Welcome to Fantasmic. Tonight, our friend and host Mickey Mouse uses his vivid imagination to create magical imagery for all to enjoy. Nothing is more wonderful than the imagination, for in a moment, you can experience a beautiful fantasy; or an exciting adventure! But Beware! Nothing is more powerful than the imagination. For it can also expand your greatest fears into an overwhelming nightmare. Are the powers of Mickeys incredible imagination strong enough, and bright enough, to withstand the evil forces that invade Mickeys dream? Youre about to find out. For we now invite you to join Mickey and experience
FANTASMIC! A journey beyond your wildest imagination.
(Quote provided above is from the opening verse of the Fantasmic Musical Attraction showing at Disney theme parks).
After our quick tour of DCA, we decided its time to head back to DL. The time was getting close to 7 and we wanted to see, rather we had no choice but to see the 9pm show of Fantasmic. The shuttle we came in on stops running a half hour of the park closes, so seeing the 10:30pm show would be cutting it close for us to get back to the shuttle on time. Park closes at 11pm and its about a 20 minute show. We didnt want to run the risk of missing the shuttle so we figured best to play it safe.
On our way out of DCA, we asked the CM if the branding iron was good and hot this time. We wanted to make sure the stamp on our hand would not come off this time and that it would get us through DLs gate. One scolding a day was enough. We get to DL and get to the gate. Hand the CM our tickets and show her our new branding. Phew! Didnt come off between DCA to here. Never know what can happen in that 2-minute walk. As we enter DL, we notice there were definitely more people. They probably all had the same plan we did. See Fantasmic tonight because it may be the only chance they get.
Instead of walking through Main Street, we decided to hop on the train and see if we can beat some of the crowds there. Wouldve worked out great except some blind, bald guy threw up all over the place. Bet he was suffering from a concussion and shouldve just stayed back at the hotel.
Oops. Wrong TR.
Well actually it was some poor kid got sick in line. There are 2 separate lines to get on the train. One to the left and one to the right. Well the poor kid got sick in the line to the right. So the CMs closed of this area and had us all move to the left. About a minute or so later, they realize that maybe they can open part of the lane. Or not. About a minute before the train pulled in, they finally opened the right lane. Another CM (armed with a big can of industrial strength lysol, paper towels and trash bag) was sent to clean up the mess. While cleaning up the mess, the CMs decided it would be safe to partially open up the right side. So they sent some of the crowd back to the right. I wish they would make up my mind which way I need to go to get on the train.
Lady H and I hop on the train and get off in New Orleans Square. Same place we boarded earlier to go to Toontown. Its now a little after 7pm and you can already see people staking out real estate. Unlike Fantasmic over at DHS that has its own seating arena; Fantasmic is shown at DL on Tom Sawyers Island in Frontierland. The premium viewing area was roped off and they had armed Yellow Jackets waiting to shoot anyone that dared cross under the ropes. You needed to pay thousands of dollars to sit in this premium viewing area. Well $1k may be a little steep, but I think it was about $65 a person; so close enough. I called to see if I can get this set up for Lady H and myself, but once I heard the price and told her how much it cost, we figured well just get there early and wait it out. I know you get a box of desserts and for that price, I better get some free Fast Passes thrown in as well. Now for our upcoming WDW trip, I booked the Wishes Dessert Party and didnt even spend $65 for the 2 of us.
Anyways, people are already standing up along the railings that werent being guarded. Across the walkway is a wall where people are already starting to sit. We see a couple of empty spots and decide to grab them and wait 2 long hours.
Right now youre all thinking we were nuts. No way would you wait 2 hours. By this time, the lines were long for the rides and we were starting to feel a little dragged out. Thought we would sit and rest a while.
It had been a while since we had lunch. Even after the huge platter, we were starting to get a little hungry and thirsty. I set out to get us a couple of drinks while Lady H held our spot tight with both arms. Which was a good thing. Some lady was trying to move in and take control. Lady H was having none of it and threatened to use her pepper spray to keep them away. This worked for a little while, but not too long. Lady H would tell me about it once I came back with a couple of sodas and Ice Cream. Mickey Bar for her and Nestle Cookie Sandwich for me. Now weve heard of people watching was fun to help pass the time, so we did. While munching on our ice cream, were looking around and I spot an open area right behind us. Its a little area and part of it was fenced off to keep people out of the bushes and trees, but accessible for people to get to. Its higher up and not directly off the walking path which we were currently on. I tell Lady H Im going to see what the view is like from here. I go and examine the area. No trees in the way if we stand here. Dont look like its a handicapped area as I didnt see any signs. I think it will do. I come back for Lady H and our bags, and we head off to our new viewing spot. No sooner did we move and stalker lady comes in and takes the spots. She had more people with her now. Think she was assembling the troops for an all out war. No matter, she wont be there long anyways.
Now in our new viewing spot, many people come by and check it out; but many dont stick around. We thought for sure our little area would start filling up quick. Once people realize the show lights might be in the way, they go off in search of a new spot. Lady H is starting to get a little cranky from standing up and now wants a salty snack. Theyre selling popcorn close by and I give her money to go and get us a bucket. First she says she needs to find a restroom to make room for more beer tonight when we get back to the room. On her way back she stops for popcorn and shes happy once again. Plus the sun is going down and its at least starting to feel a little cooler. Not as hot as its been throughout the day.
Soon its starting to get close to showtime and more YJs are buzzing about.
Theyre busy building their nest and roping off part of the walk way to make a path for through traffic. Theyre evening scaring away the people who were sitting in our previous spot, including the lady that moved in after we left. I tell Lady H, its a good thing we moved. We wouldve been evicted and we didnt even get a warning letter. They werent allowing anyone to sit on the wall, which made it better for Lady H and myself. When we first picked out this new spot, we knew as long as people stayed sitting down, we could see over them. Only way they could block our view is if they stood up on the wall. Since the YJs are telling them they have to move and cant sit here, we now feel that we have a premium viewing spot and didnt have to pay the enormous fees.
Heres the YJs in action. Notice the yellow shirt with the black strip. They even look like YJs. The yellow thing in their hand is their stinger. They would zap you if you didnt do what they told you to.
This yellow jacket was sent to keep people away from sitting on the wall. Notice the man in the white shirt and the lady sitting next to him in the purple shirt.
Now you see them.
Now you don't.
Soon the show lights start to lift to get out of the way of peoples view and Fantasmic starts. Our view wouldve been spectacular and for the most part it still was, except the little girl who sat on her dads shoulder and pretty much appeared in our whole video. Overall we still had a pretty decent view.
I took our camcorder along with us to tape the show. Which really helped because now I can do a better comparison.
In this corner, fighting out the East Coast. DHS/Fantasmic
And in this corner, fighting out of the West Coast: DL/Fantasmic.
And the winner is: Its a draw.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, a draw. This is another one the main attractions you need to see for yourself. If youve seen the Fantasmic over at DHS, you will find many similarities over at DL. There are some noticeable differences though and to me, each show is unique in its own way.
First difference is DHS is more on a hilltop setting where over at DL its more of a cottage type setting. Each one starts off the same. You have Mickey starting off the show in his tuxedo.
Followed by the Fantasmic movie projection, flower projections, the human flower, and the monkeys in the boats. One difference here is along with the monkeys, they have the large snake as well. This snake goes more with the theme and not so much after Mickey like over at DHS. At DHS, the snake is longer and more scary looking.
Here's the human flower and the head that would appear in the video.
Then we get more into the projections and they are very different. Over at DHS, you see many projections of the Disney animated movies to where at DL you have more projections from the Fantasmic movie. Now something different over at DL is the Fantasmic projections are stopped and you get Pinocchio and some lady marionettes on strings dancing.
After its the same projection of the whale swallowing Mickey at both DHS & DL. When the whale finishes swallowing Mickey whole, this is where it gets really different. Over at DHS you have CMs acting out scenes from Pocahantas. Over at DL, you have CMs on the pirate ship acting out scenes from Peter Pan.
Here comes the hook, hook, hook.
Pan vs Hook
Peter Pan and Hook sail off and then it's time for the ball.
Next comes the evil queen from Snow White turning herself into the mean ol witch and calling up the forces of evil.
Over at DHS, you see many projections of all the evil characters from the animated movies. At DL, the only evil character you see the most is Ursula. Soon Maleficent shows up and turns into the dragon.
Now I would have to say that DLs dragon is just a little better. The dragon looks more like the dragon Maleficent turns into in Sleeping Beauty. The dragon over at DHS not so much. I was a little disappointed with the dragon though. Ive seen videos showing it breathing out this big stream of fire from it's mouth. That didnt happen tonight. Dont know if DL no longer does this, or if they need to do repairs. Either way the dragon was still cool to see.
Of course Mickey saves the day with his sword and defeats Maleficent.
Tink comes out and spreads pixie dust and brightens up everything again. Mickey now appears as his alter ego, Steamboat Willie, along with the other characters on different style ships. DL uses the Mark Twain (similar to MKs Liberty Belle), and DHS has more a ship that resembles the boat from Steamboat Willie.
Steamboat Willie
Now this Mickey Mouse is someone I wouldnt want to mess around with. He has one powerful imagination and is very magical. Once again he reappears as another alter ego, a wizard this time. Starting to wonder if Jaleel White plays Mickey. Remember all his alter egos in Family Matters? Fireworks are going off and DL also has a laser light show that goes along with the end of the show. Didnt see this at DHS. One more magic puff and big blast of fireworks, and Mickey is back in his tux.
Mickey says, Some Imagine Huh, and the show ends. The endings to each Fantasmic are very similar as well. Since each show is very similar in content, with a few changes, this is why I cant really say one is better than the other.
Fantasmic is over and we wait for the crowds to start clearing out. Its time for the running of the bulls. We stayed waiting for the crowds to push, kick and shove their way to the front of the park and the exits. Once we saw it was safe we started making our way out to the exits as well. There is only thing that will stop all these people dead in their tracks. Fireworks. About 5 minutes after Fantasmic had ended they started up. We stepped off to the side to enjoy the show. I stood behind Lady H, wrapped my arms around her and enjoyed the moment. It felt like the fireworks were going off for us in celebration of our anniversary; and celebrating the end of a magical day over at DL. What a perfect ending to a perfect day.
Soon after the fireworks were done, we were pretty much done. We head to the shuttle area so we can head back to the resort. Shuttle area wasnt too packed. Well at least not the shuttle we were taking. The line to catch the shuttle to the Toy Story parking was pretty crowded.
Now what fun what would it be if we didnt have one last story to tell. As we approach the line, we notice a lady in a ecv. Now weve all read horror stories about ecvs. This isnt going to be one of them. There are those that need them and the rest of us just have to be patient while they get in and out of the busses. I for one am grateful that I dont need one. Well at least at the start of the day. By the end of the night, I think it would be nice to have one for my aching feet and the rest of my tired body.
We notice the lady in the ecv was in the line for our shuttle. With her was a younger girl (about 8-9 years old I would say). The girl was holding some shopping bags. We had a short wait for a shuttle to pull up. We knew they needed to load her first. What we didnt know was that, not only was there a younger girl with this woman, but at least 6 more people appear out of no where. Teenagers to younger adults. Seems they just appeared out of thin air. Whats worse, each person seems to have at least 3-4 shopping bags, and one of them has a stroller big enough to push all of us around. The driver loads the lady onto the shuttle. The people with her are getting off and on the bus to load up all their bags. Theyre piling the bags onto the seats and take up about 4 seats. Once on board the lady stands up, gets out of her ecv and sits in a regular seat. Now I dont know what procedure is, but Lady H and I were wondering if there were going to be any seats left; or if we would just have to wait for the next shuttle. We also wondered why didnt the lady just stay seated in her ecv. Isnt that part of the purpose of strapping them down? Now Im not trying to discriminate here, Im just trying to make sense of the situation. Luckily another shuttle pulled up about 5 minutes after the first shuttle. So there was enough seating room for everyone who were waiting in line behind these people. We landed up on the shuttle with the lady in the ecv. There stop was before ours and it was funny to see them get off the shuttle. It was like the Asian women all over again. They worked like ants getting all the shopping bags off the shuttle while the driver was busy helping the lady. Finally after 30 minutes or so when we got on the shuttle, we finally get back to our resort.
We head on back to our room and the first thing we grab is a beer. 2 big drinks and its done. We change into our pjs and get ready for bed. Not before having one last beer out on the balcony. As I mentioned earlier, this would be our nightly ritual. Lady H grabs her Kindle and we sit out on the balcony enjoying our beer, smoke our flavored Djarum mini-cigars and take notes. Once were done we head to bed, time for some hanky panky.
I mean time to go to sleep. Have to be up early again tomorrow, for tomorrow were headed to:
Universal Studios Hollywood.
Sorry folks, for taking so long to get through this day. The day is finally over and so is this chapter. Lady H will take you through USH. I know she's already been working on the chapters so hopefully we'll get this TR rolling again.
Thanks everyone for being patient with me. I'm sure Lady was wondering when I was going to finish so she can get started.
And thanks sticking around with us while we deal with this thing they call WORK.
Why is it that gravity takes over and our hair starts migrating south? By the time I'm 100 I'll be a giant hairy toed Hobbit.
Ugh. Theyre all over the place, arent they?
