Helicopters at Fantasmic

[DisneyTracey]

At the May 20th Fantasmic, the show started out fine but took a turn for me and others when three helicopters started circling around the theater and hovering over the seating area. At times it was barely possible to hear the show itself over the noise of the helicopters. At one point about halfway through the show the helicopters left and we were able to enjoy the rest of the show. I was very disturbed by this whole thing and I was wondering if anyone else had ever experienced this. At times of such great amounts of security, I found it odd that Disney would allow these helicopters so close to the seating area, whatever their purpose.

 

[zcomic]

That's really interesting since I'd just read that the Feds have recently declared WDW 'restricted air space'. Either the helos were from Disney or there was a MAJOR violation that night.

 

[BethR]

I may be wrong (oftentimes I am ), but I think that WDW always HAS had restricted air space.

I thought that I remember this discussion on this board after 9-11.

Or maybe not.

 

[Eljay]

Originally posted by DisneyTracey
At the May 20th Fantasmic, the show started out fine but took a turn for me and others when three helicopters started circling around the theater and hovering over the seating area. At times it was barely possible to hear the show itself over the noise of the helicopters. At one point about halfway through the show the helicopters left and we were able to enjoy the rest of the show. I was very disturbed by this whole thing and I was wondering if anyone else had ever experienced this. At times of such great amounts of security, I found it odd that Disney would allow these helicopters so close to the seating area, whatever their purpose.

Yikes! That's spooky, I might have been tempted to leave!

 

[BrianD]

How close were they? Is it possible that they were Disney helicopters maybe doing some promotional filming of Fantasmic???

 

[DisneyTracey]

As we were leaving the theater, we overheard a cast member who was 'directing traffic' that he heard that the helicopters were security for Michael Jackson who he said was at the show. I don't know how realistic that sounds. If true, though, that makes me wonder what would happen if this security found a problem...

 

[scarlett873]

michael jackson couldn't have been there that night...he was here in indy!! he had some deposition that he was to give yesterday and he arrived in indy on the 20th. the news showed him downtown at one of our malls...

that's odd though...my first thought was promotional filming or something...hope that's all it was!!

 

[PammyK]

Well...
I know Michael Jackson was visiting the parks this week - a CM I am acquainted with saw him at Downtown Disney earlier in the week. So maybe he did have something to do with it.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I talked to a CM yesterday and he said MJ was in MK on monday (just to confirm that he was in orlando) ......and he didn't come in my restaurant! YEESH! haha

 

[laceemouse]

I would be mad if Disney ruined my enjoyment of a show just to shoot some promotiomal junk, equally mad if security for MJ bugged me! In either case I feel they should have told people what was going on. I would have been concerned too!!! We love that show!!

 

[DebbieB]

I was at WDW last week and noticed helicopters flying over frequently. I thought maybe they were police helicopters doing patrol. Wonder why 3 at one time? Sounds dangerous.

 

[Memph1s]

There is a federally mandated no fly zone over Disney theme parks. No aircraft is supposed to be under 3000 feet and within 3 miles of the parks.

This offers very little protection from small aircraft and no protection against a 9/11 type attack. At 500 mph a jet travels 8.33 miles per minute so I have no idea what Disney or anyone else could do in the 22 seconds it would take to travel the 3 miles. Even from 40,000 feet up it would take less than 1 minute.

Disney has been pushing for this kind of restriction for years but not to battle terrorism but to keep competitors from luring away their guest with flying banners that might prompt resort guest to go into town and spend money that Disney wants them to spend at the resorts.

What happened sounds like a violation no matter who it was or what the purpose. However, I think this rule has been violated every time I have been to the parks in the last few months.

 

[princess kerri]

Very strange Unfortunatley I can't help but its quite freaky since on Monday evening here in London, quite late...we had 4 army looking helicopters fly very low..You know the loud one's that seem to vibrate the whole ground. And they hovered around the buildings for a few mins before leaving but never saw search lights.
Maybe there's some security stuff going on everywhere at the moment and testing things? V.annoying to come in the middle of Fantasmic though!! And also with those restrictions doesn't really sound right..

 

[apennel]

I just returned home also.

I have two comments on this topic:

1. I was at the Fantasmic show on Tuesday night also. The helicopters were very distracting and even a little concerning given the higher terrorism level. I got the impression they might be tourist helicopters since it looked like they were passing back and forth between Fantasmic and Illuminations at Epcot.

2. Michael Jackson - we actually saw him at Benihana restaurant at the Hilton Sunday night around 9pm. He came in with his large group, four of whom were in full Spiderman costumes (it looked like two of the Spidermen were his children). They came in pretty quietly, and I don't think we would have even noticed them without the Spiderman stuff.

BTW, I've been a lurker on this board for quite a while in preparation for our trip. Thanks so much for the wonderful information!

 

[Horizons16]

thats interesting... if it was a no fly zone and it was being patrolled... wouldnt they scramble some jets....

 

[DebbieB]

I think they had to be there with permission, I don't think someone could do something like that illegally without it making the news and attracting quite a bit of attention.

 

[DisneyTracey]

I agree that the helicopters must have been approved by Disney simply because they were so close and there were so many of them. I did notice that they seemed to also fly towards Illuminations (in fact it seemed like they left around the time that Illuminations would have ended). I was upset at the time that they interfered with the show but at least they weren't there the whole time. We were happy that we got the chance to see Fantasmic since we had planned to earlier in our trip but we kept getting rained out and heading out of the park instead of taking a chance on the rain. I'm glad we didn't have any Michael Jackson sightings. I think seeing his family dressed in full Spiderman costumes would have freaked me out even more than the helicopters did!

 

[scarlett873]

Originally posted by DisneyTracey
I'm glad we didn't have any Michael Jackson sightings. I think seeing his family dressed in full Spiderman costumes would have freaked me out even more than the helicopters did!

lol!! i roast to death wearing just shorts and a t-shirt...i couldn't imagine what it would be like to be covered from head to toe in the sweltering florida heat...

MJ must've come from there right to Indy...

 

[JoNo]

When we went on the 7th or 8th (can't remember exactly which night) there were 3 heli's flying around as well... They wern't as close as you described, but their presence was known by almost everyone

 

[daannzzz]

The week of May 10-18 I was on Disney property and there was a red helicopter that flew over the property numerous times daily. I was under the impression that Disney airspace was restricted but apparently not for the red helicopter.