Review: Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise

Ahoy, Mateys! My family and I recently embarked on a Pirates and Pals fireworks dessert cruise from Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Read on to see what the experience was like!

During our Christmas break trip, I scheduled the Pirates and Pals Fireworks dessert cruise for a night where the Christmas Party was taking place at Magic Kingdom. This made our party a little late, starting at 8:00 p.m. with 10 p.m. fireworks.

After grabbing dinner at The Wave (which we love!) we checked in and were given a boat assignment. We also were given a pirate bandana to indicate we were part of the crew for the evening!

Snacks Available at the Party

There was a standard selection of desserts (brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and rice crispy treats), as well as a small freezer stocked with frozen favorites like Mickey ice cream sandwiches and Olaf bars.

Pretzels and cheese popcorn were the savory options on the night we attended.

My son was big on collecting up the pirate coin chocolates!

A helpful Cast Member gave him a “treasure chest” for his loot (a cup with a lid)

Characters at the Party

Captain Hook and Mr. Smee were available to take pictures in front of a backdrop.

After the line cleared, Hook and Smee mingled around the room while countless Jake and the Neverland pirates songs played. I had no idea there were so many!

The Fireworks

Finally, it was time to board our boats! We were to be on Patch’s boat, and he was just hilarious! He definitely reminded me of a professional comedian with his off-the-cuff jokes and the way he “worked the room” while we made our way to our fireworks location.

Patch was just too funny! Definitely made the night what it was.

On the way to our spot, Patch asked numerous questions about where people were from, made jokes about it, and generally kept us all entertained.

Then, the fireworks started! We had a great view of the Christmas Party fireworks!

Kenny THE Pirate had suggested getting an odd-numbered seat. We ended up with even-numbered row and it was still a wonderful view.

On the way back, Patch did a Disney trivia game with the kids. Each kid got to answer a question and win a pirate-themed prize.

Finally, when we got back ashore I had told my husband I thought we should skip the last part since it was getting late. But as it happened, we were the first family off the boat, so we rushed back up to the conference room on the second floor for one last picture:

Peter Pan himself was there to greet us!

I suppose Peter is the “pals” part of the Pirates and Pals fireworks dessert cruise!

Final Thoughts

The cost was around $75 per adult and $45 for children and we felt it was a much better value than the Happily Ever After dessert party. While both parties are pretty weak in the dessert category, this party had a lot more “party” and really felt like a special experience!

We would definitely book it again! The only downside I can see is that viewing the fireworks from the water means you don’t see the projections on the castle. So, if it’s your first time seeing Happily Ever After, you may prefer one of the parties inside Magic Kingdom for views of that.

Have you heard of this experience at Disney’s Contemporary Resort? Considering sailing the high seas for the fireworks show? Let us know in the comments on Facebook. And let’s keep the conversation going in our Pirate Crew Facebook group!