The cruise was a bust for me. I'm glad I tried it, but I won't be doing any more dessert parties... the people are just too obnoxious. The info I was given said that the cruise began at 9, and you could check in beginning at 8:45. I timed it perfectly, and arrived at 8:45... only to be one of the last ones to arrive. There was a roped off section near the restrooms at the TTC, and everyone was already served their cider in the souvenir glasses, which I missed. Upon check in, I was given a card with a souvenir pin that had a list of the desserts. There was also a hidden mickey game on the card. You could get a black light flashlight and scour the ferry for hidden mickeys that could only be seen with the black light for a prize. I didn't bother with it, and I only saw two families doing the game. We were all given light up necklaces, which kind of felt like they were tagging us, so they knew who was part of the party. We were let on the ferry at 9, and everyone attacked the dessert areas like sharks going after chum. Seriously, you would have thought they were going to run out. I hung back and waited until the crowds dispersed before getting anything. The desserts were very good. I don't drink, so I can't comment on that. The souvenir plate was weird. I took it back to the hotel, but ended up throwing it away because it was so oddly shaped it would never be useful. I saw several people throw them in the trash while still on the ferry. I knew there was limited seating, and I expected to stand for the whole cruise, but I was surprised at how rude people were about the seating. People claimed the benches and spread out their crap along the length of it so they didn't have to share with anyone else. At 9:20, the ferry left the dock and we sailed around the seven seas lagoon. We saw the EWP twice, and the second time we were very close to it.. great way to view it. The ferry captain was on the speaker giving out information about the resorts etc while we cruised, but I heard almost nothing of what she said because the other party goers were very loud. I spent most of the time at the rail, trying to ignore the noise and enjoy the lagoon at night. I chose the wrong side of the ship however, and as we got close to the time for the fireworks, the crowd was already two people deep at the rail on the correct side. The ferry actually moved away from the park as it got close to showtime. A few minutes ahead of time, Discovery Island was in-between us and the park.. I kept thinking, What are we doing on the other side of this island? But we pulled clear of the island in time for the show. We were still closer to the TTC than we were to the MK. As the fireworks began, a photopass photographer kept interrupting people to take their photo and scan their magic bands. There were two marriage proposals on the ship. The guy next to me waited until the middle of the show to propose. At first it was cute and romantic, but got annoying really fast, as she kept crying and saying 'Oh my god', 'are you joking?', 'this isn't happening!' over and over and over... and over. Even one of the kids near me asked their parents, "Why is that lady crying?" I had missed like half the show with all the interruptions. We headed back to the dock as soon as the show was over. They had three special buses to take those of us who were not staying at monorail resorts back to the hotel, so we didn't have to go to the MK to catch a bus, which was very nice.
I honestly had a more pleasant experience watching the Star Wars fireworks from the Beach Club beach.
