Best/Favorite extra cost or special experiences to add on to your trip?

[shpooey]

I'm looking for some things to add onto my next trip to make it extra special.
Things that I've looked into so far include:

• Backstage tours
• Dessert parties
• Ticketed events (MNSSHP, MVMCP, EMM, AH etc.)
• Boat rentals
• Special events during festivals like F&W seminars or tastings
• Special dining packages/experiences (Highway in the Sky, Jiko wine tasting)
• Building a droid or a lightsaber

What kinds of things have you done that are "extra"? What are your favorites?

I definitely want to do one of the animal experiences/tours, but I'm having trouble deciding which one(s) to try between Sense of Africa, Wild Africa Trek, Wanyama Safari, Savor the Savanna, Starlight Safari... So if you have any experiences with any of those, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

[Ross Kratter]

The Backstage Magic tour is pretty amazing.

 

[MiketheGrate]

It's been a very long time, but I remember enjoying the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot when I was a kid. Relatively inexpensive and a cool backstage vibe.

I'm doing the AK after hours next week and I'm extremely excited for it.

 

[Yensid67]

I can't say enough good things about Up Close with Rhinos. It's $40 per person and only an hour long. And if the Rhino is in the mood, you can touch her. I've done it twice and really enjoyed it both times.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We really loved MNSSHP. We have done it several times now. As for dining we also love HDDR. Our kids have loved it since they were little and still love it many years later.
We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and Behind the seeds tour and really enjoyed them. As for the animal tours we did the Caring for Giants tour - which we really loved. We are looking at some of the other animal tours as well.
Enjoy!

 

[JimmyBean42]

Ticketed events (MNSSHP especially) we love. Especially because we can stay late at a park the night before, sleep in bit, have a leisurely daytime at our resort then get to the park for the 4 pm check-in time. One extra that is not a lot of money compared to others that we do find very beneficial that you don't have listed is buying Memory Maker, especially for longer trips. We like being able to save the ride pics and WDW Photogs take better pics of us than our phones do.

 

[Kaadk]

The only one I've done so far is the MK Dessert Party, and not specifically for the desserts, but well worth it for the seats and lack of crowd, especially if you have little ones.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I'm looking for some things to add onto my next trip to make it extra special.
Things that I've looked into so far include:

• Backstage tours
• Dessert parties
• Ticketed events (MNSSHP, MVMCP, EMM, AH etc.)
• Boat rentals
• Special events during festivals like F&W seminars or tastings
• Special dining packages/experiences (Highway in the Sky, Jiko wine tasting)
• Building a droid or a lightsaber

What kinds of things have you done that are "extra"? What are your favorites?

I definitely want to do one of the animal experiences/tours, but I'm having trouble deciding which one(s) to try between Sense of Africa, Wild Africa Trek, Wanyama Safari, Savor the Savanna, Starlight Safari... So if you have any experiences with any of those, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I've done After Hours (no villains), MVMCP, and fireworks dessert parties. My favorite of these have been After Hours. Most lines are short (usually 5-10 min max with the exception of SDMT) and complimentary popcorn & Mickey bars.

I've also done the Wild Africa Trek & Starlight Safari. The Starlight Safari offers a nice backstage experience of the AKL Savannah but even with the nightvision tools they give you it was hard for me to find the animals & take photos.

I really enjoyed the Wild Africa Trek. Just an outright different experience. You get to experience the Safari from a VERY different point of view. And you get a nice little lunch (they call it a snack but it's filling enough).

 

[shpooey]

Thanks for all the great feedback and ideas!!! I really appreciate it!

I can't say enough good things about Up Close with Rhinos. It's $40 per person and only an hour long. And if the Rhino is in the mood, you can touch her. I've done it twice and really enjoyed it both times.

Ahhhh being able to touch a rhino would be amazing! I like that this one is relatively low cost and short - doesn't take away a huge part of a park day!

As for the animal tours we did the Caring for Giants tour - which we really loved. We are looking at some of the other animal tours as well.
Enjoy!

Can I ask what you loved best about the Caring for Giants tour? Is it primarily the proximity to the elephants, or did you also get a lot out of the information provided by the animal specialists/cultural reps?

One extra that is not a lot of money compared to others that we do find very beneficial that you don't have listed is buying Memory Maker, especially for longer trips. We like being able to save the ride pics and WDW Photogs take better pics of us than our phones do.

YES I definitely plan to get memory maker, thank you for the reminder!

The only one I've done so far is the MK Dessert Party, and not specifically for the desserts, but well worth it for the seats and lack of crowd, especially if you have little ones.

I'm leaving very heavily toward booking the MK Dessert Party - we're going during MNSSHP, so I expect any night with HEA will be extra crowded since there's so few of them to choose from. I've never seen HEA so I'm thinking of doing the Plaza viewing with dessert after-party.

I've also done the Wild Africa Trek & Starlight Safari. The Starlight Safari offers a nice backstage experience of the AKL Savannah but even with the nightvision tools they give you it was hard for me to find the animals & take photos.

I really enjoyed the Wild Africa Trek. Just an outright different experience. You get to experience the Safari from a VERY different point of view. And you get a nice little lunch (they call it a snack but it's filling enough).

I was thinking about doing Starlight Safari in addition to either Wild Africa Trek or Sense of Africa. Would you say Starlight Safari isn't worth it since it's hard to see the animals at night? We'll be staying at AKL - do they provide any night vision tools for savanna viewing from the lodge, or are those only available if you do the tour?
And good to know about the "snack" on Wild Africa Trek - I was wondering how that was!

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I was thinking about doing Starlight Safari in addition to either Wild Africa Trek or Sense of Africa. Would you say Starlight Safari isn't worth it since it's hard to see the animals at night? We'll be staying at AKL - do they provide any night vision tools for savanna viewing from the lodge, or are those only available if you do the tour?
And good to know about the "snack" on Wild Africa Trek - I was wondering how that was!

I wouldn't say it's not worth it. It could just be me since I was also trying to get pictures (you can put your phone up to the nightvision and take photos through that). So if you're good at getting photos, or just want to sit back and look through the nightvision, it's still a good experience.

For Wild Africa Trek regarding the snack, just know it's not items most of us are used to but they're not "inaccessible" in terms of being terribly exotic.

I have read that AKL does have night vision tools for savanna from the common viewing area.

 

[GirlDreamer]

We did the Aqua tour at Epcot years ago, which was quite cool. We've also done the Keys to the Kingdom tour in MK and that was truly magical. It helped that we had a very enthusiastic tourguide that really seemed to love his job. We do MNSSHP every visit as we love it. The fireworks and the parade is really cool.
Last year we went canoing at Fort Wilderness and it was so nice and peaceful, you don't need a booking for it, so you can just show up when it suits you. We also did the archery on the same day as they have that at Fort Wildnerness as well and it was really fun to try something we've never done before.

I'd reccomend looking into what each of the resorts have to offer as a lot of them have different activities like segway tours or horseback riding. You can also do bike rentals or do a horse carriage ride etc.

 

[Kaadk]

...I'm leaving very heavily toward booking the MK Dessert Party - we're going during MNSSHP, so I expect any night with HEA will be extra crowded since there's so few of them to choose from. I've never seen HEA so I'm thinking of doing the Plaza viewing with dessert after-party....

I haven't been to MNSSHP, so I don't know what's on offer then. In that case, since you're already paying extra for the hard ticket event, I'd be reluctant to pay out even more for the dessert party. In theory, there should be less crowds there during MNSSHP than regular hours, so the need to secure viewing hopefully shouldn't be as important.

Secondly, I've done the garden viewing once, and wasn't impressed by it. In our case, I'm paying for the seat, and I when I booked, I didn't realize what the 'garden' party was. It was have some desserts , then go stand around in crowds to watch the show. Based on reviews I've seen here, it might have just been our one experience was abnormal, but the garden party wasn't any better than saving the money and just staking out a spot. Still had people blocking the kid's views, no place to sit, etc... And for us, the desserts aren't really a big enough draw to pay for just them. I much prefer the full on terrace party, despite the not straight on viewing angle.

 

[TarotFox]

In theory, yes, but in practice the party is absolutely packed most nights and some elements of the fireworks (admittedly minor ones) are impossible to see without good, close viewing. Not even that easy to see from the Garden even.

 

[iona]

Ahhhh being able to touch a rhino would be amazing! I like that this one is relatively low cost and short - doesn't take away a huge part of a park day!

We really enjoyed this too.

 

[shpooey]

I haven't been to MNSSHP, so I don't know what's on offer then. In that case, since you're already paying extra for the hard ticket event, I'd be reluctant to pay out even more for the dessert party. In theory, there should be less crowds there during MNSSHP than regular hours, so the need to secure viewing hopefully shouldn't be as important.

Secondly, I've done the garden viewing once, and wasn't impressed by it. In our case, I'm paying for the seat, and I when I booked, I didn't realize what the 'garden' party was. It was have some desserts , then go stand around in crowds to watch the show. Based on reviews I've seen here, it might have just been our one experience was abnormal, but the garden party wasn't any better than saving the money and just staking out a spot. Still had people blocking the kid's views, no place to sit, etc... And for us, the desserts aren't really a big enough draw to pay for just them. I much prefer the full on terrace party, despite the not straight on viewing angle.

Sorry, to clarify I meant that most nights during our trip will be MNSSHP, with only a few nights available to see HEA (since it's not shown during MNSSHP nights). With so few opportunities to see HEA during that time of year, I expect it to be very busy for fireworks viewing at MK whenever HEA is on, so I'd do a HEA dessert party on one of those nights. I wouldn't do one while attending MNSSHP.

Thanks for the input on garden viewing - something to consider!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I would choose something that has a WALT DISNEY stamp to it.

I've done Marceline to Magic Kingdom
I've also done Magic behind our Steam Trains( unfortunately the Trains aren't running because of TRON construction)

 

[glocon]

When we did the after fireworks party (late July) it definitely was no where near as crowded as outside the party. No where near. It was nice to go sit and snack after the fireworks while the masses left, much less stressful. That being said, I think next time I would do the terrace party. We’ve stood next to the terrace (not at the party) on the side towards the purple wall, and the views were still excellent.

 

[lovethesun12]

I haven't been to MNSSHP, so I don't know what's on offer then. In that case, since you're already paying extra for the hard ticket event, I'd be reluctant to pay out even more for the dessert party. In theory, there should be less crowds there during MNSSHP than regular hours, so the need to secure viewing hopefully shouldn't be as important.

Secondly, I've done the garden viewing once, and wasn't impressed by it. In our case, I'm paying for the seat, and I when I booked, I didn't realize what the 'garden' party was. It was have some desserts , then go stand around in crowds to watch the show. Based on reviews I've seen here, it might have just been our one experience was abnormal, but the garden party wasn't any better than saving the money and just staking out a spot. Still had people blocking the kid's views, no place to sit, etc... And for us, the desserts aren't really a big enough draw to pay for just them. I much prefer the full on terrace party, despite the not straight on viewing angle.

This answers the question I didn’t know I had I was initially planning on doing the plaza garden but would be not happy at all if my kids view was blocked at that cost (they are 4 and 6). We had a FP+ at Illuminations and it was awful. I’d rather have a “not straight on” view than have our view potentially blocked... was the terrace party better for that?

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Can I ask what you loved best about the Caring for Giants tour? Is it primarily the proximity to the elephants, or did you also get a lot out of the information provided by the animal specialists/cultural reps?

We are a family of 6 and ended up with our own private tour. Our youngest daughter LOVES elephants. You don't get that close to touch them but you do get to see them closer than you would any other way and we got great pictures of the elephants. You do get a lot of information from an elephant expert. It is a reasonably priced tour and any time you get to go behind the scenes in Disney is fun.

 

[Beth Pagan]

I'm looking for some things to add onto my next trip to make it extra special.
Things that I've looked into so far include:

• Backstage tours
• Dessert parties
• Ticketed events (MNSSHP, MVMCP, EMM, AH etc.)
• Boat rentals
• Special events during festivals like F&W seminars or tastings
• Special dining packages/experiences (Highway in the Sky, Jiko wine tasting)
• Building a droid or a lightsaber

What kinds of things have you done that are "extra"? What are your favorites?

I definitely want to do one of the animal experiences/tours, but I'm having trouble deciding which one(s) to try between Sense of Africa, Wild Africa Trek, Wanyama Safari, Savor the Savanna, Starlight Safari... So if you have any experiences with any of those, I'd love to hear your thoughts!