**Official** Star Wars at DHS, Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party/Galactic Nights/Launch Bay/JT

[Gizmo1951]

I am also waiting for the Nov SW FW dates

 

[preemiemama]

I was at Epcot last night watching the Journey tribute band and Illuminations went of at 9pm

Yes. Last night Illuminations was on time at 9, and we saw the fireworks from SWaGS on our walk back to Boardwalk at 9:30, so also on time.

 

[Elliemay2]

Hi! We are a group of 3 families (total 14 people) going in Dec. For ADR's, I am able to do a rezzie for all 14 of us, but how can I grab this dessert party for all 14 if we are paying with 3 different cards???? I hope to do it online at one time. Hopefully I will not have to call or book 3 different reservations. I'm stalking the party and I would hate to get the first 2 families in and then find it is booked solid and not be able to get the last family in. Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[ktb2002]

Hi! We are a group of 3 families (total 14 people) going in Dec. For ADR's, I am able to do a rezzie for all 14 of us, but how can I grab this dessert party for all 14 if we are paying with 3 different cards???? I hope to do it online at one time. Hopefully I will not have to call or book 3 different reservations. I'm stalking the party and I would hate to get the first 2 families in and then find it is booked solid and not be able to get the last family in. Thanks a bunch!!!

Pretty sure it'll require 3 separate reservations, and in that case calling would be your best option. Unless you put it all under 1 credit card and had the others pay you for their portion.

 

[yulilin3]

Pretty sure it'll require 3 separate reservations, and in that case calling would be your best option. Unless you put it all under 1 credit card and had the others pay you for their portion.

This is a good solution. Or you can just get all the CC numbers and do it online

 

[Elliemay2]

Pretty sure it'll require 3 separate reservations, and in that case calling would be your best option. Unless you put it all under 1 credit card and had the others pay you for their portion.

This is a good solution. Or you can just get all the CC numbers and do it online

Thank you both! Seeing that they have downsized it to 125, I'm worried that I will have a hard time getting them.

 

[yulilin3]

Thank you both! Seeing that they have downsized it to 125, I'm worried that I will have a hard time getting them.

I don't think a specific date would book up in an hour...the other thing you can do is have your laptop/pc and the phone. So you can book one through the computer one on the phone and then the third one through whichever one finishes first (it'll probably be the computer one)

 

[lvloopingbag]

Have I missed anything? How far out is the dessert party now available for booking? Is it through 9/5 as of now? Thanks!

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

Have I missed anything? How far out is the dessert party now available for booking? Is it through 9/5 as of now? Thanks!

Yep, 9/5!

 

[yulilin3]

Have I missed anything? How far out is the dessert party now available for booking? Is it through 9/5 as of now? Thanks!

Remember that I always update page one with all new info

 

[Elliemay2]

I don't think a specific date would book up in an hour...the other thing you can do is have your laptop/pc and the phone. So you can book one through the computer one on the phone and then the third one through whichever one finishes first (it'll probably be the computer one)

Thank You!!!

 

[Enna]

So....I booked the dessert party for August 21, and that shows as being an 8:15 pm party. The Disney website shows the fireworks starting at 8:45 pm. The reviews mention being escorted to the viewing area about 15 minutes before the fireworks, which means the desert party would be 15 minutes? How does the timing work for this in reality? Thank you for any enlightenment you can offer!

 

[yulilin3]

So....I booked the dessert party for August 21, and that shows as being an 8:15 pm party. The Disney website shows the fireworks starting at 8:45 pm. The reviews mention being escorted to the viewing area about 15 minutes before the fireworks, which means the desert party would be 15 minutes? How does the timing work for this in reality? Thank you for any enlightenment you can offer!

On August 21st the fireworks start at 9:30pm, the dessert party starts 75 minutes before, which is 8:15pm

 

[Enna]

On August 21st the fireworks start at 9:30pm, the dessert party starts 75 minutes before, which is 8:15pm

Thank you! The WDW PDF is showing 8:45, but I just found the 9:30 time in MDE, and am relieved.

What is the current procedure and recommendations for getting wristbands? What time is best to arrive? We're coming from dinner in EPCOT and want to get this right as it is a surprise for my son's 16th birthday!

 

[yulilin3]

Thank you! The WDW PDF is showing 8:45, but I just found the 9:30 time in MDE, and am relieved.

What is the current procedure and recommendations for getting wristbands? What time is best to arrive? We're coming from dinner in EPCOT and want to get this right as it is a surprise for my son's 16th birthday!

You go to the podium outside Launch Bay, the dessert party area has been opening 15 minutes before, so for your night, it should open around 8pm. Just go to the podium, they check your name off and put on your wristbands.

 

[yulilin3]

I thought that DPB did a great job trying to capture the show during the live stream.

 

[Cluelyss]

I thought that DPB did a great job trying to capture the show during the live stream.

I've been trying so hard to wait and see it in person, but couldn't help myself. Looked amazing, and I'm sure it's so much better in the park!!

 

[glvsav37]

Hi! We are a group of 3 families (total 14 people) going in Dec. For ADR's, I am able to do a rezzie for all 14 of us, but how can I grab this dessert party for all 14 if we are paying with 3 different cards???? I hope to do it online at one time. Hopefully I will not have to call or book 3 different reservations. I'm stalking the party and I would hate to get the first 2 families in and then find it is booked solid and not be able to get the last family in. Thanks a bunch!!!

if you are the reservation 'stalker' you could ask the other families for their MDE passwords—they can make simple ones while you are waiting for the party to open and then change them once everything is booked.

Anyway, their CC info should be stored in their profiles, so you won't actually need their whole CC number, just identify their main card.

Open 3 tabs, and log into each family and knock out each at once.

I assume you are fairly close to each other if you are traveling together, so they wouldn't mind giving you access to their MDE accounts for a short time.

 

[Keyser]

Chris said (again, for what it's worth...) that the timing of the show schedule is a calculated decision. He said the first goal is safety, to avoid having people RUN from Fantasmic! to a prime spot for the fireworks. He said they had faced this problem, of large crowds rushing out of F!, creating a safety issue.

He went on to say that the second goal is to optimize the experience for whichever show each guest chooses to watch on a given night. If a guest finds a good seat at F! or a good spot to watch the Star Wars show, he or she will enjoy that show to the fullest.

Of course he admitted that they hope that guests come to DHS two different nights, once for each show!

I was at DHS just over a week ago, with the "new" schedule. So, take this for what it's worth from our experience.

The Fantasmic theater emptied out very quickly after the show. Fantasmic ended at 9:25, the fireworks started at 9:30. I'd guess that by 9:27, a good quarter of the people were already packing into the exits (we were getting to the exit at about this time - we used the secondary exit that dumps you out closer to Hollywood Blvd.). At this point, we had that "can't move much or look around to see if your family is with you because you have to keep going with the flow of the crowd" feel for the next few minutes. We were probably a third of the way down the walkway (everyone hurrying along) when the fireworks started going off. THAT set everyone moving even faster - fortunately, the walkway opened up a bit or there would've been some serious crowd issues.

We ended up getting to Hollywood Blvd. a couple of minutes into the show. We went to the right, found a spot in the taped off area pretty easily, and were able to watch over half of the fireworks show (admittedly from farther back than ideal, but we were able to see the projections on the Chinese Theater and all the fireworks themselves, plus get a sense of some of the laser effects and such). The DHS employees were waving their traffic control batons to keep much of the flow moving toward the exit, but there were definite issues with people being herded one way and trying to turn around backward to see the fireworks as they were told to keep moving (though it was fine if they just stepped inside the tape lines, etc.

That was the first week with the new schedule, so I imagine they will get the crowd issues handled better soon, but if their goal was to avoid the rush, they failed miserably. If anything, having the fireworks go off right as most everyone is in the exit walkways seems like it makes any rushing/crowd problems worse, not better. Given that everyone sped up once the fireworks started going off, I would think they will have injuries that way as well.

It's hard for me to see how this works out in practice unless they go to a model like MK with MSEP and Wishes (e.g. Fantasmic at 9, Fireworks at 10, maybe second Fantasmic at 11), but that'll be hard to do with the park not staying open as late. Pretty much anything else is going to create a big "crowd rush" problem, unless they run them at the same time, and this would really hurt Fantasmic).

Oh, our take on it was that we were very glad we chose Fantasmic over the Star Wars fireworks, but Fantasmic is by far our favorite show/event/activity/ride at any of the parks. If I had time, though (i.e. if Disney had released the schedule early enough for me to actually plan our trip that way), though, I'd probably try to get to DHS two nights, so that I'd get the full experience of each (I'd certainly choose the Star Wars fireworks over the Jungle Book show).

 

[yulilin3]

@Keyser thanks for your observations. I wonder if the new times for the end of August will work better.