FP+ necessary for Illuminations and Electrical Parade/Wishes?

[iheartglaciers]

Is FP really necessary for Illuminations? The last time I was at Epcot it seemed there was plenty of viewing areas around the showcase that weren't crowded at all.

I could sort of see it for Electrical Parade and Wishes, but even the. It seemed like the view was fine without staking out a spot ahead of time.

Maybe I've just never seen any of these from prime spots so I don't know what I'm missing!

 

[mesaboy2]

No. See the green link in my signature.

 

[brielise]

I would say no, definitely not necessary. I've also seen posts where people say that the line for FP entrance starts an hour prior to the area opening... and if you're going to do that you could easily find a suitable place and sit for an hour. That was for Illuminations but we haven't experienced it so no idea how true it is.

We did decide to get a FP for Wishes for the last Saturday we are there, but DH proposed during Wishes last year and it will be our honeymoon so it's pretty important. Plus we were there in March for Wishes and could barely move. We got stuck coming out of Tomorrowland and just could not get through and weren't able to see much at all. We have been 5 other times and have never had an issue so that was a first for me! We usually easily get into the Hub area.

If you're willing to wait, particularly during a non-peak season, I would say a FP is kind of a waste.

 

[DisneyWisher]

We had FPs for Wishes last Saturday. It states to show up between 9:35-9:45, Wishes starts at 10 and Celebrate the Magic starts at 9:45. We arrived just a couple minutes before 9:35. They don't start scanning MBs until 9:35. We choose the left area of the Rose Garden with a couple of people sitting in front of us. We had a perfect view of Castle for Celebrate the Magic. Fireworks are to the right of the castle but still a great view. We had contemplated changing the FP so we could take advantage of extra FPs but decided to keep it. I'm glad we did. You are not piled on top of each other and everyone sits on the ground.

 

[iheartglaciers]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like we'll skip the FPs since we don't want to use our 3 pre-booked FPs for the fireworks/parades and I'm assuming later in the day they're already taken.