Best Shows... must sees and what to pass on?

[shaciam630]

Okay for those of you who have been to WDW lately what shows such as Fantasmic, Indiana Jones, etc... would you recommend seeing and which ones are just so/so? Why do you feel that way?

Also if anyone has a link to show times, including parades and fireworks could you pass it my way! Thanks!



(My family leaves in 7 days and I'm trying to decide what we just can't miss and what we might want to pass on)

 

[DisneyObsessive]

Indiana Jones is fab, especially if someone over 18 from your group wants to try to become an extra in the show.

Beauty and the Beast is great as well. I think you could pass on the little mermaid. I saw it after i saw B&TB and thought it didnt even match up.

Fantasmic is always a must, as is illuminations in epcot. I think illuminations is the best fireworks show Disney has right now.

Honestly, i could take or leave spectromagic (i might get attacked for that lol) but im a person who loves to hit rides while people are watching parades.

 

[disnut8]

Check http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/ for show times and show lengths. It's updated weekly (on Sunday) so check the dates this schedule is current for and go back if you need updated information (the times shown are usually good for planning purposes).

As far as what someone will like or doesn't like, well, you are going to get a lot of different answers. There are a lot of Fantasmic fans here and my husband went once and really did not like it at all. It didn't think it was worth the hour long wait. I love Illuminations and will see it as many times as I can. It's the music that gets to me. We've never seen Wishes as we do not like the Magic Kingdom mentality at night (especially trying to get out of there).

My son can see Indiana Jones time and time again but he loves the movie (he's 26 and has kids of his own). We think it was fine once. We've never seen Festival of the Lion King because we don't like the entire way it's presented (acrobatics, etc. - Cirque will never be on our list of things to do).

However, we LOVE Flights of Wonder and see it every time was are at Animal Kingdom. We are nature lovers and environmentalists and hope that just one person will learn some thing while seeing the show.

So that's what we do (me, 46, husband 48 and veterans of Disney World - 50 plus trips).

 

[JenLynn]

We really enjoyed Flights of Wonder the first time we saw it (the second time was just ok). And we do enjoy Festival of the Lion King.

My son (10 yo) loves Fantasmic and DH loves Illuminations (so we usually split up so everyone can see what they want). If you enjoy the Beauty and the Beast movie then you will probably enjoy the Beauty and the Beast show in Studios. And Indiana Jones is enjoyable. We've seen the Lights Motor Action stuntshow twice (DS loves it).

We did not enjoy the Finding Nemo show in Animal Kingdom (we loved Tarzan and miss it terribly). We enjoyed the afternoon parade in Magic Kingdom but skipped the other parades this time.

 

[disneyag]

Definitely see Festival of the Lion King at AK!!!

 

[Disney1976]

Finding Nemo in AK is AWESOME! A lot of very talented performers in that show, and they do a great job of telling the story in 40 minutes!

I am also a big fan of Fantasmic, and Wishes is cool too, even though I'm not sure you could consider it so much a "show" as a 13 minute fireworks display

 

[love__goofy]

Festival at the Lion King and Nemo at Animal Kingdom....loved both!

 

[Tink888]

At MK, I really like Wishes and Spectromagic (Spectro probably isn't a must-see but holds a lot of nolstagia for me).

AK - Agree with the other posters about Flights of Wonder. We always missed this until two years ago and agree this was a great show (and birds freak me out a little). We always try to see Festival of the Lion King and Nemo was a must for us since it's new - thought it was pretty good.

DS - Beauty and the Beast (we skipped this a few times and went back this year and I think this is just a great, great show. As close to a 30 minute Broadway show as you can get - if you like the movie, definately see this one). Lights, Motors, Action was also really good. Fantasmic is very good and a must see if you've never seen. We've always waited until the last minute for seats and haven't got a bad spot yet.

 

[ligirlz]

Definitely see Lion King at AK and The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast at DHS.

 

[savannahjean85]

Finding Nemo was just amazing, the way they come into the audience! Beauty and the Beast was good but I had to chuckle at the ""rawrrr" noise that Beast makes. Fantasmic was awesome too!

 

[jasper]

I am a dd11 and I love the spectro magic parade. The Pocahontas show, Nemo show, Lion king, and beauty and the beast are good shows but you don't need to see them. Fantasmic is excellent and I and my sister and dad loved it!

 

[Robo]

Finding Nemo was just amazing, the way they come into the audience! Beauty and the Beast was good but I had to chuckle at the ""rawrrr" noise that Beast makes. Fantasmic was awesome too!

The "rawrrr" noise is made by Hollywood actor Robbie Benson.
The same voice and roar used in the original Disney film.
That doesn't mean it's not comical, I'm just noting that it is not a unique noise made for the live show by a CM in the Beast suit, but by the original character voice from the film.

In fact, the only non-recorded dialogue and singing in the show is from the actors playing Belle and Gaston.
All the other main characters are the original voice talent from the film.

The voices of the chorus are all pre-recorded as well.

 

[MickeyDee]

Fantasmic is not to be missed! Well worth parking ourselves down 45 minutes prior to showtime!

 

[RllngRckBrw]

Must sees for us are:
-Nemo The Musical
-Lion King
-Indiana Jones (although not everyone would agree with me)

So So shows
-Lights Motor Action
-Beauty and the Beast

 

[silverarrowknits]

Must Sees: Festival of the Lion King (AK), Fantasmic (HS), Finding Nemo (HS), and Beauty and the Beast (HS)

 

[shaciam630]

Okay so I think I'll definetly have to pass on flights of wonder. I'm terrified of birds!

We didn't get to see lights, motor, action the first time we went and now that my son is 5 and my dad are going with us it is on my must see list. Didn't even know about Fantasmic when we went the last time so I'm really hoping we get to catch it.

My DD (12) really wants to see Nemo and so do I. I'm not sure what my mom will enjoy the most though. It'll be her first trip to WDW ever and my dad hasn't been there since 1971! Should be a great trip!

 

[disneymomof2boyz]

Must sees:
FOTLK
Beauty and the Beast
Illuminations
Wishes
Playhouse Disney
Candlelight Processional(Christmastime)

Take it or leave it:
Fantasmic
Lights Motor Action

 

[shaciam630]

Check http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/ for show times and show lengths. It's updated weekly (on Sunday) so check the dates this schedule is current for and go back if you need updated information (the times shown are usually good for planning purposes).

As far as what someone will like or doesn't like, well, you are going to get a lot of different answers. There are a lot of Fantasmic fans here and my husband went once and really did not like it at all. It didn't think it was worth the hour long wait. I love Illuminations and will see it as many times as I can. It's the music that gets to me. We've never seen Wishes as we do not like the Magic Kingdom mentality at night (especially trying to get out of there).

My son can see Indiana Jones time and time again but he loves the movie (he's 26 and has kids of his own). We think it was fine once. We've never seen Festival of the Lion King because we don't like the entire way it's presented (acrobatics, etc. - Cirque will never be on our list of things to do).

However, we LOVE Flights of Wonder and see it every time was are at Animal Kingdom. We are nature lovers and environmentalists and hope that just one person will learn some thing while seeing the show.

So that's what we do (me, 46, husband 48 and veterans of Disney World - 50 plus trips).

I tried to use this link but it turns out that whomever he was using to get all the scheduled times of everything is no longer working at Disney so I can't get the information from there. So if anyone of you may know another way I can get this info I'd appreciate it!

thanks!

 

[shaciam630]

Must sees:
FOTLK
Beauty and the Beast
Illuminations
Wishes
Playhouse Disney
Candlelight Processional(Christmastime)

Take it or leave it:
Fantasmic
Lights Motor Action

What is FOTLK?

 

[RobbinsDad]

My must-sees, in order of importance:

1. Fantasmic
2. Illuminations
3. Festival of the Lion King
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. Indiana Jones
6. Finding Nemo - AK


I'm neither here nor there about Wishes or Lights Motor Action

I'm looking forward to the Block Party Bash show, any comments?