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

[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!

We did the plaza dessert party and were a little disappointed. The desserts were good but alot of repetition and the viewing spot wasn't great. People outside the roped area would stand right in front of you. It wasn't worth the money.

We loved the fireworks on the private boat. It was a great view and the music is pumped in. You can order food delivered to the boat. We had pizza and it was pretty reasonable for Disney. I would highly recommend it if you have at least 6 people in your group. The guide gave us a lot of fun facts too. We did the After hours with no villian and thought it was totally worth it . No lines and they let you in at 6pm often.

The animal experiences all look amazing so I don't think you can go wrong there. I want to do that next.

 

[deckert]

Not sure if they still do this, but we have done the star wars dessert party. It wasn't super expensive as dessert parties go and my family has pretty big star wars fans. The VIP fireworks viewing and all you could eat/drink was nice.

Also took my wife on a horse drawn, evening carriage ride through port Orleans riverside. Again, not too expensive and the driver was awesome.

We plan to do MNSSHP on our next trip.

 

[CJGamer]

I did a dessert party years ago at MK when it was like $35 or something. It was nice not to be out in the masses.
We hadn't booked anything for years, but I just went through the same thought process. However it's just myself and my 10 year old for this trip, so I picked what sounded like the best 1 hour experiences- and I came up with Behind the Seeds at Epcot, and Up close with Rhino's at AK. One note- Rhino's is only at 11AM.

 

[Kaadk]

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?

I’ve had pretty good luck with it. Some reviews have been mixed, so your mileage may vary. Basically, you might encounter some of the people seated at the very back coming forward and standing at the railing which might affect the people there, but if you’re in the middle of the bunch like we normally are, usually not a big deal. This was our view Feb ‘19;

 

[indoshakespeare]

Anything that avoids crowd / skips queue. After Hours, MNSSHP (August / early September), Early Morning Magic, Dessert Parties.

 

[slyster]

I'm curious about the Star Wars/Galactic Dessert party...do most feel it's worth the extra spending? We do love Star Wars!

 

[SuJo]

The best for rides and less crowds....Villian After Hours!!

 

[bakerworld]

We've only done after hours ... it's a problem for those of us who like to drop off around 9p LOL but I have to admit the decrease in people and the enjoyment of the are is nice. Our next one is AK. It's open to midnight ... we'll see how that goes.

 

[Deploraboo]

EMM is great. Better when they had one for Toy Story Land. AH can be hit or miss but if you can stay up, probably worth it.

 

[Megan138]

In the past two years we did the fireworks dessert parties at MK and Star Wars at HS. We did EMM at MK and Toy Story Land and a private cruise to see Illuminations at Epcot. I would recommend any of these to people. We really liked the Star Wars dessert party. There are storm troopers there that really made the night for us with their interactions with our family.

 

[Gussie Granger 1969]

I'm curious about the Star Wars/Galactic Dessert party...do most feel it's worth the extra spending? We do love Star Wars!

We did this a few years ago. The food was good but we’re not big eaters. The reason we did this event was because our kids were little at the time and we thought we’d get a good viewing spot, at least we were supposed to. When it came time for them to walk us out to our viewing spot, when we got there, there was a row of adults, belly up to the front of the rope. Where they came from, I have no idea. Maybe another event? It was such a waste, our kids could see a little but it really defeated the whole point of the experience so it was a let down. Our kids are adult height now so we don’t need to do events like that.

 

[chris benton]

Star Wars Dessert Party: Worth every penny. Storm Troopers are a riot. Pictures whenever you want. They crack jokes the entire time.

Mk Dessert Party: Worth it too. Both have savory items. We can easily make both dinner.

Behind the Seeds - cheap and interesting, Worth every penny.

EMM - if you like the rides, and you like to pig out at breakfast, and you are early risers - it's a no brainer.

 

[holden]

Experiences we have done:

VIP tour (highly recommend if you can swing it)
Ultimate Day of Thrills tour(highly recommend)
Caring for Giants (affordable; recommend)
Archery at Ft. Wilderness (affordable; recommend)
trail ride at Ft. Wilderness (affordable; just ok to me - DD12 loved it)
MVMCP (wouldn't do it again)
Savi's Workshop (DD17 LOVED this!!!; highly recommend)

 

[mcooper11]

Memory Maker for sure! They make it so easy and convenient to just scan your wrist and you're golden. And on some of the rides, the ride already scans your wrist.

 

[Simba's Mom]

The Wanyama Safari at AKL was my favorite splurge. Around $200/PP for a tour of the AKL safaris in a small, about 16 person truck, followed by a full meal at Jiko.

 

[glocon]

I'm curious about the Star Wars/Galactic Dessert party...do most feel it's worth the extra spending? We do love Star Wars!

We did this the last two summers in a row. One of our favorite extras. The m&g were good with assigned times to the tables, so short waits, food good including savories, alcohol also included. And the storm troopers we very entertaining. If I asked my son which extra he would pick if he only got one, it would be this!

 

[Eeyore54 fred]

We’ve done Wanyama Safari, wild Africa Trek, Magic Kingdom After Hours, Animal Kingdom After Hours and MVMCP. They were all good but the one I would probably not do again is MVMCP because it was the most crowded. I really loved Wild Africa Trek but probably wouldn’t do it again because of cost. I’ve thought about doing some of the other animal tours but haven’t yet. And yes, there is an area at Animal Kingdom Lodge where they have night vision every night but the number of animals that can be seen varies.

 

[maccagerl]

I love AK so the animal tours are a must for me! I’ve done Savor the Savanna twice, Caring for Giants several times, and the Rhino experience. All of these experiences were excellent and the Elephant and Rhino experiences are very cheap!
Of course being close to the animals and having so much time to really watch them is amazing, but the animal keepers that are there are a wealth of information and have some fantastic and funny stories about their animals.

Another thing we love and have done twice is the Afternoon Tea at Grand Floridian.
It’s a pot of tea, little sandwiches, scones,tarts and dessert for $35 pp, which I think is a great price for the experience!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have done your first 3 bullet points, multiple times. Lots of tours, a number of dessert parties, a number of ticketed parties. Of those three, I think I got the most out of the tours.