New Complementary Fireworks Viewing Reservations at TOTWL - Report Experiences Here

[tx911]

Yes this is what I was told. It's free but if you dont cancel 2 hours prior you will be charged $10 pp like a normal dining reservation.

What time are you planning on showing up? If fireworks are at 9p I don’t want in before 830.

 

[VGCgroupie]

What time are you planning on showing up? If fireworks are at 9p I don’t want in before 830.

Same. Im struggling a bit with this though and I am going to have my fingers crossed for people who reserved to tell us how it went over the next month. The reason I am struggling is I don't want to wait a long time like I would on Main St thats crazy. Our flight lands at 6pm on a Friday so I dont think I can safely do Chef Mickeys and make it to the reserved fireworks, so we will do quick service. Our family adores character meals and this my granddaughters first WDW trip so giving up our only chance at a character meal on this trip needs to be worth it. I dont want to show up at 8:30 and have lots of tall people standing in front of us. Ive never been up to this lounge so I have no idea what the set up is like for viewing.

 

[Brian Noble]

If it were me, I would just book Chef M's and not try to do both dinner and the fireworks on a travel arrival day. And, if I am being 100% honest, I wouldn't book anything in advance for arrival day, but instead play it completely by ear. I've learned the hard way that I never know how travel is going to go---some trips we are all raring to go once we hit WDW borders. Other trips one or more of us is a total crankypants.

 

[VGCgroupie]

If it were me, I would just book Chef M's and not try to do both dinner and the fireworks on a travel arrival day. And, if I am being 100% honest, I wouldn't book anything in advance for arrival day, but instead play it completely by ear. I've learned the hard way that I never know how travel is going to go---some trips we are all raring to go once we hit WDW borders. Other trips one or more of us is a total crankypants.

I do tend to overbook us. I should've chosen the flight that landed 2 hours earlier but DH made a case for our dogs, one less night boarding them if we leave 2 hours later. Also saves $115. I cant believe I pay almost WDW All Star resorts prices to board my dogs!

 

[Brian Noble]

The new ADR cancellation policy means that a lot of surprisingly good stuff tends to open up day-of/last minute. That might also be true for the fireworks thing given that there is a no-show penalty. That helps make "play it by ear" more viable.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

I'd skip chef mickey's for your arrival date as you never know when flights get delayed. better to start the trip with less stress with rushing to make a reservation.

 

[tx911]

I do tend to overbook us. I should've chosen the flight that landed 2 hours earlier but DH made a case for our dogs, one less night boarding them if we leave 2 hours later. Also saves $115. I cant believe I pay almost WDW All Star resorts prices to board my dogs!

I agree with Brian, I would probably go for the character meal if you have to choose one or the other. I think that would be better for your granddaughter.

ETA: I just saw you have a pretty late arrival, so even chef Mickey’s is dicey.

 

[tx911]

I do tend to overbook us. I should've chosen the flight that landed 2 hours earlier but DH made a case for our dogs, one less night boarding them if we leave 2 hours later. Also saves $115. I cant believe I pay almost WDW All Star resorts prices to board my dogs!

Do you have other days you can do a character meal and catch the fireworks?

 

[muppets3d]

Remains to be seen but I doubt this experience will book up at least not after the initial newness wears off, so I wouldn't think there would be any harm in waiting to book it. This isn't a starlight safari or bibbidi bobbidi boutique. You also seemingly only need the reservation if you plan to park a car on BLT property, otherwise you can just do a walk-up.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Do you have other days you can do a character meal and catch the fireworks?

We try not to do long sit down meals on park days. We might be able to do one on our AK day though since that park closes early and is easy to accomplish. The fireworks possibly also on AK day. I hadn't really thought it all the way through so that could be a good option for one of the 2 things.

 

[CraigInPA]

Same. Im struggling a bit with this though and I am going to have my fingers crossed for people who reserved to tell us how it went over the next month. The reason I am struggling is I don't want to wait a long time like I would on Main St thats crazy. Our flight lands at 6pm on a Friday so I dont think I can safely do Chef Mickeys and make it to the reserved fireworks, so we will do quick service. Our family adores character meals and this my granddaughters first WDW trip so giving up our only chance at a character meal on this trip needs to be worth it. I dont want to show up at 8:30 and have lots of tall people standing in front of us. Ive never been up to this lounge so I have no idea what the set up is like for viewing.

I would definitely NOT do Chef Mickey's on an arrival day where my arrival is 6pm!

The lounge has 4' (maybe higher) walls you need to see over to see the fireworks. You won't see the projections from up there.

An alternative no-cost location is the terrace outside the 4th floor (where all the shopping is) of the Contemporary. They even have a small number of chairs there to sit (note that these chairs are pretty much underneath the monorail track 20' above), and they pipe the music in. You'll want to get there 45 minutes before the show if you want to sit down, or 15 minutes before the show if you don't mind standing. This terrace also has access to a staircase on the exterior of the Contemporary, and the sky bridge to BLT, and I saw people standing at the various landings and on the sky bridge to view the fireworks.

 

[tx911]

We try not to do long sit down meals on park days. We might be able to do one on our AK day though since that park closes early and is easy to accomplish. The fireworks possibly also on AK day. I hadn't really thought it all the way through so that could be a good option for one of the 2 things.

Tusker house breakfast is good

I would think anything outside of Main Street for fireworks would be mid, but I’ve never watched them from any of the resorts before.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I would definitely NOT do Chef Mickey's on an arrival day where my arrival is 6pm!

The lounge has 4' (maybe higher) walls you need to see over to see the fireworks. You won't see the projections from up there.

An alternative no-cost location is the terrace outside the 4th floor (where all the shopping is) of the Contemporary. They even have a small number of chairs there to sit (note that these chairs are pretty much underneath the monorail track 20' above), and they pipe the music in. You'll want to get there 45 minutes before the show if you want to sit down, or 15 minutes before the show if you don't mind standing. This terrace also has access to a staircase on the exterior of the Contemporary, and the sky bridge to BLT, and I saw people standing at the various landings and on the sky bridge to view the fireworks.

We have watched form the bridge before. The seating area with music was packed on previous visits.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We have watched form the bridge before. The seating area with music was packed on previous visits.

I probably missed this along the way but I assume you're staying at BLT?

With a 6pm Friday flight you probably don't have a ton of time to play with there other than grabbing quick service at Contempo, do some shopping/strolling around BVG and surrounding shops, and then checking into the lounge however early you want to be there for 9pm fireworks (you said fireworks are 9pm on your date, right?). Probably not saying anything you don't already know, but sometimes Friday PM MCO transportation logistics and subsequent traffic to WDW can be chunky, depending on your plan/mode of transportation/etc.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I probably missed this along the way but I assume you're staying at BLT?

With a 6pm Friday flight you probably don't have a ton of time to play with there other than grabbing quick service at Contempo, do some shopping/strolling around BVG and surrounding shops, and then checking into the lounge however early you want to be there for 9pm fireworks (you said fireworks are 9pm on your date, right?). Probably not saying anything you don't already know, but sometimes Friday PM MCO transportation logistics and subsequent traffic to WDW can be chunky, depending on your plan/mode of transportation/etc.

Yes staying at BLT. I’ve been checking traffic around my land time and I’ve seen 45 minutes. We are going to likely book Minnie Van service. Not that that speeds up traffic.

 

[Brian Noble]

This is one of those places where another one of my Annoying Principles comes into play: I've decided it doesn't really matter what I plan for my friends/family, because everything is fun. Yes, <Meal X> or <Event Y> is really great, but so is more or less everything else. So I tend to plan based on the overall rhythm of the trip, and once that happens I'll slot in a few priorities here and there, rather than doing it the other way around. That lets me put in a natural ebb and flow to the visit,

Of course, no one else has to do this. But, it definitely works for me.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

The Cast member I talked to kept asking me what time. Which was really weird. Like fireworks is 1x a day.

 

[Genie+]

We try not to do long sit down meals on park days. We might be able to do one on our AK day though since that park closes early and is easy to accomplish. The fireworks possibly also on AK day. I hadn't really thought it all the way through so that could be a good option for one of the 2 things.

It might be all around easiest to plan TOTWL for AK day.

After doing many evening flights into MCO in recent years, 2 things I have learned:

Pad my expected resort arrival time with +60 minutes from best case scenario. Since I started doing that my predicted eta has become much more accurate lol.

Don’t plan things too close to arrival time. It can make that last travel segment more stressful. I’ve done it, looking at my watch each step -small flight delay, not exiting plane fast enough, is the monorail coming, will we get on, will this luggage carousel load already, traffic, how long getting luggage to room, who needs to pee, etc. It’s nicer to start the trip more relaxed, with a buffer so we’re not sweating each little hiccup.

What day are you coming in? Some Thursdays have MK After Hours, and those have a second set of fireworks usually 10pm or 11pm.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

Anyone who pre-booked actually get a confirmation email? I got off the phone about an hour ago but haven’t seen anything. Since we have a 2Bed Standard view, I’m going to want to cancel if we can see fireworks from the room. If we can’t we’ll go up, but I don’t want to pay 50 dollars if I don’t have a confirmation email to cancel from.

 

[VGCgroupie]

It might be all around easiest to plan TOTWL for AK day.

After doing many evening flights into MCO in recent years, 2 things I have learned:

Pad my expected resort arrival time with +60 minutes from best case scenario. Since I started doing that my predicted eta has become much more accurate lol.

Don’t plan things too close to arrival time. It can make that last travel segment more stressful. I’ve done it, looking at my watch each step -small flight delay, not exiting plane fast enough, is the monorail coming, will we get on, will this luggage carousel load already, traffic, how long getting luggage to room, who needs to pee, etc. It’s nicer to start the trip more relaxed, with a buffer so we’re not sweating each little hiccup.

What day are you coming in? Some Thursdays have MK After Hours, and those have a second set of fireworks usually 10pm or 11pm.

On a Friday.