Prioritizing evening activities for 13-year olds ... Will I regret skipping Fantasmic??

[We'reGoingToDisney]

We will be at Disney World for 8 evenings, 7 park days, in mid-late August 2019. We are myself, DH, and our twins DD13, DS13. This is a one-and-done trip to Disney World for us. We have been to Disneyland three times for very short, not well planned or well executed trips - 2 days when kids were 5, 3 days when kids were 7, and 2 pretty awfully crowded days when kids were 10. We were focused on rides, then - I don’t think we knew about other evening shows besides the fireworks. Let’s just say not a lot of optimization happened! We did really enjoy the 3 day trip when the kiddos were 7. The one when they were 10 nearly put us off forever, it was so crowded! And the one when they were 5 was difficult because we were with a large extended family group, tricky to juggle everyone’s expectations. So, this is our trip to do it right, or at least to do it in a more carefully considered way!

We are splitting our stay 5 nights at the Polynesian and 3 nights at the Beach Club, arriving at dinner time on Sunday (no park), leaving first thing Monday a week later (no park). I made a “wish list” of evening activities, and there were 9 activities but only 8 evenings (We have enough later starting mornings to allow for these)

• Happily Ever After at MK
• Fantasmic! at HS
• Star Wars fireworks at HS
• Rivers of Light at AK
• Illuminations at Epcot
• time to explore Pandora at night plus Tree of Life at AK
• Typhoon Lagoon H20 Glow night
• MNSSHP
• watch Electric Water Pageant and HEA fireworks from Poly beach (arrival evening)

I have a schedule that fits all of those in quite nicely, except for Fantasmic. My reasoning was

• Happily Ever After at MK — not to be missed!
• Fantasmic! at HS — some people love it, others not so much??
• Star Wars fireworks at HS — kids love Star Wars, and we might do the well-reviewed dessert party, plus there’s the new animation show that precedes the SW show
• Rivers of Light at AK — I really want to eat at Tusker House anyways, it’s our one character meal. Might as well do the dining package (paying OOP). But ROL gets mixed reviews??
• Illuminations at Epcot — it’s ending, so I feel we should see it??
• time to explore Pandora at night plus Tree of Life at AK — we’d use the opportunity to get in line for one of the Pandora rides at closing, plus hopefully get a twilight safari FP (this would be evening after spending day at Blizzard Beach)
• Typhoon Lagoon H20 Glow night — kids would mutiny if we didn’t do this, now that they know it exists!
• MNSSHP — we’re really not sure about this one, honestly. We’re mostly viewing it as our only chance for a late night in MK, and we hope to be able to get a bunch of rides in and enjoy the atmosphere. But it wasn’t on our first draft of the list
• watch Electric Water Pageant and HEA fireworks from Poly beach — a good use of our arrival evening? Only chance to see Electric Water Pageant

Currently we have 1-park-per-day tickets, hence the decision to drop Fantasmic in favor of the Star Wars fireworks - only 1 full day planned at HS. But, I’m now reconsidering some of my plans, and thinking of upgrading to Park Hoppers, so that the evenings end up closer to the resorts we’re staying at. If I have hoppers then I could possibly plan two evenings at HS. But what would I drop? MNSSHP or ROL or my extra evening at AK?

If I think there’s a chance of us going to Disneyland again in perhaps 2 years, should I feel ok about skipping Fantasmic at Disney World in the hopes that we’ll see the Disneyland version one day?

 

[soniam]

The WDW version is so disappointing after seeing the Disneyland one. We had seen the WDW one first, but I don't plan on ever seeing it again. Plus, those darn concrete benches are incredibly uncomfortable.

 

[hiroMYhero]

If I think there’s a chance of us going to Disneyland again in perhaps 2 years, should I feel ok about skipping Fantasmic at Disney World in the hopes that we’ll see the Disneyland version one day?

Yes, you should definitely feel ok about skipping WDW’s version. When in DL we always fit in Fantasmic! When in WDW, I only watched it numerous times because my CM friend performs in it.

Fit in all your other must-dos without feeling badly about missing Fant.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Because you are staying at hotels in close proximity to 3 parks (MK and then HS/Epcot), I would get hoppers. When you’re so close to a park it’s so fun to spend most of the day at a park, but go to the one close to your resort at the end of the day. We love having the option to hop - the trip we didn’t book them, we added them after the first day

I personally would see Fantasmic over ROL, but everyone is different.

I will add that the Fantasmic at Disneyland is AWESOME. If you skip it at WDW, if you make it to Disneyland I’d definitely recommend working it into your plans there.

 

[Castlequeen5]

It think your schedule looks great. I would want to do as many new things that I could. ROL was okay, but I still recommend seeing it if you've never seen it before. Plus they're enhancing it this summer. We did Fantasmic several years ago, but skipped it last time in favor of Star Wars. We also did the SW dessert party before the fireworks and loved it! I've heard great things about DL's version of Fantasmic, but it was closed for construction while we were there.

 

[greg9x]

Never seen ROL, but from videos and reviews I would see Fantasmic over that.. Pandora at night wasn't all that...very dark walking around to kinda see some effects. Plus in August it doesn't get dark until later.. if your plan is to stand in line for a ride, then may not have much time when the effects are on (again, not that you need a lot of time.)

I think Fantasmic is one of THE Disney shows to see.. but it is a time suck because you have to get there early for decent middle-ish seat and deal with crowd leaving afterwards.

 

[aggiedog]

Well, we sat thru Fantasmic and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. I'd definitely skip it in favor of pretty much anything else. Add in standing in line before and after, crowded with all those people, in the heat. No thank you.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Never seen ROL, but from videos and reviews I would see Fantasmic over that.. Pandora at night wasn't all that...very dark walking around to kinda see some effects. Plus in August it doesn't get dark until later.. if your plan is to stand in line for a ride, then may not have much time when the effects are on (again, not that you need a lot of time.)

I think Fantasmic is one of THE Disney shows to see.. but it is a time suck because you have to get there early for decent middle-ish seat and deal with crowd leaving afterwards.

Interesting to hear your feedback on Pandora at night. I’d heard it was worth seeing! But sunset isn’t until nearly 8 pm, with park close at 8:30 pm, so you raise a good point that it won’t really give us much time after dark at all. Now you have me reconsidering. Maybe one full day at AK is enough, and I should prioritize Fantasmic over a second evening at AK. The attraction of a second AK evening was the hope that I might be able to get 2 FOP FP, one on my full day at AK and one on that evening. I’ve heard that FOP is so good that you’d want to ride it twice, but I don’t want to deal with RD craziness! I was hoping to stand in line for NRJ at park close. I could instead try to get on NRJ right at park open, and have (hopefully) a FP for FOP on our full day at AK, and just be happy to ride it once.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Because you are staying at hotels in close proximity to 3 parks (MK and then HS/Epcot), I would get hoppers. When you’re so close to a park it’s so fun to spend most of the day at a park, but go to the one close to your resort at the end of the day. We love having the option to hop - the trip we didn’t book them, we added them after the first day

This is the conclusion I’m coming around to, as well! I was trying to save some money by not having the park hoppers, but I’m realizing we could make some of our evenings more convenient if we could hop. I think for a while now I’ve been getting myself tied in knots over the price. I started considering hoppers when I decided to take advantage of lower expected crowds at MK on the Tuesday morning of an MNSSHP day. I figured I could either buy the hoppers (about $70 ish per person) to give us somewhere else to go that evening, or pay the $79 each for the MNSSHP tickets. Somehow felt like an either/or situation. But, the more I tweak my plans, the more I realize that hoppers might give us more flexibility on other days, too. And so we might end up paying for both the hoppers and the MNSSHP tickets.

 

[CJN]

You’re staying three nights at Beach Club. For me that would mean prioritizing the best use of that area on those nights - so Illuminations, the Star Wars dessert party and F! would be my choices. It’s such easy access back to your resort or meandering the boardwalk area at night that it makes the most sense to do Epcot/DHS things on those nights. To me part of the reason in doing a split stay is to take advantage of a location.

My teen nephews suggested you cut MNSSHP off the list. But then we don’t care too much for parties because of the crowds. IMO it’s not a good value if our focus is rides. Now a DAH, though? That’s a different story - we love those.

We’ve done the Tusker House RoL package twice but....I don’t know....the show is pretty, yes, but ultimately always bores us a little, especially the nephews. They will politely sit through, even as they’re wishing to be on EE instead. As far as seeing Pandora at night, I wouldn’t make a second trip back just for that although you mentioned doing a safari and FoP.

 

[Mome Rath]

I will chime in and add; I think Pandora is definitely worth seeing at night. You don't have to spend a ton of time there if you don't want, but I would go experience it, as it is a completely different vibe and look at night than during the day. Looking at your list I think you can give up either RoL or Fantasmic and not miss much, esp, as you said, you may be able to see the "better" version at DL.

I love park hoppers and don't travel without them, and with where you are staying I do think they are worth consideration for sure.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think hoppers would be your friend. FOr the teens, I am on the fence. I think ROL might bore them, and would place Fantasmic in front of that show, however I also am in the "What they do not see they will not miss" camp. You cannot do it all so when you make your plans, make them logistically. I would not jump through hoops to see either Fantasmic or ROL, so look at your schedule, and then determine if you are trying too hard to get to all of the evening shows. Your kids might want to head to DS at night rather than either nighttime show. My teens would prefer the Boardwalk at night if there was ice cream in the plan. Or DS for a late meal and snacks.

They also would want pool time at night. At that age my Kady loved nightime pool time.

 

[Lindaleeann]

Wish I didn't, but I find Fantasmic boring.

 

[Nancyg56]

Wish I didn't, but I find Fantasmic boring.

Most of my family found it once and done. I go once in a blue moon. I think it is worth seeing, but I did not find we missed it when we skipped it for ther activites.

 

[Randomsoulshine]

My kids are 13 and 16 and they love Fantasmic . This upcoming June trip I planned to skip it even though I love it in order to try to ride Slinky Dog. But my daughter said she just doesn’t want to miss it. I haven’t seen the one in DL and I’m sure it is better but for us Fantasmic is so incredibly special. It’s a hard choice you have to make. We have only three evenings at Disney this trip and I’m sad to not see Pandora at night but we like Hs over AK. The beautiful thing about Disney is you can’t really make a wrong choice. Magic is everywhere to be found so whatever you decide know your family will have special memories of it.

 

[martikus]

I find hoppers a waste with kids. We are too exhausted. And don’t make good use of them.

You need to make to build rest time into your trip. No one with kids can do 7 days all out. It you plan every evening in a park you are going to need restful days.

You will hate your trip if you try to do it all. You won’t know what you don’t see. Make sure to allow time to follow what the kids want, even if it makes the pace leisurely. Many trips we missed evening shows when son was younger because a leisurely night at hotel with swimming reenergized us for next day.

And no matter what these boards say, you can have a great time without a zillion add ons like dessert parties.

We did a night safari and were actually disappointed. We much prefer a daytime ride. Have a great time whatever you decide.

 

[MainMom]

Well, we sat thru Fantasmic and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. I'd definitely skip it in favor of pretty much anything else. Add in standing in line before and after, crowded with all those people, in the heat. No thank you.

This!

DH and I saw it back in 2000(?) and thought it was great...back then. Saw it again last year with the kids and were so bored. It just wasn’t worth it.

 

[Mome Rath]

I think you know your kids and family better than anyone, so of course you should take that into account more than what we say here. I would add that I've been going to WDW since I was younger than your kids, and we did hop almost every trip and loved it. At that age, we didn't care for parades or show, but rather rides and different experiences like eating at different restaurants, riding the monorail, watching the fireworks, and overall taking in the environment like exploring the nooks and crannies of the parks, and touring the hotels. I think you'll have a lot of fun no matter what you do, just remember there's no perfect way to do it, just what is right for your fam.

 

[greg9x]

Interesting to hear your feedback on Pandora at night. I’d heard it was worth seeing! But sunset isn’t until nearly 8 pm, with park close at 8:30 pm, so you raise a good point that it won’t really give us much time after dark at all. Now you have me reconsidering. Maybe one full day at AK is enough, and I should prioritize Fantasmic over a second evening at AK. The attraction of a second AK evening was the hope that I might be able to get 2 FOP FP, one on my full day at AK and one on that evening. I’ve heard that FOP is so good that you’d want to ride it twice, but I don’t want to deal with RD craziness! I was hoping to stand in line for NRJ at park close. I could instead try to get on NRJ right at park open, and have (hopefully) a FP for FOP on our full day at AK, and just be happy to ride it once.

Guess depends on what catches your interest... Pandora at night is nothing like the advertising photos... although guess some nights it is better than others. If your there, then yeah go check it out...but to us it wasn't worth planning around. They have to keep the lighting very dim to see the fiber optics in the sidewalks.... with 100's of people navigating the paths in dim light (many just plowing on as they do at Disney) you spend more energy avoiding collisions than enjoying any atmosphere.

FoP is worth doing twice.. at least once going through the Standby line to see the lab stuff. After a few times the thrill of it wears off a bit, but the first couple times are awesome. NRJ is ok, but defiantly do it with a FP or very low wait time...it's not worth a long line wait. Assume you know 'Park Open' to get on Pandora rides really means 60-90 minutes BEFORE park open... if you get there at park open, you will already have long lines.

See you also thinking about MNSSHP... The show, parade and fireworks are great, but it can be very crowded trying to get around as many people are in the walkways. The lower rides are walkons, but the major ones still have waits. Glad saw the entertainment, but won't do it again.

 

[mjkacmom]

I find hoppers a waste with kids. We are too exhausted. And don’t make good use of them.

You need to make to build rest time into your trip. No one with kids can do 7 days all out. It you plan every evening in a park you are going to need restful days.

You will hate your trip if you try to do it all. You won’t know what you don’t see. Make sure to allow time to follow what the kids want, even if it makes the pace leisurely. Many trips we missed evening shows when son was younger because a leisurely night at hotel with swimming reenergized us for next day.

And no matter what these boards say, you can have a great time without a zillion add ons like dessert parties.

We did a night safari and were actually disappointed. We much prefer a daytime ride. Have a great time whatever you decide.

On our last trip we had hoppers and rope dropped (5 young kids), and did parks every day and night (with a break in the day). I just can’t imagine staying at a MK or Epcot resort and NOT having hoppers, it’s so easy to come and go.