Yes, you can hear the music from the beach - there is a certain area right where you come down from the Poly where the music is piped in. We were down the beach a ways from this area but we were actually able to her it very low from the MK.
As far as the view from the beach, you are directly across from the castle so even though it is a distance away, the view is very good. Although my favorite place to watch is inside the park it is great to see it from a distance, you can really appreciate it as a whole.
We have never watched it from CG so I cannot say about the view there. You are much closer to the MK so I would imagine the view would be good.
Last October we also watched it from the Contemporary on the 4th floor outside deck area. This area was ok. It got very crowded and noisy and you could not hear the music. Also, you were not directly across from the castle so the fireworks were not behind the castle but kind of next to the castle. Also, this outside deck area looks over the parking lot of the Contemporary and you lose something of the specialness of it. One cool thing is you are directly under where the monorail comes into the hotel and it is cool to look straight up and see the monorail.
Yes, you can see the Electric Water Pagent from the beach at the Poly.
Linda
