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Disney Celebration Cruise...Wishes
I wanted to do something special for my husband’s 50th birthday and after looking on the Disney World website at all the behind the scene tours, came across the Speciality Cruises under the More Magic, Other Recreation section and thought this sounded a little different. You don’t need Disney park entry to do this.
I had heard about the Illumination cruise to watch the Epcot fireworks, but this was already fully booked, so I went ahead and booked the cruise to watch the Magic Kingdom Wishes fireworks instead. The lady I spoke to explained that this was a longer experience than the Illumination cruise and you got to see the whole firework display as it was meant to be seen, whereas with Illuminations, you didn’t really see any more than those standing on shore around the lake.
You can meet your pontoon boat at any of the Disney marinas, parking is free. We choose the Contemporary Resort. After a day at the park, we went for something to eat and set off to the marina, the sky however was getting darker and there was a wonderful natural light display, lightning. Things were not looking good.
We arrived at the marina to be told they had cancelled due to the lightening and a tornado warning. I had given them my number to call in case of cancellation, but we had been out all day. Thankfully we were able to book for the following evening!
So the next day we arrived at the Contemporary at 9pm as instructed and thankfully it was a beautiful calm evening. Our pontoon was decorated with balloons and a birthday banner (there was an extra charge for this) Sodas and chips (crisps) are included, but you can also order a cake and other food at additional cost.
The pontoon was really comfortable with big soft sofas, seating up to ten people, so we sat back for our cruise. It started with a close up viewing of the nightly water pageant that tours around the various lagoons and waterways each evening. The water pageant is a light show on a series of barges accompanied with music. Really sweet, really Disney!
After this we left the natural lake by the Contemporary, sailing over a bridge to the manmade Seven Seas lagoon to watch the fireworks, the music from the display was piped into the boat. The fireworks were spectacular, starting with Tinkerbell flying past Cinderella’s castle, then the whole Wishes story unfolded in the sky. How they send up fireworks in the shape of hearts, I will never know. . . amazing! ! !
It struck me that if your boat wasn’t filled with teenagers, that this could be a very romantic way to spend an hour and a half. A fabulous evening and no fight with the crowds to get back to your car!
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