting with everyone for the whole event.
On the other side of the main buffet line (to the left, if you're looking at the buffet) is the "adult" beverage station. Here you'll find a couple of wines, a couple of sparkling wines, and a couple of beers. Traditional wine glasses, flutes, and pint sized "glass" glasses are used for the adult beverages. There's usually a couple that are pre-poured and ready to take, but as things slow down a bit, the cast member tends to "pour when you ask for something" to help keep the beverages cool.
Here's a look at the "adult" beverage station at Disney's Not-So-Spooky Dessert Party. There were six wine, sparkling wine and beer options on the night I attended. Wine is served in wine glasses, the sparkling wine is served in long stem glass flutes, and the beer is served in pint glasses.
There's a couple additional beverage stations positioned here and there — those would be the "not necessarily adult" beverage stations. One is for Sparkling Apple Cider served in blue plastic flutes (which is a really cool way to include children in the "getting something special to drink" category — if the adults are all drinking out of clear glass flutes).
There's many beverage options at the party. Here's a look at the Sparkling Apple Cider station. Kids love this station (and some adults too I suppose), because they can drink out of a blue plastic flute. If any of the adults in the party are drinking wine, they're drinking out of a clear glass flute.
There's also a coffee and tea station and then a double-sized table with milk, water, tea, and juice dispensers and some short-pint style glasses.
There's quite a few juice options at the party. From left to right there's Milk, Water, Tea, Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade, and POG Juice. (There's quite a few Disney POG Juice fans out there.)
Most of the desserts have little name tags... or they "should" have little name tags, is more like it. On the night I attended, about half the items didn't have little name tags, because (I was told anyway) that they just changed up some of the dessert items and the name tags weren't ready yet.
Here's a look at some of the dessert items name tags. In cases where something like "Firehouse Doughnuts" might not be self-explanatory — there's a larger description of what those are.
The cast members did have a complete description of what all the unnamed desserts were — but I was drinking and can't remember. All of the variations they could put out there are very similar in scope though… maybe there's a caramel mousse in something one night, and it's a chocolate mousse another night — small changes like that.
I'm guessing, the adult beverages might change a little bit from night to night too — although I've almost always seen the Blue Moon Belgian White Beer available since they started offering adult beverages at these parties. There's a red and a white wine and a couple of sparkling wines (one dry and one sweet) — that all tend to be day wines or cupcake wines (i.e. this isn't a vertical tasting with a sommelier).
The Lady of Spain Brut (a Spanish sparkling Cava) is served in the fluted glass along with the 2022 Saracco Moscato. The Saracco is probably $15 per bottle at your local store and $40 at a Disney restaurant, so if you're trying to drink your money's worth at the party — the Saracco is the way to go.
Another Quick Look at the Seating
The Plaza Garden Viewing Option dessert party guests will be seated in an area that's sort of a half-floor above the rest of the Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant's seating. This area is large and it's reserved for Plaza Garden Viewing guests only.
There's probably room for around 150-175 guests in this area. The tables are moderately spaced... that is to say, I didn't feel "too" close to those guests sitting next to me. While more guests did show up right about mid-way through the event, it didn't really feel crowded. (This is the "Plaza Garden Viewing" seating area for the dessert party portion of the event.)
There's plenty of light up in this section and there's a (very) slight mechanical breeze wafting around. I personally didn't feel too "packed in". I've been at Disney restaurants where the seating is closer together than this — but I've also been in restaurants where the tables are a little more spread out. It's pretty much like most counter service level locations and guests are getting up and down regularly to go get desserts.
There's acutally a good amount of light in this seating area, so it's not spooky at all. (This is the "Plaza Garden Viewing" seating area for the dessert party portion of the event.)
Things are a little tighter a half-floor down on the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option balcony… not because the tables are closer together, but because there's support columns holding up the ceiling.
Because of the support columns, there's a little less seating in this area (which might explain why the "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing" version of the dessert party sells out first. The tables here are also "reserved". A seating attendant will take you directly to your table after you check in.
The dessert and beverage stations are duplicated down here, so Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing guests do not have to go up into the other area to get desserts. As you can see from the photo above, there's fewer tables and chairs down here overall — which is why this version tends to sell out before the other version does.
All of the tables and chairs down here offer a great view, but the "prime" tables are the ones right out on the very edge of the balcony. There's no way to request those though — it's all pre-determined by when you booked the dessert party.
The exclusive balcony seating area is resrved for guests that purchased the "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing" version of the Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party.
Show Me Some Desserts!
Now we can get into the best part of a Disney dessert party — the desserts! I've found there's (more or less) two kinds of dessert parties (and this is an unofficial editorial description on my part — you'll never hear Disney refer to them this way). There's the high-dollar, custom menu kind of dessert parties (those are getting harder and harder to find unless you're booking a large private event) and then there's the "nightly" scheduled dessert parties — and this is definitely the second option.
All the little Ghost Cups are waiting to be eaten at Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party.
The nightly, scheduled party desserts are very much like the desserts you'll find at a Disney buffet-style restaurant — small cakes, layered mousses and puddings, couple of cookies, one or two warm "featured" or highlight desserts and some fresh cut fruit, cheese and bread pieces. At Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party — I counted around 10 desserts, two cookies, the cut fruit, cheese and bread selection, and one warm highlight dessert.
But first things first — I'm always a little dehydrated by the time I get to a dessert party, so let's start with a sparkling glass of "Lady of Spain Brut/Cava".
Orange chairs, purple skies, and a bottomless, golden glass full of Lady of Spain Brut, in the middle of the Happiest Place on Earth — it doesn't get any more magical than this! Honestly though, just kicking back, cooling off, and drinking booze on a Disney patio with the sights and sounds of MNSSHP going on all around you — is part of the fun in experiencing the Not So Spooky Dessert Party.
I sampled all the desserts on the night I attended and they were all really good… just as good as at any other full meal buffet-style restaurant on Disney property. There wasn't anything that stood out as being particularly bad or super amazing… they were all just really nice desserts. Here's one of the layered cups, a Devil's Chocolate Pudding Cup.
The Devil's Chocolate Pudding cup combines a layer of chocolate crumbles with a milk chocolate mousse and a caramel mousse with a couple of orange crispy pearls.
The Chocolate Dipped Strawberries seem to be at many of the Disney dessert parties — and it's a good thing because I really enjoy them.
The Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (for me anyway) are one of the desserts I look forward to at any of the Disney Dessert Parties. It's a great flavor combo and they always use juicy, "two-bite" sized strawberries to dip in that chocolate. They also have green "white chocolate" drizzle, which is the Halloween design twist.
One thing that's not at most of the dessert parties are these Firehouse Doughnuts. They're coated in sugar and cinnamon and use ricotta cheese in the batter to provide lift (rather than using yeast, like with most doughnuts). These are great, when they're hot. If they've been sitting there for a while… they're pretty much like any other doughnut.
I have a certain amount of empathy for these poor Firehouse Doughnuts. So the Firehouse Doughnut is made with Ricotta (a whole milk cheese), and because the ricotta adds fluff and lift, there's no need for yeast in the dough. They're a quick Doughnut to make and have a mild sweet flavor that pairs well with just about everything. But — you have to eat them fresh... like "just" out of the deep fry oil fresh. So if you get a couple "right" as they're bringing them out, they're great.
The Key Lime Tart was really neat because the "key lime" filling was purple and not lime green! The tart flavors and graham cracker crust was spot-on for a key lime pie, and it offered a nice contrast to the other chocolate mousse type desserts.
The Key Lime Tart was really cool because instead of being lime green, the key lime filling was purple!!! I really liked this dessert cup for the contrast in flavor that it brought to the party. Many of the items used chocolate in one form or another, and the key lime cup offered a tangy, sweet and creamy change of pace.
The little Spice Cake Cubes might have been pumpkin spice… or maybe carrot-cake spice… I couldn't really tell. Those two flavor profiles are somewhat similar — since there wasn't any actual pumpkin or carrot in the cake. It was very pretty and had two kinds of icing — the buttercream on top and a light, fluffy cream cheese in the middle.
The cute little pumpkin spice (or maybe carrot spiced) cake had a nice cream cheese layer in the middle with green and purple butter cream on top. The heat of the night also caused this one to deflate and slide around a bit, but — at room temperature, the cream cheese and butter cream are going to have more flavor than if they were chilled. All things being equal, I'll take this tasty sloppy cake over a pretty tasteless cake any day!
Another favorite flavor turned out to be this Butterscotch Pudding cup. It really had a decent Butterscotch flavor — but the warm night kind of took a toll on the constancy of the pudding itself. Still though… I had a couple of these.
The heat (it was still 90°F out at 10pm), altered the pudding state of this little cup. It was more like butterscotch heavy cream — but honestly, that wasn't a bad thing. I still really liked the flavor. Much like the Key Lime Tart, the butterscotch flavor was a break from the mostly chocolate line-up.
The Chocolate Cake Push Pops are always fun — fun to eat, and fun to watch other people eat them. I think most people go one of two ways — they try and do a half push and eat just the top layer of icing and cake… and then you've got the "all at once / big mouthful" guests.
The Chocolate Cake Push Pops (also did not have a name tag) follow a similar format to many of the other desserts at the party. Chocolate cake layered with a filling (in this case, butter cream), and a couple of crispy pearls on top. What made this different was the way you ate them. You pretty much just have to stick one end in your mouth and push the cake on in.
The only really Halloween "decorated" dessert on the buffet was this Chocolate Ghost Cup — and it was quite good, combining multiple textures and levels of chocolatey goodness. Plus they're cute. I had one on my table the whole night, just looking at all the desserts I was eating.
The Chocolate Ghost Cup is a layered dessert that starts with a graham cracker style crumble on the bottom, followed by a dark(ish) chocolate pudding, some milk and dark chocolate crispy pearls, a layer of milk chocolate mousse, a marshmallow meringue... and two candy eyes naturally.
There's a couple more that I didn't cover here, so be sure to check out the photo gallery page to see them all.
Click Here to check out the Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party photo gallery page.
There's usually one warm "feature" dessert station at this level of dessert party. On the night I visited it was a Caramel Apple Crepe that they were making regularly in the back kitchen, and bringing a couple of plates out at a time. Once on the buffet line, a cast member would add the toppings and caramel, etc — and guests could grab one as they were ready.
The (almost) made to order, warm, "feature" dessert of the night was this Caramel Apple Crepe. The table in the center of the main buffet line always had a cast member in place making these throughout the night.
I like crepes, but this one didn't really feel like a "highlight" dessert to me. The cooked apples were a little inconsistent, some under-baked, some over-baked — and it all had a surprisingly monotonous flavor profile. The toasted pecan crumble was crushed so fine that it didn't really add much crunch or pecan flavor. Crepes can be a really subtle dessert item, I'm not sure the 90°F, buffet-style setting is the best environment to experience a crepe — especially with so many other strong flavors and easy to eat items around.
The Caramel Apple Crepe featured a folded crepe with caramel apples inside the folds... then the whole thing is topped with caramel drizzle and toasted pecans. The name tag does mention something about "sweet cream"... I'm not sure I ever saw or tasted any of that... unless it's folded into the crepe with the apples? Did I mention that I polished off two bottles of sparkling wine?
The cast member over at the cookie decorating cart was busy entertaining guests all night long and interacted with children really well. Once there wasn't anyone over there, I went to the station and she was nice enough to decorate a sugar cookie like Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. for me.
Poor little melting cookie "Monster" Mike Wazowski — he looked great, for about 30 seconds — but because it was still 90°F out at 10pm, he started running a bit. Somewhere under all that royal icing is a sugar cookie.
It was soooooo hot that night though — poor Mike and the royal icing he was made out of didn't last long in that heat. Still though, she did a great job and it was a fun cookie station visit!
I ended my dessert party by trying some of the fresh cut fruit, cheese and crispy bread slices.
There's a couple different kinds of fresh fruit on the buffet line. Pictured here are a couple different varieties of grapes, some cantaloupe and pineapple cubes, and a couple of strawberries.
Just having some of the juicy and slightly acidic fruit pieces along with some savory cheese helps take off that sugar buzz from trying one (or more) of everything on the dessert buffet.
A really nice addition to the dessert buffet line is a couple of cubed cheeses and some crispy bread. I particularly liked the cripsy olive bread (pictured here) because it was a little salty. The savory flavor and textures are totally different than all the other desserts. Honestly, I started eating those cripsy olive bread pieces like they were chips!
After polishing off what must amount to at least one bottle of the Lady of Spain, I discovered that I could mix my own POG Mimosas! (POG Juice is a combination of Passion fruit, Orange, and Grapefruit juice — and while Disney didn't create this drink, they have certainly popularized it over the years.) So before leaving the food and beverage section of my review — I just wanted to put that unofficial "make your own POG Mimosa" idea out there. :)
Hummmm... a sparkling Cava and POG Juice — hey ghosty, are you thikning what I'm thinking??? If we mix them both together... we'll have a POG Mimosa!
The Fireworks
Since I was attended the "Plaza Garden Viewing" version of the party that night, I would have to leave the dessert party portion at some point and walk down to the reserved viewing location — if I wanted to see the fireworks. Just as a reminder — guests that attended the other version of the party (the "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing" version), get to stay in their seats and keep eating and drinking.Nobody really came over and said "hey you need to leave this seating area, the fireworks are going to start soon" — so I didn't feel rushed at all. Honestly, I kind of had my fill of desserts and sparkling wine at that point and was ready to go watch the show. Just from looking at my watch, there was about 10 minutes until the posted fireworks time.
As I gathered my things and started leaving the area I noticed several cast members with flashlight wands were available to guide dessert party guests down to the reserved fireworks viewing area.
In this photo of the Plaza Garden Fireworks Viewing area, you can see the iron gates all along the far side of the railing. These are closed off two hours before the fireworks begin and the entire area is cleared just for dessert party guests.
Make sure you keep your dessert party wristband on — they will check before allowing guests to pass into the protected "Plaza Garden Viewing" area. There's actually quite a bit of land protected by the low iron gates — and it's all for dessert party guests. I was among the last dozen or so guests to leave the party and arrive at this area, so I was a little worried it might be too crowded. But I was able to move around freely and pick a spot where I wanted to stand.
This slightly wider photo of the Plaza Garden Viewing area at Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party is interesting because it shows a bit more of the space available inside the area. There's enough room to "be" somewhere and swing your arms around without hitting another guest. You won't get that outside this area. Just beyond the low iron gate is a crowd of "packed-in-tight" guests.
Pretty soon, the lights dimmed and the Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks began — and it's a great spot to watch the show!
Oooooo... purple and orange!
While the view is a little obstructed by lighting poles — those are actually a problem for everyone and not just guests standing in this area. But once the show began, I didn't really notice the light poles that much. You could easily see the projection mapping and low level laser and lighting effects on the castle.
Here's some of the taller fireworks.
You could also see all the high fireworks and the "perimeter" fireworks (there's a couple of fireworks that are special to the Not-So-Spooky Fireworks show that are launched on both sides of the castle — really lighting up the sky). I do seem to remember the "perimeter" fireworks being a little more numerous and the perimeter being wider in years past — but it's still pretty cool.
The "perimeter" fireworks (from say, more than 10 years ago) used to be a little more spread out around the castle. Now though... that pink firework on the left hand side of this photo is about as wide as they get.
The really huge, amazing, super nice thing about standing here though — is that you don't feel packed in like canned sardines. All the other park guests in the "general courtyard / end of Main Street" area directly in front of the castle must have spent some time waiting to get those spots — but just looking past our protective gate — there were tons and tons of people standing shoulder to shoulder in that courtyard.
It was really nice and actually relaxing to know I could swing my arms around (if I wanted to) and not hit another person or be in someone else's viewing path. It's a great way to enjoy the fireworks.
Here's a "grand finale" photo of the fireworks from the "Plaza Garden Viewing” version of Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party.
Meanwhile, over at the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing area — just in case you were wondering what the fireworks look like from over in the premium seated area — it's a little less "centered" but the view is still nicely framed by some of the trees and a little reflecting pool of water in front of the castle.
If you're looking at the castle and follow the railing and slide down to your left (still inside the private "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing" area — you'll get a great view of the castle — framed up with trees and hills and a little reflection pond as well.
You are a little further back, but it's a little easier for (my eyes and brain anyway) to look at this as a single "scene". In the Plaza garden area, I find myself looking at the castle, then up at the fireworks, then down at the castle, then up at the fireworks, etc. Here — you're just looking "out" on all of it. Also, those light poles aren't really an issue here. Because of optical compression (i.e. the poles are smaller than the castle and you're further away from all of them), you don't even really notice the lighting poles from the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing area.
Value and Conclusion
So that brings me to the "is it worth it" question. I'd say that if you've never experienced a dessert party or have never watched a Disney fireworks show from a reserved spot — it's totally worth experiencing it once. Let's face it, everything at Disney is marked up a little higher than it should be… and it's the "where else in the world can you do this" experience that you're paying for.The desserts by themselves are very much like what you would find at a Disney buffet-style restaurant, maybe there's a couple more to choose from here than at a "savory plus dessert" buffet. If you can drink — and if you figure the value based on Disney prices — you can maybe start to justify the price.
On the left is a flute of "The Lady of Spain Brut" (a Spanish sparkling Cava) and on the right is a flute of POG Juice.
I probably did go through two bottles of the sparkling Cava in the time I was there. While it's a $17 bottle at your local wine place, I've seen them on various Disney menus priced at $53 a bottle ($13 per glass), as per the time I'm writing this anyway. When you start to add that up — then it's sort of like you're getting free desserts and a great place to watch fireworks from.
I know a lot of other blog-people have said "don't go to this one, there's too much else too do at the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP)". Remember, it does cost a good bit just to get into the MNSSHP… and this dessert party is an extra cost on top of that.
Oh hey little ghost topped dessert.
While it is true that spending time at the dessert party does take away time from everything else happening at MNSSHP (you really can't watch the first Boo-To-You Parade, for example, if you're attending the dessert party) — I'm not sure I'd devalue it based solely on that. If watching the fireworks is important part of the experience for you — then you'd probably end up spending 45 minutes staking out a place in the Main Street Courtyard to see them anyway.
You can spend that time drinking the night away at the dessert party and then just casually stroll down the reserved viewing area, or with the slightly pricier "Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing Option" stay seated right at your table and watch them.
The view of the castle from the Tomorrowland Terrace Viewing version of the dessert party isn't quite a "head on" view of the castle — but it provides a very unique offest viewing angle. You can see all of the fireworks from the Tomorrowland Terrace patio, and it's great just being able to stand up from your dessert table and get a "one person deep" front-row view — just seconds before the fireworks start.
If you've been to one of Disney's Dessert Party offerings before, but you've never experienced a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP), and if seeing the fireworks from wherever you are at the time is okay with you — then the value of Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party goes down a little bit. When all is said and done, the dessert party is going to take 1.5 to 2 hours away from the time you have to experience everything else at the 5 hour Halloween Party (MNSSHP) itself.
So like most Disney dining experiences, it's up to you if it's worth it. I think the last time I went to this dessert party during the Halloween Party was back in 2015, when it was called the Happy HalloWishes Dessert Party — so it's not something I do every year and certainly not every time I go to MNSSHP. But as a once every nine years experience — I had a great time, I really enjoyed the desserts, and I felt like a special VIP for getting to watch the Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks without being bumped into constantly, having to stake out a spot in the crowded courtyard an hour before the show, or having my view of the fireworks blocked by other guests.
Don't forget to check out our photo gallery page from Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Dessert Party. I didn't post all the photo in the article, so there might be a couple more visual pieces of information about the party in the photo gallery.
