The Solo Scale:

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If you’re headed to Disney World, there are some basics that you have to purchase to enjoy the parks. That means getting a hotel (whether on or off property), your park tickets, and a method of transportation. Got all that? Great! Next, you might think about your dining reservations. Once you have that, there’s one more option, but it will cost a little bit of money.

Those are the Enchanting Extra collection. These are experiences that you can add to your Disney World trip and include things like going behind the scenes on Living With The Land, seeing rhinos up close, trekking behind the scenes in Animal Kingdom, and many more.

One of the newest experiences comes at Epcot in geodesic fashion — Geo-82, the Epcot ball inspired lounge for adults only. Now, the biggest caveat to begin. This comes at a hefty price. As a result, this review is going to aim to not only talk about the experience, but I’ll break down the value at the end so you can decide if it’s money worth spending. One thing you should know if you’re thinking about this is that the list price is not the final price. When booking the Geo-82 Fireworks Experience, the base price, tax, and the 20% gratuity are included. That leaves you with approximately a $229 USD payment for the 2.5 hour (approximately) experience. It sounds like a lot, right?

First, let’s get into what you actually receive for that experience. Then, we’ll talk dollars.

For your Geo-82 experience, you have to arrive a full hour prior to fireworks beginning at Epcot. That meant 8PM during our March trip. The arrival area is marked by a small sidewalk sign behind the geodesic dome. If you’re approaching from the back of the park and hit Spaceship Earth’s line, you went too far. Keep circling and you’ll find the small entrance. We were one of the last tables to arrive because we had been shopping at Creations and the mobile check-out line didn’t move as usual. Still, we arrived with a full hour to spare.

To reach Geo-82, you first climb some stairs (or take the elevator) to the reception desk. This is where they check you in, but also provide scented hand towels to clean up prior to entering the lounge. Your host may also boast about the walls as you go, which look as if you’re about to touch the Epcot ball itself.

Once you dispose of your hand towel, you head to your table. At this point in the evening, the lounge is split in two by an invisible barrier. The front half closest to the window are dedicated to the Geo-82 Fireworks Experience. The tables closer to the bar are normal lounge customers. That does mean that if you time a lounge reservation right, you can also see the fireworks. That said, you won’t get the dining package amenities as part of it.

The glassware is amazing and the theming overall is a huge point in Geo-82’s favour. I absolutely took some of those coasters with me as a souvenir. I do think that this is one of Disney’s opportunities. Sadly, the champagne glasses aren’t for sale. I feel like this is a wasted merchandising opportunity, especially after a fantastic fireworks show. People would be rushing to buy them in a haze of Disney magic (and bubbly champagne).

The design of the lounge is also very clever. The lights are a combination of the Epcot ball and fireworks themselves, which is ingenious in its own way (and I’ll talk about why later).

When you sit, you get water and then your server will explain how the experience works before starting you off with your first glass of champagne. This is a Canard-Duchêne Cuvée Léonie Brut. Now, you may note that it’s a Brut, not a champagne. However, they still produce it in the champagne region. Don’t think that means you’re getting something cheaper though. Brut just refers to the dryness, which means that less sugar is added. For me, I love a dry wine, so this is perfect. The Canard-Duchêne has hints of pineapple and star fruit and because it’s so dry, it drinks really easily. As a result, it wasn’t hard for me to consume three glasses by the end of the night over the 2+ hour period.

There are also two specialty cocktails available in the price. You can order others from the menu, but they aren’t included and incur an extra charge. I tried the Shimmering Margarita, which was a good drink with some very strong tequila notes. I preferred the champagne, so after I tried the cocktail, I went back to enjoying my champagne refills as my primary drink.

Then, it’s on to the food. There’s a menu on the table that gives you details about what you’ll expect. If you have any food allergies, Geo-82 works just like any other Disney restaurant, in which you inform them in advance and they adapt the menu for you. For me and my friend, the server explained what the gluten-unfriendly items were in the savoury tower for her to avoid and gave replacements in full for the sweets (we’ll get to their accommodation later).

The savoury tower comes in three tiers and with a basket of cranberry bread on the side (if you don’t have gluten issues). From the bottom up, the savoury tower features a charcuterie assortment with peach chutney, jamon, poppadom, prosciutto, brie, truffle goat cheese, bread and butter pickles, and a few hard cheese options. It’s probably strange then to say that the best part of the charcuterie board was the pecan brittle that came with it. It was absolutely divine and unbelievably delicious without being too sweet.

In the mid layer, there are devilled eggs with duck meat. They were okay, but generally just a devilled egg and nothing to write home about. However, it was a nice way to get some more protein. The top layer was the truly unique one. These are pimento macarons and the flavour of the cheese here might seem odd, but these savoury macarons were amazing and they really went with the flavours of everything.

You don’t get dessert immediately. There’s a slight pause and then dessert arrives just before the fireworks begin. If you have any communication required with the server before it gets quiet, this is the time to do it. Dessert arrives on a few flat plates. My friend was celiac, so although they only brought out the two to begin with, they brought out additional bonbons as she wasn’t able to eat the baumkuchen cake and that limited her options. That was amazing because it meant I got to have both bonbons too.

Overall, the desserts were delicious. The strawberries were extremely fresh and was a nice counter to the richness of the others. Though they were good, the baumkuchen was my absolutely favourite. The bonbons were delicious — one being freeze-dried raspberry and the other creme brulee. Topping that up are some small chocolate bites.

Then, it’s showtime.

The fireworks are incredible to watch from the table. I’m personally a little anxious around loud noises like fireworks, but the window is so thick that I didn’t hear a single pop from the fireworks, despite them being only a few hundred feet away. The music is piped into the lounge to give the full effect. Now, to mention the lights. If you’re a little bit back, you do get the reflection of some of the lights as they don’t fully turn them off, but their design blends them with the fireworks.

During this time, the servers aren’t going to refill your champagne, so make sure that you fill up before the lights dim.

Now, the promised part of this review. Let’s do the math. With tax and gratuity, this experience comes out to $229 USD. The question is going to be — is that worth it. Let’s go over the prices (pre-tax/tip):

• The charcuterie board served at Geo-82 is $29 (this serves as the base of the savoury tower)
• Each glass of champagne costs $26 apiece (I personally had three glasses)
• The cocktail isn’t listed, but the average runs $25 at the lowest (I had one, only because it was quite strong and I preferred the champagne)
• The remainder of the savoury food would likely run you around $15
• The sweet treats would likely put you around $20 combined – because my friend was gluten-intolerant, we would up getting two separate servings of some of the sweets
• Then there’s the privacy and seclusion of a seat for the fireworks. To book a Lightning Lane for a ride would be around $17, so we’ll use that equivalent

That brings us to a total of $184USD. Add in tax and tip and it’s $235USD — slightly higher than what I paid. Make no mistake, though. You do have to enjoy the champagne to get close to that price.

Now, you can also get a fireworks package in World Showcase for a lower price, but the real difference here is that champagne in the pricing. For me, because I have some anxiety around sudden loud noises, fireworks can set me off. We come to Geo-82’s biggest perk (for me, personally). Geo-82 is soundproofed extremely well. It made watching the fireworks a much safer experience than I usually have when I’m on the ground in Magic Kingdom and then have to spend thirty minutes calming down my anxiety before I can be a person again and experience the park. For me, that’s worth a little extra investment.

Overall, is this something I would do again? Probably, but not every trip. It was a fantastic experience with amazing service, but it does cost a lot. Plus, you can always try and get a dinner-adjacent reservation at Geo-82, just know that you won’t get near the windows.

To read more and decide whether this is the experience for you, you can check out Disney’s website to decide if you also want to book — it can be a hot ticket, so make sure this is a priority booking if you decide this is something you want to try!

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