Wishes or Illuminations Dessert Party?

[jacksgirl]

Trying to decide between these two. Any comparisons? Food? Drinks? View?

 

[Robo]

Trying to decide between these two. Any comparisons? Food? Drinks? View?

Wishes DParty is not only far more affordable, it is a far more "useful" event.

There are dozens of great places to watch IllumiNations.

 

[cakebaker]

We are trying the Wishes Dessert Party this next trip. We have done Illuminations and were not happy with it at all. Small bar type tables, no chairs left you sitting on the ground or standing to eat. It's almost twice the price of Wishes, why I can't figure out.

 

[aretha30]

We love the wishes dessert party but right now it is stuck on July 4 (we keep hoping it will open up for our August vacation). If your looking for a date after that your out of luck for now.

 

[jacksgirl]

Awesome. Thanks. Any thoughts on the dessert offerings at each? Are they similar?

 

[aretha30]

Awesome. Thanks. Any thoughts on the dessert offerings at each? Are they similar?

If you go on you tube there are tons of videos of the offerings of the Wishes dessert offerings. There are tons of things on the buffet; mango shooters, key lime pie, brownies, tiramisu (sp?), rice crispy treats, chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, cookies, an ice cream sundae bar, hot chocolate, coffee. I can't compare it to the illuminations party because we haven't done that but I believe that wishes offers more.

 

[soniam]

I liked the Illuminations party. The champagne was decent and pretty good desserts, and I didn't have to stake out a spot far in advance. I haven't done the Wishes party. We will be doing that in March. I get the impression that there are more desserts at Wishes. I feel the desserts at Illuminatuons were more geared toward adults, several had coffee and/or alcohol. There were a couple that DS would try, and there were ice cream bars. Having a place to sit would be nice, but I don't think you can see the fireworks well from the seats at the Wishes party.

 

[cakebaker]

I have read you can't see the fireworks from your seat, but that people don't get up to the railing until 20 minutes or so before the fireworks. At illuminations, you never have a seat the entire evening, and with trying to handle little ones, juggle desserts and drinks- with no table and being on the ground, it was a mess. We would never do that again.

 

[Robo]

I have read you can't see the fireworks from your seat...

Some can. Some can't.

 

[kaceyo]

The Wishes Dessert party selections have gone downhill the past few years. They no longer offer mango shooters or creme brulee. Mostly they have little tarts in pie shells, cookies and an ice cream bar with toppings. For drinks there is tea, coffee, punch and hot cocoa (no alcohol). I have never done the Illuminations party but they do have sparkling wines (which is why it is more expensive)

 

[darthbrazen]

Wow, I hate to hear that Mango Shooters are gone. Those were one of my favorites. What about the brownies, krispies & fruit. Do they still have all of that?

 

[Canuck16]

We did the Wishes DP......the desserts were pretty good but the view of the fireworks was amazing.

Definetly give it a try

 

[pixarmom]

Everyone will say the Wishes dessert party is better. We did Wishes in January with our boys (ages 15, 14 and 8) and we enjoyed it, but we're very likely to prefer the Illuminations party we have booked for the end of this month. If that's the case, we'll be in the minority for sure.

Seating: Regarding seating for Wishes, we were in the very front row and had an outstanding table. We knew that when the fireworks started, we'd need to stand to see because everyone gathers by the railing. That's absolutely fine with us. We didn't mind standing then and we won't mind standing for Illuminations. By design, we arrived about 20 minutes before Wishes started - that's about all the time we needed to eat a few desserts and watch the castle projection show. We sat briefly to eat desserts while watching the castle projection show, and then we stood with everyone else to watch fireworks. So for us, the difference between our Wishes experience and our Illuminations experience will be about 10 minutes of sitting. For those arriving earlier for Wishes, the difference between Wishes and Illuminations would be more significant.

Desserts: The Wishes party offers a serious ton of desserts - the amount and number of desserts is comical (at least to our two older boys.) The mass of crowds around the dessert tables was interesting - especially related to chocolate covered strawberries. We tried lots of desserts and it was a ton of fun. The desserts were all very OK. Our oldest (age 15) said he's rather have fewer desserts that are more interesting than the ton of desserts available at Wishes (some seemed very similar to the CL desserts at GF, Poly and CR.) We may find that at Illuminations - we'll see!

Viewing: Honestly, we're not really big into Wishes, but we love Illuminations. And we don't necessarily need a great viewing spot for either. For Wishes, we just wanted to avoid standing in the middle of a huge crowd - mission accomplished! For Illuminations, we know of a number of great viewing spots, and recently, we've just enjoyed walking around World Showcase during the show anyway. We're just doing this for the experience. And I don't mind the wine, although I wish it weren't sparkling. Can't have everything . . .

So I'd say the answer depends on what you enjoy. If you love Wishes, a spot to sit down before the fireworks while eating, tons of desserts and the lower price point, Wishes would be great. If you love Illuminations, don't mind standing, enjoy some sparkling wine and a few (but not a ton of) desserts, and don't mind the higher price point, Illuminations might be work well.