Water taxi from Epcot to HS?

[Anal Annie]

Just double checking - we CAN take the water taxi from the International Gateway entrance all the way over to HS, right? Anybody know about how long that trip takes? Does it run basically on the hour & half hour?

Just found out the new Star Wars fireworks schedule at HS for June. It is NOT every night - it's only 3x a week. I planned 2 nights at HS with hopes of catching it one night - now I find out it is NOT on either one of the nights I planned. I only planned 1 evening at Epcot for Illuminations & have a dinner ressie booked at Rose & Crown in hopes of maybe catching Illuminations then. Now if we want to catch the fireworks we'll have to bail on Illuminations (the other nights they're having it are the nights I have AK evening booked for the new nighttime stuff and the other is the night we have dinner at Ohana). It will be late EMH's at HS so if we bail on Illuminations we can then stay late at HS. But I'm so frustrated with Disney's late release of times. This trip has been just horrid to plan. Hate to bail on Illuminations but not seeing many other options....

 

[Jestocost]

Yes. As long as there are no thunderstorms in the area (in which case they stop the boats) you can take a boat from the Epcot IG to DHS via BW, YC/BC and S/D. The trip takes about 20 minutes once the boat leaves the dock.

 

[purple figment]

The Friendship boats are on a schedule, but it is not an on the hour/half past type of schedule. They usually come more often than that from almost immediately to up to 20 minutes.

When we've taken it the skippers have said allow about 30 minutes for the ride from Epcot to DHS because it will depend on how long it takes at each of the 3 resort stops. Add another 15-20 minutes if you just miss a boat and have to wait for the next one.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks guys. That's kinda what I thought. We've taken them from BWV & BCV to one park or the other but I don't think ever transferred between the 2 parks like that before so I wasn't sure how long to allow.

 

[AngiTN]

Just to let you know it is faster to walk. We've timed it multiple times (and I walk slow). And that's if no one on a scooter is getting on/off. If they are it's even slower on the boat.

 

[philharmagic fan]

A couple of possibilities - settle your bill at Rose and Crown BEFORE Illuminations, leave immediately after it ends, and walk to the Studios - you should arrive just as fireworks start (I'm assuming 9:45), and there's a decent view from outside the entrance gate, although hard to hear music. Alternatively, you can watch them from inside EPCOT if cast members aren't in a big hurry to clear the park - one night when they were at 9:15, we just kept our spot near Norway and Mexico and watched them over the international pavilions. View is comparable to watching Wishes from Poly or TTC (but unfortunately no music)

 

[AngiTN]

A couple of possibilities - settle your bill at Rose and Crown BEFORE Illuminations, leave immediately after it ends, and walk to the Studios - you should arrive just as fireworks start (I'm assuming 9:45), and there's a decent view from outside the entrance gate, although hard to hear music. Alternatively, you can watch them from inside EPCOT if cast members aren't in a big hurry to clear the park - one night when they were at 9:15, we just kept our spot near Norway and Mexico and watched them over the international pavilions. View is comparable to watching Wishes from Poly or TTC (but unfortunately no music)

The only * here to either of these options, if it's after the new show begins you will need to be in view of the Chinese Theater in order to experience the entire show. It will no longer be solely in the sky. It's actually been reported that the bursts in the sky will be reduced when they add in the projections though I guess no one knows positively how much it will change.

 

[Anal Annie]

The only * here to either of these options, if it's after the new show begins you will need to be in view of the Chinese Theater in order to experience the entire show. It will no longer be solely in the sky. It's actually been reported that the bursts in the sky will be reduced when they add in the projections though I guess no one knows positively how much it will change.

Exactly - we'll want to snag a spot in the square in front of the theater for these. We've seen Illuminations enough times for it to be OK to miss them but still....Disney has made it nearly impossible to be spontaneous any more with the new FP system and I'm just super ticked at Disney right now for not at LEAST releasing enough info ahead of time to be able to plan which park on which day since they are not having these fireworks on every night of the week.

BTW we will not walk from 1 park to the other. We have done the walk from BCV & BWV & that's my distance limit. This will be night 6 - I'll be too pooped to poop by then!!