Skip Fantasmic??

[luvmytwins02]

Ok, so due to the recent post about DHS being wall to wall people just before Fantasmic....it is making me re-think things.

Background:
This is our first Disney trip in 20 years....and our twins (7 year old girls) first trip ever. To me, being able to SEE everything and get to the things that THEY want to do is most important (and if we can avoid wall to wall people, that would be best!).

Originally, my idea was to do a different park on Fantasmic day, but then go see Fantasmic at night (Feb 7). Not sure how do-able that plan really is. What time would we have to leave another park, to make start lining up for Fantasmic?

My second plan was to just stay at DHS all day on Feb 7, and deal with the crowds. Problem is, we only have 1 full day at each park and I'm not sure we would hit eveything else we want to do that day because the park would be way overcrowded.

So, here is my question....do we skip Fantasmic, and choose parks that will have lower attendance...so we can get the rest of the stuff in? I've watched Fantasmic on youtube.com, and I'm sure my kids would love it...but it is really worth all the extra hours put in just to get to the 20 minute show? Especially considering we have 1 day at each park?

Opinons welcome..................

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Get a park hopper. Tour DHS on a day that does not offer Fantasmic. On the day that Fantasmic is offered, do another park first, then head over to DHS just for the show (preferrably on a night when there are two showings, and you would go for the second)...

 

[PrincessPapercuts]

Although my hubby and I LOVED Fantasmic our last trip at Disney together in Dec. 2009...we did skip it with our son (4 1/2) in May 2009. That was our first time ever to Disney and we, like you, wanted to SEE and DO as much as possible...but it is very hard. I would skip it if I were you. You are going to be so busy trying to get all the other "great" things in and your children (at their age) still might be a little scared of the Fantasmic venue...

It is fantastic...very dark and some of the villians are a little scary for some kids...

It can just give you a reason to go back another time!!

Have a blast!!

 

[luvmytwins02]

That is the way I am leaning..just skipping it this time around.

Either that or do a different park earlier that day (maybe epcot). How much time do we need to plan to get from 1 park over to DHS, if we decide to do the Fantasmic 7pm show?

It's so hard! With having not been there in YEARS, I want to fit EVERYTHING in, and I have to understand that is just not going to happen If we had gone in June, we could have had all the time we wanted at Disney...but I can't handle the heat and humidity....so we had to pick a different time of the year. Since my hubby is a teacher...and we are going when school is in session...we had to only go for 5 days.

 

[AnthonyJPreston]

.

 

[Needafix]

I would lean towards skipping it with so much else to do and other, better (IMO) fireworks options. I think the hype over Fantasmic was too much for us, so with the massive crowds we just weren't impressed at all and have never been back. We much prefer getting other things done in the basically 2+ hours it takes to wait/watch Fantasmic.

 

[AJKMOM]

That is the way I am leaning..just skipping it this time around.

Either that or do a different park earlier that day (maybe epcot). How much time do we need to plan to get from 1 park over to DHS, if we decide to do the Fantasmic 7pm show?

It's so hard! With having not been there in YEARS, I want to fit EVERYTHING in, and I have to understand that is just not going to happen If we had gone in June, we could have had all the time we wanted at Disney...but I can't handle the heat and humidity....so we had to pick a different time of the year. Since my hubby is a teacher...and we are going when school is in session...we had to only go for 5 days.

If you are at Epcot, and not driving, you can go out the International Gateway, and get on the Friendship boat. In about 30 minutes you will be at Hollywood Studios. Depending on when you are going, they say you should be at Fantasmic an hour early. Plus it will take you about 45 minutes to get back out of the park if the theatre is full.

If you are driving, you will have to move your car unless Epcot is open a lot later than DHS. If you have a lot of energy, it's about a 20-25 minute walk from Epcot to DHS.

 

[vicb]

We have seen Fantasmic twice when our kids were little but skipped it last trip and now haven't been back for 4 years. We were planning to tour a different park during the day then hop to DS for the show. Our plan was to get food to take in and eat "dinner" while we waited.

? #1) can we take in food purchased at those stands outside and carry in?

?#2) would getting inside the theater area 1 hour prior to show time to early enough? We don't feel like we have to have perfect center seats but would like to have a decent seat.

We will be there the last week of Feb. Thanks for any insights!

 

[2poohbears]

I have 6 year old twin boys. Honestly, I would recommend skipping Fantasmic. It's not worth the large crowds and long wait. There just aren't enough showings of Fantasmic these days. Definitely DO NOT plan to visit DHS on a Fantasmic day...it is packed! You can definitely catch Illuminations at EPCOT and Spectromagic and fireworks at MK...those are easier to do with young kids, IMO. For Spectro, we always grab counter service food and sit along the parade route to eat while waiting for the parade to start...this way we aren't "wasting time" while waiting for the parade.

We went to Fantasmic showing last FEB...did the dinner where you get tickets to sit in a certain section. We arrived 45 minutes early, and were just in time to get seats in the "reserved" area before it was full! If you don't do the dinner, you would probably have to be in line at least an hour and a half early. If there is a 2nd showing of fantasmic, that one will probably not be as full - but do you really want to be up that late with young children when you plan to visit parks again the next morning??? Also, getting out of that show is a nightmare with young kids...the huge crowd all exits the same direction...a bit nerve-wracking with young ones in tow.

another bit of advice - get to the parks BEFORE they open in the morning. You will get a LOT done before 10:30am, when the parks begin to fill up.

Hope you all have a GREAT time!

 

[KatieCharlotte]

We have seen Fantasmic twice when our kids were little but skipped it last trip and now haven't been back for 4 years. We were planning to tour a different park during the day then hop to DS for the show. Our plan was to get food to take in and eat "dinner" while we waited.

? #1) can we take in food purchased at those stands outside and carry in?

?#2) would getting inside the theater area 1 hour prior to show time to early enough? We don't feel like we have to have perfect center seats but would like to have a decent seat.

We will be there the last week of Feb. Thanks for any insights!

Yes, you can bring in food. We brought dinner in on a tray from Rosie's just outside. A cm just smiled and said they should make it easier to carry in.
Tonight at the 6:30 p.m. show, it was necessary to get there an hour early just to make sure you had any seat at all. The crowd was huge.

 

[gilmore]

Where else anywhere can you see something like Fantasmic? Nowhere. Do not miss it. It's awesome.

 

[g-dad66]

Based upon your situation, I think you are probably smart to skip it. I think Fantasmic is great, but there will be plenty of other great attractions for you to see and enjoy without it.

Hopefully it won't be another 20 years before your next trip, so perhaps you can see it then?

 

[luvmytwins02]

No it won't be another 20 years
We wanted to take our first trip when the kids were 7 or 8, and with the great deals Disney has been offering, we were able to make it this year.

I am thinking every 3 or 4 years we will go to Disney World. We've got other areas we want to visit too.

So excited we are just 14 days away!!!!!!!

 

[pickles]

skip it unless you have an overwhelming need to watch a movie projected on water

seriosuly, dont miss wishes or spectro, even illuminations(not my fav but better than fantasmic)

dont miss epcot too much to do there and you will need all day to do it.
if you have hoppers and have an overwhelmning need to see F then go to AK for the day and when they close aroynd 5 hope over to DHS

But if you just have 4-5 days dont waste time on F..do that one on another trip

 

[LisaPisa]

2poohbears - You mean you had the dinner package and almost didn't get a seat? My whole plan was to buy the dinner package and skim in 20 minutes beforehand, because I thought they saved a certain number of seats in that section to fit the people with the package plan. You're saying that's not true?! Yikes!

 

[steph73]

After much deliberation, we've decided to skip Fantasmic this year. And we LOVE that show, just LOVE it.

But on our last trip, the mass of people was just way too much for us and it didn't feel worth it. We waited for 45 minutes and all that was left by the time we inched down that long corridor in a huge crowd was standing room only in the very back. Very disappointing. We asked the kids what they wanted to do and by then, they just wanted to leave and go to DTD. They're not usually bothered by crowds but it just got to them that night. So after all of that, we ended up leaving.

This time, we have a new baby who will be 18 months old. We were going to book a dinner pkg, but in the end just decided to skip it altogether and tour DHS on a non-Fantasmic day.

 

[lllGurulll]

skip it unless you have an overwhelming need to watch a movie projected on water

seriosuly, dont miss wishes or spectro, even illuminations(not my fav but better than fantasmic)

dont miss epcot too much to do there and you will need all day to do it.
if you have hoppers and have an overwhelmning need to see F then go to AK for the day and when they close aroynd 5 hope over to DHS

But if you just have 4-5 days dont waste time on F..do that one on another trip

This is exactly my thoughts on F! as well.

 

[2poohbears]

2poohbears - You mean you had the dinner package and almost didn't get a seat? My whole plan was to buy the dinner package and skim in 20 minutes beforehand, because I thought they saved a certain number of seats in that section to fit the people with the package plan. You're saying that's not true?! Yikes!

yep---i'm saying we almost didn't get seats. you are not guaranteed a seat. they only reserve the section. and if the rest of the stadium gets too full, they will open the reserve section up to other people. when we got the tickets from the waitress she even notified us that they recommend people arrive at least 45 minutes early with their reserved seating tickets. so---i would not wait until 20 minutes beforehand.

fyi...we did the Mama Melrose package...the food was good, but the service was extremely slow.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

Skip it! I have now seen F! twice and I just don't get the hype. I much prefer Illuminations and Spectro and Wishes. I don't plan on seeing F! again until my DS is old enough to really enjoy it without getting scared.

 

[luvmytwins02]

We already have planned to see Wishes/Spectro (on our first night at Disney) and Illuminations. Maybe we will skip Fantasmic this time around.
How many more years do you think it will be showing?