Question(s) about Illuminations Cruise

[lwilliam]

A group of DISers met on the Mexican cruise last year, and have remained very close. A few of us met in NY in December and now we are planning
a one year reunion in Disneyworld - at least 4 families.

Since it is our one year anniversary, and we COULD have approximately
12/15 people, we thought this would be a fun thing to do. We would have
at least 5 kids, 14 and under, much older teens, and adults.
Could someone please give me details.....cost....what choices (in food/drink) would you have on board....is it a good location to view the fireworks....
(alot of us are staying at Boardwalk)....how long is it.....

THANK YOU SO MUCH....I can't believe how wonderful these DISboards are and what wonderful, dear friends we have made.
(we are on the July 30th, 2005 cruise meets).......

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We did an Illuminations cruise in October. The base cost is $250, and we tipped our captain $50. The pontoon boats only hold ten people. I had heard some rumors that MAYBE they will allow 10 adults and 2 toddlers, but when I called WDW Recreation they again said ten people MAXIMUM. We had 8 passengers on our boat.

The drinks are sodas and bottled water, the snacks are chips and pretzels. For additional cost you can choose other items. We had a huge dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse just before the cruise, so none of us ate any snacks.

You have a short cruise around the waterway past the Swan/Dolphin, over near MGM, then on to Epcot. (We boarded the boat at the marina at the Yacht Club.) You dock under a little bridge to view Illuminations. The view is fine, but be aware that debris may fall on you - it fell on us! I knew we might have smoke blowing in our faces, but nobody had said anything about ashes, etc. Also, we have never seen Illuminations from World Showcase so I might not be the best judge of the view.

Our boat left the marina about 8:30 PM and we were back around 9:30.

It was a fun way to spend the evening! We shared the boat with others from here on the DIS and it was terrific!