First time doing the Magical Gatherings in December! Any helpful hints?

[Wishes91]

A group of 9 of us are heading down in December. 5 family members, 4 friends of our family.
We never done this before and are extremely excited about doing this!!
My mom already booked the wishes cruise. And we're doing the Key's the Kingdom tour.

But is there anything else that are of interest to do? I would love to know from someone who has already done this before.

And helpful hints/tips will be appreciated!
Thanks from the whole gang!!!

 

[mackeyapp]

We were a group of nine last Dec/Jan with 4 adults and 5 boys ages from 5-11. One of the favorites of our Grand Gathering events was the Good Morning Breakfast at Tony's. The intereaction with character and song was wonderful as well as a fabulous breakfast. It was a first trip for the other family and what a wonderful way to start our first day at MK. We would do it again.

The safari wasn't so great IMO and with mix-up on times, etc wasn't a fun evening for us. The overall feeling was it was OK but not one we would do again.

We did the Magical Fireworks Voyage on New Year's Eve and it was great. They provide munchies before you board and the entertainment value was great with our "Pirate Captain" keeping everyone smiling on board. Once we arrived at our spot to watch the fireworks the music was piped into the boat and it was wonderful.

They were our only three experiences with Grand Gatherings. Hope this is some help to you.

Joan

 

[HannaBelle]

We did all of the Grand Gatherings Experiences on our last trip...

We loved the Safari. We had a great driver, got tons of great pics, had a great meal and wonderful entertainment!

We enjoy the breakfast at Tony's. (We had a bad table and not enough room for all 12 of us. We were squished into a booth and it was a pain to let the kids out to get pics with the characters. Love the "fastpass" to Phillharmagic!

We somewhat enjoyed the Illuminations dinner. The entertainment was a bit cheesy with mediocre food. The fireworks viewing was standing room only and was TOO close to all of the fire!

We enjoyed the Magical Fireworks Voyage, but it was a bit cheesy too. Lots of cheesy jokes and nothing special for snacks, but it was a great character opportunity.

We love to do all of the special events b/c of the characters and they large groups opportunities to sit together at a meal without difficulty!

If it sounds good to you...I would say do it! Everyone has their own opinions and I would never skip something b/c someone else didn't have a good experience! We are trying everything again this trip!!!