Watching HEA from outside MK. IMO

[eeyoresmom]

I've seen HEA a few times at MK, as recently as last night. While watching, I was thinking that it's difficult to watch the fireworks as well as the castle projections, there's so much going on at once. Great show but I just saw it from my room at the Poly and it was almost as good. Without the distraction ( great ones, but still)of the projections, the fireworks show itself is outstanding. If you can't make it into the park for the show and can only view from one of the resorts, you're still in for a great experience .

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I've seen HEA a few times at MK, as recently as last night. While watching, I was thinking that it's difficult to watch the fireworks as well as the castle projections, there's so much going on at once. Great show but I just saw it from my room at the Poly and it was almost as good. Without the distraction ( great ones, but still)of the projections, the fireworks show itself is outstanding. If you can't make it into the park for the show and can only view from one of the resorts, you're still in for a great experience .

Completely, 100% agree. Especially once you've seen the show in MK a few times (which to me is a key factor in this opinion)...the out of park viewing is still a great show. And while I can't believe I'm about to say this, I enjoy the HEA viewing from places like Poly better than I did Wishes!

Hope you're having a fun trip OP.

 

[North of Mouse]

To each their own! Totally would not be worth the bother to us if we couldn't see it straight on from the castle - and especially outside the park.
We tried it a couple times years ago and it was just a bust for us.

 

[eeyoresmom]

To each their own! Totally would not be worth the bother to us if we couldn't see it straight on from the castle - and especially outside the park.
We tried it a couple times year4s ago and it was just a bust for us.

Years ago...was that Wishes? HEA is a much different show. I was actually distracted from the castle projections and missed most of the fireworks. I'm not saying NOT to see it in MK just that the fireworks itself from the Poly was a great show.

 

[Klayfish]

I've seen HEA a few times at MK, as recently as last night. While watching, I was thinking that it's difficult to watch the fireworks as well as the castle projections, there's so much going on at once. Great show but I just saw it from my room at the Poly and it was almost as good. Without the distraction ( great ones, but still)of the projections, the fireworks show itself is outstanding. If you can't make it into the park for the show and can only view from one of the resorts, you're still in for a great experience .

Heck yeah! Sure, there's something magical about seeing it in front of the castle. No denying that, IMO. However, nothing magical about being crammed into the hub with people sticking their cell phones into your view, etc.. To watch it from the Poly beach while you're sitting comfortably on a blanket with tons of space is magical in its' own way. We watched Fantasy in the Sky from the Poly beach on Dec 30th. There were some people there, but nowhere near "crowded", we had all the room we wanted. I can't even imagine what the hub was like. Can't really see projections on the Castle, but that's OK. The wide view of the fireworks that you get from the Poly more than makes up for that. It's beautiful!!!

 

[eeyoresmom]

And the electric water pageant sails by a little after HEA ends☺

 

[North of Mouse]

Years ago...was that Wishes? HEA is a much different show. I was actually distracted from the castle projections and missed most of the fireworks. I'm not saying NOT to see it in MK just that the fireworks itself from the Poly was a great show.

Yes, years ago with Wishes. But, I'm talking about HEA now, (just saw it first of Dec.), also the additional projection show on the castle afterwards. In this case, crowds don't bother me at all. We're totally immersed in the moment, just like we're all alone, and wouldn't watch it anywhere else.

Just watching fireworks from a distance doesn't do anything for us, but like I said, to each their own!!

 

[ChristineOH]

I think its definitely worth seeing both ways. The first time you see it in front of the castle, you won't pay much attention to the fireworks. The projections are just too engaging. The second time we saw the fireworks only, unintentionally, as we were at the bus stops. They were awesome on their own.

 

[Action City]

The audio is piped into the bus depots now, which is great. I watched HEA from the bus stop a couple weeks ago and enjoyed it much more than being smashed into the Hub.

 

[PanamaMike]

I agree that the combination of the castle projections and the fireworks is visual overload. If I'm watching the castle, I'm missing the fireworks and vice versa.

During my recent trip I watched twice from Main St, twice from New Fantasyland and once from Adventureland.

I much prefer the pyrotechnics over the projections so watching from a packed Main St. so I can see the castle, for me, isn't really a draw.

Watching from an un-congested New Fantasyland near the entrance to Enchanted Storytime with Belle put me right in the action of the fireworks. It's amazing being so close to them.

My Adventureland viewing had pros and cons. On the one hand, I was the only person on the top level of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse when the fireworks started, so I had no issues with crowds. There is however a very narrow view of the castle that isn't blocked by branches of the tree so while the fireworks from the castle itself were great, most of the other shells were obscured by the tree.

If the projections are important to you, the treehouse is the wrong place from which to watch. Also, the placement of the speakers in the park result in an echo effect of the soundtrack. Rather annoying.

And the last issue with the treehouse? If HEA happens at park closing, the treehouse is closed. HEA is 17 minutes long and 13 minutes in, a cast member doing his closing walk through kicked me out. Obviously this wouldn't happen on a night when the park stays open after HEA.

 

[RolloTomasi]

I went over to MK from Wilderness my last trip for EMH and I got off the boat just as HEA started. Rather than rush in and fight the wall of people that was undoubtedly waiting I stayed outside the entrance and watched. It was pretty great. I actually got some cool shots of the fireworks going off with the train station in the foreground. Still very enjoyable without the projections.

 

[disneyjr77]

Good to know! DD would prefer to watch from outside the park. We saw Wishes from the fp viewing area in 2015, and she liked it but when i told her there was a chance we could see it from our balcony at the WL she was through the roof excited and said she'd rather watch it from there or somewhere other than the park. I think she would love watching it from the Poly beach.

 

[Princess Michele]

I've seen HEA a few times at MK, as recently as last night. While watching, I was thinking that it's difficult to watch the fireworks as well as the castle projections, there's so much going on at once. Great show but I just saw it from my room at the Poly and it was almost as good. Without the distraction ( great ones, but still)of the projections, the fireworks show itself is outstanding. If you can't make it into the park for the show and can only view from one of the resorts, you're still in for a great experience .

Completely, 100% agree. Especially once you've seen the show in MK a few times (which to me is a key factor in this opinion)...the out of park viewing is still a great show. And while I can't believe I'm about to say this, I enjoy the HEA viewing from places like Poly better than I did Wishes!

Hope you're having a fun trip OP.

Thank you so much for these opinions. We are planning on seeing HEA for the first time from the HUB on Sunday night. We were thinking of going to the California Grill Lounge on Tuesday night and watching the fireworks from their balcony but I was starting to doubt my plans. This just confirms that we should keep our plans or if we decide against the California Grill to find another location to see the fireworks that night.

I was planning on skipping HEA during our DAH on Friday night to concentrate our time on rides but maybe we will try to catch the fireworks from New Fantasyland or Frontierland depending on where we are at 8:00pm.

 

[vicb]

I went over to MK from Wilderness my last trip for EMH and I got off the boat just as HEA started. Rather than rush in and fight the wall of people that was undoubtedly waiting I stayed outside the entrance and watched. It was pretty great. I actually got some cool shots of the fireworks going off with the train station in the foreground. Still very enjoyable without the projections.

This might be my family in May... we are going to the 6:15 HDDR and taking the boat over to MK for eve emh. Fireworks at 9, we may be enroute or watch from the dock area. Decided not to stress about it.