Fantasmic! Dessert Party with PassPorter!

As I headed out of Epcot and back to my shameful resort parking spot, two cool things happened: One was that I ran into Jonni & Taz & Dani & Benji & Kiara near Shipwreck Beach at the Beach Club. The other was that a party was being set up on Shipwreck Beach (which is another possible Disney Wedding reception location) so I got to take pictures for my book!

Next I zipped back to Pop and changed clothes before zipping over to Hollywood Studios for the dessert party.

A fleet of buses waiting to whisk bored patrons from Hollywood Studios!


This photo will soon be making its published debut in the revised version of PassPorter’s Festivals and Celebrations at Walt Disney World! Don’t tell anyone that it wasn’t actually taken during ESPN: The Weekend... gulp!

I had some time to kill so I wandered around taking still more pictures…

This looks just like the real Echo Park Lake, except with more dinosaurs and fewer bums

This shot is for Patrick


All that work for an ATM kiosk?


All that work for a burger stand?


I wandered by the American Idol Experience and caught some of the outdoor broadcast of the final round of the day (otherwise known as the Festival of Ringers) which had attracted a crowd of dozens.


This poor woman got mowed down by SpectroMagic....

“That’s right, son. I want you to polish that hubcap til you can see your nose hairs in it!”


“Who wants to go on Tower of Terror?”


When I passed the entrance to Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre, people were already filing in for Fantasmic!

There but for the grace of God go I!


Our Super-Top-Secret meeting spot for the dessert party was the FastPass machines by Rockin’ Rollercoaster, and when I got there, my fellow PassPorter fans were already assembling.

If you look at this picture, I will have to kill you


We had plenty to do while we waited, such as chatting, sweating, fanning ourselves, taking unflattering photos….

Me and Cheryl Pendry at our most glamorous!


Finally, two event guides popped out from behind the gate and escorted us backstage. We weren’t allowed to take pictures back there, but you aren’t missing much. It’s basically some trailer/portable-type buildings, a bunch of community bicycles, and a whole lotta asphalt.

When we reached the private viewing terrace at the back of Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre, I once again leapt into photographer mode instead of my usual routine of shoving my way to the head of the buffet line. This is another place where you can have a wedding event, so I wanted to get a bunch of pictures. But I found it hard to get the whole place in one shot…

We had the larger of the two patios – here’s the other:

Me taking pictures…

One thing I’d really been looking forward to was trying desserts from Hollywood Studios’ catering department. Their dessert menus are WAY more interesting than Epcot’s – you can do stuff like donut fondue and a marble slab ice cream bar. So imagine my surprise when I finally got to the buffet and discovered…. The very same dessert menu we had at our wedding dessert party in Epcot!

Florida Lemon bars, sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies


 

I wasn’t complaining though, because this meant that I was reunited with my beloved chocolate-peanut butter marshmallow squares!!! (Cue the theme from Romeo & Juliet)

Even better, these tasted just as I remembered them from our wedding, not like the bland ones we had at our anniversary dessert part a few months ago. Whohoo!

Let’s see those again, shall we?


After I got through with them.


Oh boy – a fresh tray!!!

I have since perfected the recipe, so here it is for anyone who wants to save $800+ on a Fantasmic! dessert party…

Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
12 oz chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows
Peanut butter chips for topping (you might wanna stir some in with the marshmallows too)

Mix butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips in a double boiler just till melted, then remove from heat. Place 3 cups miniature marshmallows in a buttered pan and spread on warm mixture. Save a few chips and marshmallows to decorate the top, or be generous and add extra.

Cut in squares when cool. It’s that easy…

DHS really went all-out on the table decorations


So the other funny thing that happened was, in the free-for-all where everyone rushed to pick a table, I plopped down at an empty one and the next thing I knew, my PassPorter bosses Jennifer & Dave and their son, Alexander, and Jennifer’s mom had all converged on it. I felt like I’d mistakenly sat at the head table at a wedding and tried to excuse myself, but they asked if it was OK if they sat with me. So there I was, the fifth wheel again, and this time with the guests of honor!

Jennifer’s mom’s superpower is lightning-fast speed!


Lurkyloo livin’ large at the VIP table


I got to have a nice chat with Jennifer’s mom, and nobody seemed to mind when I live-blogged on my iPhone right in front of them – prolly cuz Jennifer pretty much invented the Walt Disney World live blog!

Jennifer bought Alexander a cool light-up spinner toy, which he set about dismantling with surgical precision.

In happier times…


When the show started, I moved up to the railing with some of the other partygoers. Those private patios are all the way at the back of the theater, so you don’t exactly have the best view, but it’s sure nice to skip the lines and get to munch on peanut butter chocolate marshmallow squares while you watch!

Here’s what I could get with my iPhone after the real camera’s battery died.

At the end of the night we were encouraged (ya hear that Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings – encouraged!) to take home the leftovers, so I scored 3 chocolate-dipped Mickey crispies (two were for Nathan & Jensey – honest!), 2 giant cookies and two chocolate PB marshmallow squares.

My haul


Unfortunately, I learned the next day that – like the children of Israel trying to store manna – one cannot keep more chocolate peanut butter marshmallow squares than one can fit in one’s tummy:

So long, chocolate peanut butter marshmallow squares…


After the party, I didn’t quite feel like turning in for the night, so I went over to Downtown Disney to get Patrick a souvenir (more Vinylmation pins) and poke around til I got tired.

First stop:

I had just live-blogged this photo…

When I got a call from Patrick! He was very excited because he had seen the picture go up and he knew exactly where I was. He asked me to post a picture just for him, so naturally it had to be this:

These look good enough to eat!


I also stopped by Ghirardelli to buy some more of that fabulous fudge to take home and got suckered into buying their caramel-butterscotch sauce too.

And I dropped in at the new Tren-D shop. I’ll have lots of great Root pictures of the place in Day 4, but for now I’ll leave you with these:

(This caption was funnier 30 seconds after I live-blogged it)

By the time you read this, everything in this picture will have gone out of style


I kid you not…


I blogged this one for DISer Philadisney because when she was on “What Not to Wear” Clinton and Stacy made her give up her Alice In Wonderland tote bag. Well *obviously* such a thing is now the height of fashion because it can be purchased at Tren-D!

Finally I got tired enough to go home to Pop Century, but then I got my second wind and walked down to the main hall to settle my bill and then had a long chat with Patrick, and by the time I went to bed it was the middle of the night!

Up Next: Last Day… In 36 Bazillion Parts…

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