The Rivers of Light Dessert Party is a ticketed event that offers the opportunity to enjoy unlimited desserts and VIP seating for the nighttime show, Rivers of Light, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In this post, we review the event, walking you through the basics of planning and booking, the event itself, and our analysis of whether it’s worth it. Read on to learn all about the Rivers of Light Dessert Party at Animal Kingdom!
Other Dessert Party Reviews
For comparison / consideration (links open in new tabs):
We haven’t yet made it to the Star Wars or Fantasmic dessert events at Hollywood Studios.
Rivers of Light Dessert Party Basics
The Rivers of Light Dessert Party is a ticketed event held inside Animal Kingdom on select nights. The party includes access to a selection of desserts and beverages before the nighttime show, Rivers of Light, and access to a reserved viewing area for the show. The official event page is here.
Schedule and Booking
As of early 2020, the Rivers of Light Dessert Party is held every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. This schedule is always subject to change, but the important thing to note is that unlike many dining packages or dessert parties, this is not a nightly affair.
The party can be booked at this link in the same way you’d make an advance dining reservation. Reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance, but the current event calendar does not always go 180 days in the future, so you may have to check back until your date shows up.
Most nights there is only one time, but if there are two showings of Rivers of Light it’s possible there could be two dessert parties (given that demand only supports three shows weekly, this seems unlikely).
Payment for the Rivers of Light Dessert Party is required at the time of booking. Exact cancellation periods may vary, but it’s listed in the “Guest Policies” at the time of booking.
For my event, cancellations were available up to five days before the event. Due to a scheduling conflict, I cancelled a dessert party online once (very easy—just pull up “My Plans” and click cancel) and received the refund on my card within a few days.
The current pricing, which includes tax is $89 per adult (ages 10 and up); $53 per child (ages 3 to 9)
You need to have separate admission to Animal Kingdom to attend the dessert party.
Arrival and Check-In
For a 6:30PM showing of Rivers of Light, check-in was officially scheduled for 5:30PM according to every source I checked. In actuality, check-in began at 5:15PM. This is common across the dessert parties, apparently, so plan to arrive an extra 15 minutes early if you’re looking for the earlier time.
Enter the party to the right
You don’t have to worry about anything running out, but if you had a FastPass+ to catch during the event you might want to arrive, eat, leave, and come back for the show.
Check-in (sign pictured above) is just past Expedition Everest, near the bridge from Asia to Dinoland. There are other VIP seats in the area so you might see people checking in at different spots, but the dessert party check-in is well marked. I simply gave my name to a Cast Member standing near the entry.
Unlike at the Magic Kingdom dessert party, we didn’t get wristbands for this event, but that’s no reason you couldn’t leave and come back (there aren’t even bathrooms inside the event, for example).
If you’re going to leave and plan to come back, make sure you’re careful with the timing. Expedition Everest is right nearby and a great option if you have FastPass+ or even if you want to use the single rider line. DINOSAUR isn’t a bad option either if you have FastPass+.
Kilimanjaro Safaris and Flight of Passage are particularly long experiences, even with FastPass+. I wouldn’t plan to fit those into the middle of the dessert party.
Desserts and Drinks
After checking in, I was given a quick tour of the area and walked to the bar, where I had my choice of alcoholic beverage. You can return and order another beverage if you’d like.
Dessert is served via an all-you-care-to-enjoy buffet. Here’s a slideshow of the options, starting with the bar and then moving onto food.
Besides the alcoholic beverages at the bar, there is also a station with water, unsweetened iced tea, and two sweet/fruity beverages (like non-alcoholic jungle juice). Hot beverages—coffee, hot chocolate, and (presumably) tea were available by asking any of the waitstaff.
Everything is served until the end of the show, so if you wind up hanging out at near the buffet for the show you can keep snacking (we’ll compare viewing options in the next section). I found the food and beverage options to be just okay.
The Green Tea Cake was the most ambitious item—and the most well-presented—but it just missed the mark for me. This is one of those “well what were you expecting, it tastes like green tea” things. Fine, it tasted like it was named, but I hoped for something a bit more interesting.
The Chocolate Pot De Creme was another fun one, with an fully edible flower pot and flower. I look at it, puzzled for a second when another guest chimed in “You should just shove it in your mouth in a single bite.” I’d already come to the same conclusion, and that worked out well enough.
Mickey bars, Mickey ice cream sandwiches, and fruit bars were available as well.
I overheard (not eavesdropping, to be clear) another guest be told by the CMs that her only allergy option was the Yogurt Panna Cotta. Maybe she didn’t give notice in advance or this was some other unique circumstance, but I found that shocking.
This park is filled with creative dining options and has both a buffet and a signature restaurant. It’s ridiculous that no one thought to better accommodate an allergy during the 90 minutes of the event.
I heard from some people on instagram that basically, your experience may vary with allergies at the dessert parties. One reader, for example, chimed in that her mom was brought a plate of options at Magic Kingdom.
There was plenty of standing room in the area but not a ton of seats. The tables were nice, and some had lanterns or tiger lily lights.
Those who wanted to sit were mostly eating in the Rivers of Lights seating area, which is fine enough. It’s a tad strange to not have more seats since people have presumably been walking all day, but I think the grandstands are sufficient.
Here’s a slideshow of the dessert area (it’s not huge), you’ll also see a picture of a CM “guarding” us from guests in the neighboring seating areas, which does show how just how close other guests can get to this VIP viewing:
I counted about 40 people at the event, but it felt like more by the time showtime rolled around and we were all in the stands. It’s likely people were coming and going during the dessert portion.
Finally, I’ll add that the service was excellent. Because the hot beverages were not immediately accessible by guests, the Cast Members walking around taking dishes were very active in asking if guests needed anything.
I’m a huge baby—er, critic—when it comes to proactive service, so I was really happy to see the Cast Members be so active. A few guests were visibly excited when they found out there was coffee and hot chocolate since they hadn’t seen any and it was a chilly evening.
Rivers of Light Dessert Party Seating and Viewing
The reserved seating area is right in front of the dessert area, so there’s no need to head to it early unless you see it’s filling up. I went right at the time the show started and watched some of the show from the seats and some from the dessert area above. Here’s a slideshow (two slides) comparing the views (sorry the sun set between them):
There’s not much difference between the two views (the first one, with the stairs in it, is from the dessert area). It’s worth mentioning that there’s a lot more space in the stands with good spots than there is up top. If a lot of people decided to hang out by the desserts, you might not find a good view up there.
I’m not a huge fan of Rivers of Light, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it. If you’re at Animal Kingdom a full day, it’s likely you’ll have time for Rivers of Light. If you really find yourself with something else to do (a ride you missed that isn’t TriceraTop Spin, or a dinner reservation) then fine, skip it, but that usually won’t be the case.
But even accepting that you should watch it regardless of what I think, there’s still a problem for the dessert party event. Namely, there aren’t many “bad” views of Rivers of Light anyways, so you’re not getting a ton of value from VIP seating. The grandstands are well designed and the show mostly consists of illuminated objects moving around on the water and projections onto a water screen.
Even if there are some bad seats (which I’m not sure there are), there are often multiple Rivers of Light showings in a night (which makes it easier to get a good seat) and Rivers of Light FastPass+ space isn’t too tough to come by, particularly in a theme park where you can easily get to early afternoon without a need for more ride FastPasses.
Is the Rivers of Light Dessert Party Worth It?
Everyone’s favorite unanswerable question (“it ___ worth it?”) is answerable this time. No. The Rivers of Light Dessert Party isn’t worth it.
I really try in reviewing ticketed events/activities to focus more on whom it’s worth it for rather than whether it’s worth it. That’s because it’s usually easy to justify a significant portion of the cost and then you’re left with “well, you can cover the last few bucks by reasoning that…”
But that’s not the case here. Let’s look at the adult price. At $89 you get included alcohol. I’ll count that as one drink at $13. I’d also add there are much better places to get a drink at Animal Kingdom than the dessert party. So now we need to find $76 of value.
How much are the desserts worth? Well. None of them was anywhere near as good as the Malva Cake Sundae from Tamu Tamu Refreshments ($5.99) or the Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse from Satuli Canteen ($5.29). Those two desserts are together more than enough to satisfy an average adult.
Malva Cake Sundae ($6 from Tamu Tamu Refreshments, not at dessert party)
And even if they’re not, and your justification is the “unlimited” nature of the dessert party, then I would just say “unlimited what?” This isn’t a lineup of dozens of inventive desserts.
There were six options when I visited (not counting fruit, cheese, nuts, cookie, and ice cream bars), and I’m curious how much of any of them you’d really want to eat.
How much is the seating worth? Well. As I already pointed out—not much. Rivers of Light seating isn’t hard to come by. Remember you’re probably spending at least 30 minutes at the dessert party, and if you arrive 30 minutes for Rivers of Light you’re guaranteed to get a great seat most days.
If you want to lock in a good seat, you have another option in the Rivers of Light Dining Package (Review). That starts at $68 (adult) for lunch/dinner and includes a meal with a dessert (no alcohol unless you use a dining plan credit).
It’s really hard to find the case where the dessert party is a sensible value when the dining package basically is an $8 per person premium on top of the meal for seating that is nearly as good at the dessert party seating. The dessert party seating is better and less crowded…but now we’re really grasping at straws debating Rivers of Light viewing.
Table service meals are time consuming, and theoretically the dessert party could take just a few minutes extra of your day, but you’re likely to have some extra time at Animal Kingdom, and Tusker House and Tiffins are both great meals.
If you’re really into dessert, just get the dining package, have your table service meal, and buy quick service desserts the rest of the day. That’s a much more cost-effective plan for a day of good food / treats and VIP viewing.
I finally wanted to throw out a really unconventional comparison…Disney World’s club level hotel rooms. This one is a stretch, I admit, but it’s pretty telling that it even is worth mentioning.
From a Gran Destino Tower Standard Room or an Animal Kingdom Lodge Savanna View Room, an upgrade to club level runs you about $130 per night (to be clear, you have to book this in advance, you usually can’t just upgrade on arrival). That means a family of four could spend $284 on this event or get two nights of club level access—which would include desserts and alcohol (albeit back at the hotel), along with all the other food services and perks of club level—for $260.
There’s a lot of reasons that’s an “apples and oranges” comparison (and that pricing isn’t universal across all club levels, and most guests aren’t staying in hotels with club level anyways), but it serves to make the point that even if you just “have the money,” there might be more inventive ways to spend it.
It’s not that this was a bad or even underwhelming event. It’s simply that paying anything near the price for essentially a dessert sampler and Rivers of Light seating doesn’t make much sense for most guests.
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