Is there a better way for kids to see firework shows?

So we noticed that they opened the alleyway behind the plaza and actually had places taped off ntendong for people to stand there. I was surprised how good a view you had of the castle back there. I would give it a try if I ever needed a spot late.

Something we do for our kids is park the double stroller in front of our party so it gives us some space reserved in front of our group to help with the line of site.

Also if you can get right at the fence line of one of the fenced in landscaped areas it could help. I’m 99% sure they still have a wheelchair area but I’m not sure exactly where it is.
 
As to the sit/stand question, everyone in the grass area in front of Casey's was sitting last weekend. Most remained sitting throughout the entire show. A few stood in one little area. No CM gave instructions one way or another.

Same here. Other than the concrete seats around the hub area, I love the grass area in front of Casey's because everyone sits and there is very little obstruction of people so that children could sit and watch. I thought everyone in the grass area would start standing once the fireworks began, but was pleasantly surprised. People that wanted to stand stood in the back and sides of the grass area to not disturb people sitting.

Although, I wish they had an area to install some temporary bleachers for those that do not want to stand to watch the show.
 
We watched HEA twice within the past two weeks, from the exact same spot which we staked out over an hour in advance (and which should have been the perfect view of the projections) and the only advice I can give you is that it really doesn't matter where you go or when you get there. The first time, our view was compromised by a man standing 10 feet in front of us holding up his phone over his head to record the entire show. The second time, it was the shoulder kids. They were everywhere. And yes, I understand why people do it, but I still find it extremely inconsiderate. My kids are 12, 10 and 7. My son is about 4'8" tall, and he made the best of it. My husband and I had to hold up the girls to see. They are both about 65 lbs, and we will hold them either on our hip, or our back, so that their heads are on about the same level as ours. It is very uncomfortable, but we endure it for them, and for the people behind us. Most of the shoulder kids are much younger and smaller - their parents could easily hold them in other ways so that they weren't blocking the view of everyone else. The man right in front of me had a kid on his shoulders that didn't even want to watch the show. The kid kept wanting to get down, so Dad kept shifting around, making it even harder for us to see. It was very disappointing.


See, I don't understand the on the shoulders thing. You're essentially telling everyone behind you, my kid is more important than any of you. I understand people's height, and if everyone else is standing, it's not your fault you are the height you are, but it is inconsiderate to put kids or recording devices higher than your eye level.

I wish they would at least try to get people to sit down with the intention of giving everyone in the hub area the best opportunity to see the show. They do it in Tokyo Disneyland. Then the more I think about it, I envision a trampling situation b/c everyone has to rush like they robbed a bank to go stand in their bus pen. LOL

There isn't an easy answer to this, other than make the best of it, and be considerate of those around and behind you so everyone can see the show as best they can.
 
I really can see the danger in everyone sitting. If people began to flee for any reason, and in the world we live in today a scary event of some sort isn't out of the question, it would be chaos. Folks on the ground that couldn't get up as fast, either because of age, loaded down with children, or whatever would be trampled by those who are on their feet already and fleeing. People being trampled would be a problem even if everyone was already on their feet but the risk would be less and fewer injuries/deaths would be probable.
 


Is there no longer wheelchair parking? Has been a few trips since we used it - but used to be the roped area for the now gone night parade stayed in place.

Nope. We asked in Sept as our dd17 was in a wheelchair. She could not see at all, nor could our 9yo or 6yo...So unless they have opened up an area, there was nothing.
 
Personally I think the etiquette should be that all kids should be up on shoulders. It’s more important that they see than adults. :duck:

The rude person with a kid on his shoulders wouldn’t do that if his kid could see. I don’t know why that is considered the height of rudeness and a 6 foot tall person standing in front of a 5 year old is considered polite just because they got there first.

Don’t get me wrong, no kid of mine has ever or will ever be on my or DH’s shoulders during any show. But theoretically speaking I don’t understand the way the etiquette falls.

At Universal over the holidays everyone stayed seated during the Mannheim Steamroller concert and it was awesome. The kids could see, everyone was happy. It was great. But even Disney discourages sitting so sitting won’t happen.

No, kids are not more important than adults, and yes, I have kids. It's that "my kid needs to see this or else" attitude that ruins it for everyone, IMO. But if you want to have your view blocked every time you go to see something, that's fine. BTW, when a guy put his kid up on his shoulders when we were trying to watch HEA, he blocked the view of my niece. How does that work?

I’m not really disagreeing with you as much as playing devils advocate. If someone sits on a bus and a pregnant or elderly person arrives later, the polite thing to do is still to let the pregnant or elderly person have the seat.

People also think that those who don’t have their entire party camp out the entire time are rude too. Most kids are not going to tolerate camping out for a spot for 3 hours. The deck just seems really stacked against kids which doesn’t seem so magical to me.

It’s too big an area to have a kids section like at Crush. I think the best option is to have people sit. But I agree with the pp who said that Disney doesn’t want too many people to have a good view. It drives more demand for the dessert parties.

Entitlement doesn't work well in crowds. If the group doesn't wait together, don't go pushing through the crowd - that crowd is not going to be happy about the infringement. Feel free to hang out in the back, so the group can come and go without getting into the space of someone else who has waited.

Haha totally get the safety aspect, but to me, 'cramming people in' seems less safe than just letting people sit if they choose!

I don't know, in my opinion, the most considerate way to stakeout a spot hours in advance is starry_solo's method - a certain proportion of the group remain on site.

That 'certain proportion' should be 100%.

I absolutely love HEA, and have been thinking/strategizing for my next trip. My kids were 5 and 9 when we last went, so, we held them up so they could see. My 5 year old was light/tiny, so that wasn't a problem. Holding up my 9 year old was a challenge. We passed him back and forth between my husband, myself, and my father in law. There was no chance that I was going to let my 9 year old miss out on seeing everything, so we endured the pain. But, next time, I'm going to come prepared. I was thinking of bringing in a small collapsible step-stool for each kid? I need to start looking on amazon for something. We will be bringing an unbrella stroller for my 7 year old for the next trip, and we could store them in in the bottom I thought. Not sure if there's any rules against this or not, but was planning on looking into it.

No folding chairs/stools allowed. Imagine if everyone did that.
 
No, kids are not more important than adults, and yes, I have kids. It's that "my kid needs to see this or else" attitude that ruins it for everyone, IMO. But if you want to have your view blocked every time you go to see something, that's fine. BTW, when a guy put his kid up on his shoulders when we were trying to watch HEA, he blocked the view of my niece. How does that work?



Entitlement doesn't work well in crowds. If the group doesn't wait together, don't go pushing through the crowd - that crowd is not going to be happy about the infringement. Feel free to hang out in the back, so the group can come and go without getting into the space of someone else who has waited.



That 'certain proportion' should be 100%.



No folding chairs/stools allowed. Imagine if everyone did that.

If everyone did that then everyone would be sitting....which is the ideal.way to watch this show.

There are considerate ways to get your kids to see. Our favorite is putting the breaks on stroller and kid stands on stroller while being held. The kid on hip method works too but man that is tiring. As for the CMS...why do they try and push me forward when I have the spot I chose .I frequently have refused to be pushed forward here or at star wars especially .I chose my spot .those that came later can find the open areas not push everyone forward to make room for people that it wasn't as important to.
 


Last weekend we watched from the area in front of Casey's. Got there about 20 min before HEA started, if that. No problem finding lots of spots to watch from. We had short DD and 10yo DGD with us. They saw great.
I realize this area may not be open much longer, unfortunately. It's always been a favorite place to watch for us

That area was absolutely amazing last August. I mean, it was still crowded, but no where near as bad as the rest of the hub area.

I’m not really disagreeing with you as much as playing devils advocate. If someone sits on a bus and a pregnant or elderly person arrives later, the polite thing to do is still to let the pregnant or elderly person have the seat.

People also think that those who don’t have their entire party camp out the entire time are rude too. Most kids are not going to tolerate camping out for a spot for 3 hours. The deck just seems really stacked against kids which doesn’t seem so magical to me.

It’s too big an area to have a kids section like at Crush. I think the best option is to have people sit. But I agree with the pp who said that Disney doesn’t want too many people to have a good view. It drives more demand for the dessert parties.

Disney can't even keep the walkways clear of people during the show. How in the heck could they ever manage to enforce a no standing policy?

Just FYI, two reports came in this week since that trial program started Tuesday. The poster said one night the roped off area was about 1/4 of the garden, the second night was smaller than that. Looks like they’ll be using a portion of the garden and it’ll flex depending on guest count. Makes sense to me given the numbers I suspect they have doing the trial program. We need more real-time reports of course, but for now I’m still counting the Casey’s garden area as my secret go to spot. :-)

This is excellent news, and I do hope it continues to be the case!

Haha totally get the safety aspect, but to me, 'cramming people in' seems less safe than just letting people sit if they choose!

I don't know, in my opinion, the most considerate way to stakeout a spot hours in advance is starry_solo's method - a certain proportion of the group remain on site.

I've not been to Crush, but a kid section is an interesting. What about several small sections for kids, roped off for an hour each night, with signs stating it's a kids-only area for watching OUAT and HEA and there will NO special supervision. Small sections mean adults can stay watchful. I would definitely prefer to watch WITH DC, but it would be nice to have the option.

Having a children only area with no parents allowed would be an absolute nightmare of parents separated from their kids at the end of the show every night. There is no way that could ever work in the sea of moving bodies that happens after that show.
 
Now that my DD is an adult, I flat out refuse to view fireworks in the parks anymore. We view them from our resort or from the Cali Grill.

I don’t care what projections are up. I just want to see fireworks. I’m done exiting the parks at night in a huge crowd. Nope. Not going to do it anymore. DD and her friend can do as they please. So can DH for that matter.
The closest I've ever come to having a panic attack was right after the fireworks at MK.
 
The closest I've ever come to having a panic attack was right after the fireworks at MK.

My son has anxiety disorder, so much so that we generally get him a DAS, and I also suffer from anxiety (though less severely). I do NOT do well in heavy crowds -- the week we're going is rated low crowds or moderate, depending on what site you visit. Since we're staying at the Poly, I'm perfectly fine with just watching the fireworks from the beach there and missing the projections. For me, it's not worth the potential panic attack.
 
Our favorite spot to watch from so far has been the bridge area over by frontier land (i think). We weren't planning on watching HEA again because of the way we were crammed in, and i'm small so I could hardly see anything anyways, and then the crowd getting out had us both anxious. We happened to be crossing this area as the show was starting and decided to stop for a minute but ended up watching the whole show. We were still able to see a lot of the projections, and IMO had a better view of the fireworks themselves. It was a pleasant surprise.
 
Bottom line is that in order to get a good fireworks AND projections view you need to get there early and claim a spot 1-3 hours before the show. That might not be possible for every family to fit into their vacation and thats fine. There are plenty of places throughout MK where you can view the fireworks without the projections and still have a great experience. When I was a kid my family rarely watched the fireworks from the park, we often sat on the beach at the Poly or the viewing area at the contemporary and I never felt like I was missing out. I was a kid at Disney World, I was in heaven! haha
 
We saw HEA for about the 10th time this week, and I insisted on getting a good spot up close to see the projections. We were not far behind the wheel-chair area, and there were a couple strollers in front of us. :thumbsup2 The kids had a great angle to see the castle projections, but honestly too close to see half the fireworks. My son kept asking when the fireworks were going to start?? We realized that all the times WE have watched the show, he never knew that there were projections on the castle?!? He thought this was a completely different show. I felt so bad for him! :crowded:

I miss Wishes for many reasons, not the least of which is that they have replaced it with a show that is impossible for most guests to see. Wishes was fun from different angles, HEA not so much.

I really wish they would bring back the Fireworks FP. It was a great option for those who value good viewing.

Would you mind sharing where the wheelchair area for HEA is? We were there with a little girl in a wheelchair in January and were told there is no wheelchair viewing, we miss it from Wishes...
 
My son has anxiety disorder, so much so that we generally get him a DAS, and I also suffer from anxiety (though less severely). I do NOT do well in heavy crowds -- the week we're going is rated low crowds or moderate, depending on what site you visit. Since we're staying at the Poly, I'm perfectly fine with just watching the fireworks from the beach there and missing the projections. For me, it's not worth the potential panic attack.

My husband I saw HEA this way in September. Actually, we were on a patch of grass in front of the bungalows. It was still so, so beautiful. They pipe the music in and the beautiful atmosphere made it so magical! Plus no stampede when they’re over, so it’s a win win!
 
After HEA, the park started to clear. Once upon a time came after HEA first week in March. We went closer to the castle after the madness that was HEA and found everyone sitting. AND everyone stayed seated (mostly) during that show! Be awesome if at least some piece of real estate could be "sitters only" during HEA.

I consider the kid on the shoulders no different than the kid in the locker room at the Y when the sign clearly states "No children." It's the notion that some kids (the holder's) deserve more than other people. Granted, there's no sign, but come on, common courtesy. You can't help being 6'4", but short people can see how tall you are and plan accordingly (like don't stand right behind the tall guy). Throw up and extra two feet of kid and you're even blocking the guy with his phone in the air.
 
Last time we watched fireworks it was Wishes in 2016. It was MISERABLE! I thought I was doing so good getting a spot a little more than an hour before they started but then everyone packed in and once the show started and everyone stood my 3 kids couldn’t see anything, not even the fireworks. They could only see the highest ones. The entire show was just them saying,”I can’t see anything!”
Not wanting to be rude we did our best to hold two of them at head level (my 3 and 6 year old) but it was hard after a long day in the parks. It was just a disappointing experience all around. My 9 year old was simply out of luck. We had such an amazing time watching in 2013 when we just randomly got there 20 minutes prior to the show starting. So this was a surprise for me!
Then the deluge of people leaving the hub after nearly gave me a panic attack. Stuck in a sea of people, barely moving, getting repeatedly hit in the back of the legs by a stroller. It was bad.
That was the worst experience I’ve had at Disney and I don’t plan to watch HEA in person. It’s just not worth it.
I’m not sure what can be done to fix it but Disney has definitely tried to give options with the dessert party. However with a large family it just isn’t worth the cost in my opinion. We will just skip the fireworks from now on.
 
Sorry, I didn't get close enough to see if it was officially roped off. They were on the left side of the hub, by the apron of the castle forecourt. We were about 30 feet away, but there was definitely a large area of wheel chairs, scooters and strollers. I just assumed it was a reserved area, but perhaps it was an impromptu gathering. :confused3 Either way, it seemed effective!
 
I've said this before on similar threads on the Dis but I don't really think a lot of people truly grasp the danger of sitting crowds. I was in a stampede at Penn Station last April and I personally witnessed those sitting on the floor trampled on by the already-standing people rushing to evacuate (we thought it was an active shooter). I totally get why people would want others to sit, or would choose to sit themselves, but I never ever will and I think if anywhere, especially Disney on a SUPER crowded Main Street, had a "crowd must sit" policy, it is inviting danger in the case that a panic or emergency breaks out. Sitting on the ground is even much different from sitting in a seat, because at least in a seat you are already a bit elevated. Penn Station was much less crowded than fireworks at MK and there were still several injuries reported. I would so much rather stake out a spot hours in advance. I'm still treating for the aftermath of that Penn Station incident!

I know it can stink to wait hours for fireworks, especially with smaller children who understandably tend to have less patience, but if you want to get a good spot, besides paying for a special party it seems like it's probably the only true option. However...shoulder kids I tend to agree on. I can see much easier around a taller single person than a "double tall" person! As a PP said, it also affects many more people behind the shoulder kid, than just a person or two who can slightly move their head/stance a bit to see around.
 
OP, I too have also had great luck in the area of Casey's Corner in general. I haven't taken small children but I've found that area seems to have more "breathing room." I would definitely also look into seeing if there is also a special area for guests in wheelchairs! I am pretty sure I have seen them before! Another thought - would standing on the top of the railway station at the entrance to MK help? I know I've seen people watch from there and it's elevated!
 

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