I am toggling back and forth for the best way to get a good view of Epcot Illuminations while booking something for dinner:
I have a dining reservation for 7:45 at La Hacienda de San Angel… definitely the cheapest route but will the view be good? Plus I love Mexican food
I can get a dining package at rose and crown, or do the frozen dessert party
the advantage of the first is better for you food, but the advantage of the second one is the extra ride on frozen…
I can’t decide?? I think I would stick with the fiirst one if I knew it was guaranteed a good view… has anyone done it?
What time is the show that night? If it is 9pm, I would say you will probably be okay arriving early for your ADR with a willingness to wait a bit for a table with a view. Of course if you want an absolute guarantee, the package is the way to go.
Just to make sure you are aware - it is no longer Illuminations. Right now it is temp show, Epcot Forever, until the new permanent show launches.
We did Rose & Crown way back in 2010. View was excellent and we enjoyed the food. I don’t know if they still do it, but they picked my DD and gave her a countdown and let her wave a glowing wand to “start” the fireworks. They even gave her a certificate saying she had done it.
It’s been ages since we ate at San Angel so can’t speak to that view. (We’re from Texas so eat excellent Mexican on the regular, so we prefer to go with other cuisines.)
This January, we did Spice Road Table and the view was excellent as well. The food was outstanding. It’s an outside covered patio to the left of the restaurant. It was pretty cold the night we were there but they had heaters so it was great. We arrived at 730pm for 750pm reservations and 9pm fireworks and got prime seating. They have a lot of really good appetizers, so our party of 6 did a several of those then split 3 entrees. It was exactly the first night at Disney experience I was hoping for.
You could easily make a meal of their apps and that might be even cheaper if you think you’d enjoy that food. Another menu for you to look at!
I just wanted to make sure that you know that Illuminations is -sadly- gone from Epcot. You will be watching EPCOT forever and/or HarmonioUS depending on your trip date.
Just checking…
Disney has vaguely said “spring.” I sort of stalked around online today and couldn’t find anything more specific. I didn’t see specifically where they announced spring, but that is what most blogs are reporting.
Epcot Forever is on the Disney calendar for like the next year so no hints there either.
My family just watched Epcot Forever from La Hacienda a couple weeks ago - it’s a quiet short show. Half of our party left the dinner table and went to the FPP area to watch, and the other half stayed in the restaurant. All in all, the people in the restaurant liked the show slightly more than the people in the FPP area - the tall windows were very conducive to viewing the show, the music was just the right volume, and they liked being in a climate controlled environment with almost no crowds. Not sure how HarmonioUS will play, but Epcot Forever is a very simple show easily enjoyed from inside the restaurant.
I did the dining package at Rose and Crown last year for Illuminations. I really enjoyed it. The view was perfect. I preferred this over the dessert party because you actually get dinner instead of just dessert.
Our reservation was for 8PM, table of 5, and asked specifically to be seated with a good view of the fireworks. Most tables would have a good view - ours wasn’t immediately at one of the tall windows, but it had a good view of most of them. Night show started at 9PM, and those of us who left early were JUST finishing up at 8:50 to get to FPP area. Those who stayed in the restaurant enjoyed the show, then ordered dessert for everyone afterwards.
