View of Illuminations from Cali Grill?

[andrews1]

So we made our ADR for CG the first night of our arrival, told the CM we wanted to view Wishes, so she made our res, said we were all set. Turns out Wishes isn't on that night because of MNSSHP. There are some fireworks later, just not Wishes. (Are the fireworks during MNSSHP any good?)

I was wondering if you can see Illuminations from CG. I thought I saw in passing someone mention that. Help, anyone? I was sooo excited about our first night because of this, and now I feel a little let down.

Thanks!

 

[GeorgeG]

The windows of the California Grill face out towards the Magic Kingdom putting Epcot around to your back and in the distance. You might be able to see Illuminations from out on the catwalk, but probably not very well since it's pretty far in the distance.

 

[laura001]

Here are a couple of pics from the CG at the CR. The first one is taken with a zoom lens. I know that a lot of people talk about watching fireworks from the CG, and that was what I had wanted for our first night also......or that was the plan. You know what.....in my opinion it is no "biggie". We made our ADR's with watching them in mind, the time came to get up and go watch, DH looked at me and said that there was no way he was leaving this fantastic meal to go and watch fireworks. He said, and is completely right, that we would see them much better one night from MK itself.

Don't worry about it not making your night special, dinner there is a great start to your vacation.

 

[madalex]

We made our ADR's with watching them in mind, the time came to get up and go watch, DH looked at me and said that there was no way he was leaving this fantastic meal to go and watch fireworks. He said, and is completely right, that we would see them much better one night from MK itself.

Don't worry about it not making your night special, dinner there is a great start to your vacation.

This is what I always advise people about this (and also about trying to get an outdoor table at Rose & Crown to see Illuminations): it is simply not worth the hassle and worry and planning to make seeing fireworks the focus of the meal. Enjoy your meal at the restaurant and see the fireworks when you can. Trying to combine them just makes for too much stress.

 

[Paul in CT]

On a recent dining experience at CG we were seated in the "Wine Room" that has a view of the rest of WDW, i.e., no Castle. It was much more quiet because it is a smaller room and the view was outstanding. You could see Illuminations from there because you can see Spaceship Earth and Tower of Terror, etc. The fireworks would be quite far away.

As others have posted, Wishes is best viewed from Main Street at the MK. The view from the CG is OK if you don't want to use a park day admission just to see it. IMHO, the view of Wishes from Narcoossees is better.

 

[Lynne M]

So we made our ADR for CG the first night of our arrival, told the CM we wanted to view Wishes, so she made our res, said we were all set. Turns out Wishes isn't on that night because of MNSSHP. There are some fireworks later, just not Wishes. (Are the fireworks during MNSSHP any good?)

I was wondering if you can see Illuminations from CG. I thought I saw in passing someone mention that. Help, anyone? I was sooo excited about our first night because of this, and now I feel a little let down.

Thanks!

Even if you could see the Epcot area from CG, the most you'd see is a few of the fireworks at the beginning and end of the show. Wishes is a very fireworks-heavy show; Illuminations is not. The vast majority of the show effects take place on the World Showcase Lagoon and can only be seen inside Epcot.

 

[paras4ri]

Here's some pictures from our table, at the far left side of the dining room. We could clearly see towards Epcot (and the Dolphin) and could see the fireworks portion of Illuminations. True, the show is not primarily fireworks but the fireworks in it can be seen from CG. We also had a glorious view of the sunset, behind the GF.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Although you can "see" the Illuminations fireworks, it's nowhere near the same as seeing Wishes.
But CG has a fine view and good food. I agree with laura001!!!