DIS Videos: Unleash the Villains! Overview & Fireworks!

[*NikkiBell*]

Disney Parks will 'Unleash The Villains' tonight on Friday the 13th as part of Limited Time Magic. From Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Park in California, we'll bring you all the spooky updates, photos, and even videos from the event!

http://new.livestream.com/TheDIS/unleashthevillians

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UPDATE: Here are direct links to videos from last night's event...

Villainy in the Sky Fireworks

Event Overview

 

[WDW Crawl]

We'll be there!

 

[HubbDave]

We'll be there!

I think about 50000 of your friends will be there too

 

[WDW Crawl]

Ended up being way way WAY beyond packed from what I ever would have guessed. Somehow our bus driver made some driving magic happen and got us through the packed roads in very little time, allowing us to walk right through the ticket gates into a swarm of people. The crowd may have been large but the fireworks show rivaled it in size. My wife and I met up with Shaun, Craig, & his lovely girlfriend, and we chatted about this and that while pretending to be sardines and awaiting the main attraction (well, not counting the villians). Hades was cool and I was surprised to see the Herc IP getting such a nice push with the set and characters. The fireworks were awesome... But that finale was what pushed it over the edge. I like to think that someone from Disney said "we've got thousands upon thousands of people here that are either on the verge of an angry breakdown from the traffic, or joy depending on our next move" and then added in every extra "boom" they could to the ending just to send everyone home happy. I know that isn't what happened, but I like to imagine that conversation and action haven taken place. Preferably by someone that resembled Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

 

[jetdoctor]

Watched fireworks looked worth all the crowds.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[txvjc]

It was a great event. I do feel sorry for all those that got caught up in the traffic and long bag/turnstile lines but come on...did people really not think this was going to be a huge event? The Villains are a very popular set of characters and they held the party in the smallest WDW park. I know several people (including myself) who have been waiting for this event and made special plans since it was announced as part of the original LTM lineup.

I got to the park shortly before 5 and manged to miss all of the hassles but within an hour of being in the park I started hearing about all of the problems happening on the roadways. I staked out my spot about 6 and didn't move from it until after the fireworks. Overall it was a great time. Hades as host was great, the DJ was good, the band (Mulch renamed Brimstone) KILLED IT every set they played (especially the last set), and the fireworks were the best I'd ever seen...even more than Hallo-Wishes which previously I thought were the best. The CM's were great and did there best but were simply outnumbered at one point and couldn't handle the crowd. Also the Villains walking around the crowd were really cool, especially Cruella...she did an awesome job. If this event doesn't lead WDW management to see that people want a more adult, hard-ticketed, Villains themed event at the parks they are beyond dumb.

What didn't work? Talking strictly about the event (and not the situation outside the gate) the meet and greets were a mess. The lines were too long and congested around Echo Lake. You know where they should have held some? New York Street and near Muppets...those places (and the whole back of the park) was a ghost town compared to the front of the park...they should have spread the meet and greets out so they could have offered more in less crowded areas. Also, they only set up ONE bar to serve the special drinks which resulted in long lines. They could have easily setup another one or two of those and still had lines. I am very disappointed there wasn't any special merch other than the tshirt which you could order online so I'm not sure why people waited in line for HOURS only to be told they were out of their size. The walkway they created in the party area was gridlocked as soon as the party started as there were only like 3 CMs working hard trying to keep people moving who wanted to stop and watch the show. You could see the manger types on the radios calling for backup and as soon as more CMs showed up it cleared up almost instantly and stayed that way for most of the party.

I had heard rumors of food running out but didn't see that happen. Originally I think there was only one QS scheduled to stay open until 1 but once they saw the crowds someone with a brain realized that wasn't going to work and a few more places stayed open. The lines were long yes, but if you wanted food it was there. I myself just wanted Powerade and water so I just walked to one of the gift shops that I knew had a cooler and got it there opposed to fighting lines at one of the kiosks.

 

[AndyPok1]

Yeah, I was there from about 930-1130. Inside the park, I didn't really see many issues. Ya the lines for the meet + greets were long, but that was to be expected. There was a craaazy line to get the special cookie in the bakery, but that's become Disney's thing with these limited edition cupcakes/cookies/treats.

Grabbed a beer from Rosie's, then walked over to in front of American Idol about 1020, watched the show on the Idol screen , then stood up and had a great view of the best Firework Display I've seen Disney do. Then got out pretty quickly, no worse than a big post-Wishes clearout.

I will say I have never seen that many people taking the walking path back to the Epcot Resorts though. The entire trail was packed.