Seeing IllumiNations outside of Epcot

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Trying to plan our first night. Our flight lands at 2:20pm and takes us to BLT at Contemporary for our stay. By the time we're all checked in, unpacked etc it will be time for our 5:25pm ADR at Chef Mickeys. Don't want to blow a park day admission at this point and know my lil' guy will love a monorail trip, but was wondering if there was a place I can take the monorail to, where I can reasonably walk to see IllumiNations? Based on our itinerary, we will see Wishes a lot on this trip, so I'd like to start off with IllumiNations, which we may not get back to.

 

[DOOM1001]

Unlike Wishes Illumination is not easily seen from outside the park.Even from the International Gateway entrance which is right by the World Showcase you don't really see much due to a lot of trees and that a decent amount of the show doesn't have high fireworks.Taking the monorail to Epcot will put you in the front of the park away from the World Showcase where Illuminations is shown so the view is not very good especially with Spaceship Earth in the way.I've heard some people saying that they get a good view from the higher floors of the Swan and Dolphin,I don't know if there's a viewing spot from these,maybe somebody knows of a place from these hotels or somewhere else.

 

[CyForDisney]

I've also heard that you can see Illuminations pretty well from the concierge level of The Boardwalk Inn and Villas but obviously you have to be a guest with concierge access. If you want to watch fireworks when you get there without physically going into the park, your best bet is to watch Wishes from the Polynesian beach. I haven't done it personally but I have heard it is much better than you would think.

 

[kaite]

My family usually stays at Disney's Boardwalk. It's very close to Epcot and you can see a good deal of Illuminations from the actual Boardwalk. Getting there from Chef Mickey's would take some work, but if your ADR is at 5:25 you should have plenty of time.
To get to Boardwalk from Contemporary:
You can take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom (walking on the trail might be faster though, if you're short on time). From there, take a bus to the Boardwalk. Again, if you're short on time, the Swan is usually the first stop on that bus, and the Swan is a very short walk away from the Boardwalk (less than 5 mins—when staying at BW we always get off at Swan regardless, because the bus stops at 3 other hotels before finally making its way back to BW). Once you get there, there is also lots to do, like carnival games, watching street performers, sweets shops, souvenir shops.
To get back to Contemporary, you just need to take the Boardwalk's bus back to MK and walk/take the monorail back to your resort, or take the Boardwalk's boat to Hollywood Studios and get on a bus to the Contemporary there.

 

[chartle]

As others have posted there is very little to see outside the park so I doubt it will keep your little one occupied.

 

[Allison]

Illuminations is not well suited for viewing outside the park as so much of it is not fireworks and takes place on the water.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Trying to plan our first night. Our flight lands at 2:20pm and takes us to BLT at Contemporary for our stay. By the time we're all checked in, unpacked etc it will be time for our 5:25pm ADR at Chef Mickeys. Don't want to blow a park day admission at this point and know my lil' guy will love a monorail trip, but was wondering if there was a place I can take the monorail to, where I can reasonably walk to see IllumiNations? Based on our itinerary, we will see Wishes a lot on this trip, so I'd like to start off with IllumiNations, which we may not get back to.

I would not spend all that time to see Illuminations from outside the park. The show is only about twelve minutes long and there is at least half of the show that can only be seen from inside the park. We had a room in the BC with a view of Illuminations and watched it from the room at least four times. There was a fairly long period without any visible fireworks.

But if you really want to ride the monorail to Epcot to see the Illuminations fireworks, there was a pretty good view of them from the bus parking lot. It was right in between the two resort bus depots. We were there when both Illuminations and Wishes went off at the same time. If we turned right we could see Wishes and turned left we could see Illuminations. I was actually sorry to see the bus arrive.

 

[Gramontherun]

Not ideal, but we discovered by accident that you can see the fireworks portion of the Illuminations show from the Hess gas station! nice surprise at the end of the day!

 

[Lynne M]

All you'll see from outside Epcot is some of the higher fireworks, which are primarily at the beginning and end of the show. There are only a few minutes of fireworks. The rest of the show consists of water, fire and light effects, plus video projected on a big globe in World Showcase Lagoon. None of that is visible outside the park.

 

[Kate and Family]

The electric boat parade might be fun to watch. I have seen it from Grand Floridian beach and Fort Wilderness beach.
Grand Floridian would be a short Monorail ride
Ft. Wilderness would be a boat ride, and you might find other things you might want to do.

 

[Robo]

Don't want to blow a park day admission at this point...

Assuming that you have at least a 4-day WDW ticket already (and not a full 10-day ticket) it will only cost you $10 per ticket to upgrade your tickets and go into a theme park the first day/evening.

To me, seeing IllumiNations from a spot around Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon is easily worth $10. (I've paid much more to see much less at non-Disney locations.)

Just a thought.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

The electric boat parade might be fun to watch. I have seen it from Grand Floridian beach and Fort Wilderness beach.
Grand Floridian would be a short Monorail ride
Ft. Wilderness would be a boat ride, and you might find other things you might want to do.

Based on what I'm reading here about seeing IllumiNations, this might absolutely be the way to go. Thanks! Can you access the GF beach if you are not a guest?

Assuming that you have at least a 4-day WDW ticket already (and not a full 10-day ticket) it will only cost you $10 per ticket to upgrade your tickets and go into a theme park the first day/evening.

To me, seeing IllumiNations from a spot around Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon is easily worth $10. (I've paid much more to see much less at non-Disney locations.)

Just a thought.

Very good point, but I have a 3 Day Hopper, would it be significantly more to add na 4th day (and actually a 5th too)

 

[wdwrich]

An alternate suggestion: Ride the resort monorail around Seven Seas Lagoon and return to CR/BLT. Then watch the MK fireworks from either BLT or the 4th floor observation deck of CR.

 

[Alesia]

Very good point, but I have a 3 Day Hopper, would it be significantly more to add na 4th day (and actually a 5th too)

In another thread, You were contemplating adding a 4th day (which would cost about $20 per ticket.) If you end up doing that, it would only end up being another $10 per ticket to add the 5th day.

 

[bullcat_02]

I watched Illuminations from the Boardwalk pier last October. Not ideal but it was a nice surprise for me.