Walt Disney World has revealed details and pricing for the new GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience at the lounge inside Spaceship Earth at EPCOT. This post covers everything we know about the upcharge offering: cost, food photos, ADR info, and our commentary about this addition to the culinary landscape of Future World.
In terms of basic background, GEO-82 is a lounge inside Spaceship Earth. GEO-82 will surround guests with iconic shapes and intricate structures inspired by the park’s instantly-recognizable icon. You’ll sit amid rich textures and warm, metallic tones that echo Spaceship Earth in an elegant and intimate setting.
Walt Disney World chefs have created delicious culinary creations to complement the elegance of this extraordinary, intimate setting, as discussed in Full Menu & Food Photos for GEO-82 Spaceship Earth Lounge. With sweeping views of World Celebration Gardens and a unique perspective of the nightly fireworks, this secluded retreat invites you to raise a toast to the enduring spirit of EPCOT. Now, Walt Disney World has announced the exclusive new GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience…
Treat your senses to a shimmering celebration in EPCOT with the GEO-82 Fireworks Experience—exclusive to Guests ages 21 and up. Sit back and savor an exquisite pairing of flavorful fare and fantastic fireworks views.Your party will be seated at a private table beside the window in GEO-82. You’ll be perfectly positioned to enjoy dazzling views of Luminous The Symphony of Us, the nighttime spectacular in World Showcase Lagoon at EPCOT.
This elevated new GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience includes:
- Champagne that’s specially selected by sommeliers at Walt Disney World Resort (or event-exclusive cocktails, if you prefer)
- A tasting tower of savory light bites, available before Luminous The Symphony of Us begins
- A selection of sweets during Luminous The Symphony of Us
Watch as the skies above EPCOT come alive with color during Luminous The Symphony of Us. It’s a sparkling pageant of fireworks, fountains, music and light—delightfully designed to bring us all together.
GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience Details
- This experience is $179 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
- Theme park admission is required, but it is not included in the price of this event. Theme park reservations may be required based on admission type.
- Advance reservations are required; space is extremely limited.
- The GEO-82 Fireworks Experience is exclusive to Guests ages 21 and up with valid photo identification.
- Please arrive at GEO-82 at your designated check-in time—60 minutes prior to Luminous The Symphony of Us.
- Fireworks are not guaranteed as part of this experience; on rare occasions, evening fireworks may be rescheduled or cancelled. Please refer to the entertainment schedule to confirm showtimes 2 weeks prior to your reservation, and check again the day of your reservation.
- All entertainment and experiences are subject to change without notice.
- The GEO-82 Fireworks Experience does not allow modifications once the reservation is confirmed.
- There is a 24-hour cancellation policy. Full price will be charged/forfeited if the Guest cancels within one day or fails to show up for the reservation.
Our Commentary
I would start by cautioning anyone against hot takes about the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience that will age poorly. Some of you might be inclined to predict that this will be a failure due to its expensive price point, or make bold proclamations about Walt Disney World being out of touch, etc.
I mention this because that was precisely what happened back when Space 220 Restaurant released its menus. While many fans simply said it’s “too rich for my blood” and moved on, plenty more took that a step further with doom and gloom prognostications. Fast-forward 5 years, and Space 220 remains one of the most popular restaurants at Walt Disney World. It’s one of the few that does not need to accept the Disney Dining Plan to sustain its popularity.
To be sure, the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience is even more expensive. It’s also targeting an even narrower subset of guests by virtue of being adults-only. However, the capacity is also much lower–and the ‘inventory’ of front row tables is even more limited.
This isn’t defending Disney or the package pricing. I’ll come out and say it: over $200 per person for the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience after tax and gratuity is absolutely absurd. There is no way on this geosphere that the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience is “worth it.”
I can already judge that based on the photo of the food spread for the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience, and based on my approximation of the Luminous view afforded by the lounge. (Suffice to say, there’s a reason why guests congregate in World Showcase and don’t watch the fireworks from Future World!) Just based on the value of what’s offered, it barely seems worth $79, let alone $100+ more than that.
Or rather, there’s no way it’s worth it to us. As a young family that is not ‘eligible’ to visit GEO-82 in the first place, I’m not sure how much my opinion matters. (Actually, I am: it doesn’t!) We are not the target audience for this, so our perspective on the value proposition matters about as much as that of a Childless Disney Millennial on whether Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is “worth it.”
Despite my personal opinion on the matter (which does not matter), I’m also highly confident that the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience will be popular. It’s purely a numbers game. There are enough DINKs with disposable income, and the nightly capacity is sufficiently low. There’s a nearly never-ending supply of people who can afford to do this, and who will justify it as a splurge. Whether the experience is “worth it” barely enters the equation.
The pricing may mean it’s not as impossible to book as a regular GEO-82 Lounge for the next 5 years, but it’ll still be difficult for a while. (I was going to say that this will basically be Savi’s Workshop for adults…but I think that’s already mostly for adults.)
My prediction is that Advance Dining Reservations for the Spaceship Earth lounge instantly become the #1 most difficult ADR in all of Walt Disney World, dethroning the Space 220 Lounge in the process. The low capacity coupled with the view and novelty of being inside Spaceship Earth will be like catnip to diehard Disney dorks.
The same will likely be true for the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience. Even though this is very expensive, it’s a subset of that low capacity for a very limited sliver of the day. That’s exactly why it’s so expensive. It has nothing to do with the value offered, it’s all about high demand meeting low supply!
Pricing is always controversial with Walt Disney World fans, and I’m sure the outrage with this experience will mostly revolve around that.
Personally, I think that’s become a bit boring and played out, especially when it comes to the Enchanting Extras Collection (branding to make upcharges sound fancier) at Walt Disney World. All of these things are optional add-ons that are aimed at less than 1% of all park guests. By definition, they are not necessary to enjoy Walt Disney World.
It’s a different story when we’re talking ticket or food prices, but upcharges like this aren’t hurting anyone. To the contrary, you might’ve noticed that our list of the Big “Little Things” That Walt Disney World Needs to Bring Back contains several upcharges. That’s because they are optional offerings that enhance the experience for repeat visitors and don’t negatively impact guests who elect against purchasing them.
It’s the same idea here. The GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience is in a space that wasn’t open to the public previously, and this package strikes me as a good way to allocate capacity.
One alternative would’ve been locals and Annual Passholders with a surplus of time staking out the front-row tables hours ahead of Luminous. The same guests would’ve monopolized those spots, often at the expense of tourists who don’t have the luxury of time. Disney has learned from this dynamic at Disneyland, where locals loiter around in the best spots for nighttime spectaculars. (Or used to, before more of those spaces were monetized.)
The other alternative would’ve been a strict time limit in GEO-82, similar to that at Oga’s Cantina. I’ve yet to hear from a single Walt Disney World fan who “enjoys” that approach–but we do hear constant complaints about how rushed and unpleasant it is!
Point being, there’s gotta be some way to deal with the supply and demand imbalance for the window seats at GEO-82 during Luminous, and this strikes me as the most reasonable option. But then again, I don’t really care since this isn’t something we’ll be doing. Whether it’s $79 or $179 or $779 doesn’t much matter to me; we’re out, regardless!
Perhaps the most interesting angle of the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience and just the lounge as a whole is what could’ve been. As you might recall, Disney announced that the company would “take a different approach” with the multi-level Festival Center in World Celebration right as the reopening process started.
This multi-level festival pavilion was described as “the perfect place for live events, and the home base for Epcot’s signature festivals. It will provide a stunning elevated view of the entire park and an ideal spot to witness Epcot’s nighttime spectacular. This beautiful three-level structure will have one of the most remarkable architectural designs at any Disney park, featuring a plaza level, a middle expo level, and a park that sits in the sky on the top level.”
It’s sad that the architecturally-ambitious three-level festival center in the center of EPCOT was cancelled. What we got instead is CommuniCore Hall, a venue that is the antithesis of “architecturally-ambitious.”
It still strikes me as incredibly short-sighted on Disney’s part to shelve the multi-level festival center. By the time CommuniCore Hall was announced, “revenge travel” had arrived in full force and guests were spending freely. The elevated multi-level festival center with a huge rooftop deck for fireworks dessert parties (and other flex spaces) would’ve been a license to print money. It could be used for so many different purposes, and would’ve paid for itself many times over in the decades to come.
Meanwhile, CommuniCore Hall and World Celebration were still somehow expensive and took forever to construct, despite looking like they were done on a tight budget and timeline, and built by the Irvine Company’s B-Team. We probably don’t need to relitigate the bungling of the EPCOT overhaul yet again, but stuff like this just makes me mad. It’s not about the cost of the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience itself, but because they could’ve done something so much bigger and better (and at scale) in a proper, purpose-built space.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be doing the GEO-82 Fireworks Viewing Experience? Think $179 is absurdly expensive or is the view and dining package “worth it” to you? Expect this to be a success or failure? What do you think of the new GEO-82 coming to EPCOT? Agree or disagree with any of our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
