Interesting Fantasmic rumor

[Dr. M]

Well, I was lurking on a board for CMs and came across this

Re: Fantasmic, How is it going? With fewer shows. Crowd control?
Well i was speaking with a Show Manager for F! and they said that Sept is going to be the definning moment for the show....
Show managment had to decide to either...
1: Close the show and only open it as a Seasonal Show
or
2: Open it back to full time, do an over haul on key show pieces
The reasoning behind this is mainly that the show costs are apx. 88k per show.
They have to pay out premiums <sp?> such as:
1: Noise
2: Pyro
3: Stunt
4: Face
With char. like John Smith who get paid the most... show ops cant "afford" all this...
Please take all that is said as being conjectual and possably not true... but I report to you what ever anyone tells me... truth or other wise.... Just like CNN... =-P

 

[Debbie-TN]

As far as I'm concerned they could take out that whole Pocahontas scene. What an odd scene to have in the show. It doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story.

 

[ilovejsparrow]

As far as I'm concerned they could take out that whole Pocahontas scene. What an odd scene to have in the show. It doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story.

Agreed! It's so random. Personally, I would like to see it slightly downsized and a year-round show.

 

[maj42169]

As far as I'm concerned, they could revamp the entire show.........I don't even make plans to see it anymore.

 

[Dr. M]

I hope they don't make it seasonal--That means closed in Sept. when I'll be there.

 

[AJKMOM]

My least favorite show but I hope they don't do away with it, just revamp it to save money. It keeps the crowds away from my favorite rides at show time.

 

[jayandstacey]

Yeah, gotta admit - I didn't really follow the storyline and left wondering why. $88K makes me wonder a bit more...

If it were me, I'd use the existing stage and make a number of smaller shows that cost MUCH less to produce. Rely on the story, not the effects. Some ideas:

Maybe a water based show, a fire based show and a simple very little kids show.

Then run the normal schedule but rotate the shows. So maybe
Thurs: water show
Fri: kids and fire show
Sat: water and fire show
Sun: kids show

Like that. Over time, if attendance and reviews don't like one of the shows, it can be axed or replaced but the others are ready to fill the gap.

It might not be as exciting as Fantasmic, but Disney knows as well as anyone that a solid story can hold people as well as effects can.

 

[carmiedog]

any relationship between your user name and the user name of the CM who posted that info? pretty weird if it's coincidence! Didn't know if you'd noticed that or not.

 

[wilde_oscar]

revamping shows like that is not a small or cheap endeavor. and is time consuming. It is the most expensive night time spectacular, but yeah it does need a refresh. What makes it special for me is all the characters on the boat at the end, I find that amazing to see. That is also what makes it expensive.

it has been enough years, they could shut it down and do an overhaul to something with less people in it and make it work

 

[carmiedog]

...What makes it special for me is all the characters on the boat at the end, I find that amazing to see. That is also what makes it expensive.

the character boat is our favorite part of the show

 

[KimDis]

That would officially make the studios a 1/2 day park for me... just like AKL. Which means less opportunities for Disney to get my dining money as I wouldn't book the dinner package and I wouldn't linger and give them a chance to get more of my retails dollars (which is a shame since I like the merchandise in the studios). I'd also probably book shorter trips to WDW in the off season if they reduced F! showings.

 

[gk90]

Thanks for the info OP! I agree that F! could do with a revamp--it's a great show but the plot doesn't really flow well and it seems to go on a bit too long. I've seen a number of posters say that while F! at WDW is great, it's not as good as the version at DL and have always wondered--is the plot of the DL show different, or are there other features that are better?

 

[Dr. M]

any relationship between your user name and the user name of the CM who posted that info? pretty weird if it's coincidence! Didn't know if you'd noticed that or not.

Didn't notice the cm's user name. No relation--just funny coincidence.

 

[Planogirl]

the character boat is our favorite part of the show

Ours too. It's fun to see the many characters together like that.

I do like the Pocahontas portion even if it doesn't seem to make sense. It's pretty.

 

[princessjane]

After seeing it three times. I'm not interested in seeing it again.We will be skipping it this time around. I agree, the Pocahontas thing is out of place. I would like to see something completely different.

 

[DOOM1001]

Revamp it,change it,modify it,do whatever you want but please don't add more of those water curtains with the projections on them.The show is like 35 minutes and it feels like there's 20 minutes of the water curtains.Fantasmic has never been a must do for me like Illuminations and Wishes or even Spectromagic so a change would be fine with me,but also this is Disney DO NOT make this huge theater a seasonal attraction,people don't come out to Disney to have nighttime shows not showing when they're there.

 

[Brer Chump]

Revamp it,change it,modify it,do whatever you want but please don't add more of those water curtains with the projections on them.The show is like 35 minutes and it feels like there's 20 minutes of the water curtains.Fantasmic has never been a must do for me like Illuminations and Wishes or even Spectromagic so a change would be fine with me,but also this is Disney DO NOT make this huge theater a seasonal attraction,people don't come out to Disney to have nighttime shows not showing when they're there.

Exactly! I really think F! is over-rated because it is mostly animation on a water curtain, which makes it very grainy.

I say revamp the show completely and remove the sprinklers or remove the stadium completely and put in a theater like in DLR where they show live action Aladdin show which is excellent.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I saw it back in the 90s at Disneyland and that it was great. It was really cool how part of the park (Tom Sawyer Island) was transformed into this huge show.

I saw the Disney Studios version earlier this year and was less impressed. I don't remember the details well enough to compare the two shows but the fact that the Studios version was in it's own special theater area took a some of the fun away from me.

It's not a 'must do' or anything. I'm not normally at the Studios at night as I've usually kind of run out of stuff to do there by then.

As far as Spectromagic. I've seen that parade once. It's not a must-do, either (or even a 'do' after that one time). The music is Disney-generic to me. I really liked the old Main St Electrical Parade and the music there seemed a lot more fun (Baroque Ho Down by Don Dorsey if anyone wants to look it up - I'm pretty sure that's right).

 

[Disneycrazy!!]

I agree with others...the whole Pochantas thing doesn't flow with the rest of the show. I think the show is a little to long, by the end of it, my back and butt is hurting sitting on the bleachers and I am ready to get to a bus, and get back to the hotel room.

 

[lagunn]

the character boat is our favorite part of the show

This was not there last Sept instead of the boat all the characters were standing on the island..
Shame because this was my favourite part of the show.