Pirates & pals Fireworks voyage?

[kiltclan]

Hey all! Has anyone ever done the Pirates & pals fireworks voyage? I'm looking at it for my DH & I's 5th Anniversary/birthday trip coming up.
Here's the backstory. Last year, I surprised DH with a pirate birthday weekend. Told him he was getting a surprise and to be ready. Managed to get an awesome pirate themed cake delivered to the GFC. Figuring that was the surprise, we trumped home to the Cabin to discover the Pirate In-room celebration I had had set up with a special scavenger hunt from Jack Sparrow. Brought him back to 10 as he put it.

Now we're heading back for our 5th Anniversary and I'm wondering if the Pirates & Pals is "kid-at-heart" friendly and if anyone has had any experience with it before? Ie: should we grab a meal before hand or is there enough food there for all?
We were also debating on the Pirate's league earlier in the day but also wondered if it was only the make-up or if there was more to it that might help us get really into the day?

Any insight would be helpful!

 

[delfinavacano]

Pirates and Pals: We did it last year. Basically, you go to the Contemporary and there is a room with some food items - mostly sweets, like cake, ice cream bars, popcorn, cotton candy, granola bars, pretzels - it is snacky stuff, not dinner-type stuff. There is a Photopass photographer there to get a picture of you with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. After a little while, they divide you into two groups to go with the two pirate captains onto your "pirate ship" to see the fireworks. The boats circle around and watch the water pageant and the pirate captain talks a little bit about it. He also makes lots of corny pirate jokes and does a pirate trivia game, where pretty much everyone is guaranteed to get some kind of toy. Then it lands in the perfect viewing location to watch the fireworks, with the music piped in. After the fireworks you go back to the dock and Peter Pan is waiting for you, along with a Photopass photographer.

My girls liked it. My younger (2 at the time) scored loads of pirate booty because she was so cute. They were both sleepy by the time we got to Peter Pan, we did it on our arrival night because that was the only time I could get a reservation. (We went during Christmas.)

 

[Azjenn]

We did it last year with our three kids ages 10, 7, and 5. I thought it was awesome, and I think my DH liked it more than anyone! He is a huge pirate fan aND thought it was great. Yes only snack type food so eat first. I would do it again

 

[rideswithchrist]

We just found out about it and plan on making it our big extra while there with our kids, instead of a Character meal

I read a review on Kenny the Pirate and DH got excited about it, so we are not telling the kids about it until we are there- they will LOVE IT.
DH is Captain Hook in my avatar, my kids were Smee, Peter and Tink and I was Tiger Lily.

 

[Wendie]

I really really want to do this on our arrival night and can't find any available reservations except on the night that we're leaving town. Since we plan to head out at about 6 pm, that won't work. So bummed!

 

[DisneyCAL]

Hey all! Has anyone ever done the Pirates & pals fireworks voyage? I'm looking at it for my DH & I's 5th Anniversary/birthday trip coming up.
Here's the backstory. Last year, I surprised DH with a pirate birthday weekend. Told him he was getting a surprise and to be ready. Managed to get an awesome pirate themed cake delivered to the GFC. Figuring that was the surprise, we trumped home to the Cabin to discover the Pirate In-room celebration I had had set up with a special scavenger hunt from Jack Sparrow. Brought him back to 10 as he put it.

Now we're heading back for our 5th Anniversary and I'm wondering if the Pirates & Pals is "kid-at-heart" friendly and if anyone has had any experience with it before? Ie: should we grab a meal before hand or is there enough food there for all?
We were also debating on the Pirate's league earlier in the day but also wondered if it was only the make-up or if there was more to it that might help us get really into the day?

Any insight would be helpful!

We did it a couple years ago. I personally felt it a bit tacky. The characters were great but there was a ton of waiting around and the food was dessert/munchies so eat ahead of time. I also didn't like that you couldn't hear the pounding of the fireworks, its not like being in the park when they go off. If you want to add to his pirate experience you should try The Pirate League Experience in Adventureland and there is also a pirate treasure scavenger hunt too in that area.

 

[dprincessmom]

I really really want to do this on our arrival night and can't find any available reservations except on the night that we're leaving town. Since we plan to head out at about 6 pm, that won't work. So bummed!

Have you called and talked to them. We are going in July and when I looked there was nothing online. I called and had no problem getting my choice of nights. I know that they don't run every night year round, but I don't think they are going to be booked 9 months in advance. You have to call 407-WDW-PLAY. It's worth a shot.

OP - we had a wonderful time when we did it a few years ago. So much so that we are doing again. When I asked my DD if we should do Pirates or the Wishes Dessert party she said Pirates.

I would eat before hand (maybe an early dinner) so you can enjoy the snacks without the over full feeling. They also encouraged us to take stuff with us. I think we ate chocolate pirate coins all week. It's a fun change from some of the other parties.