FP or dining pkg seating better for ROL...

[Robo]

I'll take a look when I'm there next week.

Very cool.
Take some photos, too, if possible.
A bit wider shots will place things in perspective.

 

[CAS239]

Very cool.
Take some photos, too, if possible.
A bit wider shots will place things in perspective.

Will do...Even though I always get weird looks from the wife lol. "Why are you taking pictures of that?"..."Forum stuff, don't worry about it"

 

[maryj11]

Will do...Even though I always get weird looks from the wife lol. "Why are you taking pictures of that?"..."Forum stuff, don't worry about it"

Tell her it is for us Disney addicts !

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Keep checking the FP's incase you'd rather a FP over the dining package. We just booked a ROL FP for exactly 7 days out, so it's definitely doable if you keep an eye out

That is an excellent idea! If I can book a FP at 30 days out, I will cancel the dining package. I am just worried that there won't be FP left at 30 days for Easter Week.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Yes, that was the awesome map that I was thinking about, @Robo! Thanks!

Okay, now I'm all second guessing and such...There's still FPs for it on our day...do I ditch my 3rd FP for it, so that I can further reflect? I think my sisters want to do the Dining Package, but it's just Dinosaur, which I could probably get again if we decide to stick with the DP. It's a little tough to resist, what with it's later time and looking all new and shiny. Hmmmm...

 

[maryj11]

Yes, that was the awesome map that I was thinking about, @Robo! Thanks!

Okay, now I'm all second guessing and such...There's still FPs for it on our day...do I ditch my 3rd FP for it, so that I can further reflect? I think my sisters want to do the Dining Package, but it's just Dinosaur, which I could probably get again if we decide to stick with the DP. It's a little tough to resist, what with it's later time and looking all new and shiny. Hmmmm...

I know when we went this past June we went to Dinosaur later in the evening and it was about a 10 minute wait. I wonder if you can book both and then cancel one once you decide lol?

 

[CAS239]

Yes, that was the awesome map that I was thinking about, @Robo! Thanks!

Okay, now I'm all second guessing and such...There's still FPs for it on our day...do I ditch my 3rd FP for it, so that I can further reflect? I think my sisters want to do the Dining Package, but it's just Dinosaur, which I could probably get again if we decide to stick with the DP. It's a little tough to resist, what with it's later time and looking all new and shiny. Hmmmm...

If you're iffy I would cancel a FP and book ROL now before it's gone. If you change your mind you can always rebook Dinosaur closer to your trip.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I know when we went this past June we went to Dinosaur later in the evening and it was about a 10 minute wait. I wonder if you can book both and then cancel one once you decide lol?

We're really not that set on Dinosaur, it was more that we didn't want to tie up the FP all day, but part of me is thinking just flip the day and come later (right now we're doing morning than mid-day break), however no safari available at this point...hmmm...I'll see my sister tonight and we can bat it around, there's still FPs for both shows, which kinda surprises me, although we're still outside of 30 days...

 

[TheFloatingBear]

If you're iffy I would cancel a FP and book ROL now before it's gone. If you change your mind you can always rebook Dinosaur closer to your trip.

Maybe I will to be on the safe side and then can I figure it out with my sister tonight, change it back to Dinosaur if she wants to stick with DP...thanks! Seems like a lot of availability for Dinosaur, so we could always wait to see more reports of seating for a week or so as things get ironed out...thanks!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Okay, double booked for now pending discussion with the committee! Thanks for the advice!

 

[CAS239]

We're really not that set on Dinosaur, it was more that we didn't want to tie up the FP all day, but part of me is thinking just flip the day and come later (right now we're doing morning than mid-day break), however no safari available at this point...hmmm...I'll see my sister tonight and we can bat it around, there's still FPs for both shows, which kinda surprises me, although we're still outside of 30 days...

Are you going during a pretty busy time?

When we planned pretty much yesterday to go 7 days from that point for 1 day at Disney, wife looked and booked a FP for ROL. I went on late last night and looked and 7 days out there was still full range of times for everything. Usually safari goes rather quickly though. I was surprised to see so much available

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Are you going during a pretty busy time?

When we planned pretty much yesterday to go 7 days from that point for 1 day at Disney, wife looked and booked a FP for ROL. I went on late last night and looked and 7 days out there was still full range of times for everything. Usually safari goes rather quickly though. I was surprised to see so much available

Thanks for your comment, it made me look again...We're going the post-Easter week, so definitely busy, but it was my mistake. I haven't made/modified FPs since it's changed (when I did it last winter you picked three at a time, etc.), so it just said the safari and Kali were unavailable, but now I realize it was just because I already had FPs for them - d'oh! Maybe it always looked like that and I didn't notice, either way, when I just went to modify the safari FP, there was plenty of availability, so that's good! We can hash it out tonight - pros and cons to both... my first adult only trip so foot loose and fancy free! A last minute trip sounds awesome!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I've been checking every day for ROL packages in July. I wish they would open them up already! Does anyone know if either Star Wars Dessert Party or Disney After Hours will be extended? I've been checking for them every day also. Early Morning Magic finally opened last week so now I am down to checking on just 3 things but if they aren't going to extend them I am wasting my time. I'm thinking DAH won't make it to summer but it sounds so cool I'm hoping!

 

[maryj11]

I've been checking every day for ROL packages in July. I wish they would open them up already! Does anyone know if either Star Wars Dessert Party or Disney After Hours will be extended? I've been checking for them every day also. Early Morning Magic finally opened last week so now I am down to checking on just 3 things but if they aren't going to extend them I am wasting my time. I'm thinking DAH won't make it to summer but it sounds so cool I'm hoping!

The Rivers of Light dining packages should be coming out soon, I'm guessing the middle of this month. I'm waiting on August. Last year the Star Wars dessert party didnt open until 2 months before we left. I did email Disney about DAH and they just told me they did not know right now but keep checking back and check the Disney blog.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

We usually go to Tusker anyway so we are planning to get the dining package. We aren't going until November so I am curious to see what people like better by then, FP or dining package seating.

 

[NDFamily]

Will do...Even though I always get weird looks from the wife lol. "Why are you taking pictures of that?"..."Forum stuff, don't worry about it"

My husband does this. We have a solid 200 photos of just stuff from inside the Dream. I just nabbed a fp+ for Sunday's ROL but probably won't be uploading our photos until we get home.

 

[subtchr]

A couple of pics and info from this past Tuesday, Feb 28. One show, 7:15.

View of the seating areas from a Flame Tree BBQ patio as I enjoyed an early dinner about 5:00:

Untitled by Sue, on Flickr

People waiting for Standby seating at 5:15, taken from in front of the Nemo sign:

Untitled by Sue, on Flickr

CM manning the FP entrance "N" on Robo's map. I arrived at about 6:30, and they were still using Entrance "S". The CM said that once that area was full, they would transition to using "N".

Untitled by Sue, on Flickr

When I entered, sections "E" and "D" and most of "I", plus a portion of "H" were full. I first chose to sit in "H", but moved to the top of "C" when I noticed that viewing was better down there because the rows were sloped more, meaning no heads in the way. It just felt more open. It was a warm day, but the stone seating was not hot, just warm, and I thought it was just as comfortable as the wood. The view from my seat at 6:41:

Untitled by Sue, on Flickr

I adored the show. I am all about the music and the theme -- I thought it was brilliant. I felt I had a perfect view and will happily use FP again for the show. I have never been a big fan of the water screens at Fantasmic, but I think here they have integrated them so well into the show, it all flows beautifully.

 

[dalyes]

I was also there for the February 28th show. We did NOT have FP for the show and also did not do dining package so it was standby for us. We entered the theater an hour before the show. In the above photo, we were seated just right of the middle of the section across the lake, about half way to the bottom. The standby section filled up fairly fast.

Also, if you have a stroller, they park it near the dinosaur (and took ours from us to park). We were able to grab it on our way out of the area fairly easily.

 

[subtchr]

I will add that when designing this viewing area, Disney seems to have learned from the Fantasmic bottleneck exit experience. With multiple exit points from the seating areas and two completely different paths out of the area, it flows extremely well. I hustled a little but mostly went with the flow and easily made it to the Express Transportation checkin area near the safari in less than 10 minutes after the show ended.

 

[rcraw45425]

I will add that when designing this viewing area, Disney seems to have learned from the Fantasmic bottleneck exit experience. With multiple exit points from the seating areas and two completely different paths out of the area, it flows extremely well. I hustled a little but mostly went with the flow and easily made it to the Express Transportation checkin area near the safari in less than 10 minutes after the show ended.

Great news, thanks for sharing this info!