"Must See" entertainment?

OnePrincessMom

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Joined
Oct 10, 2009
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Out of the parades, fireworks, nighttime shows, which would you say is a must see? I am talking Fantasmic (only showing once during our trip), World of Color, Pixar Play Parade, Paint the Night, Disneyland Forever, Soundsational Parade...... we are aiming to do them all, but which should be the first priority? Planning to do them as early in the week as possible in case any are cancelled for weather. Thanks!!!!
 
If you plan on doing them all you are definitely covered. My priority in order would be Paint the Night, WofC, Fantasmic, Disneyland Forever, Soundsational Parade and lastly Pixar Parade. Obviously since Fantasmic is only showing once during your trip you have to adjust plus most of these events have two showing a day. Have fun.
 
I wonder if they might put on more Fantasmic shows, since I will be at Disneyland for 10 days, only 1 weekend but that only leaves Saturday night with no Halloween party (I'd hate to think the weather would turn bad, then i'd miss out) I plan to book the Blue Bayou package. I haven't seen the new shows but I have Paint the Night and DL Forever fireworks on my list for the first night, I can't wait to see them!
 
Fantasmic would be first on my list followed by Disneyland Forever, World of Color, then Pain the Night.
 

My vote is Disneyland Forever first - it's amazing. I would also prioritize the ones you haven't seen before -- I've seen Fantasmic so many times that it's not a priority any more, but it's still a great show.
 
I would say Disneyland Forever IF you can see it from a prime viewing spot in front of the castle. It truly is amazing if you can view the entire show. Then I would say Paint the Night, WOC and F!
 
I would say Disneyland Forever IF you can see it from a prime viewing spot in front of the castle. It truly is amazing if you can view the entire show. Then I would say Paint the Night, WOC and F!

We had good luck with our strategy - during the first Paint the Night (8:30) we hung out in the Main St shops - we shopped around, had a snack (a pickle from the cart) and enjoyed uncrowded stores. We could hear he parade and catch glimpses but that was all. Then as soon as the parade passed, the CMs dropped the ropes so everyone could move into the street for Disneyland Forever. We came out of the shop and walked right into the middle of Main St. We only had to stand there for 10 minutes until the 9:30 show, and our view was awesome. Then we went to Paint the Night later (10:45) -- we watched it from near Small World which was much less crowded. I don't know if you'll have 2 parades or not, but we had great views of both without standing around for hours.
 
World of Color - simply because WDW has nothing else like it. My DH preferred Wishes to DL Forever. We all loved PTN :)

F! at DL had some awesome scenes (Peter Pan and the dragon were amazing!) - but I prefer F! at WDW simply because of the more comfortable seating. Then again, we watched on a really hot, humid night so it was unpleasant waiting for the show squished amongst so many other ppl. I was thankful we ended up in a seating section.
 
I really love World of Color because it's very unique and they do not have it at WDW, and its very pretty. I would put soundsational and pixar play parade last on the list, I mean those parades are cute but I'm not exactly wowed by them.

I haven't seen Paint the Night yet, but I've heard really good things about it and I've seen clips of it. I think its a must see, and I plan on seeing it sometime soon I hope.

I love Fantasmic, and I personally think its 10x better than WDW's version, there really isn't any kind of seating unless you get the Dining Package [from what i saw the FP people were standing], I found it to be so much more entertaining too. I watched the fireworks from here as well, and I have a goal now to see it from Main Street, because it was very awesome from where I was sitting after Fantasmic.
 
I'm pretty sure Fantasmic! also shows on a Sunday night during off season, so you should have two nights where you can see it. Luckily for you (and us) Paint the Night and fireworks are showing nightly through September and October. Pixar Parade would be my least favourite of the ones you have listed, we saw it by chance on our first visit but didn't bother last year.
 
Good point about WOC being unique. I have seen Wishes many times too and personally think DLForever beats it out. Of course I've never seen bad fireworks at any Disney park, but DLF has the immersive piece plus the Walt factor. Love.
 
Fantasmic at Disneyland is AMAZING! Way better than the WDW version. That would definitely be my first choice (just make sure you get a fast pass first thing so you have good seating). Then Paint the Night, Fireworks, World of Color, Mickey & the Magical Map, Soundsational Parade, and Pixar Parade. Make sure you are in front of castle during fireworks to get full effect and projections on castle.
 
I would put Fantasmic first, especially if it's only showing once for your trip. After that World of Color, Paint the Night and Fireworks. I didn't love the Pixar Parade, mostly because many of the floats shot water at the crowds and I ended up soaked!! (I'm not really fond of getting wet, but the parade itself was ok)
 
We were there last week and I would say Paint the Night would be my top priority. It is the best Disney parade we have ever seen. Even DD and DH absolutely loved it and they aren't huge parade fans. If the times you are there they have 2 showings, and if you can stay in the parks that late, the 2nd parade is much easier to get a spot for with the least amount of hassle and wait time. I prefer the old WOC to the new version, but DD adored the new version. If you have never seen WOC before, you might absolutely fall in love with the new version. There is nothing like that at WDW (although I suspect there may be soon in AK). Fantasmic at DL is far superior to WDW's version. We did the dining package. For us, the fact that we can sit on the ground makes the dining package the way to go because the other FP areas are standing during the show and for DD and I, that would pretty much mean unless we are at the very front we are seeing someone's back or head instead of the show. If you do the dining package, you can stay seated in the area and watch the fireworks. The new fireworks show is very impressive. We loved the view and effects from the dining package area. We tried to watch it from Main Street another night, but the fireworks were cancelled that night- I think I might prefer watching them from the sitting not quite packed like sardines Fantasmic area, than the absolutely packed like sardines having people push against you, Main Street area.

The daytime parades are both great too, and if you can catch them, that would be great. They are pretty typical Disney afternoon parades, so I would put the nighttime entertainment above them. The Pixar Play parade currently has a pre parade Inside Out float come by 15 minutes before the parade, and that was fun to see.
 
My priority order would be:

Paint the Nite (absolutely must see)
Fantasmic!
World of Color
Fireworks
Soundsational
Pixar Play Parade

I didn't find the new fireworks show as amazing as some, but it is still a really great show. The two daytime parades aren't all that memorable, to be honest. I would not worry about missing them. Paint the Nite is amazing and the time spent sitting and waiting in our front row spot was SO worth it.

I should also mention that your enjoyment of WOC will depend a lot on where you are standing for the show. I have had poor spots where I could barely see anything over those in front of me, and it made the show pretty boring and frustrating. I have also had spots right up against a rail and the show was totally amazing. It makes a huge difference, so show up early. There are mixed reviews for the WOC dining packages, since sometimes you still get a crappy spot even though you paid all that extra money, but both times I have done it I showed up to the show about an hour and 15 minutes before it was to start (which is about one hour before the return time printed on your ticket), waited in a small line for a few minutes, and then basically had my pick of the spot I wanted. However you can also try to do this with a regular FP, there are just more people to contend with.
 
We were there last week and I would say Paint the Night would be my top priority. It is the best Disney parade we have ever seen. Even DD and DH absolutely loved it and they aren't huge parade fans. If the times you are there they have 2 showings, and if you can stay in the parks that late, the 2nd parade is much easier to get a spot for with the least amount of hassle and wait time. I prefer the old WOC to the new version, but DD adored the new version. If you have never seen WOC before, you might absolutely fall in love with the new version. There is nothing like that at WDW (although I suspect there may be soon in AK). Fantasmic at DL is far superior to WDW's version. We did the dining package. For us, the fact that we can sit on the ground makes the dining package the way to go because the other FP areas are standing during the show and for DD and I, that would pretty much mean unless we are at the very front we are seeing someone's back or head instead of the show. If you do the dining package, you can stay seated in the area and watch the fireworks. The new fireworks show is very impressive. We loved the view and effects from the dining package area. We tried to watch it from Main Street another night, but the fireworks were cancelled that night- I think I might prefer watching them from the sitting not quite packed like sardines Fantasmic area, than the absolutely packed like sardines having people push against you, Main Street area.

The daytime parades are both great too, and if you can catch them, that would be great. They are pretty typical Disney afternoon parades, so I would put the nighttime entertainment above them. The Pixar Play parade currently has a pre parade Inside Out float come by 15 minutes before the parade, and that was fun to see.

We held yellow FPs for Fantasmic and we had a seated area right next to the reserved dining area. I appreciated being able to sit and not forced to stand.

My priority order would be:

I should also mention that your enjoyment of WOC will depend a lot on where you are standing for the show. I have had poor spots where I could barely see anything over those in front of me, and it made the show pretty boring and frustrating. I have also had spots right up against a rail and the show was totally amazing. It makes a huge difference, so show up early. There are mixed reviews for the WOC dining packages, since sometimes you still get a crappy spot even though you paid all that extra money, but both times I have done it I showed up to the show about an hour and 15 minutes before it was to start (which is about one hour before the return time printed on your ticket), waited in a small line for a few minutes, and then basically had my pick of the spot I wanted. However you can also try to do this with a regular FP, there are just more people to contend with.

I would mention that for WOC, it isn't really obvious where the best viewing locations are when you get in. Everyone rushes in to the centre section and it looks like you have a great view while everyone is sitting down. But when they have to stand up (a looonnnggg time before the show), you realise how many people are obstructing your view. My family chose to spot (as I was getting them some frozen lemonade). I had told them to choose the bridge but they didn't realise where that was so staked out spots in the centre directly behind the reserved dining area.

I was pretty concerned when people stood up as there were adults on the top stair right in front of us. Thankfully, as she show started people shifted around a little bit and we were able to see very well. We ended up being happy with our view (although I think a railing spot would have been better). This was our second night watching WOC and being slightly further back meant we were able to take in much more of the show's effects. We had gotten in line before 6:30pm for the first show so put in a lot of time to wait. Our first night, we had again sat in the centre, this time on the steps directly in front of the reserved dining area. It was second show on the 60th anniversary and since EVERYONE was at DL, WOC was pretty empty. The CM mentioned that we should stand, then said it didn't matter and we could do what we wanted since it was so uncrowded. It was nice to sit on steps to watch the show :)
 


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