World of Color Dessert Party and Star Wars Land Construction

The 60th Diamond Anniversary celebration is still going strong at the Disneyland Resort with the “Paint the Night” parade, “Disneyland Forever” fireworks, and “World of Color - Celebrate!” entertaining guests each night. Not wanting to leave your tastebuds out of the fun, Disney recently debuted a “World of Color Dessert Party” as a special way to enjoy World of Color. The dessert party package features an assortment of sweet and savory treats, sparkling beverages, and reserved seating in a preferred viewing area for World of Color. Desserts include a Dulce de Leche-filled cookie, Mickey Coconut Macaroon, fruit, and artisanal cheeses plated on china. The dessert party is $79 per person - admittedly not cheap - but we found the convenience of reserved seating - being able to relax and sit down before and during the show - paired with wonderful desserts and up to 2 alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) beverages to be a really nice end to our day at the resort. If you’re looking for a magical way to end a day at the parks, or if you want to treat someone special to a fancy surprise, the World of Color Dessert Party could be just the ticket! Disney invited us to enjoy a day at the resort and cap off the evening with the dessert party, and we did just that - jumping at the opportunity to check out Star Wars: Season of the Force, Star Wars Land construction, ride lots of rides, take lots of photos, and end the evening with desserts, drinks, and reserved seats at World of Color. It was a wonderful day and night! Check out our report below to join in on the fun!

We’re at The Disneyland Resort for a day of fun followed by the World of Color Dessert Party!

But first, lets start out on the top floor of the Mickey and Friends parking structure to check out Stars Wars Land construction!

Here’s an overview shot that shows the entire area. It’s huge! So far there’s pretty much just tractors and dirt.

Construction going on with Big Thunder and The Matterhorn in the background.

That’s the Fantasyland Theater in the background.

And here’s a close-up shot behind Toontown. Pretty neat! We can’t wait to see this change into a new land over the next several years!

Lets head in to Disneyland!

Star Wars: Season of the Force brings several new Star Wars experiences to Tomorrowland.

There’s a new “The Force Awakens” scene in Star Tours featuring the planet Jakku!

Photography isn’t allowed on Star Tours flights, but we loved the new scene!

Both the motion and visuals were great. One part reminded me of the old comet scene from the original Star Tours - really fun!

Control panel enthusiasts - this one’s for you!

In Star Wars Launch Bay you can check out models, props, costumes, and artifacts from the Star Wars films. Plus you can meet Chewbacca and Kylo Ren!

I loved all the models!

Manly pose with Chewbacca!

The detail on the models is great! There are even lit interiors on some.

At Hyperspace Mountain you get put into the middle of a dogfight between X-wings and TIE fighers.

There’s some new theming in the queue for the Hyperspace overlay.

And a new queue video.

The second half of the ride was really great! There were some cool effects and surprises!

We’re using the force!

Food time!

It’s Springtime in the submarine lagoon, which can mean only one thing...

Baby duckies!

Have you ever seen a baby ducky from above? Now you have!

Spears counts character credits like most TPR members count coaster credits... here she is getting her Captain Hook credit!

Next we decided to check out It’s a Small World.

It sure is!

Spring flowers were in bloom all around the parks, basking in the beautiful weather!

Not much of the Star Wars Land construction was visible from the Fantasyland Theater.

But there was a small amount of dirt to be seen.

The train tracks have been removed before the Toontown train station.

This fence blocks where the train would normally pull into the Toontown station.

Over to the other side of the park, we stopped by the Tiki Room!

It isn’t a trip to Disneyland without a Dole Whip! So yummy!

The Tiki Room is a great place to beat the heat and relax mid-day!

In the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room.

Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet.

The Jungle Cruise was closed...

But the skippers were still there telling jokes and entertaining crowds. It was awesome! (Look at THAT!)

The even did a “Land Cruise” - a full run through of The Jungle Cruise on land, re-created with stuffed animals and awesome humor. This was such a gem, and I hope they do this again in the future whenever jungle cruise is temporarily closed! It’s rad that Disney is able to keep their employees employed, and keep guests entertained, all while the attraction is closed! Have you ever seen a park do that before? So cool!

And even better... alert the Anaheim Animatronic Hippo Conservation Society! A hippo charged during the show, and it wasn’t shot! Sure, it’s only a stuffed animal and not an animatronic, but this could signal a dramatic shift in policy going forward. We hope for the best! And as always, we stand with the AAHCS and support their cause. SaveTheAnimatronicHippos.org

Over to Pirates of the Caribbean, I was inspired by all the Jungle Cruise puns...

Arrrrr you ready for these photos?

You might have a bone to pick with me when I’m done.

There was just a skeleton crew running the ride.

But regardless, this is my favorite bride in the park.

There’s no single rider line though so you ought to band together.

The jail walls aren’t built to scale.

I’ll Sparrow you the rest of my puns.

Over to Big Thunder…

Construction walls are set up and you can no longer walk through to Fantasyland.

This is a pretty dramatic change!

Peeking through a hole in the fence!

The Mark Twain Riverboat is docked while the Rivers of America are closed for Star Wars Land construction, but it’s still open to guests and is a great place to rest your legs and get some shade!

This is the Big Thunder side of the Rivers of America. A temporary mural is set up, and just beyond it the water is completely drained.

Gertrude got hired by Disneyland to oversee the work happening on the river, so you may see her in and around the water while she manages the project. This also earned her a free annual pass, which she is really stoked about.

Spears found more baby duckies and would be content spending the rest of the day watching them.

Here’s the Haunted Mansion side of the river.

A closeup of the mural.

We love all the 60th anniversary photo ops they’ve set up around both parks!

More dirt! As seen from The Hungry Bear restaurant. I’m sure all these views of dirt will get much more interesting once things start getting built.

Next we took a ride on Splash Mountain.

Looking down from the ride, you can see that the train tracks have been removed here as well.

Manly pose!

You can now cross over the tracks and check out the other side of the New Orleans Square train station.

And there are activities to do there too.

You can also get a close-up look at the handcar that’s normally stationed at the front of the park.

There’s a model steam boiler, and the friendly train staff will explain how the steam trains work. You can ask pretty much anything about the trains and they’ll have an answer for you! Thanks Dean for being so helpful and informative!

And if you ask nicely you can even blow the whistle! Again, it’s really cool of Disney to do all this. They could’ve closed the train station and sent the employees to the unemployment line (and most parks would) - but instead they’ve created a neat experience for the guests that also keeps their cast members on the job. Go Disney!

Before heading over to DCA, we stopped by the Main Street train station where you can peek in an engine. (Report continued in next post below...)

Edited May 3, 2016 by ILoveRides

... continued from above!

Spears took a quick nap.

The Lilly Belle is on display as well!

Next we headed to California Adventure!

We took a spin on Heimlich’s Choo Choo Train.

And then we soared over California one last time. On June 17th Soarin' Over California will become Soarin' Around the World.

We’ll miss you Patrick!

I’ve always loved Soarin’ Over California, and will certainly miss it! That said, I’m excited to experience the new ride film and hopefully some new scents!

For dinner we went to Carthay Circle Theater. Spears liked the fancy velvet rope.

Cathay isn’t cheap, but it’s totally worth it to enjoy amazing food and drinks in the heart of DCA without all the crowds and noise.

The food is always spot on.

We posed in one more of the 60th photo ops before heading over to World of Color!

It’s Dessert Party time!

After you’re seated, the wait staff introduce themselves and start you off with a bread basket.

Here’s the dessert menu.

And here is the gorgeous plate of desserts! Pretty nice, huh?

Don’t forget to wash down the desserts with some delicious drinks. Each person gets 2 drinks of their choice.

Kids even get these cool glow with the show cups!

Uh oh, Spears lost her vegan powers and tried some of the desserts! She said they were great!

What a great view! And you get to sit down instead of standing for the whole show. It was the perfect end to a perfect day - we really enjoyed it!

Our waiter, Moses, was gracious and entertaining!

Here are the tables where you sit.

Once it got completely dark the show began.

The world is a carousel of color!

If your live coverage was shaky at all, now you know why. (I kid - Spears did a great job with her first live broadcast!)

This rendition of the show - "World of Color - Celebrate!" - is a great tribute to Walt Disney!

During the show we got to relive many of the attractions we saw during the day. Here’s The Enchanted Tiki Room.

Splash Mountain

Pirates of the Caribbean

Small World

And Star Tours

The new effects are awesome!

And the fire is always a crowd favorite.

The fire effects in this show don’t disappoint!

We had an amazing time at Disneyland and DCA. There are so many new experiences at the resort right now that it’s a great time to visit! And after spending a fun-filled day at the parks, there’s no better way to cap off the night than at the World of Color Dessert Party. Watching World of Color with reserved seats and great food and drinks is the perfect way to end a day. Thanks to Disney for inviting us to attend and thanks to you for checking out our report!

Great report, as always, David. I like how they're using the Mark Twain as a seating area during the Star Wars construction and river rehab.

Awesome report! Disneyland is truly a great park! I'm glad you guys had a blast!

Fantastic report! Having the Jungle Cruise staff still entertaining people during attraction downtime is something only a Disney park would do, it's such a great idea!

Great report and pictures.

Thank's for sharing.

Fantastic report! Having the Jungle Cruise staff still entertaining people during attraction downtime is something only a Disney park would do, it's such a great idea!

 

Actually, it looks like Disneyland is using all of their cast members, from all the closed attractions, in new innovative ways. Good on them!

 

Great report and photos. I am still iffy about whether to do the World of Color Dessert Party when I'm down there in Sept.

But your photos sure make it easy to say 'yes', lol.

 

Thanks for sharing your day there.

Great TR as always...you both do an outstanding job representing SoCal attractions to the rest of the TPR world in a fantastic, and comical, style...always enjoy your take on our local attractions.

Great report. I'm a little bummed I will be passing the park on the way to San Diego and don't have time to stop!