Tell Me About It -- Is The Illuminations Cruise Really Worth It???

[princess crazy]

Would like to get opinions from anyone here who has been on the Cruise and if it's really worth the $85 we would have to pay for our family of 5? Would love to hear anything about this and what it did for you either good or bad. It will be our family of DH, me DD-6 and my parents in their late 70's. Or should we just watch it from shore and save the money for something else?? Thanks!

 

[nativetxn]

You must be sharing a cruise We loved our Illuminations Cruise and the cost was offset by two things: we didn't have to fight the crowds leaving EPCOT after Illuminations was over and my 6 year old nephew said, "this is the greatest day of my life".

Granted, when you are only six you haven't seen all that many days but it sure made me teary with happiness and made the cost of the cruise well worth it. He still talks about our Illuminations Cruise now and he celebrated his 10th birthday last June.

Katholyn

 

[Joeblack]

The cruise is worth it if you split the price with other people. In our case, it was 8 people who had met here in the DIS. I felt that what we paid (I believe it was around $15/person) was about fair for the experience. More than that, and it wouldn't have been worth it IMHO.

 

[mamamia]

We just did the illuminations Birthday cruise on Sunday, 9/21. It was really nice. Our driver, Ron, was so funny. Since we were down there for my DH's birthday I had asked some of our friends that live right outside of Orlando to join us and I paid the whole thing ($220) myself. It was so worth it. I would definitely do it again. We had also done one for my DS's birthday in Feb. 2000. Everyone on our boat was impressed with the fireworks. My kids and my DH kept thanking me for booking the cruise.

Our driver also told us that it was "Disney's best kept secret".

 

[Texowl2]

I am contrarian on the Illuminations cruise. The boat ride is nice, but it is just about the same as the resort boats if you get on outside of the International Gateway and go all the way to MGM.

The Illuminations cruise docks underneath the bridge between France and UK and I felt it was not as good of a location as can be had elsewhere and in particular, you're low in the water and the perspective isn't as good as from the shore.

Also, needing to get on the boat at the Yacht Club Marina fairly early can be a bit of a timewaster.

On the positive side, you don't have to have a park ticket and it gets you an head start on the crowd.

Our conclusion is that it was fair to middlin' and was nice, but the cost was a bit steep and we probably wouldn't do it again.

just my two cents from a commando with a family of 3 kids.

 

[MikeScott8]

If you don't want to do the Illuminations cruise I would recommend the fireworks cruise from MK resorts. DW and I took one of these back in Jan with a memebr and his DW and grand daughter from these boards who is a DVC member who lives in the same town as us. We took one from WL and the driver ook us out past fort wilderness and around Bay Lake, then over in front of MK for the fireworks and then around past GF, POLY, TTC, and back to WL.

This coming Jan we have 4 couples/familys, all from our home city, trying for an illuminations cruise. We will have 9 people total. I am really looking forward to it. It should be even better with more friends and family and being for illuminations!

Mike

 

[JimmyMartin]

It is worth the money if kids are involved. Nice ride and nice view of show. Have been twice. Would do again

 

[momto2]

Originally posted by MikeScott8
If you don't want to do the Illuminations cruise I would recommend the fireworks cruise from MK resorts. DW and I took one of these back in Jan with a memebr and his DW and grand daughter from these boards who is a DVC member who lives in the same town as us. We took one from WL and the driver ook us out past fort wilderness and around Bay Lake, then over in front of MK for the fireworks and then around past GF, POLY, TTC, and back to WL.

Mike

Mike,
How do you set this up? Is there a cost for it? We will be staying at the GF next month and this sounds really fun.
Thanks

 

[sters]

I havent' been on the cruise, but my cousin said it was really smokey from the stuff being launched from the water. Has anyone else had that experience? Since he was encouraging me to do the cruise, I'd have to say that he must have liked it in spite of the smoke.

 

[slp87]

We shared a boat with 2 other DIS families and had a great time. The boats used are pontoons and plenty big. I thought sure we would be cramped, but it was very roomy. We had a fantastic driver who took us around by MGM (it was already closed) and told us lots of interesting facts. My DD even got to drive the boat. Once we parked and the show started, the 3 of us sat up on the back of the boat. The wind blew our direction and we got pounded by some smoke and soot, but we still had a wonderful time. Sure the view was obstructed somewhat, but we had a nice relaxing experience. It was a great way to see the show.

 

[MikeScott8]

Originally posted by momto2
Mike,
How do you set this up? Is there a cost for it? We will be staying at the GF next month and this sounds really fun.
Thanks

Yes there is a cost. It was $120 for the boat (holds up to 12 people I believe) plus a tip for the boat driver.

I believe you call 407-wdw-play to make reservations. I am not completely sure on that as Bill was the one who called and set it all up. I am not sure what resorts they leave from, but I would guess all the MK ones that have boat rental docks (which I think is all or most of them). Call the number for more info.

WDWInfo Specialty cruises pages

Illuminations cruise info
other speciality cruise link

Mike

 

[goofy4tink]

We've seen IllumiNations two ways...once in WS, and once from the cruise. My dh, who is not one for waiting around for anything, loved the cruise, hated the WS one. We had to stake out a spot and just hang there, in WS, for about 90 minutes. Dh and dd were not happy campers. But they did say afterward that they were glad I made them stay.
However.....last August we were lucky enough to get an IllumiNations Cruise. We shared with another dis'er, Hi Gail!!, and a family from our hometown. There were 6 adults, 3 teen-agers and 2 kids (10ish). We had plenty of room. Well, after I finally shoved over and made room for Gail's son (sorry I didn't move sooner Gail, I'm just a little slow at noticing stuff!).
We had a nice cruise down to MGM and then docked under the bridge. Yes, it was a little smokey. But it was smokey for the folks watching from the bridge too. We loved it.
Our party got off at the Int'l Gateway stop and walked back through Epcot and caught the monorail back to our resort.
We would not hesitate to do this again. It was soooo relaxing. I think the cost for the boat was $120 but we split it 3 ways so it wasn't too bad.

 

[dorisdvu]

What is the difference between a "Pontoon Boat" cruise and the "Disney's BoardWalk Resort IllumiNations Cruise"? Is it easy to get people to share the cruise?

 

[JimmyMartin]

It is very easy to get people to ride with you. In fact you will get too many request once you announce on here.

 

[dtuleya]

I just saw this post, but had to put in my 2 cents!

This was the highlight of our trip. I was unable to get a cruise on my own, but a wonderful person on this board offered to share hers with my family. Unfortunately they had to cancel their trip, but gladly changed the ressie to my name.

We decided to go it alone since this was our first trip to WDW. The $ for the cruise was worth every penny! We were lucky enough to be assigned to Captain Ron's boat. He is a wonderful Capt., storyteller and entertainer. He noticed I was cold and feeling a little bit worn out. He told me to make myself comfortable and got me a blanket to wrap around my legs. He let both of my boys (9 & 14) drive the boat and told wonderful stories and pointed out the sites before stopping under the bridge for the show.

This was one of the highlights of our trip and will do it again if the opportunity arises!

 

[WANNABE@WDW]

We celebrated dd's and my birthday in May. We had a wonderful time! At first I thought the cruise was a little pricey, but after thinking about the cost of a birthday party at our home I decided it was a pretty good deal. We had 11 people on the boat and there was plenty of room (really made me want a pontoon boat). The cake was wonderful and so was our captain, Kim. We had sodas, bottled water, and snacks. The boat was decorated very nicely. Everywhere we went people were yelling happy birthday to us. The firework view was great, not nearly as smokey as I thought it would be. The cruise definately made leaving Epcot a lot more relaxed event. The kids talk about our "boat birthday" all the time. We really want to do one on our trip in January, but all of our party won't fit. We are thinking about doing one of the new grand gathering pirate/fireworks cruises.

 

[JeannieNM]

Depends on what you like.

We thought it was fun but not as great as when we first saw the fireworks at WS.

It is s a different experience. IMHO the boat cruise is not great. We went with our DD7 and 2 other Dis families. My daughter enjoyed playing with the other little girl on the boat. It was very pleasant and relaxing.

We are not line waiters. We have seen illuminations many times and never steaked out a spot. We would get there a few minutes before 9 and find a place to watch from. One year we went every night we were there. We would rush over at the last minute from whatever park we were in. We would enjoy the show from a different place each night and then head back to the Dolphin.

Have fun!!!

Jeannie

 

[awatt]

Illum cruise was a highlight of our last trip.
Boat ride was very pleassant,view of Illum was great and best of all no crowds,pushing etc. Didn't have to waste an hour staking out a good viewing spot.

Would do it again and gladly pay double!

 

[princess crazy]

Was wondering if any of those of you who have been on an Illuminations cruise lately could post your experience and let us know how they are. Can hardly wait---if weather is good and all goes well we will be on ours in a few short weeks!!

 

[dtuleya]

I hope you have fun princess crazy! It was one of the highlights of our trip!