PTN, Fireworks, and Fantasmic in 1 night

[elaine amj]

On our recent trip, we managed to watch all 3 night shows (from great spots) in one night without too much hassle.

Since our focus was on the night shows, we were willing to wait however long it took.

4:40pm: Got into position behind the crowds watching the afternoon parade
4:50pm: The moment the parade passed through and the people left, we inched right in and sat down at the curb. We chose to stake out a spot on Main St in front of Refreshment Corner so we could see some of the projections on Main St during the fireworks. It was shady on this side of the street (the other side was in full sun). We then took turns going on rides. A couple of times, we all left the blanket unattended for 10-15 mins. The wait never seemed long and it was a pleasant spot to sit (under a tree).
7:30pm: We all returned to the curb with takeout dinner from the Plaza Inn (yum!). A CM said we could not save spots for others after 7:30pm.
8:00pm: A 8-10 yr old girl had fallen asleep behind us and a CM said she *had* to be woken up as she had to stand. We inched closer together and I told the mom to sit next to me and move the sleeping girl to her lap. The dad stood behind us.

9:00pm: Enjoyed an awesome view of the parade.

9:20pm: The moment the parade was over (a CM gave us the heads up which float was to be the last), we moved a few steps out into the street. It filled up within a minute.

9:30pm:Had a great view of the fireworks and projections. (I kinda wished we had gone for a Hub view though)

9:50pm: The moment the fireworks were over, we worked our way through the crowds, maneuvering through Jolly Holiday Bakery outdoor seating to get over to the Mark Twain boat dock for Fantasmic.
9:55pm: We were corralled in the boat dock. There were 50-60 ppl there already but we shifted into a spot in the middle with about 20-30 people ahead of us. It was a horrible crush. When they eventually let us through (a LONG time later), they funneled us through a VERY narrow opening and my kids moved quickly through the crowds. My DD got us a railing spot near to the reserved dining area but people immediately moved in beside her. By the time we made it to her about 30 seconds later, we had a spot about 2 ppl wide. We put our kids in front and sat behind them.

10:45pm: Front row spots for Fantasmic!

 

[mom2rtk]

On our recent trip, we managed to watch all 3 night shows (from great spots) in one night without too much hassle.

Since our focus was on the night shows, we were willing to wait however long it took.

4:40pm: Got into position behind the crowds watching the afternoon parade
4:50pm: The moment the parade passed through and the people left, we inched right in and sat down at the curb. We chose to stake out a spot on Main St in front of Refreshment Corner so we could see some of the projections on Main St during the fireworks. It was shady on this side of the street (the other side was in full sun). We then took turns going on rides. A couple of times, we all left the blanket unattended for 10-15 mins. The wait never seemed long and it was a pleasant spot to sit (under a tree).
7:30pm: We all returned to the curb with takeout dinner from the Plaza Inn (yum!). A CM said we could not save spots for others after 7:30pm.
8:00pm: A 8-10 yr old girl had fallen asleep behind us and a CM said she *had* to be woken up as she had to stand. We inched closer together and I told the mom to sit next to me and move the sleeping girl to her lap. The dad stood behind us.

9:00pm: Enjoyed an awesome view of the parade.

9:20pm: The moment the parade was over (a CM gave us the heads up which float was to be the last), we moved a few steps out into the street. It filled up within a minute.

9:30pm:Had a great view of the fireworks and projections. (I kinda wished we had gone for a Hub view though)

9:50pm: The moment the fireworks were over, we worked our way through the crowds, maneuvering through Jolly Holiday Bakery outdoor seating to get over to the Mark Twain boat dock for Fantasmic.
9:55pm: We were corralled in the boat dock. There were 50-60 ppl there already but we shifted into a spot in the middle with about 20-30 people ahead of us. It was a horrible crush. When they eventually let us through (a LONG time later), they funneled us through a VERY narrow opening and my kids moved quickly through the crowds. My DD got us a railing spot near to the reserved dining area but people immediately moved in beside her. By the time we made it to her about 30 seconds later, we had a spot about 2 ppl wide. We put our kids in front and sat behind them.

10:45pm: Front row spots for Fantasmic!

I'm curious why you needed to leave your blanket unattended?

 

[elaine amj]

I'm curious why you needed to leave your blanket unattended?

Once to ride Buzz Lightyear - we had gotten a FP and misjudged the time. My kids really wanted to ride it all together so we decided to do it. We figured it would only take us 10 mins or so. We discussed it and felt comfortable that if a CM scooped up our blanket and we lost our spot, we would be ok with that. Don't worry - we didn't leave our blanket for hours on end. We put in our time.

The second time was to get dinner. We befriended the family smooshed up behind us (there really was only space for our family as we sat where the roped off area narrows) and so again we felt comfortable with it. We ended up squishing our own family up to give the other family a spot on our blanket because their DD fell dead asleep and a CM was insisting they wake her and stand her up. So all worked out It's always fun meeting and chatting with other families at Disney.

It's actually really pleasant sitting on the curb at Main St. The 4 hours flew by pretty quickly. The last 20 mins waiting for Fantasmic felt wayyy longer lol! Partly because everyone was really squished up together and it was a hot night.

I was thrilled we were able to get good views for all 3 shows in the same night. Having had the parade and fireworks cancelled for two nights in a row had messed with our plans (2 days before, we had held a spot near the hub through the rain for hours. We waited for the parade - cancelled. Then we waited for fireworks - cancelled). I was surprised we were able to get good spots for Fantasmic...the timing of the fireworks can work out for 2nd Fantasmic, if you can move through crowds. We never push/shove but my son is very good at finding small gaps in the crowds and would lead us straight through it. I would think most people who got into the Mark Twain boat dock area before it filled up were able to get good spots. The seated area was quite large and I would guess (not sure?) that anyone in the seated area would have a good view. Belly up to the railing meant we had the railing in our way.

 

[MaleficentRN]

. A couple of times, we all left the blanket unattended for 10-15 mins. The wait never seemed long and it was a pleasant spot to sit (under a tree).

It's my understanding that CMs are picking up un attended blankets. Did you find that not true?

 

[RadioFanatic]

Did you see the dining area for Fantasmic? Was it that crowded there too? My dh will have no patience for that if it is.

 

[Disney127]

We were in the dining area of Fantasmic after eating at the Blue Bayou on Thursday. We lined up about 1 hour prior to the show and got a place by the railings near the center. The whole dining area filled up for the show but there was plenty of spaces between people spreaded out sitting on the ground. We were glad that we got the cushions from our BB meal to sit on, don't think that I would have been too comfortable sitting on the cobblestone ground.

 

[SMD]

I've seen CMs doing sweeps and carrying blankets to the firehouse. And they do it more than once, so I wouldn't assume a blanket is safe just because a sweep has passed. If you planned enough to bring a blanket why pull an FP for the time before the parade? Leaving a curbside spot for rides and food isn't a strategy that will work most of the time. I certainly wouldn't advise others to try it. Either plan on having someone who can get food while others wait or bring food with you if going alone. If a single person or a parent alone with kids asked me to watch their spot so they could go get food I'd do it. But if they said their kids wanted to use FPs, no way.

 

[mom2rtk]

Honestly, after seeing so much curbside space occupied by empty blankets on our last trip, I will probably move one aside to sit there next time.

 

[RadioFanatic]

Honestly, so funny to me bc as a WDW vet, cd never imagine seeing the blankets there!

 

[mom2rtk]

Honestly, so funny to me bc as a WDW vet, cd never imagine seeing the blankets there!

Same here. I have a hard enough time keeping my spot at WDW when I'm STANDING in it!

 

[mom2rtk]

I've seen CMs doing sweeps and carrying blankets to the firehouse. And they do it more than once, so I wouldn't assume a blanket is safe just because a sweep has passed. If you planned enough to bring a blanket why pull an FP for the time before the parade? Leaving a curbside spot for rides and food isn't a strategy that will work most of the time. I certainly wouldn't advise others to try it. Either plan on having someone who can get food while others wait or bring food with you if going alone. If a single person or a parent alone with kids asked me to watch their spot so they could go get food I'd do it. But if they said their kids wanted to use FPs, no way.

I heard they had actually tightened up on this once Paint the Night started.

 

[elaine amj]

It's my understanding that CMs are picking up un attended blankets. Did you find that not true?

I've seen CMs doing sweeps and carrying blankets to the firehouse. And they do it more than once, so I wouldn't assume a blanket is safe just because a sweep has passed. If you planned enough to bring a blanket why pull an FP for the time before the parade? Leaving a curbside spot for rides and food isn't a strategy that will work most of the time. I certainly wouldn't advise others to try it. Either plan on having someone who can get food while others wait or bring food with you if going alone. If a single person or a parent alone with kids asked me to watch their spot so they could go get food I'd do it. But if they said their kids wanted to use FPs, no way.

I had sent the kids to pick up the FP and I wasn't clear enough about what time it had to be and in their excitement, they just grabbed whatever. We discussed it as a family as I had heard about the unattended blanket policy and my family decided they really wanted to ride it together and that it was worth the risk of losing our spot. I knew the FP line wasn't forever long and we chose to go for it.Also, I had read a report by a DISer where a CM said they would sweep up unattended blankets after something like 20 or so minutes.

There was actually another family on the curb next to us and the poor things thought they were waiting for the afternoon parade! They decided to leave in favor of more rides. We offered to save their spots for them but they ended up feeling that 7:30pm was still too early to be back to their spots.

Overall, I was really happy how our night worked out - I hadn't expected to be able to get good views of all 3 night shows and it didn't end up being overly stressful to do it.

 

[elaine amj]

Did you see the dining area for Fantasmic? Was it that crowded there too? My dh will have no patience for that if it is.

It didn't look bad but I didn't look over when the show started.

We were in the dining area of Fantasmic after eating at the Blue Bayou on Thursday. We lined up about 1 hour prior to the show and got a place by the railings near the center. The whole dining area filled up for the show but there was plenty of spaces between people spreaded out sitting on the ground. We were glad that we got the cushions from our BB meal to sit on, don't think that I would have been too comfortable sitting on the cobblestone ground.

For our FP side, there was not much space between us and the people around us. We were all squished in together. That said, the kids were still able to fully stretch out (on top of each other and us) while we waited. I did have my blanket for us to sit on - we were thankful for it as the ground was hard.

Because it wasn't as comfortable (and it was humid and hot), this short wait for F! felt far longer than the 4 hour wait for the parade.