For months my mornings would start with a check on my computer to see if the dessert parties would open. This is NOT an exaggeration. Every morning I have my coffee, check my emails and then onto
MDE. I went over Memorial Weekend and now again close to the fourth of July. The parties are NEVER open at 180 + 10 and they open in batches not on any sort of scheduled opening.
The dessert parties are a must for me as I have had too many unpleasant experiences trying to see fireworks in a crowd. The only exception is Illuminations. You can get a pretty good view without a dessert party but I still do those when I travel with extended family. The view is PERFECT from the dessert party. I've seen Illuminations dozens of times and was blown away the first time I did the dessert party. The night we did the the HEA party it was a constant drizzle all evening and although HEA went on as planned, I know perfectly well I would not have stayed in the park in the rain to see it but I did stay in TT until it started then put a poncho on and stood in the rain. THAT was worth it. Plus I am a morning person who is pretty dead on my feet by 9PM.
Even if the days turn blue and you can click on them they often are not fully loaded in the system. The dining CM's often do not realize that they are late to the system to begin with and if you, unfortunately, call during the couple of days when they turn blue but are not bookable they will tell you they are "full" when actually they are empty.
I don't eat any desserts and all the parties have some sort of savory item that is enough. Cheese and crackers, the SW party had bread with some excellent hummus.
If you add up the entire cost of the vacation and divide by the number of hours in the park, the price of some down time versus standing in a crowd and angling for a view is absolutely worth it for me. Only you can make that decision though. For both HEA and SW it is important to be in front in an even smaller and more restrictive area so to me the value of those parties have gone up.
