Man, I thought the tone of the article was a little nasty, but now after reading the comments I know it was. This pricing does seem a little high but you do have free options just as wonderful included in the park admission to watch fireworks. Annual passes are not extravagantly priced. The value comes down to how often you will use it and the comparison to how you and your family travel. How many days are you going to travel? Will you be in the pen everyday or will you take advantage of many of the wonderful "free" experiences at your resort? Is staying on property beneficial for you? If you do go with the annual pass then the rooms are often very well discounted per night. Plus you save on transportation cost. There are a great many ways to save on your disney vacation. Opting for this negative view on some really nice enhancement trip options seems like complaining for complainings sake. You can't do everything every trip but adding one extra magical experience each time doesn't seem like a bad idea. Maybe this desert party isn't right for you and your size family. That doesn't make it only for the "elite". Stop comparing yourself and your family to others. Stop worrying about what you can't have or do and enjoy what you can.

All the comments above 100% accurate. Disney has catered to those who are wealthy, from Brazil or have become DVC members. We used to do Annual Passes for Disney World every year, visit 2-3 times a month for park visits, and stay on resorts 2-3 times a year. In the recent years costs have increased excessively to pay for the Magic Band development. Disney _____ and we no longer visit because of this.

Annual Passholders are given the tiniest of special features at a huge price tag. Theses ridiculous prices for just about everything, shows how little DISNEY cares about families anymore. They cater more and more to the elite, not the family that saves and sacrifices to make their dream trip. The CEO is a major cause. Walt DISNEY, also a business man is turning in his grave.

Disney must soon do something good for year round pass holders who live off premises. I can not ride any major attractions without waiting in the long lines because Disney allows fast passes to all their customers planning a trip six months in advance. When I arrive at the park all the fast passas are taken in advance. What about your annual pass holders who pay big bucks for the annual pass every year.

$50?? Are they for real?? Can anyone really eat $50 worth of desserts - I know I couldn't. I think I would have considered it at half the price, but definitely not at that.

All this sounds like they are bringing the level Wishes Dessert on par with the Illuminations Dessert party. Food and drinks at the Illuminations event are so much better than what has been offered at Wishes event you would wonder if the Wishes event was being put on by the same company. My curiosity is, the Illuminations event included alcoholic beverages for the same price. Will Wishes be getting Champagne and adult beverages?

This used to be our favorite spot to watch the fireworks,(for free). Leave it to the corporation running Disney to take this away from the average visitor and make it only attainable by the wealthy. Disney World, on the whole, is becoming out of reach for the middle class. Not WWWD.

No, I won't. As it stands now, I'm lucky if I can even take my family back to WDW, since they've all but priced me out, made any kind of spontaneity impossible, and are now seemingly catering to the extremely wealthy (although I have a great job and make very good money). Everything is an upcharge any more, and frankly, has really gotten away from the heart of what WDW was about. Since 1972, there are two years that I was unable to visit...1999, when I bought a house and my daughter was born, and last year, when I moved. This year, I have a special occasion/reason to visit, but I may not even be able to go to a park, and that bothers me...it's gotten way too expensive. I don't care about comparative pricing to when Disneyland opened, or cost-of-living increases. It's too much, for what is now too little.

I can't qualify spending $50/ person (family of eight) to watch fireworks. Even if we had some of the sweet treats, I would limit what my younger kids and I could eat. So the only people who would get their foods worth are my fiance and 19 year old son. Come on Disney, I know you can do better than this. How about a special meet and greet with limited junk food, and special seating. That I could get down with.

A couple of things you have wrong. They never have sodas, they always have cupcakes, the only thing is the little eatable picture on the cupcakes, seasonal fruit was always an option. Rhe cider is about the only thing new.

Disney is a business. They will charge whatever the market will agree to. The problem is all the suckers out there who will willingly fork over fifty bucks for this "party" because of the "value" they perceive. I've already seen comments on discussion boards about this, and there are plenty of people who just don't care about the cost.
The holiday parties, Processional dinner packages, character meet and greet events, they are all for suckers. I've done them all, none of them were worth the extra money.

No thank you!