Illuminations and Fast Pass

[disnut8]

What's getting lost in all of this "There are better uses of a FP" discussion, is that choosing the FP viewing area for IllumiNations can put you among (and/or behind) a larger CROWD than if you just pick another spot on your own.

Nearly ANY spot.

Very true. When we've been to Epcot on busy days (like on Thanksgiving Day), just about the entire front area of World Showcase (where the FastPass section is), was taped off so the people who were already staking out their places for Illuminations (over two hours before the start of the show), could sit/stand. If you didn't fit into those taped off areas, you couldn't remain there, you had to keep moving. We walked through that area an hour and a half before the show started and there were no more spaces for Illuminations viewing. We went and did a few more things and then, about 8:30 (the show started at 9:00), we walked back to Germany, easily found a space for the two of us, hit the bathrooms, grabbed a beer, and enjoyed the show. After, we just slowly walked towards the front, did a bathroom break in Norway (there were two other ladies in the restroom), then slowly walked to the exit. We were at Pop Century and the line for the bus was way long and we knew we wouldn't get on the one that was loading. We waited ten more minutes for the next one and were taken back to the resort. We were back in our room by 10:30.