Fantasmic or Paint the Night first?

[Dopey1980]

We are heading to DLR June 3-6. We will be at DCA on Thursday, June 4 and DL on Friday, June 5. I'm feeling pretty good about 90% of our schedule but can't figure out the Friday night events so thought I would throw it out to the experts. Our kids are 4 and 7 and we want to try to fit in fantasmic, fireworks and the parade on Friday night. We are going to skip world of color on Thursday and take a break on Friday afternoon so hopefully they aren't too tired to make it to midnight on Friday. But I can't figure out which order we should do things. Should we hit the first Fantasmic (with fastpass), watch the fireworks from our viewing point there and then the second parade? Or do the parade first with fireworks and then try to time it out to get the second round of fastpasses for the 2nd Fantasmic? Also, how will the grad night affect these plans? I assume there will be some hs kids around for the first round of each but will have headed to DCA by the second round...
Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[demare]

We will be there that same Friday, and are just planning on the first F! and then staying put for the fireworks. But we will have another day to do the Fireworks and parade.

A few things to consider. Will you be happy viewing the fireworks from the F! location. I know the entire park is supposed to be involved in the show, but if I can only see the fireworks once, I think I would like to see them from Main Street. If you are the same, then I'd do the parade, fireworks and F!.

However, I'm guessing the second parade will be less crowded. So if not having to stake out a parade spot so early is more attractive, then I'd do F!, fireworks, parade.

 

[figment_jii]

I would start by asking which is more important to you...to see F! or see the Parade? I ask because even with a FP, it's still recommended to get to the viewing area as early as possible (I think they open the areas about an hour before the show starts). So if you do the parade first, then fireworks, and F! at 10:45 pm, you won't make it to the F! viewing area until closer to 10:00 pm (assuming fireworks are about 15 minutes and then it'll take time to move through the traffic). So if F! is the priority, you're probably better off doing that first, watching fireworks from the F! viewing area and then finding a Parade viewing spot.

If fireworks and/or the Parade are the priority, I would then do the parade first (find a spot on Main Street to watch the Parade and fireworks) and then do F! last. My feeling is that the parade and fireworks will be the busier entertainment offerings because they're new for the 60th, whereas F! is largely the same.

 

[superlarz]

I would do the parade first, stay in the same area for the fireworks then head over to F!. Of course you will want to get an F! fastpass for the second show, which can be tricky because they dont start giving them out until after the 1st show FPs are gone.

 

[Dopey1980]

Thanks! As far as priority, that is part of the problem...I think my kids would enjoy the paint the night and fireworks more but my 7 yr old has been very anxious to see Fantasmic. This is his first visit to DLR but we go to DWR once or twice a year. For some reason, it NEVER works out for us to see Fantasmic. We've been cancelled by hurricanes, sinus infections and then just the problem that they don't show it every night. My biggest concern is timing out grabbing the second showing fastpass for Fantasmic. Do the wait time sites show which show they are currently dispersing for? I tried to check that today but since there isn't a Fantasmic show tonight, I couldn't tell. I don't want to have to head over there every 90 minutes to check.

 

[agamble]

You could call ask Otto.