PTN and WOC dining package question

[Nermel9]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning my first trip to Disneyland this April, and I'm wondering, since two of my must do's are Paint the Night and World of Color, do you think I need to get the dining packages for both? I'm 90% sure I'm going to do the Blue Bayou/Paint the Night Package because I want to be sure I'll get a really good spot, but is World of Color really necessary? Is it possible to get a good spot without the dining package? I know there are Fast Passes for the World of Color, but I'm not really sure how that works, you get a Fast Pass and then you sit/stand in a certain place?

Oh also, if I do the Blue Bayou/PTN package, is it better to get an early time for dinner, or does it not matter?

(Sorry about all the questions, Disneyland is so new to me!)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chuckers]

I did reservations for Blue Bayou because I always wanted to eat there. Since the package is not much more than the dinner itself, I figured it was worth it. I took a 6:30 reservation to be sure we are out in time for the parade. Having done WoC years ago, they used to do fast passes for it. I don't know if they still do, but if so, you can get them first thing when the park opens and they're not part of the fast pass system, so it doesn't go against your fast passes for the day. I don't think there's really a bad spot for viewing WoC since everything is up off the water by quite a few feet.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If you want to dine at BB anyway, go ahead and do the PTN package. We did the F! package there earlier this year and had a fun time. We prefer earlier reservations so that we don't feel rushed and have plenty of time to find out where to go afterward. As for WOC, the dining packages are fun (we really enjoy CCR), but not necessary. The FPs are available throughout the day and are not connected to the grid. Both the blue and yellow sections have good vewing spots. If you study the map on the first page of the WOC Superthread, you'll know where you'll want to be in either section. There is no sitting in the viewing area. People sit before the show begins, but CMs ask everyone to stand for the show.

 

[AussieNSW]

i was in a similar situation to you in Jan during the Marathon weekend. We were not there because of the marathon these dates just worked better with our flights home. The 3 things I wanted to do was to see ITASW with the Christmas overlay, see world of colour and see PTN. To make this plan happen I booked both the PTN package at BB and the world of colour dinning package. I booked both of these packages as soon as they were available online. About 2 weeks before i started to get concerned about the cost for a family of 4 and that the price was not worth it for the World of Colour. So I compromised and cancelled the World of Colour booking but kept the PTN package at BB. For us it was the right decision. For the World of Colour we got fast passes easily. We simply arrived at the time it stated on the fast pass walked in sat down until about 10 minutes before the show and had a great view. With the view we had I was not disappointed at all about the choice I made. I am glad we kept the PTN package at BB it was just such a memorable experience from the food, service, atmosphere to our location on main street. We opted for an early dinner which I am glad that we did. It took a while to be seated and it meant that we weren't rushed. We got to do all of the 3 major things that I wanted to do and I am still not sure which was my favourite.