At $124 per person for a 4 hour event, Sweethearts Nite is by far the most expensive park event I've ever attended. Was it worth that heady price tag? Let's start by looking at what the event included...
Wait Times
The majority of rides within Disneyland Park were open for Sweethearts Nite with Rise of the Resistance being the notable exception - an exception that was emphasised both when booking tickets and on arrival. One listed benefit of the parties is that you can access the rides 'often with low waits'. In reality, the wait times were mixed. Rides popular with younger guests were a walk-on. We used the first half-hour of the event to mop-up a few rides we'd previously missed including Dumbo, Buzz, Storybook Boats and Casey Jr with next to no wait. However, given the predominantly adult demographic, waits for classic Disney attractions were actually higher than we'd experienced during our regular day visits. Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Big Thunder didn't drop below a posted 40 all night with Alice and Snow White also having longer waits. Other major attractions seemed to garner waits that were about equivalent to what we'd been seeing during the week. So if you're hoping to get endless rides on your favourites I wouldn't get too excited!
If you don't already have park tickets, the event does work out better value as event tickets grant entry to Disneyland Park from 5pm. As 5pm - 7pm were official park hours, Rise was operational during this time so there was still an opportunity to ride. However, unlike some of the after hours events at WDW I don't think the event would be sufficient to blast through all the park's attractions. The waits just didn't get low enough for that.
Characters
Please excuse this god awful photo of me. One day I'll master smiling for photos. One day.
Undoubtedly the highlight of the event for any character fans, the line-up at Sweetheart's Nite was an impressive mix of the super-rare and the classic. Upon opening my park guide and seeing that Milo and Kida from Atlantis were due at the event I shrieked. Since it's release Atlantis has been one of my favourite Disney movies, but sadly one that the parks very rarely acknowledge. We got to the queue about 10 minutes before the set began and joined the moderate line. The lines for all the characters were really well managed by cast members and never felt chaotic. Milo and Kida did arrive around 15 minutes late, which was quite frustrating at a limited-time event but once they arrived meets were brief, meaning the line moved rapidly. The downside to this of course was that, the meet was brief. You were permitted one photo, to be taken by the photopass photographer (photopass for the night is included in the event ticket) and that was it. As the meet took up about 40 minutes of our evening we only did the one. However, one of the rarest character meets in the world was present with Bernard and Bianca over in New Orleans Square!
Photo Opportunities
Throughout the park, photo opportunities were set-up allowing couples to recreate famous romance scenes from Disney films. Out of them all, the Tangled lantern scene definitely seemed like the best quality and was therefore the one we picked. Disneyland did very well here, anticipating the popularity of this particular photo and setting up two identical sets each with their own line. They also began photographing before the event officially began at 8pm, meaning although we waited 20 minutes for the photo this didn't eat in to our event time - and the resulting photos were quite nice! Unlike the character meets, the photographers here also took several photos and still kept the line moving fast.
Entertainment
I've said it plenty of times already on this blog so I won't go in to my love of theme park entertainment, but the entertainment offering was the undoubted highlight of the night for me. Aside from Milo and Kida, the main event offering that caught my eye was the opportunity to take a jazz cruise around the Rivers of America. This was a truly special experience and one I'll always remember. The concert was fantastic, with a really warm and friendly band and beautiful music. Combine that with sailing through Disneyland at night and you've got some real magic.
Speaking of music, there was also a live band over in Fantasyland at the Royal Ball. We stuck around for a couple of songs and I loved it. Dancing to fantastic covers of Disney songs with It's a Small World as the backdrop was a dream.
Then there were the fireworks.
During my visit to Disneyland Resort in Jan/Feb 2022, there was only one night-time spectacular being offered, Mickey's Mix Magic (Projections Only). Disney's California Adventure offered no large-scale entertainment except for the Chinese New Year cavalcade and Disneyland Park had only projections - unless you paid for Sweetheart's Nite. I understand the logic of halting night-time spectaculars due to covid-19. You don't want crowds to gather during a pandemic. Got it. That's fine. But, if you're happy to offer those shows to a very large crowd at an expensive extra event, that says to me that the pandemic is no longer the reason those shows are absent. So, knowing that this may well have been the only time I'd visit Disneyland Resort and wanting very much to see fireworks over that castle I paid $250 for two event tickets, primarily to see these fireworks. Ouch.
So, it's a pretty good job that the fireworks were excellent. They synchronised fireworks to the Enchanted soundtrack for crying out loud! For those 10 or so minutes, everything was perfect in the world - and yes, I cried.
Food
The event included an amazing line-up of exclusive food for sale all over the park. The only problem? Getting some. Mobile order slots for the outlets stocking exclusive items vanished almost immediately, with the only available option half-hour in to the event being the bread at Alien Pizza Planet. Lines at the restaurants themselves were long, particularly the line for the heart-shaped beignets at Mint Julep Bar which snaked around the entirety of New Orleans Square. Wanting to try at least one exclusive item I joined the long line stretching through Tomorrowland and waited over half an hour for the cinnamon cream cheese pretzel (I was going to get a churro but that line was just obscene). The pretzel itself was glorious. It was soft, fresh and with flavours that blended so well - I could quite happily have eaten a whole stack of them. But again, that was a sizeable chunk of the evening gone just trying to get a bite to eat.
Keepsakes
Honestly, this shouldn't even be a section here. When booking I took a look back at previous After Dark events and saw some of the great free gifts offered to guests including an amazing bum bag and pins. For Sweetheart's Nite, your event lanyard is promoted as being your free gift. Not great Bob.
So, was it worth it?
For me? Yeah, definitely. As the last night of a potentially-once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland Resort, with unique offerings and bonus park time (our 3-day ticket had expired and we spent the day at Knott's arriving at Disneyland at about 7pm) this was worth every penny. Though had the event been mid-trip or had there been regular fireworks, my answer may have been different. This is especially true given the lack of any included perks such as the snacks and drinks offered at some WDW events, or the free gifts previously included. As always, the idea of value is hugely skewed by this ridiculous hobby. Theme parks are expensive, none more-so than Disney. This ticket was good value for me because it helped me get the Disneyland experience I dreamed of, not because it was affordable. I do truly wish the Disneyland experience was more financially accessible, but that's an essay in itself. For many people, $124 bought only the opportunity to spend an evening queueing to spend more money on exclusive merch and food, but hey it's all about what makes you happy.
Speak again soon,
Claire
x