*new* fantasmic updates

[wdi2b]

7/7 i just saw the new fantasmic. if ur going to disneyland some time soon this is still a must see attraction. the updates are as follows:

- the new projectors: i have no clue if they switched them out or not because i couldn't tell the difference. the projection looked exactly the same.

- new characters: flotsam and jetsam from the little mermaid. and also
tick-tock from peter pan looks awesome. the two eels re new boats during ursula's song, and the crocodile is now it's own free-running boat. tick-tock's eyes are new and his hands and his head have gotten a little more movement.

- the new dragon: here's the news on the dragon. this was the big update that most of us were waiting for. there is supposed to be a new dragon. i have not seen it yet. i'll explain more in the recent updates.

recent updates:

- Mark Twain: during both shows the mark twain was not running. the crew did not have an alternate for the situation so there were no characters who came out for the finale during the first show. after thaat little mis-hap the disney team improvised wonderfully for the next show by bringing mostly all the characters to the stage instead.

- Eels: during the second show the eels did not run at all. i ddon't know if it was technical. or if it was getting around the mark twain. but if one has technical problems, then they both probably won't come out.

- The big news: the new dragon had oustanding rehearsal runs until a week before when the dragon broke down. if you ask some cm's they'll tell you that it has run to hibernation. the dragon is expected back mid-july.

any fantasmic hopefulls, beware there were a couple of things wrong. if u don't like the view from the front. go chill by the canoes starting at 5 minutes before show time ad chill with the monkeys, pirates, and princesses that load and unload there. it will give you a new take on fantasmic. and if your lucky. stay after the 10:30 show and watch how the crew brings the firewwork barges down, you'll most likely be suprised, i was.

have a good show.

 

[LuLusApple]

I saw it a couple weeks ago and I wasn't impressed. I'll wait for the official news from Disney that the dragon has arrived before I see it again.
I saw it one time over by the rafts for Tom Sawyer Island and didn't like that the princess floats only lit up when they were center stage. Everything else is visable from many vantage points, that seemed like they could of lit them up succesfully all around the stage.
It used to be my favorite show at DL, I hope it can get it's "magic" back.
The eels were ehh ok; but I liked the giant ursula better. IMO its just not up to snuff right now.

 

[Eeee-va]

I saw it one time over by the rafts for Tom Sawyer Island and didn't like that the princess floats only lit up when they were center stage. Everything else is visable from many vantage points, that seemed like they could of lit them up succesfully all around the stage.

That's actually the only thing I didn't like about the "new" Fantasmic (the last time I'd seen it was 2005, though). I wish they could at least have some more visible lights when they're not "center stage"--the blue lights make them almost impossible to photograph. But they're still visible, just not as nice as they used to be. I guess they have to give people an incentive to see the show from the center, instead of an awesome place on the side.

I wasn't as impressed by the eels as I'd expected to be from all the hype, but they were fine. I think they looked better from center. Much better than having nothing at all during that portion, which I think had been the case more often than not for quite some time. Rumor is they may have one eel come in from one side and the other from the other side, which would be a lot more impressive, IMO.

To the OP, how odd about the lack of finale--I would've been really bummed. I'm guessing something went wrong with the Mark Twain at the last minute? They've performed the alternate finale before--there's at least one video of it on YouTube with classic characters like Launchpad --so if they KNEW the boat couldn't run, I would think they would have done the alternate for the first show, not just the second.

 

[Sherwin]

It absolutely sucks when the Mark Twain is down. They usually divert everyone to the island and they'll just stand their and wave the ribbons. Not nearly as cool, IMO, but a sacrifice which must be made, I suppose.

The new projectors have been there since last year, I believe. They did an upgrade sometime in 2008 and replaced the projectors. They also redid the pyro in the finale.

 

[Sherwin]

OOPS, repost.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

They do the thing with the character's on the island when the Mark Twain is down for refurb too. I agree it's not as nice as when the characters are on the boat, but it's better than nothing. I'd rather have that than have the whole thing go down because the Mark Twain has to be in refurb. I saw the shows several times in June and the Dragon wasn't working. I also didn't notice any discernable difference in the quality of the video being shot on the water screens from before they went t HD projectors. Kind of makes me wonder if it was worth whatever they spent to 'upgrade' it.

 

[Eeee-va]

They do the thing with the character's on the island when the Mark Twain is down for refurb too. I agree it's not as nice as when the characters are on the boat, but it's better than nothing. I'd rather have that than have the whole thing go down because the Mark Twain has to be in refurb. I saw the shows several times in June and the Dragon wasn't working. I also didn't notice any discernable difference in the quality of the video being shot on the water screens from before they went t HD projectors. Kind of makes me wonder if it was worth whatever they spent to 'upgrade' it.

As I understand it, replacing the old film projectors with digital ones are what opened up the place for the new dragon. Of course, some would argue that a head on a stick that works is better than a more realistic dragon that doesn't yet work... But since I plan to visit DL at least once or twice more in the next 12 months, I'm OK with waiting.

(I didn't notice the screens being especially sharp, but it was fairly windy, so I figured that was the reason.)

 

[Disneylvrforever]

I saw it one time over by the rafts for Tom Sawyer Island and didn't like that the princess floats only lit up when they were center stage. Everything else is visable from many vantage points, that seemed like they could of lit them up succesfully all around the stage.

That's actually the only thing I didn't like about the "new" Fantasmic (the last time I'd seen it was 2005, though). I wish they could at least have some more visible lights when they're not "center stage"--the blue lights make them almost impossible to photograph. But they're still visible, just not as nice as they used to be. I guess they have to give people an incentive to see the show from the center, instead of an awesome place on the side.

It's funny bc when you look back, the Princess barges always did that. Whenever a Princess's song would play, they would be focused in the center & that's when their barge would light up w/ color. I do understand that seeing the show from the sides makes it harder to see the other Princesses, but that's how it's always been, it's not new.

 

[Eeee-va]

It's funny bc when you look back, the Princess barges always did that. Whenever a Princess's song would play, they would be focused in the center & that's when their barge would light up w/ color. I do understand that seeing the show from the sides makes it harder to see the other Princesses, but that's how it's always been, it's not new.

Really? The blue lights themselves SEEMED new to me, but I hadn't seen Fantasmic from a good (read: able to get photos) viewing place in probably 6 or 8 years--certainly not with a digital camera. My long-term memory is pretty bad though.

 

[disney-inspired]

I haven't seen Fantasmic in a couple of years. These new changes may cause me to save a seat when I go in August.

 

[LuLusApple]

It's funny bc when you look back, the Princess barges always did that. Whenever a Princess's song would play, they would be focused in the center & that's when their barge would light up w/ color. I do understand that seeing the show from the sides makes it harder to see the other Princesses, but that's how it's always been,
it's not new.

I didn't think it was new, I was just thinking
that since they did all those changes,
seemed they would of made the side experience a little better for the princesses. Since you can see everything else well from the sides.
The only time I saw it from the side was recently. That is when I made this observation

 

[ohbeone]

Hey everyone! This is my first time on this forum.
I just got a pass last night for the first time in about 5 years and am very excited. Have missed Disneyland!

Anyway, when I went last night I was pretty disappointed in there being no dragon. I mean, it's the centerpiece of Fantasmic. I had only heard brief mention of changes to Fantasmic so I first jumped to the conclusion that it was removed from the show and was thinking 'wow...they actually ruined Fantasmic. The one REALLY good thing they've done in the last...however many years since it came out'. But thank God I came to discover that it's just the delay of the new dragon. I just thought I'd say that it still wasn't there last night. I may be going Friday again so if it is or isn't there yet i'll be sure to post here!

Regarding the princesses, yeah those floats have definitely been fitted with some nice new (since I last saw it) fiber optic lights and I actually liked the way the non-center princesses were blue then the the center was multi-colored. Flotsom and Jetsom were hard to see where I was. they're so low if you've got any amount of people in your view they may be obscured. But they were cool. I just miss Ursula. Imagine if they brought her back and had all three!!

I didn't notice a difference on the projections but I wasn't looking too closely. I mostly just decided to stop and watch as I was walking through. I'll take a better look next time.

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll be on these boards more since I can finally go to Disneyland regularly again.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hey everyone! This is my first time on this forum.
I just got a pass last night for the first time in about 5 years and am very excited. Have missed Disneyland!

Anyway, when I went last night I was pretty disappointed in there being no dragon. I mean, it's the centerpiece of Fantasmic. I had only heard brief mention of changes to Fantasmic so I first jumped to the conclusion that it was removed from the show and was thinking 'wow...they actually ruined Fantasmic. The one REALLY good thing they've done in the last...however many years since it came out'. But thank God I came to discover that it's just the delay of the new dragon. I just thought I'd say that it still wasn't there last night. I may be going Friday again so if it is or isn't there yet i'll be sure to post here!

Regarding the princesses, yeah those floats have definitely been fitted with some nice new (since I last saw it) fiber optic lights and I actually liked the way the non-center princesses were blue then the the center was multi-colored. Flotsom and Jetsom were hard to see where I was. they're so low if you've got any amount of people in your view they may be obscured. But they were cool. I just miss Ursula. Imagine if they brought her back and had all three!!

I didn't notice a difference on the projections but I wasn't looking too closely. I mostly just decided to stop and watch as I was walking through. I'll take a better look next time.

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll be on these boards more since I can finally go to Disneyland regularly again.

to the DIS!!!

 

[nunzia]

I saw it a couple weeks ago and I wasn't impressed. I'll wait for the official news from Disney that the dragon has arrived before I see it again.
I saw it one time over by the rafts for Tom Sawyer Island and didn't like that the princess floats only lit up when they were center stage. Everything else is visable from many vantage points, that seemed like they could of lit them up succesfully all around the stage.
It used to be my favorite show at DL, I hope it can get it's "magic" back.
The eels were ehh ok; but I liked the giant ursula better. IMO its just not up to snuff right now.

??Ursula is gone?????

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

??Ursula is gone?????

Ursula has been gone for years. She still shows up on the screen, but the float is no longer there.

 

[Sherwin]

Haha, yes, as Mary Jo said, Ursula was permanently evicted (or at least her inflatable was) from the show many years ago. I believe she was gone by the early 2000s because I have some home video dating to '99 with her in it.

 

[nunzia]

Ursula has been gone for years. She still shows up on the screen, but the float is no longer there.

ahhh..OK. It all blends together after awhile..

 

[Zzizzy]

I was also at Disneyland last weekend and saw the Fantasmic show without the Mark Twain. I was talking to a cast member about it and the subject of the new dragon came up. The cast member said they are now targeting the Disneyland birthday evening (07/17) for the appearance of the new dragon as their birthday present to the park (her words).

I was watching for signs of activity on the island and the only thing I noticed is that the main stage area is blocked off during the daytime and a CM is standing guard. I did see a couple workers take the raft across to the island and then disappear behind the stage barriers. So I guess they are doing something during the daytime, but maybe it's all underground.

Of course we won't know for sure until the new dragon actually appears, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

[Marciern22]

I must see Fantasmic! about 20 times a year now. It is my autistic son's favorite thing in the whole world! We were supposed to see it for his bday July 6th but I'm putting it off till the dragon shows up cuz it's his fave part.
Ursula became a float in the parade on mainstreet long ago.
Princesses only lit up when that individual princess was singing.
I can't wait to see whats new. I remember the first time I saw it...When Steamboat Willie popped out on the Mark Twain I started crying. I still cry everytime Sorcerer Mickey appears on top of the cabin. It gets me everytime! I'm a blubbering idiot! But I just love that mouse

 

[Marciern22]

He makes me listen to the audio of Fantasmic! when we drive home. I know that show by heart!