Fireworks: OOOH! AAAH! NOOO WAY?

[Boopuff]

Am I alone in my "I can't stand fireworks" stance? I just don't get it.
- Craning your neck to look up at the sky (plus I'm a short person so my vantage point is the back of someone)
- Staking out a spot and having to "defend" it! (If that's the case I'd carry a sword! I like to picture Main Street full of pirates battling it out )
- People holding up cameras, phones, IPads to video the fireworks... seriously are you really, truly going to go home and sit at your computer and watch this video? I can just see someone...alone at home... OOOH! AAAH! So pretty!!! well it's just not the same....
- When the fireworks start people all over the park stop dead... and look up like a giant space ship is hovering above the park waiting to be beamed up. ok those are fireworks keep moving.....
-The exit after... all the exhausted masses moving oh....so.....slowly....toward the single exit.... and the lines for all transportation....

 

[Disneylover99]

I love the fireworks! It's a great time to go on the rides.

 

[Robo]

Nope.
I like all the fireworks shows at WDW.

 

[MainMom]

Wishes FP. Try it. You might like it. I was skeptical and loved it.

 

[lustergirl]

I love the fireworks. And I alway wait for the mass exodus to die down before I attempt to leave. By the time I get to the bus stop I can get on right away.

 

[alliecat523]

Love the fireworks....hate the crowds. The beauty is that you can watch the show from a less crowded area and enjoy it even more.

 

[SBSID]

I think we will be able to see them from our condo (BC) - but I wouldn't want to enjoy with crowds either.

 

[pens4821]

I love fireworks, not just at Disney but everywhere.

 

[ktlm]

I suggest watching them back in the Fantasyland area. Watching them over the castle from Main Street always sounds great to me in theory, but in practice I usually wind up on Main Street getting shoved and then ultimately seeing only the back of someone's head (or just their back) or their ipad. It doesn't matter where I stake out, or how long I stake out- a spot- someone tall always shoves into the crowd and stands about 2 inches in front of my face where I can't see. I never get the experience of my imagination! In the Fantasyland area, they are kind of all around you. There are still lots of people watching them, but generally room to breathe and move around. I find it far more enjoyable even if I don't get that view of the fireworks over the castle, or of Tink flying. Then, go ride something or shop somewhere before leaving to let the Main Street post-fireworks mass exodus get disbursed before you leave. That might change your view of the fireworks a little. Being a short person myself, I totally get where you are coming from!

 

[Boopuff]

I totally agree with going on rides during the fireworks. It's nice to have little or no wait. If we can't get out of the park prior to the fireworks we'll hang out and try to wait out the pack in the back of the park.

 

[DVCcurious]

watch wishes by the Barnstormer if you want no crowds. Always empty, always a good view. They won't be "over the castle" but you'll be able to see all of them.

And for the record I did tape the fireworks on my phone once using a selfie stick to get a high vantage point and I have watched that video after I got home and I did enjoy the video. Although I didn't ooh or awe at my computer.

 

[Barbanellie]

I like fireworks in general. That being said, I had issues with most (read all...) fireworks at WDW (I know I won't win any popularity contests here, but oh well, you need to know you're not alone!):

MK: Issue #1 - I will NOT find a spot to defend 30 minutes or an hour before. I'll either manage to squeeze somewhere at the last minute (sorry for ruining you defensive stance) and try not to stand in front of a child or someone shorter than me. But if there is a space and I fit into it, I'll take it. Otherwise, I'll find any other place in MK where I find I have a somewhat decent view of the sky, and that's that.
Issue #2 - My heart does little flips of childhood wonder seeing the fireworks behind the castle, like at the beginning of every movie I've loved since I was a kid. That is the one and only reason I plan on seeing them again, because otherwise, I found them pretty boring. I hated the Wishes song, and it was not at all energetic enough to accompany fireworks. Is it just me, or should there be a bit of boom or oomph to match fireworks? Anyway, I could just as well (better in fact) watch these fireworks in complete silence.

EPCOT: Fireworks themselves are fine. I have no idea what they are trying to do on the earth in the middle of the lake, and how on earth they think anyone sees anything they are projecting there. We had a good spot, and a good view, but seriously, that projection was useless. Maybe if I had binoculars?

DHS (Fantasmic): This one was the worst, IMHO. You sit there for ages, listening to some sort of crowd entertainment no one really cares about, and then you have a weird show about Mickey and good vs. evil, none of it really makes any sense at all except to fit in as many Disney characters as possible in a 20-minute show (or however long it actually lasts, I don't know). Some of the effects were cool, and fun. But after all the hype I'd read about before going, maybe my expectations were too high.

My parents saw the Star Wars fireworks on a SWW a couple years ago, and based on their video (yes, they are "those people" who film the fireworks!) those looked pretty good. As I'm going back to WDW next May, without SWW it doesn't look like I'll get to see SW fireworks this year. I'll look at the MK ones from some distance (to my DH's despair, who would prefer skipping them all completely!), and use the slightly lower crowds to ride things during the others

 

[MakiraMarlena]

The key is, go somewhere to watch that the crowds don't go. of course it won't be a prime view, that's why the crowds don't go. For Wishes I like to be back between the Mine Train and Gaston's.

I've taken still photos, not video. with a camera or Iphone, not an Ipad.

and most of all, DON'T LEAVE AS SOON AS THE FIREWORKS ARE OVER! There is still some stuff to do. Stores are open. Grab a bench and watch the throngs move out. No real need to spend all that time waiting in a line for a bus.

 

[Jennasis]

Loved watching thr MK fireworks nightly from our cushy, unobstructed view on the roof at BLT.

 

[mom2rtk]

Love 'em!



Wishes by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[ols386]

I'm not big on fireworks. Just not my thing.

 

[KateP85]

I've never been a fireworks person, I just don't get the appeal. Things blowing up in the sky set to music? Nope. It wouldn't matter if I was the only person in MK, I still would have no interest in seeing Wishes. I can tolerate Illuminations because there are other elements to it than just fireworks, and I love Fantasmic! because the fireworks are very brief. I'm looking forward to the new show at AK because I assume there will be no fireworks to spook the animals.

 

[Accident]

I like fireworks, but I get really bored with the epcot ones so I don't bother seeing those. the fireworks aren't always the close of park depending on when your visiting. in mk, I also like watching from behind the castle and I don't wait around. Much more room and they surround you so you get to be in the middle of them.. The nice part is when over, you can have a casual stroll back to the exit and usually take up the rear of everyone leaving. Enjoy the main street stores and transportation isn't all that horrible by the time you make it there (usually).

 

[GreatLakes]

I like fireworks anywhere, especially Disney. I don't watch Wishes from inside the park any longer though. I have probably seen them 30 times at this point so we watch them from the Poly beach or California Grill only. If we are in MK during Wishes we take advantage of shorter lines at attractions and catch the show from outside the park on a non-park or AK day.

 

[TXStormtrooper]

I like the fireworks, but I also like the shorter lines for most rides DURING fireworks.

 

[EdmondD]

Somewhere in my mid-20s (I'm 40) I started to realize it's all kind of the same thing, over and over, regardless of where you are. I mean, some are better than others, in that there are simply more or there is music or some attempt at choreography, but it's just the same thing. Woosh, boom, fizzle. I do wonder why there has been so little in the way of fireworks technology advancement over the last several decades.