Mark Twain down - what about Fantasmic!

[GatorChris]

Just read that the Mark Twain will be down for my trip in November. Dangit! I was really hoping to hit this ride since we missed it on our last trip.

Here's the question of the post: What do they use in Fantasmic! when the Mark Twain is down? I know so many of you believe the MT makes the DL version of the show better than the WDW version, but do they have Steamboat Willie piloting the Columbia when the MT is down?

 

[figment_jii]

Unfortunately, when the Mark Twain is down, they have the characters appear on Tom Sawyer's Island at the end of the show. It does make the ending a bit underwhelming. I still think the Peter Pan/Columbia sequence is worth seeing. However because the Columbia is used in the Peter Pan sequence, it's all rigged up as a pirate vessel, so they can't use it for the finale.

DisneyGeek has some photos from a recent performance without the Mark Twain.
http://disneygeek.com/disneyland/pictures/2014/09/12/69

 

[GatorChris]

Wow. Those pictures.... really stink. Not because of who took them. Because the action they caught is kinda cheap. Because that means the big finale' will be a big stinking mess. I guarantee as soon as my kids see that ending, they'll be begging me to take them back to WDW to see the "good" Fantasmic.

 

[figment_jii]

I do think the finale without the Mark Twain is underwhelming, but for me it still wouldn't make DHS' version better. For me, DL's version has three main things that are better: Peter Pan (Columbia), Maleficent Dragon, and the Mark Twain. So, in this case, the Mark Twain is down, which is a significant loss, but the Columbia sequence is still running, as is the new(er) Maleficent Dragon. So overall, I still think DL's version is has better elements than the DHS version.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Wow. Those pictures.... really stink. Not because of who took them. Because the action they caught is kinda cheap. Because that means the big finale' will be a big stinking mess. I guarantee as soon as my kids see that ending, they'll be begging me to take them back to WDW to see the "good" Fantasmic.

It will be just fine. We saw F! last March when the Mark Twain was down and the characters waving from the island was much less underwhelming than we anticipated. It's not seeing the Mark Twain float by, but it didn't ruin the show by any means and it was very well executed. In fact, it was my partner's first time seeing the show and he was bawling at the end. It's one of my most magical Disneyland memories--it was the moment he had his "a-ha" moment and realized he wanted to be a DLR vet, too--and it happened without the Mark Twain. So there you go.