Has Anyone Done the "Grand Gatherings" Options?

[MJKMom]

We are traveling in Sept. with a party of 15 and we booked the Good Morning Breakfast at Tony's Town Square. Has anyone done that? Is is better than a regular character breakfast? I heard something about a private showing of Philarmagic... is that true? I am also curious about the other options - are they better? Thanks for any input you can give me!

 

[kellig]

We did the Grand Gathering on our 2005 trip and really enjoyed it. We did the Fireworks Cruise from the Contemporary (really great) and the Safari Dinner at AK. I know there have been some changes since then, but we had a great time and really enjoyed those portions of our trip! Good luck with your planning for so many folks!

 

[MJKMom]

We did the Grand Gathering on our 2005 trip and really enjoyed it. We did the Fireworks Cruise from the Contemporary (really great) and the Safari Dinner at AK. I know there have been some changes since then, but we had a great time and really enjoyed those portions of our trip! Good luck with your planning for so many folks!

Thanks for the info! We are going to see about the Fireworks Cruise...

 

[koziclan]

We did they Good Morning Breakfast and Fireworks cruise in Aug 07.

The breakfast was great! Everyone had a wonderful time and got lots of pictures with characters together. Tony was fabulous!

The Fireworks Cruise not so great. It does give a different view of the fireworks but we preferred seeing them in the park. They pick two kids to hold the flags and lead everyone to the docks. My dd(7) was one of them and she still said the cruise was her least favorite. They try to get the kids involved by giving prizes for answering questions and some of them were way over there heads. Most of the adults were telling them the answers. The guide wasn't that good. His humor seemed to be really forced. Out of everything that we did that is the one thing that all of us thought was a waste of time and money. It just didn't have that Disney WOW for us. It was nice not to fight the crowds but I wish we had a better guide.

 

[dananbethany]

We did they Good Morning Breakfast and Fireworks cruise in Aug 07.

The breakfast was great! Everyone had a wonderful time and got lots of pictures with characters together. Tony was fabulous!

The Fireworks Cruise not so great. It does give a different view of the fireworks but we preferred seeing them in the park. They pick two kids to hold the flags and lead everyone to the docks. My dd(7) was one of them and she still said the cruise was her least favorite. They try to get the kids involved by giving prizes for answering questions and some of them were way over there heads. Most of the adults were telling them the answers. The guide wasn't that good. His humor seemed to be really forced. Out of everything that we did that is the one thing that all of us thought was a waste of time and money. It just didn't have that Disney WOW for us. It was nice not to fight the crowds but I wish we had a better guide.

We did the same, both the Good Morning Breakfast and the Fireworks Cruise, but we loved them both. And, coincidentally, Patches the Pirate was the "twin brother" of Tony! We did the Fireworks Cruise at night and the breakfast the next morning so we were sure it was the sam - er, his twin brother and he recognized us!

 

[Camster0307]

Is the breakfast at Tony's a special meal just for grand gatherings? I'm just starting to look into this because my sister and I just figured out we'll have enough for the GG when we go in Nov.

 

[koziclan]

Yes, Tony's is special GG. I think you need at least 8 people to book.

 

[TheRatPack]

I wonder if they all have to be from a separate family to do GG? We have 7 in our family now (5 kids, DH and me), if we have 1 more child can we do GG LOL, or bring along MIL?

 

[MJKMom]

Great to know... we debated about the fireworks but hesitated to spend the extra money since 5 of the children in our group are under age 5. I am glad we didn't book it now!

 

[tinkercrazy]

We have done the Safari Celebration at AK, I can say the food could have been better but, everything else made up for it!

 

[tjbjrjaj]

I have noticed that you should not do the regular safari ride while pregnant. I will be 7 months along when we visit in July. Is the Grand Gatherings Safari ride any different?

 

[mindondisney]

I haven't heard that you need to be related. I think just by reserving for such a large party it qualifies for a GG.