Best Places to watch the fireworks at Disney

If you are preparing a vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort, you will have many things to plan ahead for, including what to do inside the parks and how to best manage your time inside. And while most people plot out their entire day, they don’t take into account what to do at the end of the day. In fact, most people are so caught up into seeing everything that they often forget about the end-of-day fireworks shows at Disney, even though this part of the day can often times be the best part of a family’s day and can send you home at night on a positive note, no matter how stressful your day was inside the crowded theme parks.

If you plan on visiting Central Florida anytime soon, however, there is one aspect of your trip that you do need to plan ahead for more than anything else – your tickets to the theme parks! Your tickets are your lifeline to everything Disney has to offer, and no trip to the Walt Disney World Resort is complete without a trip to the four world-class theme parks and two water parks. And since your tickets are such an important facet of your family’s enjoyment on vacation, OrlandoFunTickets.com is here to offer you deeply discounted Disney tickets, along with discounted tickets to all of the other top attractions in Orlando and the surrounding areas, including Universal Orlando and Sea World Orlando. Click here now to purchase your discounted Disney tickets to ensure that you can see everything Disney has to offer, including two of the best fireworks shows anywhere, Wishes at the Magic Kingdom Park and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot. 

Now that you have your tickets, it may be wise to know ahead of time the best viewing areas for the shows. The first thing to note about Wishes is that while the fireworks appear to go off directly behind Cinderella Castle, most are actually shot off to the right of the castle behind Fantasyland. Because of this, one of the best places to catch Wishes is in the rose garden directly off of Main Street U.S.A. To get to the rose garden, you can take two paths – one is off the sidewalk that leads from Main Street U.S.A. to Tomorrowland, and the other is on the sidewalk that leads from the castle right to Cosmic Rays Starlight Café. The rose garden is at the bottom of the path and sits a little below the castle and to the right, but because of the location it provides a spectacular view of the entire show. And, not many people think about watching from this location and instead choose to stay up on crowded Main Street, meaning that you will also have plenty of elbow room while you enjoy the show. While the rose garden may be a well kept Disney secret, you are still going to get a great view of Wishes if you watch from anywhere on Main Street U.S.A. in front of the castle, where 90 percent of guests go to view the show. Just beware to not stand too close to the castle and also avoid any of the many trees around the area, as these can block your views of the lower-flying fireworks. The best place on Main Street U.S.A. to watch the show is right around the beginning of the shops (Casey’s Corner area), as this will give you a great view and also provide you an easy route to get out of the park once Wishes is over.

If you are at Epcot for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, the first factor you will need to know when choosing your viewing location is that you need to see the center of the lagoon that the World Showcase encompasses. A lot of this show is lower to the ground than most conventional fireworks shows, and there is a floating globe that the show centers around that you will need to see with no obstructions. If you are anywhere where you cannot see the entire lagoon, it is best to go find another place to view this amazing show. Some of the best places to watch this show are on the bridges around the World Showcase that lead from one pavilion to another, as these offer great views of the water and obviously will be free of any trees or objects that could block your view. One of the best bridges to catch the action is the one that leads from the United Kingdom pavilion to the France pavilion. If you arrive about 20 minutes before the show starts, you should be able to see perfectly, as they keep traffic flowing pretty steadily on the bridges and most people don’t think to stop there and watch. If you would prefer to be somewhere a little more peaceful, right in the middle of the bridge, there is a nice viewing area that juts out a little into the lagoon and provides many areas for standing and many ledges for sitting (if you get there early enough to claim a spot!). The additional bonus of watching Illuminations from either of these areas is that there is a quick exit to the BoardWalk area of Disney, so if you parked there or if you just want to go hang out there after the park closes, it is a quick way to escape the masses of Epcot.

Of course, these aren’t the only places to catch either of these great nighttime shows. If you don’t have tickets to a theme park but still want to catch the show, you can always watch Wishes from the beaches of either Disney’s Polynesian Resort or Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. And perhaps the best place overall to watch Wishes isn’t even inside the Magic Kingdom Park. The California Grill, located on the top floor of Disney’s Contemporary Resort, provides an outdoor balcony that literally looks over the park and is above Cinderella Castle. This restaurant even has the accompanying music to Wishes playing outside, meaning you will get the full experience of being there without actually stepping foot in the park. And, another alternative to being in the park is reserving a fireworks cruise, which departs from any of the Magic Kingdom resorts for Wishes and the BoardWalk area resorts for Illuminations. On a fireworks cruise, you get your own pontoon boat and personal captain, not to mention a spectacular view from out on the water.