Hello,
I am searching for opinions on whether Wishes is worth it for a 5 year old. We are definitely more morning people than late night. We also have a lake view at Polynesian. As much as I want to see it, I am afraid the idea of coming back to the park sounds better on paper than reality. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Carrie
We don’t do much with the night time shows with our 5, now 6, year old. When we’ve done parks for hours, we usually just want to RD and then go to early afternoon and call it quits. We have had a couple of occasions where we’ve taken an nap and then gone back at night, though that makes the next day iffy.
Fireworks at MK in particular are hard, because they can be so late, depending on the time of year. I will also say that being anywhere on Main St or in or near the hub is very anxiety-provoking, as there are always hoardes of people. We had a Wishes FP, and still, getting out of the hub was so crowded it was kinda scary.
We recently did the Pirates and Pals cruise from the Contemporary, and loved it, but it was after midnight when we got kiddo to bed, so be aware. Otherwise, we’ve done Wishes from a half wall between the speedway and dumbo, and you can see fine, not wait for an hour, and it’s not crowded. There’s a popcorn vendor nearby, so you can sit and snack, too.
However, I personally don’t think that it’s an absolute must-do to see the evening fireworks. We did the Star Wars ones at HS, which were at 8 pm recently, and that was special for a little boy. We haven’t ever made it to Illuminations at Epcot, and Wishes (imo) is not something you need to worry about missing if it’s not in your touring style.
It totally comes down to your 5 year old…all are different. I know that’s not a very helpful answer.
When we were there in Sept we couldn’t keep our 5 year old awake long enough to make it to Wishes (even with afternoon breaks) come 8 o’clock he was ready to head back to the resort for a bedtime swim. My husband also didn’t enjoy the Mass exodus to the buses post Wishes.
We did do the dessert party on our last night so that my husband and my son could see the fireworks. My husband loved them, my 5 year was too tired to really appreciate them.
I will say hubs was a star and let me go to Wishes alone one evening, they stayed at the hotel and I spent the evening at MK solo…It was AMAZING!!!
Thanks! very helpful and a reality check for me. I might have to do the Wishes solo! I went with my daughter when she was 4 last year. We made it to the parade, but it was the only time in recent memory I remember her falling asleep anywhere (the shuttle home) but her bed. It was also the first time she slept past 7am, which kind of messed up our early morning plans. I guess its one of those things we’ll just save for the next trip!
I think they still pipe the music in on the Poly beach don’t they? That way you can see and hear the fireworks without the madness of the crowds. We are at Poly in May and plan on taking advantage of it since our DD5 gets tired at 6:30.
We’ve been with our boys at 2/4, 3/5, and 4/6. We are morning people, pre-RD people, afternoon rest but usually not a nap, and thus kids asleep in bed by 9 (usually 7:45 at home.) But invariably as the trip progresses the excitement and late evenings catch up with them, and they sleep later, so we never plan for it but have ended up doing at late evening to see Wishes for 2 of our 3 trips… once when the boys slept in the stroller for 3 hours in the afternoon so we knew they’d be wired, and once they had a late morning sleep in with no park during the day, so we tried it in the evening. (They both fell asleep on the bus after.)
The trip we didn’t do Wishes was when they kept a pretty steady schedule throughout and were always asleep by 9… just didn’t seem worth it to keep them up for an extra 2+ hours.
I watched the fireworks from wishes from the boat dock at the Polynesian 
One good thing if they fall asleep at least you can enjoy the show They did play the music on the dock
Last year we took our two littles who were 4 and 2 at the time. We did rope drop at MK, back to BLT for a nap from approx 2p-5p. After a counter service dinner, a couple rides, and electrical parade viewing in front of the castle, we “swam upstream” and watched Wishes from the park entrance/town square. Both of my kids are weary of loud fireworks but it worked out perfect. In fact, my candy-loving husband spotted the candy store and took DD2 in there to grab some treats just as the fireworks were starting. I think it was their favorite part. Haha! Now my daughter associates fireworks with a trip to the candy store!
Oh - and we scooted right out as wishes was ending. We walked back to BLT and had no issues, obvi, but would also be good to beat the crowds to the busses/boats/mono. I was surprised by how few people were watching from the town square area but we fully intend on trying the same when we go in 2 weeks! Eeeeek!