Fantasmic & the Balcony Dessert Buffet ???

[KNWVIKING]

Has anyone done this,is it worth the $41.00 pp they charge. Dw & I will be heading to DL for the first time in Sept, trying to figure out what the "must do" items are.

 

[di17090]

I just got back from DL last night. A friend and I did the priority seating for Fantasmic on June 8th. It was absolutely worth the $41. The desserts were great. If you have the choice of early or late shows, pick the early. That way you can stay seated for the fireworks. We only had the late option. Arrive at least 1 hour prior to get in line for a front-row seat.

Some of the dessert selections were fresh fruit on a skewer, creme brule (sp?), strawberry tart, chocolate mouse cake, cheese cake, Napoleons, etc. All you can eat and drink (sodas, coffee and tea). It was well worth the money.

Any questions, PM me.

Enjoy!!!

Di

 

[Peter Pan Fan]

I would definitely suggest doing it, especially considering you are coming from across the country. It is soooo worth it to me, based on what a headache it is to see Fantasmic the "normal" way. This is so much better. You can enjoy your day without worrying about when to get in line and if you are going to get a good seat. I say splurge & go for it!

 

[ceejay13]

We have also splurged and if you want to see Fantasmic at DL, I think it is the only way to do it. At WDW they have the stadium seating but this is not the case at DL, so it is very special to have the balconey seating. The dessert is just an added bonus.

 

[mareed]

Well, to offer a different viewpoint, I just returned from a week at DLR and did the Fantasmic balcony seating on Friday for the 10:00 show. I understand that this was an unusual situation with Fantasmic at 9:00 & 10:00 instead of the 2nd show being at 10:30 as usual. I attended with my husband and no children, and I must say that we were very disappointed with the experience. We lined up at 9:00 and there were 7 people in front of us. We'd been asking if we were going to be able to see the 9:30 fireworks and couldn't get the same story twice from any CM. At first they came out and said that they were going to let us in to see the fireworks, but the 9:00 group would also still be there, and they didn't know how we would all fit. Then, they came back and said the first group is leaving, and we would be able to come in to see them. Well, we heard the fireworks start at 9:30, and the hostess came to seat the first group of 4. The rest of us were left stranded in line in the courtyard area where we could see nothing. Finally, another CM came to get us and asked us to stay in order so that we could all be seated on the balcony. They sat my DH and I on the left side where one of us would have been forced to sit right behind the iron railing. There was 1 empty seat left on the center front row, so we either had the choice to sit together where one of us couldn't see or to sit separately. We chose to sit separately, but it really put a damper on things as we were both very upset about how things had worked out. The hostess didn't seem to care at all!

After the fireworks ended, we decided we really wanted to see Fantasmic together since this was an anniversary celebration for us, so we squeezed 2 chairs over to the left side together. We then went to get some dessert and they had no forks! This was getting ridiculous at this point. We did enjoy the show, but we did sort of have to crane our necks in order to see around the railing. The hostess was clearing up things right around us and behind us during the show and it was extremely distracting. There were also bright lights on in the Gallery and somebody was standing inside taping and every time he moved around he cast a shadow that was also very distracting. As I've said, it was a very disappointing experience partly due to very high expectations from all that I'd heard.

We mentioned to the hostess that perhaps she shouldn't clean up like that during the show, but she didn't seem interested. I convinced my DH to stop by City Hall and let them know our comments because we left the show with a very bad feeling about things. The City Hall CM wrote down our comments and acted genuinely concerned. She went away (and I presume called someone at the Gallery) and came back and offered something to make it up to us. We stressed that we really wanted to help improve things for others in the future, but the fact that Disney did something to help make up for our disappointment helped. All in all, I would not recommend this balcony seating and will not be doing it again myself. If you're going to have to camp out so far ahead of time in the gallery, and even then possibly end up with sub-par seats, I'll pass. I don't know that I've ever seen anyone comment that they were less than thrilled with this, so it may have just been an off-night but wanted to share my comments.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I am personally torn about this too. It sounds great but in my mind the $41 should get me a good seat without an hour's wait. If i was willing to wait for an hour I could get decent seats for free..........yet it does sound like fun....... and so it goes.

 

[lucky1]

Is front row seating on the balcony now based upon when you show up at the gallery? In the past it was based upon when your reservation was made and you just had to show up 1/2 hour prior to seating and wait until your name was called.

 

[Judy from Boise]

yes, they changed the system.