Morning! We haven’t been to the World since before the pandemic (with one day recently at HS when visiting Uni). Had a dream trip booked in April 2020 so trying to add some extra magic to this trip.
We haven’t seen MK fireworks in forever. Should we book a dessert party or private fireworks cruise? Our family is me and my husband and our DD 18 and DS 13 (turning 14 while we are there!).
If you think dessert party, are there still two locations? Terrace and garden?
Thank you!
How important are projections to you?
The dessert parties give you the full nighttime spectacular experience as it is meant to be seen. It’s the least stressful way of doing it. And you get some drinks and food before or after. The dining area gets pretty crowded and noisy. The viewing area is less crowded than it looks when you first arrive because everyone is sitting down. When they stand up, there’s more room. Yes, both version of the party are running.
The fireworks cruise is fireworks only. No sight of projections at all. You get the music piped through, but possibly not as immersively as it is in the Hub. The cruise is completely private to your group, though there are quite a few cruises taking place at the same time.
I’ve done dessert parties many times. Well, back when the show was HEA. The new show is trash and entirely skipable. I wouldn’t do one again for that reason. And how loud and crowded the dining area is.
I’ve done the cruise once. It was terrific (you get the Electrical Water Pageant close up, too, which is a unique experience). But I feel I’ve done it now and wouldn’t do it again.
As regards terrace vs gardens, the terrace is seated and felt less crowded to me. I chose a table to the far right of the seating area (so technically further away, but it’s a trivial difference). This was very uncrowded and gave me an entirely unobstructed view (in the sense that no-one was in front of me: I was right at the railing).
The fireworks are offset at that angle from the castle, so they take place to the side of it rather than over the top of it. The castle is much further away than from the gardens and you see less detail. It is partially obstructed by trees.
I’m personally all about projections. And they are spectacular. They really are. So I would choose gardens over terrace and terrace over cruise. If you care more about fireworks I’d probably choose terrace over cruise and cruise over gardens.
Oh, finally, I would say that the cruise feels like the more premium and exclusive experience. And it may work out cheaper than the dessert parties as you pay per boat not per person.
Thank you!! That was really helpful. Projections are important to me because we haven’t seen one of the projection shows in forever (maybe since 2013 for the Christmas fireworks!). Hopefully, I can get a garden view party and surprise the family. We’ll save the boat for another time 