Mickey's Halloween Party Dinner Package at the Blue Bayou
The Blue Bayou was offering a special dinner package that included reserved viewing for the new Frightfully Fun parade. The first reservation was at 5:00 pm, which seemed like it should be enough time to eat and still make it to the Toontown Pre-Party. Overally, dinner took about 90 minutes. The package includes three courses plus a standard drink. Most of the items from the regular dinner menu are available, but there was one special item in each course that was exclusive to the package.
Standard drinks, including the mint julep, are included with the package.
Each meal included an appetizer, but a bread basket was still offered.
The first course included three options: Cryptic Crab Cake (package exclusive), Blue Bayou House Salad, or New Orleans Gumbo. While Figment really likes the gumbo at Blue Bayou, the server said the Cryptic Crab Cakes were really good. So he ordered those and they were
really good. There was a lot of jumbo lump crab meat in each cake.
The second course included eight options, including the Grim Grinning Short Rib (exclusive to the package). Figment tried the Grim Grinning Short Rib and the Surf & Turf entree items. The short rib was very tender and had a good sauce. The polenta was kind of bland.
The Surf & Turf was very good. The lobster tail was very yummy and tender. The filet was prepared perfectly and had excellent flavor.
The third course has three options: Dark Chocolate Brownie Mousse (package exclusive), Vanilla Bean Creme Bruelee, and the 8-Layer Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake. Figment opted to try all three! The Creme Bruelee was very smooth and the sugar top was fun to crunch.
The 8-Layer Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake was very rich, but Figment couldn't really taste the hazelnut.
Of the three desserts, the Brownie Mousse was the richest and the yummiest. It was a brownie topped with dark chocolate mousee enrobed in chocolate ganache. It was so rich, but very creamy and so good!
At the end of the meal (aka, with the bill), each guest is given a FP that lets them into the reserved viewing area.
Each guest is also given a souvenier lanyard. The lanyard lights up! It has the instructions on when and where to go.
And then lastly, each guest is given a trick-or-treat bag of candy weighing 1.5 pounds!
The viewing for the parade as located on Main Street. There were two areas, one on each side of the street. Both viewing areas started just after the parade crossing location near Carnations/Starbucks. The one of the right (when facing the Train Station), extended to the Emporium (just to the opening under the Crystal Arcade sign). The one of the left, extended to the Main Street Cinema. Guests were asked to arrive between 8:00 pm and 8:30 pm. We arrived around 7:45 pm and there were already a few other guests milling about the area. The CMs eventually had everyone form a line (started at about Carnation Cafe and extended down Main Street towards the Train Station). At a little past 8:00 pm, they began letting us in. We had to give them the FP we got at dinner. It seemed like they wanted to fill the Emporium side viewing area first (one row sitting, one row standing) and then the Starbucks side. The viewing area was about two deep in most places (one sitting, one standing). After the Horseman rode by, they removed the ropes and (I think) opened up the viewing area for anyone.
Like most things on the first night, it was a little confusing/chaotic (especially when one CM was trying to keep guests from lining up before 8:00 pm and another CM was trying to get people organized). Overall, it seemed to work pretty good and I think most everyone got a good view of the parade and Horseman.
In terms of value...the parade route didn't seem that crowded (the second parade had front row spots available almost until show time). The meal at the Blue Bayou was outstanding, so for my family, it was worth it to do the package. But, I don't think I would do the package if the parade viewing is the only reason you're doing it.