So the consensus (by my brother) was that we wanted to see WoC. I'm the only one out of the four of us who's seen WoC. It truly is a spectacular show - but the problem with it is you NEED a fast pass to be able to see the show. And fastpasses are hard to get if you're lazy. You're in line before park opening with about 800 other people who are gunning for the FP machines and have no problem asking grandma to run you over and pin you down on a crazy motorized scooter while they run across your back to get FP for their family. Fortunately, being ever enterprising, Disney has other options for lazy people (like me) willing to spend money to avoid having their spines broken in a bid to grab a FP to the blue viewing area. You can purchase a meal package from two of their sit down restaurants and they give you a premium view FP. And seriously - the best seats are reserved for those with premium dining packages - they are literally front and center so you have a panoramic view of the entire show. see?
And because there are a lot less people willing to shell out the $40 - there is A LOT more room to move around in your viewing area than if you have a standard one. So, the benefits: 1) best view ever 2) a lot less people to contend with 3) no standing in line. The problem with the standard FP, no matter which section they assign you to is that you have to get in line hours earlier so you have first pick when the CM's lead you to your designated section. It's game on baby! If you're short, and you're stuck behind tall people, you're screwed since there's nowhere else for you to go to obtain a better view as it's so packed. The great part about having the premium view FP is that because there's so much less people - if you get stuck behind the 6'4" guy with his kid on his shoulders, you have plenty of room to move about to find another view so you could actually see something other than his butt. So yes, you may not get the first row, but the view is so fantastic you don't need to be in the first row. Another really awesome part about this is that you don't have to line up like a dunce on the parade route. When you have a PV FP, they set apart a portion of the outdoor seating section of the Trattoria as a waiting room of sorts, so you can sit on real chairs, chill out with a glass of wine (it's right by their wine bar) until your CM leads you to our viewing area. WAY better than the people we see staked out on the parade route seated/standing behind the wimpy little crowd control line the CM's employ. They looked so unhappy. And Disney, considering how much money you pay to go, is one place you should NOT be unhappy at.
Ah...but once you decide that you want the dining package, you gotta book fast because they literally book up very quickly. Reservations for whatever day you want open up 180 days before the actual date, and there's a reason for it - that crazy Disney people (like me) will arm wrestle you for a good time slot - so you gotta book ahead. Since we made up our minds to go see WoC literally the night before, after Disney Dining had closed for the night - yeah...we were out of luck. The only for sure option available to us at 10pm at night was the picnic. The picnic is under $20/pp with a few options - all of them cold. I've heard mixed reviews, the price is super reasonable - BUT it can only be ordered online and BEFORE the day of your trip. You can't place an order online the day of - you have to go in person and see if they have any left over - and if they do, you have to purchase it and pick up the meal RIGHT NOW to get your FP. The problem (for me, because I'm spoiled) is the FP you get for the picnic is just a typical blue (or yellow I hear) section FP - so you still have to line up hours ahead of time on the parade route hoping to stake out a spot in FRONT of the crazy tall people with kids standing on their heads. I talked it over with my brother and he opted to risk it and try for a dining package with possible left over picnics as our backup plan. I called Disney Dining first thing in the morning asking for a package for that night and I think they laughed at me. Or the lady just snorts a lot when she talks to a customer. I dunno. But I called throughout the day and it was always full. And my brother didn't get the picnic because they just ate and he didn't want to lug the food around. So when it hit 5:30pm, we still didn't have a plan and had no FP to see WoC. Being anal retentive, I was about to have an aneurysm. I'm a planner. When I say planner, I mean super crazy vacationzilla who has charts and itineraries and tickets pre-printed. Heaven help whatever slow person that stands in my way when I have a plan for touring. Because I will mow you over grandma if you don't get outta my way. My parents say they need a vacation after one of my vacations. In desperation, I called one last time - and lo and behold, the Lord provided a miracle. Seriously, it was a miracle - because literally right before I called, a family of four had called to cancel, opening up a dining spot for the first showing. I jumped on it and started screaming in my car I was so excited. I may have scared the minivan next to me as I was bouncing up and down at the stoplight screaming like a banshee.
Premium dinner packages are available for about $40/pp at either Ariel's Grotto or Wine Country Trattoria. I've gone to Ariel's Grotto twice as I read reviews that the food is better there and they have indoor seating. Apparently if you have a WoC package for the Trattoria, they have you seated on the patio, not indoors. No bueno. But in the two times I've been to Ariel's, I've been pleasantly surprised at the food since it's known primarily as a character dining place. The decor is cute, and as it's right on the water, you have a really nice view at night of all the attractions around Paradise Bay (yes, it has a name other than that-big-hole-in-the-ground-with-water-in-it-by-the-rollercoaster). I hear there's also a lunch option at Wine Country Trattoria on select days, but I don't know if that comes with the premium view ticket (though it should if it's $30/pp) and I haven't seen a menu for that.
Since the rest of the family was still waiting in line at Disneyland for Space Mountain, I opted to wander into DCA by myself first. I don't remember the last time I wandered in alone just to wander. I took out my camera and started snapping random photos because even though I've been there about 100 times, I never really just stop.
brand new entrance. swanky!
elecTRONica. Yay. Clubbing for the stroller derby
my favorite building. It's a hidden gem - totally and completely under rated.
I lurve this lobby. I can just sit here for an hour and watch all the clips
I forget the name of this room, but I've never seen it empty before
my awesome self-portrait. 'cause I'm so talented with my point and shoot. It's pink. Don't hate.
in the Beast's library, you can sit down (as in the self portrait) and take a personality test to see which Disney character you're the most similar to. Apparently I'm a dog. Huh. At least I'm not Maleficent.
Seriously, a lot of people ignore the Animation Building - but it's so much fun! If you're tired, there's a/c in there with couches and a lot of floor space for you to sit down in with clips from Disney movies playing. Then there's Turtle Talk with Crush, the Beast's Library, a section where you can karaoke and dub over a cartoon, and a drawing class. There weren't very many people in there - I got to wander into some rooms alone.
Well, then I waited for the countdown to elecTRONica with all the other old folks. Seriously, it's like a club - there's music pulsing through the whole Hollywood Studios section - dancers in gogo boots, and it's slightly crazy. But before I could embarass my people by attempting to dance like all the other old folks, my family found me, so we headed off for Paradise Pier for our dinner. And for my viewing pleasure, here are pictures of us while we waited outside the restaurant for our reservation.
from the waiting area inside the restaurant
right outside the restaurant
inside seating of the restaurant
nice theming of the posts indoors
World of Color has its own prixe fix menu where the only thing you can choose is your entree. Appetizers are brought in a 3 tiered plate rack (like Victorian tea) with assorted cold goodies. There's a plate of salad, roasted vegetables, as well as a plate of cold meats, seafood and cheeses. They also bring you bread. Soft, warm, crusty delicious bread...mmm...with assorted dipping sauces. Now I'm just making myself hungry. :Þ
here's the menu:
I had the tri tip (cooked just the way I like it with cheesy mashed potatoes. Can life get any better?) while the rest of the table had cioppino. I didn't have any, but my extremely picky brother said it was good and cleaned his plate.
the appetizer plates
bread with dipping sauces
Our entrees:
my tri tip. Still pink. ohhh
the back side - with roasted vegetables and cheesy mashed potatoes
the cioppino
Then dessert came out and I nearly sobbed with joy. Dessert is also a shared plate. I liked that it had a little of everything, so with 4 people sharing, it was like a small dessert tasting menu:
I can't even describe half of this. But the WoC film strip is edible. I know because we ate it. There were macaroons, molten chocolate cake, cheesecake, some kind of passion fruit mousse cake, tiramisu in little chocolate cups, and I think maybe some chocolate bars. I don't remember. I fell into a food coma and then had a brain fart. I just knew that it was good. Not spectacular like I dream about it every night spectacular, but it was good. As in I'd happily eat it again.
So stuffed beyond recognition, (we may have waddled out) we were cutting it close on time and didn't even have to wait for the viewing area since uh...everyone was already there. So I asked a CM where to go and she pointed us in the right direction - we walked up to where the sign said "Premium Viewing" or something like that, turned in our FP and followed the path marked out by the little flimsy ropes to our designated area - which was actually 2 levels. We hung out on the top level for awhile and took this photo:
This is what it looked like without our big Asian faces in the picture:
Then we decided we should go down the lower level even though it was the "wet" area - because the screens are water, there is a certain amount of mist that blows over to the front of the viewing area - but it really was fine. We may have gotten a bit of mist on us, but certainly not enough to drench us - and on a cold night in December, we were perfectly fine. Here are some photos of the show:
the balloons from "Up" if you can't tell
end of the show
This really is a fantastic show. And with the new technology they use, there were new sequences that weren't there the first time I saw it over a year ago. As it was still the holidays, they also had a special Christmas sequence with gingerbread men and presents and snowmen in the beginning.
After the show we went on the new Little Mermaid ride where Ariel's face shone like the sun. No, I mean it seriously, they put an LED light or something in her face. I don't remember this part in the movie. But then again, I haven't watched this movie since 1991.
Then we wandered over to Disneyland just because
can I just say how much I love the castle all decked out for Christmas?
Then we went on Pirates, where Davy Jones had been replaced by this creepy guy:
Oy. But we persevered and went on the Haunted Mansion - because it's just something you have to do over the holidays as it's so awesome. Even though when I went with my mom a few years ago, she didn't get it as she'd never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas. She was all "who are these ugly people in here?" And no, she wasn't referring to the tourists rocking the fanny pack. I think.
And then I begged to go home. Because I'm old and I need my sleep. That, and tromping through Disneyland in a food coma is not the most comfortable thing. But really, I just wanted to sleep. So we trekked back to the Mickey and Friends parking structure where I was parked in China - 'cause it was as far as possible from the escalators.
Thus ended our night. So, do I think it's worth it? Yes, if you can swing it. $40 w/o gratuities ain't nothing to sneeze at - BUT, if you can, it literally makes your life so much easier. Disney rips you a new one for every premium experience - they really do. However, they really do deliver on premium experiences - so even though you're paying more money than you want to, they really make it worth your while. Food there is expensive anyway - you're looking at spending $25-30 per person for a casual dinner at a sit down restaurant like Cafe Orleans anyway, and that's without dessert or individual appetizers. I would venture to say that Ariel's Grotto is a slight cut above that as much as I love Cafe Orleans. What you're really paying an extra $10 for is: 1) great "seats" to the show 2) saving yourself the aggravation of waiting in line and then racing for crappy FP early in the morning 3) saving yourself from waiting in line for hours in your roped off waiting area on the parade route hoping you grab a decent view and could actually see the show. Not too shabby for $10, eh?
