Fantasmic! first timers....

[Mexikolla]

alright my friends... we are AP(socalsel) but we usually only go for a week during the holidays (week AFTER thanksgiving to be exact) and a couple days in the spring.

On Friday the 21st the park is open until 11p and we plan on leaving San Diego for Anaheim at 1p for a little surprise evening at DL for the kids

I noticed that Fantasmic! is on that night. We have #1 never been on a Friday #2 never seen Fantasmic!

You guys have been invaluable to us in our past trips and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear any hints or tricks you have for us

We will be there with two adults, two 6 year olds, a 5 year old and a 3 month old.

tia

 

[mvf-m11c]

alright my friends... we are AP(socalsel) but we usually only go for a week during the holidays (week AFTER thanksgiving to be exact) and a couple days in the spring.

On Friday the 21st the park is open until 11p and we plan on leaving San Diego for Anaheim at 1p for a little surprise evening at DL for the kids

I noticed that Fantasmic! is on that night. We have #1 never been on a Friday #2 never seen Fantasmic!

You guys have been invaluable to us in our past trips and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear any hints or tricks you have for us

We will be there with two adults, two 6 year olds, a 5 year old and a 3 month old.

tia

F! is a very great show that has been running for almost 20 years at the ROA at night. One of my favorite nighttime shows at the DLR. It features fireworks, actors, water effects, fire, floats, boats (Mark Twain and Columbia) and projections on large mist screens and But it can be scary for little kids with the evil villains, the loud noise of the fireworks and canons shots on the Columbia during the PP scene.

As for your day on Friday the 21st, I will be there on that same day and I might run into you. As for the tip if you want the best viewing area of the show it is right next to the railings of the roa. You will have to sit down and there is no standing in the sitting area right next to the railings. People show up at least 3+ hours for the railing sitting area and the whole viewing sitting area fills up at least one hour before the 1st show starts. But since it is during the slow season, you can get a front spot around 2 hours. If you have strollers, you will have to fold them up and put them down before the show starts or you can leave it up if you sit in the back area of the sitting area. You can have a stroller or a wheel chair right next to the rope area. And definitely bring a blanket, so you can mark up your area for your entire group and some of your party can go on rides or get food while at least one person can sit down on the blanket and watch it while others of your party do other activities. This would tell people that you are saving a spot for your family.

Here is a picture of the guests waiting in the sitting area by the ROA for the 9pm F! show at 9pm last August. This was like 2+ hour wait around the time I took the picture, but it should not be that crowded during this time of the year. I have never been to DL during January which is the off-season so I dont know what it will be like. So I just plan it as a summer time when I watch F! at DL.

A lot of the DISers would say they would not do the 1st show and just do the 2nd show instead of the 1st show. But I would guess that since you have young kids, it would be good to do the first show. Since when the fireworks ends, the CMs instruct the guests that are leaving the ROA to head towards the Adventureland side to exit the park. Sometimes people want to see F! again and the people who did not have a good view to watch F, they just move up closer for their group. Most of the people watching the fireworks from the hub come through the Frontierland area and the guests have to wait until most of the guests that watch F! have cleared the area. Some people also wait when they are in Critter Country and head over to the viewing area when everyone is moving. It's another good way to watch F! if people are not wanting to wait for hours to see the first show of F!.

Another good tip is the Light Tower Trick posted by S.S. Columbia, if people don't want to wait a long time for a good spot.

There are millions of hints and tips that I can go on and on. But there are other DISers who have better tips than me.

 

[nunzia]

I will be there also! We have Fantasmic Dessert tickets for that night. If we want to watch the show without tickets and without camping out, we go over to the Tom Sawyer raft area and get a good (but different) view of the show with no long wait.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

We used the tower trick to see F! Last week and it worked out great for us got there 15 minutes b4 sh owtime.

 

[HydroGuy]

To the OP and anyone with young children, Bret's advice is exactly what I would have said. Great job Bret.

To others, if you are staying local to DLR and can get your kids a long nap that day, then the second F! show at 10:30 is much easier to see with a short wait - for the simple reason that people cannot get spots for the second show until the first has ended at about 9:30.

If circumstances are like the OP and the second show is not an option (or there is no second show that night - which happens often in off-season) then one needs to either:

1. Show up early as the thread below describes (in summer you may need to be there four hours early)

or

2. Get the dessert package. We did the dessert last summer for the first time for the 9PM show and, frankly, even though my teens had seen F! numerous times since they were very young, they said it was by far the best time seeing it. But it costs about $60 per person.

F! is a very great show that has been running for almost 20 years at the ROA at night. One of my favorite nighttime shows at the DLR. It features fireworks, actors, water effects, fire, floats, boats (Mark Twain and Columbia) and projections on large mist screens and But it can be scary for little kids with the evil villains, the loud noise of the fireworks and canons shots on the Columbia during the PP scene.

As for your day on Friday the 21st, I will be there on that same day and I might run into you. As for the tip if you want the best viewing area of the show it is right next to the railings of the roa. You will have to sit down and there is no standing in the sitting area right next to the railings. People show up at least 3+ hours for the railing sitting area and the whole viewing sitting area fills up at least one hour before the 1st show starts. But since it is during the slow season, you can get a front spot around 2 hours. If you have strollers, you will have to fold them up and put them down before the show starts or you can leave it up if you sit in the back area of the sitting area. You can have a stroller or a wheel chair right next to the rope area. And definitely bring a blanket, so you can mark up your area for your entire group and some of your party can go on rides or get food while at least one person can sit down on the blanket and watch it while others of your party do other activities. This would tell people that you are saving a spot for your family.

Here is a picture of the guests waiting in the sitting area by the ROA for the 9pm F! show at 9pm last August. This was like 2+ hour wait around the time I took the picture, but it should not be that crowded during this time of the year. I have never been to DL during January which is the off-season so I dont know what it will be like. So I just plan it as a summer time when I watch F! at DL.

A lot of the DISers would say they would not do the 1st show and just do the 2nd show instead of the 1st show. But I would guess that since you have young kids, it would be good to do the first show. Since when the fireworks ends, the CMs instruct the guests that are leaving the ROA to head towards the Adventureland side to exit the park. Sometimes people want to see F! again and the people who did not have a good view to watch F, they just move up closer for their group. Most of the people watching the fireworks from the hub come through the Frontierland area and the guests have to wait until most of the guests that watch F! have cleared the area. Some people also wait when they are in Critter Country and head over to the viewing area when everyone is moving. It's another good way to watch F! if people are not wanting to wait for hours to see the first show of F!.

Another good tip is the Light Tower Trick posted by S.S. Columbia, if people don't want to wait a long time for a good spot.

There are millions of hints and tips that I can go on and on. But there are other DISers who have better tips than me.

 

[ladybugskye]

We did the light post trick for F! last week too and was perfect..got there about 20 min before the 9pm show and had a great view.

 

[ironpig70]

I would either take everbody back midday at noon for a nap or send somebody back prior to the show to stock up. I use the blanket to hold our "area" it also helps keeping the cold from creeping up. I'd also suggest some warmer clothes than just sweatshirts as sitting you can get cold. And at the rail there is water spray during the show. On our next trip we will be taking space blankets as they keep you warm and our light.

As stated arrive 2-3 hours early. If you plan for this then you can factor in having dinner while waiting.

 

[disneygrandma]

I've only seen F! at DLR once, in the spring of 1996. Not knowing anything about the show, we showed up a little early & saw some spots open at the railing. We sat down & waited for the show. We were very pleased with ourselves for getting such a nice spot right up front. We found out quickly that we had made a mistake. We saw very little of the show due to the water (mist), smoke ?, and whatever else was blowing onto our faces. We spent the show with our heads pointed to the ground, or we turned around, to avoid getting soaked.

I would never again think of sitting in front of the railing. Has something changed that would now make this the best viewing area? As I said, we were right up front, but saw very little of the show itself.

 

[Raindown]

I would never again think of sitting in front of the railing. Has something changed that would now make this the best viewing area? As I said, we were right up front, but saw very little of the show itself.

I've never really had this problem. You might get a little misted but any smoke was tolerable. Honestly, right at the front railing is not my favorite spot. I find the railing a little too high when sitting down unless you are actually face to the bars.

 

[HydroGuy]

I've only seen F! at DLR once, in the spring of 1996. Not knowing anything about the show, we showed up a little early & saw some spots open at the railing. We sat down & waited for the show. We were very pleased with ourselves for getting such a nice spot right up front. We found out quickly that we had made a mistake. We saw very little of the show due to the water (mist), smoke ?, and whatever else was blowing onto our faces. We spent the show with our heads pointed to the ground, or we turned around, to avoid getting soaked.

I would never again think of sitting in front of the railing. Has something changed that would now make this the best viewing area? As I said, we were right up front, but saw very little of the show itself.

Probably the wind direction...

 

[mvf-m11c]

To the OP and anyone with young children, Bret's advice is exactly what I would have said. Great job Bret.

To others, if you are staying local to DLR and can get your kids a long nap that day, then the second F! show at 10:30 is much easier to see with a short wait - for the simple reason that people cannot get spots for the second show until the first has ended at about 9:30.

If circumstances are like the OP and the second show is not an option (or there is no second show that night - which happens often in off-season) then one needs to either:

1. Show up early as the thread below describes (in summer you may need to be there four hours early)

or

2. Get the dessert package. We did the dessert last summer for the first time for the 9PM show and, frankly, even though my teens had seen F! numerous times since they were very young, they said it was by far the best time seeing it. But it costs about $60 per person.

Thx HydroGuy

If I had other people with me during my trip and want to enjoy more of the activities at DL than waiting for the 1st show of F!. I would also do the 2nd show of F! instead of waiting by the ROA for 1+ hours.

Just as HydroGuy posted that there are two options if there is only one show during that day. Show up early for a spot in the sitting area right next to the ROA or the dessert package. I like the dessert package and it did same time of saving a spot right in the sitting area.

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I don't like the railing spots either. very difficult to get good pictures. there is a spot toward the left side (looking at the pirates layer). It's kinda near where the boats leave to go across. I can sit on the concreat "fence" and because it's not center it tends not to fill up and still a great veiw.

 

[nana50]

$60.00 a person!! This is not Phantom of the Opera for goodness sake. Is that the right amount or a typo?

 

[mvf-m11c]

I also don't like sitting up front by the railings. We don't like seeing the show between the railings and if you are in font of someone by the railing, you would not be able to see the show clearly. My favorite spot is right next to the rope area in the back where the people walk by. Since I can sit up tall from the back and no one behind me except for the dessert seating, it is a good spot to see the show if you have people with a wheelchair or stroller so you don't have to fold it up and can have it up during the show.

 

[mvf-m11c]

$60.00 a person!! This is not Phantom of the Opera for goodness sake. Is that the right amount or a typo?

HydroGuy is correct and the F! Dessert Seating is $59 per adult and $49 per child (3-9). Kids 2 and under don't have to pay but have to sit on the parent lap during the show. There is also no discount with purchasing the F! dessert seating.

Here is the link on the F! Dessert Seating on Mousesavers.com & on the wdwinfo.com

 

[HydroGuy]

$60.00 a person!! This is not Phantom of the Opera for goodness sake. Is that the right amount or a typo?

Yes but...

My DS16 had seen F! at least five times and after the dessert package for the 9PM show last summer said "wow, I never understood the F! story before". I think it was a result of late shows previously (always 10:30) and being too tired and/or imperfect seats and/or sitting on concrete for long stretches and being a bit uncomfortable before the show even starts.

I am not saying that $60 is cheap but they do tend to sell out every night. So supply and demand...

 

[Mad Hattered]

What is this "tower trick" and "lightpost trick" that people speak of? We are newbies to DLR as well and haven't heard about these.

 

[mvf-m11c]

What is this "tower trick" and "lightpost trick" that people speak of? We are newbies to DLR as well and haven't heard about these.

You should read this post by S.S. Columbia. Light Tower Trick

This is a good way to see F! without waiting for more than 30 minutes until the show starts. Sometimes it can be occupied for more than 30 minutes and not be available. A lot of DISers like this spot if they don't want to wait a long time in the sitting area right by the ROA and get a clear view of the show.

 

[nana50]

Well I guess at $60.00 a person I'll never have the dessert package. I'm too impatient to even wait an hour. I'm not good at waiting. Also little kids don't like to sit. I also feel uncomfortable sitting out a blanket, taking up a spot and letting the rest of the family go on the rides while I hog a spot. I would do it, but I would feel bad.

 

[Nanseev]

We've seen Fantasmic here and there throughout the past few years....the tower trick (as mentioned earlier) was definitely the best *free* way to see Fantasmic. That was the only time that I was actually able to see the whole show. The other times, no matter how good of a spot I thought I had, there were areas/times that I couldn't see.

Just throwin' it out there....if you haven't seen WOC, you may want to consider that. As much as I enjoyed Fantasmic, I liked WOC even better...but that's just my opinion. You might get to the park in time for a fast pass...depending on how busy they are that day.

You can't go wrong with either show...they are both great.