Grand Gathering Events-reviews please

ChristyJ

<marquee><font color=9933ff>Hiking Chick</marquee>
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
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I'd love to hear about experiences with several of the Grand Gathering events. We're booked for the Safari Dinner, Magical Fireworks Cruise, and Illuminations International Dinner. What kinds of food did you have? How did you like the experience, etc.?

Thanks so much!!! :sunny:
 
We are going with a party of 10 and I was trying to decide if we should do the Illuminations Grand gathering. We will be going the last week in Jan. and didn't know if they do everything outside and if they provide heaters or something or if just viewing Illuminations is outside? What kind of food and entertainment do they have? Thanks for starting this post.
 

We did the Safari Dinner and Fireworks Cruise in December 2004. We thought both were great and worth the money. In two weeks, we are going to do the Fireworks Cruise again.

The Safari Dinner had alot of cultural foods. My DH, brother and SIL all enjoyed trying the different foods. They are served family style. My kids who were 5 & 6, and my niece and nephew who were 7 & 10 had chicken fingers and mac and cheese. During the dinner, Turk and Timon stopped by for autographs and pictures. They also bought in the restaurant a couple of animals for the kids to pet. Also, when you meet up (at the Flights of Wonder), there was a special viewing area reserved for the parade. Overall, it was a great experience and we are glad we did it.

For the fireworks cruise, you meet 1:45 before the fireworks at the Contempary. The dessert cruise is inside, not outside, and they had alot of chocolate items.....cookies, brownies. There was also an assortment of drinks. During this time, Captain Hook and Mr. Smead stop by. Then, a pirate comes and calls your name and you follow him to his boat. On the boat, you play trivia games and the pirate gives out small prizes. The view for the fireworks is amazing. Afterwards, Peter Pan is waiting at the dock when you return. We enjoyed this event so much all eight of us are doing it again exactly two weeks from tonight, but this time, my parents are coming.

We wanted to do the Illuminations Dinner this time, but they cancelled it because of the F&W F.

Have a great time.
 
Thanks so much-we're really looking forward to all of these!! :cool1:
 
Can you use TS credits for any of these events? How many are in the group altogether? We are a group of 9 so I wondered how many others would be added to our group to fill the boat etc.?
Any details appreciated...
 
mickeywho? said:
Can you use TS credits for any of these events? How many are in the group altogether? We are a group of 9 so I wondered how many others would be added to our group to fill the boat etc.?
Any details appreciated...

You can use 2 TS credits for the safari dinner, Illuminations dinner & the breakfast one they have. (Not for the Magical Fireworks Cruise though). You only need 8 to be part of a Grand Gathering event; however, there are other groups who do these events. I'm not sure what the total number ends up being-for some reason I'm thinking that the Fireworks cruise is around 60 (with 2 boats). I don't know about the other events though...
 
I just booked the Safari Dinner at AK for 12/14 for our party of 10 and cant wait. I think this will be alot of fun. :cool1: :cheer2:
 
We did the Illuminations dinner and viewing in May and enjoyed it. The food was buffet from 4 different Epcot countries, I don't remember them all but I think they included Germany and Morocco. In addition, there was a separate children's buffet with the usual-pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. One of two of the characters made an appearance for a while. The best part was the dessert and Illuminations viewing (but then, the best part of any meal for me is the dessert). The viewing area was between the 2 gift shops at the entrance to WS. Now, I've seen Illuminations from many different places (including 3 Illuminations Cruises, R&C) but this was by far the best view. The food quality was just "OK" but the overall gathering experience was fabulous.
 


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