Anyone done the private IllumiNations fireworks cruise?

[Belle612]

Just returned from WDW and my 5th Illuminations Cruise. They tell you to arrive at 7:45 but we didn't board until around 8:00. It's much nicer paying in advance and not having to stand in line at the little booth window to pay as was done in the past. You should tip the boat captain at end of cruise. This time I ordered champagne and strawberries from Yacht Club private dining and it was setup before we boarded the boat; the captain did the corking and pouring but we had to serve ourselves with the strawberries. There was a little table set up at the back of the boat for private dining items but the complimentary snacks (bags of chips and popcorn)/sodas were at the front of the boat and you can take the leftovers with you.

This is great info! I am also looking into doing this for an upcoming trip. Do you remember how much they charged you for the champagne? Thanks!

 

[Momoftwins+1]

Thank you for this info everyone!! I think I want to do this as a surprise for my family. Last visit I surprised them with the MK fireworks party and everyone loved it and they hate standing around waiting for Illumination. Plus, we will be staying at an Epcot resort for part of our stay so easy access to the boats!

 

[Pakey]

This is great info! I am also looking into doing this for an upcoming trip. Do you remember how much they charged you for the champagne? Thanks!

I'm sorry, I have no idea what the total charge was. I called Yacht Club Private Dining about 3 days prior to cruise and ordered it and the person taking my order said he didn't know what the total cost would be. I've been so busy since I got home that I haven't had a chance to look at the charges yet! However, the private dining menu is online so you can see what the charge per bottle is--I just don't know what the delivery/setup fee was that was tacked on.

 

[jimim]

we liked it too. did it for my daughter's and a friend of ours daughter's birthday. got a cake and had the boat decorated. good time. was not a rushed time at all. all in all good experience.

 

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

We currently have a Illuminations cruise booked for our last night at BC in March .... We're staying club level at BC so I think we'll go to the lounge for a light appetizer first and then I'll order pizza and sparkling wine on the cruise for a meal ...

If you go to the private dining menu for BC/YC you'll see the cost of the champagnes they offer... there is a service fee (seem to recall it was a small fixed fee $3 or $4 maybe) plus an 18% gratuity and taxes on top --- but they do charge what they say on private dining (from our experience.)

Call and ask though as they can give you an exact dollar figure...

 

[hllb]

I’ve read conflicting things about tipping the captain. Some seem to tip, and others tried and were denied. Is a tip customary in this situation?

 

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

We definitely tipped ($60 I think last time) ... and it was happily accepted... Never had them refuse the tip but maybe some captains don't accept (although I have to admit I hadn't heard of this before...)

 

[bluezy]

We definitely tipped ($60 I think last time) ... and it was happily accepted... Never had them refuse the tip but maybe some captains don't accept (although I have to admit I hadn't heard of this before...)

I agree, I've never heard of them not accepting tips. Our captain happily accepted our tip both times (same captain) and I saw other captains accepting tips the last time we did a cruise (didn't really pay attention the first time). Everything I read before booking the cruise indicated that a tip was expected. We tip around $60 as well.

 

[princessesrule]

Weird question...I was given about $800 in Disney gift cards and am looking for special things to do. Do you think I can pay for this with gift cards?

 

[tinkerpea]

We did this last NYE for the 1st fireworks at 6pm. Absolutely spectacular!!

We're doing the midnight showing this yr, did you get anything extra on the boat like Champaign

 

[tinkerpea]

We just got back, let me say that I was a little disappointed.
I really thought we'd be a little "closer". I felt like our view was blocked a little by the other seating areas.
I guess they used to go further into the "lake", but the fire marshal now says they can only be just in front of the bridge. I think we would have had a better view from the bridge.

This is one of those things where I went in with high expectations, and those expectations were not met. Yes, it was nice not to have to fight crowds and try to find a space, yes it was easy to get back to the hotel afterward (we got an uber at Yacht). But I wasn't expecting all those tables and chairs to be in our view.

Have to say this really worries me too, we've paid a round a 1000 for new years eve, and if our view is blocked by the dessert party people I will be pretty upset.
We did it before they had the party's and it was wonderful

 

[Disneytam]

WE have done the Illuminations cruise, but our last time was on the Breathless so that will tell you how long ago it was! So my information is a bit dated.

What a wonderful memory it is though. There was just the Breathless and one pontoon boat at the time. The skipper really gave us a fun ride! and watching Illuminations from there was magical!

Maybe it's time to think about doing another one of these - on a pontoon boat now, I suppose.....it really has been a long time.

The only time we did it was also on the Breathless! Great memories and it has me thinking that we need to do it again.

 

[Keels]

This is probably the one experience at Disney that I love the most -- I've done this cruise four times in the last two years ... I'm not really sure about the seating area blocking the view, as the boats park on the front side of the bridge between UK and France, facing the globe. We've always been the last boat to arrive, so we've been next to Lochside at UK and, again, I've never felt like the tables and chairs or people impeded our view.

In January, we got there early and met our captain - we had walking drinks from Hurricane Hannah's with us and our captain told us if we wanted to get more drinks from HH or from inside the YC/BC to bring on-board, we were more than welcome to. We got a bottle of bubbles and some canned beers and he let us put them in the cooler (which is stocked with bottled water, canned soda and iced tea).

Two times, we've timed it well where we would race back across the lake and see fireworks at DHS before being dropped off back at the Yacht Club.

Twice, we parked at the front of Epcot so we had to journey back through the park - take your receipt or your "boat documents" (I mean the trivia sheets) with you and let the folks at International Gateway know that you were on an Illuminations cruise and need to get back to your car or to the monorail and they'll let you through (if it's after park close ... which is usually the case, except for EMH and holiday nights) to walk through the park to get back to transportation.

As for tipping ... well, this is always a splurge I do for my friends/family on trips and it's generally to celebrate something or to start off a trip, so I've always felt warm and fuzzy about the experience. I've always tipped our driver (we've had the same guy three times and most recently a new guy who has also taken my husband out fishing) ~$100. To me, the experience has been priceless and our experiences with our driver have only helped that experience. Illuminations has always been my favorite night show at Disney - even since I was younger and working there - so to share it with the people I love the most in this exclusive experience, well, as I've shown I'm willing to do it again and again!

Here are a couple pictures from my most recent cruise back in May, to give you an idea of the view!

 

[Liz Z]

That was our view last year too. Perfect view!! We did the early show at 6:30pm. all the NYE midnite show boats were all booked. It was almost the exact same show.Fantastic! We brought our drinks from the bar with us i cant remember if we were offered champagne all i know it cost half the price of the later Illuminations.

Where will the tables and chairs be blocking? Your looking directly across the lake. Well unless there are floating tables and chairs lol ......
Have a great time.

We were given bags of chips, pretzels, sun chips and soda and water and any leftover we could take. We tipped the captain $50.

 

[tinkerpea]

That was our view last year too. Perfect view!! We did the early show at 6:30pm. all the NYE midnite show boats were all booked. It was almost the exact same show.Fantastic! We brought our drinks from the bar with us i cant remember if we were offered champagne all i know it cost half the price of the later Illuminations.

Where will the tables and chairs be blocking? Your looking directly across the lake. Well unless there are floating tables and chairs lol ......
Have a great time.

We were given bags of chips, pretzels, sun chips and soda and water and any leftover we could take. We tipped the captain $50.

So for the 6.30 showing they did all the nye add on' s maybe I should have gone for that then..I am hoping since it's almost double that they add champagne in

 

[Liz Z]

So for the 6.30 showing they did all the nye add on' s maybe I should have gone for that then..I am hoping since it's almost double that they add champagne in

Not the same but close. No countdown and no champagne. but amazing just the same.

 

[Ladybugsy]

For those that have done the Epcot and MK fireworks cruise....preference? We've done the MK, but not Illuminations.

 

[courtney1188]

For those that have done the Epcot and MK fireworks cruise....preference? We've done the MK, but not Illuminations.

No comparison, in my opinion - Illuminations is way better in terms of the view.