Our boys ages 4 and 8, did it in August and LOVED it. I think it was about $60 for both of them. We parked at the Yacht Club and walked through the lobby to the marina. We were told to be there a good 15 minutes early (we wanted to be extra safe and showed up a half hour early), but no one really showed up until about 5 minutes before the cruise was supposed to begin. We really weren't positive where we were supposed to meet, and walked up and down the area looking for someone to ask. We found some staff at a pearl shop on the sand near the large pirate ship pool and they only knew they had a pirate cruise, not where it was located. We finally found the correct location...which is right at the boat rental stand (there's a replica of one of the rental boats that the kids could sit in and pretend to drive). They even had 4 kids scheduled not show up, and we waited about 10 minutes after the supposed starting time to make sure those 4 just weren't late. They ended up being a little longer than scheduled to make up for the missed time. The sky was quite dark and it looked like it was going to pour, but it cleared up within minutes and ended up being sunny and beautiful.
The kids all put on name tags, bandanas on their heads (parents and CM helped), and life jackets, boarded the boat and set off on their first clue. They were collecting clues to find out where they would find the final treasure. The kids were all so cute. My husband and I watched them sail off and walked to the Boardwalk for a quick breakfast and then to Epcot. We were just strolling along near England/Canada, when the group showed up in Canada to find another clue. We didn't want our 2 boys to see us, so we stayed put behind a tree until they left. They were all yelling "argh!" and other pirate lingo. I think they ate their lunch there and sailed off again. My son later told me they had uncrustable type peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a chocolate chip cookie and a sports drink. We took the boat from Epcot back to the Yacht Club in time to see them shore up at the pirate ship pool. We were on the dock where they'd return, and I got some really great pictures of them at that location. When they came back they all had some pirate loot (rings, necklaces, mini telescope, mini pirate chest, chocolate coins, etc), and smiles on their faces. The CM's were really good with all the kids the entire time. I gave my oldest son a disposable camera (I asked the CM's first if it was o.k) to take along and take pictures of whatever they were doing if he wanted to. He took only 8, so we have yet to finish that roll or get them developed. I'm sure they will be a great additionto our trip scrapbook and to see the pirate experience from his eyes. We almost took the boat from the Yacht Club to MGM, but we had to go back to the rental car anyway (back pack, stroller, etc) so we ended up just driving. We got there by our 11:50 ADR for sci-fi.
I really would recommend this trip...I know my boys would love to go again.
out of GF. But we are really staying at PORS - so how awesome is that. I think I just might have to change our reservations!!!! Thank you.
