The 2017 edition of the Moonlight Magic party at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon was highlighted by unique character meet opportunities and more attraction access than ever.
For the third straight year, Disney Vacation Club has hosted a series of member-exclusive events at Walt Disney World's water parks. After an inaugural year at Disney's Blizzard Beach, the event shifted to Typhoon Lagoon where it has grown larger and more impressive than ever.
Admission started at 7:30pm with the event scheduled to begin at 8:30. However, it appeared that early arrivals were allowed to begin using most attractions even before 8:30.
Prime seating was claimed well before 8:30, but there were plenty of areas available for those who were not particular about their camp spot.
Durign the event, DVC members were treated to free access to all water park attractions including the iconic wave pool, lazy river, tube slides, body slides and the Ketchakiddee Creek kids area.
New for 2017 was access to the Crush 'n' Gusher water coaster, which was previously unavailable due to the lack of nighttime lighting in that area of the water park. The lighting issue was resolved during the construction of the new Miss Adventure Falls family raft ride, which was also open for the event.
Near the event start, wait times for these two attractions quickly swelled to 30 minutes for Crush 'n' Gusher and nearly 60 minutes for Miss Adventure Falls. But lines became much more manageable as the night progressed.
A DJ Dance party was held on the beach adjacent to the wave pool. Music selections were seemingly designed to appeal to all audiences with tracks from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin joining Justin Beiber, the band Journey and everything in between.
Snacks were once again available in abundance with complimentary cookies, potato chips and (of course) ice cream novelties available, along with water and lemonade.
The special edition Moonlight Magic T-shirts were available for sale at Singapore Sal's. Retail price was around $30 but the 20% Disney Vacation Club merchandise discount applied. A limited edition trading pin was also available for purchase.
Character meet and greet opportunities were quite unique for 2017. Rather than the standard Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy, the event dug a little deeper into the character stock by bringing out Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin's" Genie, dressed in Hawaiian garb complete with a Goofy hat. Donald Duck was also on hand to pose with guests (and Cast Members.)
The event was scheduled to run through 11:30pm, but all guests in line for the likes of Miss Adventure Falls and Crush 'n' Gusher were allowed to ride. As midnight approached, the pools and lazy river had emptied.
Moonlight Magic will return to Typhoon Lagoon for one more night on Thursday, July 13th. Additional events are planned later this year for Disney's Animal Kingdom and Epcot, as well as Disneyland in California.
