It’s Fantasmic. With the dinner package, you should arrive at least 45-30 minutes ahead of showtime to select your seats in the central dinner package seating area.
Agreed.
The CMs open the theater an hour or more before show-time.
Guests at that time will simply walk slowly through the very long pathways to the theater and file in to find a seat.
As to when to arrive at the theater, I'd get to there 45+ minutes before the show-time.
Even WITH having a FP or Dining Pkg. reservation, don't wait too late.
On
busy nights, the CMs can stop holding the reserved sections within 20-30 minutes before show-time, and turn over any available seats to waiting walk-in guests.
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Map Below-
Arrows indicate the center of the seating.
Shaded areas:
(First or Only F! performance of the evening)
Cyan= Standby (walk-in) seating
Red= Dining Package Reserved
Blue= FP+ Reserved
Purple= Can be either FP+ or Dining Plan Reserved, depending on needs.
(Second or Third F! performance of the evening)
Cyan= Standby (walk-in) seating
Red, Purple, Blue= FP+ Reserved
(Although much of the outer Blue will likely be used for Standby.)