Wishes cruise vs Illumination cruise vs no cruise

[krisleee]

Hi! I am a newbie - this is my first post - and I am trying to decide whether or not to do a private boat viewing of the fireworks during our trip.

My whole family is going including a 5yo girl. Would the wishes cruise be better or would it be better to watch the parade and the fireworks from the MK? I have the cruise booked but I am leaning toward canceling because we would have to check in at 7 and miss the SpectroMagic parade. Plus I wonder if we would get to see Tinkerbell from the cruise....

If we watch the parade/fireworks in the MK, where is the best place to watch each? Is it feasible to change locations if the parade is at 7 and the fireworks are at 8?

What about illuminations? Is it worth it to try to get a cruise to watch or would it be just as good watching it from land at Epcot? (Not sure there are any illumination cruises avail - we are traveling Mar 1-8 but I just booked the Wishes cruise last night.)

Thanks in advance! I did a forum search but it mostly turned up trip reports when I searched wishes....