Fantasmic Thread!

[ShoeCello]

Let me see if I can try to explain. Maybe @katyringo can get some images of it tonight.

If you look at a map, you'll see that Disneyland is set up like spokes on a wheel. The center is the Partners' Statue (Walt and Mickey) and the lands jet off from there.

Below are two images. Fantasmic is on Rivers of America. You will sit where the red X is. The red line shows how you'll exit through Adventureland. When you get out of Adventureland, you can go in whatever direction you want. The masses will be exiting the park, however, many stay to go on rides until park closing. If that is the case, stay to your left when you exit Adventureland. When you get to the hub (circle around the statue), you can go in whatever direction you want.

On Main Street, there will be cast members with red hand held lights which will direct you towards Main Street. The white hand held lights (at least last night) directed you towards the walkway behind the stores. This was not intuitive. They just kept shouting and telling people to move. Really, they should have been explaining what the red, white and green handheld lights meant.

The walkways behind the stores are on both sides of Main Street. They use them in situations like this and to move people up and down Main Street during parades. Even if you end up in one of the walkways behind the stores, you will not be end up outside of the park. You will be just outside City Hall. To get back in the park you'll either have to swim up stream or take the train to ToonTown Station.

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this is a great write-up! It was absolutely slammed last night (by far the most impacted I’ve ever seen ROA) so be ready for lots of one way traffic only leaving ROA after both shows, funneling you out to Adventureland or Frontierland (depending on where you are coming from in ROA). The construction by HM has made things even more crowded and CMs were utilizing some new spaces as walkways that I haven’t seen before in previous F! showings (eg, setting up one way walkways closer to shops behind RBT seating).

If you’re in the second showing of F!, they don’t usher people out so many groups were waiting by the ROA for the insane crowds to pass through. If you don’t have a dining package be ready to be standing shoulder to shoulder (and I mean shoulder to shoulder) with everyone and potentially be bumped a little. The crowd for the 10:30 show started moving in immediately after the first show ended last night, adding to the chaos. Will be curious from those who go this weekend and upcoming week. Hopefully things calm down soon!

 

[LKing]

Food pics from brunch at River Belle.

Pot Pie Soup - Everyone in our party thought this was quite good.




Salad - Not great but good if you want vegetables. Bagged lettuce, stale croutons, canned pimentos, fresh avocado, cucumbers, and tomatoes.



Loaded House Fries



Big Belle Sandwich - This is doused with Franks Red Hot sauce. It is a very strong (spicy) flavor. If I were to order it again, I would order the sauce on the side.



Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich - This sandwich was quite bland and lacked flavor.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

It was Twitter posts...

just ask Danny has pics of the rancho package..

I will ask! I am also going to see if they would honor a request for a switch to second show..

Thank you, I’ll check it out!

 

[LKing]

Dessert This was the big conversation piece while we waited in the queue for seating. Everyone was comparing meals and no one liked the RB desserts.

Cherry Cobbler -Canned cherry compote with granola sprinkles and ice cream on top. There was no crust. The description says it is good for milk allergies, but it has ice cream on top.






No crust - just a bowl of overly sweet cherry compote. It would have been better if it were apple.



A young child at another table didn't eat her pudding dessert. I took a picture to give you an idea of size.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Dessert This was the big conversation piece while we waited in the queue for seating. Everyone was comparing meals and no one liked the RB desserts.

Honestly, the disappointing desserts are the kicker for me ... I don't love River Belle in the first place but a really good dessert might have pushed me to eat there. It's especially disappointing when you compare it to the old RBT Fantastic dessert and backup dessert options (chocolate pudding and monkey bread). The pictures are from our Fantastic dining package in 2022.

 

[LKing]

Honestly, the disappointing desserts are the kicker for me ... I don't love River Belle in the first place but a really good dessert might have pushed me to eat there. It's especially disappointing when you compare it to the old RBT Fantastic dessert and backup dessert options (chocolate pudding and monkey bread). The pictures are from our Fantastic dining package in 2022.

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Those look great!

Apparently the Blue Bayou chocolate dessert was really good. I've seen some critical reviews of the BB dinner, but the people in line around me seemed to like it.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Those look great!

Apparently the Blue Bayou chocolate dessert was really good. I've seen some critical reviews of the BB dinner, but the people in line around me seemed to like it.

At this point I will either keep my RDZ dining package and buy my son a separate meal (he won't eat the Rancho offerings) or splurge on BB if I can snag a reservation! We're going Thursday so fingers crossed!!

 

[joerohdesearring]

this is a great write-up! It was absolutely slammed last night (by far the most impacted I’ve ever seen ROA) so be ready for lots of one way traffic only leaving ROA after both shows, funneling you out to Adventureland or Frontierland (depending on where you are coming from in ROA). The construction by HM has made things even more crowded and CMs were utilizing some new spaces as walkways that I haven’t seen before in previous F! showings (eg, setting up one way walkways closer to shops behind RBT seating).

If you’re in the second showing of F!, they don’t usher people out so many groups were waiting by the ROA for the insane crowds to pass through. If you don’t have a dining package be ready to be standing shoulder to shoulder (and I mean shoulder to shoulder) with everyone and potentially be bumped a little. The crowd for the 10:30 show started moving in immediately after the first show ended last night, adding to the chaos. Will be curious from those who go this weekend and upcoming week. Hopefully things calm down soon!

I go next week and I'm so worried trying to navigate the crowds in an ECV! Was going to try to see fireworks in GE then head over to the dining package area. Hope I can even get through :/

 

[irlandaise]

People there during the day.....was it not crowded?

Because the lines to get into parking around 5 PM is insane....and unless they let in more people just not sure ho this night seemed to busy....yet capacity in theory hasn't changed

The number of park reservations should have been the same as usual, but probably a lot more people waited to go to DL until late afternoon yesterday because their focus was on Fantasmic?

 

[LKing]

Crowds:

The Pirates queue filled this area until around around 6 pm. I'm not sure when they opened it for Fantasmic viewers, but as soon as they did, it filled up immediately.





Blue Bayou section - Approximately 8:20 pm



Stand by area



Harbour Galley area was used for guests with special needs. If you sit, there and don't have special needs, they will ask you to leave.



Blue Bayou area around 8:45 pm



River Belle seating with River Belle restaurant in the background (for reference for premium seats)



Zoomed in image of where premium seating is located

 

[dizneedoll]

Thank you to everyone posting info and pics. Its been ages since Ive seen the show and since I will be going solo I was getting very nervous about the crowding but being able to see pics and visualize how it will go helps me a lot to prepare myself.
One other question…is it possible to exit towards Hungry Bear and go thru SGE? Will the CM even let anyone go that way or if so, would it be too much like a salmon trying to head up stream? I will be sitting in the RB section (not premium).

 

[LKing]

Thank you to everyone posting info and pics. Its been ages since Ive seen the show and since I will be going solo I was getting very nervous about the crowding but being able to see pics and visualize how it will go helps me a lot to prepare myself.
One other question…is it possible to exit towards Hungry Bear and go thru SGE? Will the CM even let anyone go that way or if so, would it be too much like a salmon trying to head up stream? I will be sitting in the RB section (not premium).

Yes, you can head towards Galaxy's Edge. From RB seating, it will be like swimming up stream until you get to around Harbour Galley. After that you should be okay.

Remember, people watch fireworks from Galaxy's Edge, so that area can get quite crowded in the evening as well. Rise is closed in the evening so the only ride open in that area is Smuggler's Run.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Thanks to everyone who posted about the new show, seating areas, and meals!

A couple of questions after reading all this --

* Just confirming that if you do a dining package, you are dining at a table at the restaurant, not being given a "to go." Is that right? Some of the reservation times for the first show looked kind of late to be able to do that if the service was at all slow. I understand that you leave to see the show (with the exception of RBT premium).

* What is the seating for those who are in a wheelchair or ECV and have a dining package? Seems like in the past, it was in the assigned section at the back, but I didn't see any guests in ECVs/wheelchairs on the pictures that were posted other than the disability section that was *not* dining package guests. Did anyone see guests in ECVs in the reserved sections?

* Someone said something about being surprised standby guests didn't join the virtual queue. Are they doing Virtual Queue? I saw elsewhere that they weren't. If so, where is that section as it compares to standby and dining packages? And is that section required to sit or required to stand?

 

[irlandaise]

Remember, people watch fireworks from Galaxy's Edge, so that area can get quite crowded in the evening as well. Rise is closed in the evening so the only ride open in that area is Smuggler's Run.

Rise of the Resistance is not open at night??

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Rise of the Resistance is not open at night??

It closes before park close. The hours are listed in the app.

 

[Pluto468]

Honestly, the disappointing desserts are the kicker for me ... I don't love River Belle in the first place but a really good dessert might have pushed me to eat there. It's especially disappointing when you compare it to the old RBT Fantastic dessert and backup dessert options (chocolate pudding and monkey bread). The pictures are from our Fantastic dining package in 2022.

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The desserts used to be so much better at RBT. My favorite was the Fantasmic dragon one a number of years ago. My kids loved the chocolate orb you posted!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Rise of the Resistance is not open at night??

It closes early, I think at 10 when the rest of the park closes later. I read something about needing extra time to prepare for the next day.

 

[irlandaise]

I just watched a YouTube video of the whole show and it's great to have Fantasmic back. Wow, when the spotlight hits Mickey at the wheel of the Mark Twain...Wish I'd been there!

I noticed that they've re-recorded the vocals. I only saw v2.0 once so I don't recall--are these audio tracks new, or are they from the pre-fire version? They're definitely different from the original version.

I just listened to my soundtrack of the original version of Fantasmic. (Surround sound system, volume all the way up. ) I don't think I'm being an old fogey when I say that I find the original "Jungle Book" segment stronger than the current "Lion King" segment. Those drums were so good! I never even saw "The Jungle Book" in theaters, so that isn't affecting my opinion. I get that "The Lion King" is immensely popular, but that segment seems very meh to me.

 

[LKing]

* Just confirming that if you do a dining package, you are dining at a table at the restaurant, not being given a "to go." Is that right? Some of the reservation times for the first show looked kind of late to be able to do that if the service was at all slow. I understand that you leave to see the show (with the exception of RBT premium).

For River Belle and Blue Bayou - yes, you are seated at a table. I believe Zocalo is also at a table, although you go through the self serve line to get the food and you choose your own table.

* What is the seating for those who are in a wheelchair or ECV and have a dining package? Seems like in the past, it was in the assigned section at the back, but I didn't see any guests in ECVs/wheelchairs on the pictures that were posted other than the disability section that was *not* dining package guests. Did anyone see guests in ECVs in the reserved sections?

Yes, you are at the back of the roped off area for that section. It is a slight incline so your view should be great for Fantasmic. I'm not sure that you will be able to see much after people stand for fireworks.

* Are they doing Virtual Queue? If so, where is that section as it compares to standby and dining packages? And is that section required to sit or required to stand?

I have no idea. I didn't hear anything about a virtual queue. Honestly, if you didn't have a dining package, it seemed like a free for all.

Again, last night was the first night and they were obviously not prepared for how to handle the crowds. I expect it to improve in the upcoming days/weeks.

 

[irlandaise]

Rise of the Resistance is not open at night??

It closes early, I think at 10 when the rest of the park closes later. I read something about needing extra time to prepare for the next day.

Oh, okay, 10:00 isn't bad. The "evening" remark had me worried.