Should we or shouldn't we ? Star Wars Dessert Party if focus is fireworks

[Luckybee]

So dh and I have the following scenario...we're booked at AKL for 4 nights easter week in Club and will be doing EP, MK and AK parks. After that we're elsewhere in Orlando but will still have 1 day of tickets left since we bought the Canadian tickets which were a min of 4 nights. When we last went to HS neither of us were over impressed with most of the offerings (although we loved the frozen fireworks and Toy Story ). We would have the ability in our schedule to go to HS either April 8 or 9th the week following Easter and we were not going to bother until we read about the new fireworks which sound great(I am a huge fireworks fan). So we decided to book dinner at the Brown Derby, followed by the dessert party since we had the extra day of park tickets anyway. There were only a couple of rides of interest mainly Toy Story and Star Tours .

So fast forward I've now read that the viewing after the dessert party isn't great and further Toy Story will likely be shut down then. Last time we went in order to see the frozen fireworks we had to "camp out" on the main street for an hour sitting on the ground and it isn't an experience we'd like to repeat (although our view was amazing and we loved the frozen display) .
The dessert party sounded like the perfect solution but if one cant see the fireworks well ...we're not that into desserts and dh is diabetic....so it was worth it for us but not if the viewing is bad. Please understand I'm not looking for "value" opinions in that we're willing to pay for the DP if we get a decent view without having to sit on the main drag ...the cost part is inconsequential to the issue for us and I already am aware that we're paying for the view not the desserts which we really have no interest in...and we have the park tickets which otherwise we'll likely be tossing. What I am looking for though is opinions as to whether the viewing is simply ok ? or bad? or a complete waste of time if one really is looking to see the fireworks without the loooooong wait ? I've read all sorts of things about it which seem to vary alot and I cant seem to get a hold on what the reality is like actually. Otherwise I'll book a nice dinner elsewhere and skip the whole thing for that day since we still can't fit in all the restaurants we want while in Orlando .

 

[Klayfish]

There is no long wait for Star Wars fireworks. If the show starts at 9pm, you can get a good spot at 8:50pm, no problem. Don't get me wrong, it's not a ghost town with nobody watching, but spots are very easy to get, the crowd isn't packed tight like in MK. We saw Jingle Bell/Jingle Bam fireworks during the week between Christmas and New Year, the busiest of the entire year. We showed up 15 minutes before the show and had a very good spot in front of the theatre. I wouldn't bother with the dessert party, personally, just show up a little before and you'll be fine.

It's a cool show.

 

[Luckybee]

There is no long wait for Star Wars fireworks. If the show starts at 9pm, you can get a good spot at 8:50pm, no problem. Don't get me wrong, it's not a ghost town with nobody watching, but spots are very easy to get, the crowd isn't packed tight like in MK. We saw Jingle Bell/Jingle Bam fireworks during the week between Christmas and New Year, the busiest of the entire year. We showed up 15 minutes before the show and had a very good spot in front of the theatre. I wouldn't bother with the dessert party, personally, just show up a little before and you'll be fine.

It's a cool show.

That's interesting. When we were last at HS it was when they had the Frozen fireworks display and the main street was jammed with people and those who didn't get there early enough basically were not finding places to watch from. They had roped off sections on the main street and it was a bit of a zoo. Good to know...ty.

 

[hllb]

I’ve heard the viewing area is ok. Not perfect, not terrible. We’re doing it on 2/2.

 

[jerseyjersey]

We tried the SW dessert party for the first time during our most recent trip, and the viewing area was just ok IMO. Guests who walked up soon before the show started, were able to get spots not terribly far away from the area we were in. We weren’t all that impressed with this party overall (preferred several of the others over this one), though many people seem to love it.

 

[Luckybee]

Ok so now you're all giving me food for thought. One of the restaurants we've wanted to try is the Boathouse over at Disney Springs, and we also wanted to shop there .On our last visit it was massively under construction and not fun so we want to go back. If we booked dining for say 9:45 pm or 10 after the fireworks we could theoretically go to DS at about 6 pm, shop for an hour or 2 then head to HS for the fireworks and then go back for dinner at BH....am I correct that they dont have transport though from DS to HS (but they do the opposite way) so that we'd have to take our car there and back ? Could we just jump in a taxi on the way to HS and leave our car at DS and cut down on travel/walk time ? Are the busses coming back to DS from the parks quick or do they stop all over the place?

 

[Monykalyn]

Direct busses after 4 but a pain. Although I do think the bus stop isn't too far from Boathouse.

There is no long wait for Star Wars fireworks. If the show starts at 9pm, you can get a good spot at 8:50pm, no problem. Don't get me wrong, it's not a ghost town with nobody watching, but spots are very easy to get, the crowd isn't packed tight like in MK. We saw Jingle Bell/Jingle Bam fireworks during the week between Christmas and New Year, the busiest of the entire year. We showed up 15 minutes before the show and had a very good spot in front of the theatre. I wouldn't bother with the dessert party, personally, just show up a little before and you'll be fine.

It's a cool show.

To echo what @Klayfish said- we were there right around NY with crowd levels of 10. No issues walking up few minutes before for both JBJB and Star Wars fireworks.

And we had a great meal at Brown Derby that day too!

 

[FastPasser.]

Based on what I've observed, showing up 10 minutes before SWaGS will not usually result in a good spot to view the show.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We canceled the dessert party and I am really glad we did. We walked into Launch Bay about half an hour before the fireworks. We met Chewie and BB8 both in under 10 minutes. Walked out about 5 minutes before Movie Magic and got a fantastic spot. We did the JBJB party, so we knew the reserved area was too close.

We saved a decent amount of money and time and really enjoyed our view. This was Saturday night of MLK weekend.

Just my opinion and experience.

 

[marshallabney]

I would echo others here, as we did the JBJB party and felt the viewing area was way too close. People behind us had better views and were procuring good spots 10-15 minutes before the show. Skip the party.

 

[cvjpirate]

I enjoy doing the SW Dessert party but I don't do it for the Fireworks show. If your main point of doing the dessert party is for the viewing of the fireworks I would skip it as you can get a great view without doing the party.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Having done the SW dessert party and JBJB, I would say that AT BEST the reserved view of the fireworks themselves is "just okay" -- I'd probably say pretty poor, actually. If that's the only draw for the dessert party, I'd skip it.

While you might not get a GREAT view of fireworks rolling up 10min before, I still think that what you will get at that time will be better than the party view of the fireworks.