REVIEW: Frozen Ever After Sparkling Dessert Party at Epcot Might Be Worth Your Time & Money
Several weeks ago, we announced the end of the Sparkling Dessert Party at Epcot, replaced just a short while ago by the new Frozen Ever After Dessert Party. The event is described by Disney as follows:
Regardless of weather, event check-in is held just outside of the attraction.
Just off to the left of the attraction entrance, you’ll find the check-in spot. If weather is bad, this is also where you will head to enter the Norway lounge where drinks and desserts will be. Otherwise, you’ll head over to the space towards the front of World Showcase.
Once upstairs, we checked in to receive our assigned seats and are then lead to our shared table.
The podium had menus for both food and drink.
Tables are broken up by number and are lightly themed with Frozen character lanterns. Guests receive special glasses to wear during the fireworks that turns bursts of light into snowflakes. This is especially fun for the kids, also any 3-something Disney bloggers that may be in your party.
I was pretty excited to attend inside of the lounge as it is a fairly pleasant atmosphere. Sure, as a fan of EPCOT Center, I love these musty old lounges, but I think it fits this party quite well.
The dessert spread is pretty adorable and everything is themed well enough.
The blue velvet cupcakes certainly worked better as snowflakes rather than being associated with gangsters, as they were at our Great Movie Ride event…
The prescreens of fruit wasn’t odd, but the fondue area left me scratching my head a bit.
While the Star Wars and Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam Dessert Parties both have warm, non-dessert food, it didn’t feel as out of place as the bread and broccoli here. I’m not really complaining because it was fine, but most guests are probably ready for dessert at the dessert parties.
I probably could have spent the night at this pudding station and been quite happy with what I had paid to attend this. Elsa’s warm cottage pudding with salted caramel glaze is very good, but Olaf’s warm double-chocolate s’mores pudding cake steals the show, especially with a scoop of ice cream.
The not-advertised frozen caramel corn seemed fun, but wasn’t all that exciting to eat. I was ready to write this off until we had a similar offering at our Great Movie Ride event and it was ten times better there. Perhaps we just had a bad batch at Norway, but on the off-chance it might be as good as it was on August 11th at GMR, give this a try.
A selection of non-alcoholic drinks are available as well.
Here’s a closer look at some of the desserts:
The bar is capable of making 3 specialty beverages, but they also have a large selection of beer and wine.
The non-alcoholic drink station has two specialty offerings as well. They were both pretty enjoyable.
The advertised “melted snow” was nowhere to be found, but we tried all of the other specialty drinks.
The Pina Colada was good, although I always find it weird when this isn’t a frozen drink.
The margarita was fine as well, nothing special though.
The Sangria was way too sweet.
The desserts were pretty fantastic overall. Here’s a breakdown:
Must Have:
- Olaf’s warm double-chocolate s’mores pudding cake (with the hand-dipped vanilla bean ice cream)
- Elsa’s warm cottage pudding with salted caramel glaze (with the hand-dipped vanilla bean ice cream)
- Wandering Oaken’s éclairons
- Anna’s blue velvet cupcakes
“It’s Fine”:
- Hans’ key lime tarts with red glitter glaze
- Living Rock crispy bonbons
- Grand Pabbie’s winter-spiced snack mix
- Sven’s fresh fruit and berries
- Nitros frozen caramel corn
Don’t Bother:
- Kristoff’s no-sugar-added lemon curd with blueberry
- Duke of Weselton’s cheese fondue served with country bread cubes, broccoli and grilled flatbread
I would come back just for the chocolate s’mores pudding cake…
I’d still give the popcorn another shot…
Obviously, the entire event takes place outside if the weather is nice, but in this case, we were then whisked outside to our private viewing space for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
The viewing area was big enough and not overcrowded, and offered a pretty good view of the show. This area is located just to the left of the FastPass viewing area, in front of the small gift shop that flanks that side.
After the show, we were held for a few minutes while guests were leaving the park, and then it was on to Frozen Ever After.
We followed the guides past Mexico and into Norway, to the entrance of the attraction.
Once inside, we found that the standby queue had already been emptied for the night. I expected we would wait a few moments to board just because of the size of our group, but we literally never stopped moving once we entered the building and were on the ride in under a minute. I was very impressed.
I’d love to complain that this is another money grab event and that it is wildly overpriced and that no one should do it, but the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party doesn’t necessarily feel like a waste of time. The food lineup was very good, the drinks were solid, the view of IllumiNations was enjoyable, and the wait to ride Frozen Ever After was nonexistent, which in the end, is the entire point of this thing. If you can get a FastPass for Frozen Ever After, you really don’t need to do this, but if you want to enjoy bottomless desserts and drinks for a bit, watch IllumiNations without fighting a crowd, and don’t wait to wait to ride this, then the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party is a no-brainer. Families who are looking for more Frozen stuff to do should absolutely attend this, and if you really want the perks I listed above, you should as well, but otherwise, this isn’t something any other guest should go out of their way to do. That being said, there’s more than enough of the aforementioned families and guests to fill this event every night, and that’s why the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party is still pretty hard to find availability for.
The Frozen Ever After Dessert Party at Epcot is a solid upgrade over the Sparkling Dessert Party that opens the event up to more guests and makes seeing IllumiNations and Frozen Ever After a breeze. Oh, and did I mention the chocolate s’mores pudding cake?
Many have been asking, besides the Baseline Tap House, what is the purpose of the Grand Avenue area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? It’s a fairly big parcel and nothing more than this bar and lounge has been announced for it. What else is going in there? Well, the answer is the only dedicated queue space ever built for a land. Grand Avenue stands before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in the former New York Street area. Photo by @bioreconstruct Based on the absolutely monstrous demand that there is to see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, this giant street will act as a queue just to enter the area. Guests will be able to exit to Grand Avenue or Toy Story Land, but entry to Toy Story Land seems unlikely for the opening months (maybe even years) of the Star Wars themed land. This info comes directly from an Imagineer working on the Florida version of the Galaxy’s Edge project. So yes, there will be a theme park land at Hollywood Studios that is just queue space and a bar essentially. While Grand Avenue opens this Fall, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will not be completed until mid-to-late-2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It appears that Disney is eyeing the possible addition of a table service restaurant to their value resorts at Walt Disney World. According to sources, the parking lot between All-Star Music and All-Star Movies will become home to a new table service restaurant, likely buffet style. With hotel occupancy expected to be on the rise in a big way by 2019, it is believed that the counter service restaurants at the 3 All-Star Resorts would be even more overwhelmed than they are now and some guests staying at these hotels would rather skip the lines & craziness in favor of a buffet style dining experience. Of course, this project is just in the planning stages and has not been approved as of yet, nor has any construction begun. If the project is to happen, we expect it to be given the green light sooner rather than later though. Today, Disney shared an update that will very soon give you a thrilling, up-close look at what’s to come at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The One Man’s Dream attraction is currently being reimagined into Walt Disney Presents, which like its predecessor, will continue showcasing historic items from Walt Disney’s history, such as sketches, photos and storyboards. Walt Disney Presents will also act as a preview center where guests explore what’s next for the park. Starting in mid-September, you’ll be able to view concept art, ride vehicle maquettes and a never-before-seen model for Toy Story Land. A portion of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge model also will be on display, as well as concept art for the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction. The attraction will also continue to host greetings with characters like Star-Lord and baby Groot, plus special sneak previews of upcoming Disney films. Soft opening today, we got our first ride on the two enhanced versions of the Mission: Space attraction at Epcot. First, we take a ride on the Earth Mission, a family friendly new version of the Green Team: Next, the re-animated Orange Team version, the classic attraction with a brand new look: The new Mission Space officially opens Sunday, August 13th at Epcot. What better way to say goodbye to a Walt Disney World original, The Great Movie Ride, than with a journey through its entire history! Below is our last Back to the Future LIVE show, a 3.5 hour spectacular taking you from the development of the attraction for EPCOT Center, to the creation of the Disney-MGM Studios, the the announcement of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway: And don’t worry, we’ll be giving the Universe of Energy the same treatment next month with its very own edition of the segment. We’ll see you at the movies… While initially only available to guests staying at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club and Boardwalk Resorts, a few additional resort guests are now able to take advantage of Disney’s Minnie Van service due to popular demand. AT D23 EXPO 2017, DISNEY PARKS CHAIRMAN BOB CHAPEK ANNOUNCES MINNIE VAN SERVICE COMING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD — An all-new Minnie Van service will provide a point-to-point transportation service at Walt Disney World Resort, giving guests an even more seamless resort vacation from start to finish. Starting today, guests at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Copper Creek Villas and Cabins, and Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge can now go to the front desk at the resort to activate the service for their use. Minnie Vans is a paid point-to-point transportation service that is operated by Disney and summoned through the Lyft app. Please check out our review to see how it works and if Minnie Vans will be right for you.
My bus came and now, I’m finally able to leave Disney Springs. Only took a good month, but where’s the bus going? Before I visit any of the parks, I have to make sure I’m not missing anything at the resorts, and it just so happens that this bus is heading to The BoardWalk Inn & Villas. So in this article, I’m going to explore the Epcot Resort Area, including The BoardWalk, Yacht & Beach Club, and the Swan & Dolphin Resorts. I’m going to look at seven, yeah seven, dining, shopping, and entertainment options offered in the resort area, and on the BoardWalk entertainment district, keeping price in mind. With that said, let’s get right into this. Unlike the last several articles, part four in this series will focus on an interesting side of Disney: resort pools, and which ones are the best on property. Last night, we were lucky enough to be at just the right place in line to be in the very last full car of guests ever on The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Of course, I filmed the entire experience to share with you! Enjoy: On a personal note, The Great Movie Ride was my second favorite attraction ever after the original Journey Into Imagination, so these last few days have meant a lot to me. I was overwhelmed by the success of the private event we held inside the attraction on Friday, and even more overwhelmed by everyone who came up to me or my parents just to say what a good time they had. Playing some small role in providing a proper and memorable farewell for other people who also loved this ride means so much to me and is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thank you to everyone who came to that event and helped to make it happen, and thank you to the Great Movie Ride for 28 years of wonderful memories with family and friends. Of course, I’ll share more of my experience at the farewell and our event this week on WDW News Tonight. We’ll see you at the movies! With the Great Movie Ride closing last night at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, signage for the replacement attraction has already gone up outside of the Chinese Theater. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will now reside inside the Chinese Theater facade. The new attraction is rumored to open in 2019, around the same time as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Photos via @GavinAndPatrick on twitter.
Grand Avenue at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is Just Queue Space to Enter Star Wars Land
RUMOR: All-Star Value Resorts at Walt Disney World to Add Table Service Restaurant
One Man’s Dream Becoming Walt Disney Presents, Star Wars Land & Toy Story Land Models Coming
VIDEO: Ride the New “Mission Space” Earth and Mars Missions
VIDEO: Take An Incredible Journey Through the History of The Great Movie Ride, Closing Forever Today at Walt Disney World
Minnie Vans Service Expanded to Additional Resort Guests Starting Today
Walt Disney World for College Students – Part 3: Epcot Resort Area
VIDEO: Ride in the Last Car Ever on The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
PHOTOS: Signage Posted for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Replacing the Great Movie Ride
