BASIC (non-premium) Wishes Cruise

[grgich]

Has anyone been on a basic Wishes Cruise (the pontoon boat that only holds 8 people and does not have the audio feed)? I seem to recall someone saying that their boat captain tried to maneuver their boat close to a boat that did have the audio feed, so they could hear the soundtrack.

If you've been on the basic Wishes Cruise, were you able to hear the audio?

Last time (2004) we watched Wishes in Magic Kingdom, and I could not understand/hear many portions of the audio (very crowded, and lots of people just keep talking all through the presentation!). We stayed at the Poly and also watched Wishes one night from the beach, but again I could not clearly hear the audio. I would really like to find a good location where I can immerse myself in the full effect (visual and audio).

This year, I was lucky enough to snag a Wishes Cruise in August, but I'm not sure I want to go if I won't be able to hear the audio.

 

[heidica]

We did this cruise June 2005 and absolutely loved it. We are going to try and reserve one our next trip in 2007. We had no problem hearing the music because our pontoon boat was near the Magical Gathering boat that had the music piped in and you could also hear a little from the park. For our group, this was the highlight of our trip. I can't remember our captian's name, but I do know that he is not there any more. He told us about how he was leaving Florida to go to college in another state. He was great. I don't remember for sure, but there were about 6-7 other boats with us parked in front of the Magic Kingdom and enough of them had music that we could hear. I tell you this, so you are prepared for the other boats. None of use were in each others way and we had no problem seeing Wishes. Also, before Wishes we were taken over to the Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness lodge to watch the Electric Water Pageant and that was also really cool because we were so close. Then we headed over to Seven Seas Lagoon to get our spot for Wishes. I was one of those that used to always do the Illumination cruise, but I think the Wishes cruise is much better. You get to see both Wishes and the Electric Water Pageant. I know the EWP isn't this huge thing, but it is nostalgia for me and I always try to get out and see it on my trips to WDW. With the Illumination cruise, you can only go to one spot and that is it. With the Wishes cruise, they drive you around a little bit and it is more open. I hope your Wishes cruise is as magical as ours.