Fantasmic! and Fireworks

[CanuckMama]

We will be at Disneyland next week (Tues. Nov. 5 to Sat. Nov. 9), and are planning to do a dining package for Fantasmic. I have a booking for Friday (the only day that the fireworks will be on), but now I'm debating two options. Would anyone care to offer their opinion on the better of these two, and why? We are trying to aim for the least busy options all around.

Option 1: Dining reservation for F! earlier in the week, and watch fireworks from somewhere else on Friday.
Option 2: Friday dining reservation for F! and stay there to watch the fireworks.

Considerations:
F!: It looks like Friday is likely to be much busier than Tues/Wed/Thurs (going into a holiday weekend, and also the first official day of the holiday decorations). I'm not sure if that will mean that we're better off doing F! on a less busy day (i.e. does it get really crowded in the reserved section when it's busier?), or if we're better off spending that time in the rest of the parks and doing F! on a busy night.

Fireworks: I've seen people say that they often stay in the F! area to watch the fireworks, but will we really want to be sitting on the ground for that long? And is the viewing area as good as anywhere? Since these will be the first holiday fireworks, I'm thinking it might be busy everywhere else, and realistically we will otherwise probably end up watching them either from the esplanade or our hotel across the street (Park Vue Inn) instead.

 

[SeaDis]

Option 1 for me.

It's a "little" risky to save F! for your final night. It "can" be canceled, though usually only for heavy rain. But also I think you are correct the reserved area won't be as crazy earlier in the week. You won't need to invest as much time getting there early and should have more elbow/leg room during the show.

And for Friday fireworks, mostly because it's holiday version, I would want to invest some time to get either to Main Street/Hub (which will be swarmed with local APs after work) or Small World. The snow should fly in the F! viewing area which is nice; but I just don't think it's the same as seeing the Castle or Small World.

 

[pharmama]

One small clarification- if you do stay in the F! viewing area for fireworks you will be asked to stand up when F! is over so you will not be sitting the entire time. In my experience anywhere from 40-60% of the F! crowd leaves the viewing area after F! is over but before the fireworks start. We almost never sit at the rail for F! but are almost always able to move up to the rail for fireworks and you do remain standing for the fireworks show.

I think you are correct to assume that the fireworks (and the parks in general) will be quite busy elsewhere as its the first night of Believe...in Holiday Magic. RoA isn't the best view of the fireworks but I think you might have to put a fair amount of time into getting a better spot if you don't do F! that night. Also, fireworks are far more likely to be cancelled than F! so I would find it more frustrating to have put time into staking out a fireworks spot on my last night only to have them cancelled. If the current weather pattern holds with winds for the next week or so the fireworks may well not happen.

So all that said I'd stick with your current Friday booking unless seeing the fireworks from a better viewing point is extremely important to you. I've been in the F! reserved sections when it was full/busy and when it was not and in both cases felt it was fine.

 

[ab21au]

We did BB F! package last night. F! was fantastic, highly recommended. The BB meal was great and the restaurant seating location was also great. We stayed and watched the fireworks (3min wait) and while good, nothing compared to F! I’m not sure if it was after watching F!, the viewing location or the Halloween Screams itself, but I was expecting better.

Tonight I will go watch Mickey Mix from Main Street (race over after WOC, which was cancelled the other night).

ps. F! viewing was great, quite busy but with everyone seated was fine. Everyone stood for the fireworks.