Skip Fantasmic??

[AnthonyJPreston]

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[MHTeacher]

We love Fantasmic!...our favorite right up there with "Wishes". That being said, I don't like waiting in a line for an hour or two just to get in the theater, to sit for another 45 minutes before the show starts.

Let me tell you about our F! experience last month. We were in DHS on New Year's Eve....the busiest day of the year for DisneyWorld! There were three F! showings that night. We happened to be in that area when the first showing exited the theater. MADNESS and CRAZINESS!! The line for the second showing was insane as well. I had just decided we would skip it this visit. But after we had ridden Tower of Terror, we strolled back up the street, and there was no line. It was about 5-10 minutes before start time for the show. I asked the CM if there were still seats and he said yeah. So, we walked straight up the walk, right into the theater...never stopping once. Sure, we didn't have the "best" seats, but I didn't think they were too bad. We were seated in the far right section, about the 10th row from the bottom, and right in front of the images projected on the water.

So, if this is possible on NYE (the most crowded day of the year) , I think you could employ this strategy on any other night. NOW, if sitting right in the center is important to you, then I'd use the strategy that's already been mentioned. Visit another park that day, then hop over a few hours before F! and stand in line.

Hope it all works out!

 

[MelanieC]

We love Fantasmic!...our favorite right up there with "Wishes". That being said, I don't like waiting in a line for an hour or two just to get in the theater, to sit for another 45 minutes before the show starts.

Let me tell you about our F! experience last month. We were in DHS on New Year's Eve....the busiest day of the year for DisneyWorld! There were three F! showings that night. We happened to be in that area when the first showing exited the theater. MADNESS and CRAZINESS!! The line for the second showing was insane as well. I had just decided we would skip it this visit. But after we had ridden Tower of Terror, we strolled back up the street, and there was no line. It was about 5-10 minutes before start time for the show. I asked the CM if there were still seats and he said yeah. So, we walked straight up the walk, right into the theater...never stopping once. Sure, we didn't have the "best" seats, but I didn't think they were too bad. We were seated in the far right section, about the 10th row from the bottom, and right in front of the images projected on the water.

So, if this is possible on NYE (the most crowded day of the year) , I think you could employ this strategy on any other night. NOW, if sitting right in the center is important to you, then I'd use the strategy that's already been mentioned. Visit another park that day, then hop over a few hours before F! and stand in line.

Hope it all works out!

But - when there is only 1 show per night and 3 shows per week, it becomes a madhouse - We go in the summer and you have to get there early on those days. With 1 show each of the 3 nights, you would never walk in 5-10 minutes before showtime and get a seat. More than likely, it would be closed to walk ins at that point as even standing room only would be filled.

We love Fantasmic, but we saw it again last year and decided we would skip it this year. Most years we see it, but every once in a while we just decide to ride more rides!

 

[luvmytwins02]

I think what we will do is plan another park for Sunday, Feb 6. Then about 3 hours BEFORE Fantasmic, we will head to DHS. Once there, we can assess the crowds. If it is too crazy, or our kids just don't want to deal with the lines & waiting...we will just stay at DHS and do some of the rides/shows. I'm guessing that while Fantasmic is playing, the rest of the park is fairly empty??? Do the other rides stay open during F!?

 

[ShannonMB]

Personally, I think Fantasmic is the greatest attraction at Disney, I mean peoples opinions differ, but it is unquestionably breathtaking and def. Worth the wait with the wall-to-wall people.

As long as you get to a park during rope drop in the morning, you are going to be able to do everything that you want to do, and even if you don't make it at rope drop, your original idea still works, i've done it. Get a hopper, visit a different park on the day of Fantasmic and then hop over to it before it plays.

It is possible, but risky to do so just an hour before time, but I would suggest an hour and a half - 2 hours before Fantasmic plays to get over there. Just to be safe. You will not regret it.

I didn't read all the posts, but I have to agree with this one!! We always spend the whole day that day since we don't hop, and I've never regretted it. Fantasmic! really just *does it* for DD and me. It is SOOO worth the trouble!!!

 

[tawasdave]

Personally, I think Fantasmic is the greatest attraction at Disney, I mean peoples opinions differ, but it is unquestionably breathtaking and def. Worth the wait with the wall-to-wall people.

As long as you get to a park during rope drop in the morning, you are going to be able to do everything that you want to do, and even if you don't make it at rope drop, your original idea still works, i've done it. Get a hopper, visit a different park on the day of Fantasmic and then hop over to it before it plays.

It is possible, but risky to do so just an hour before time, but I would suggest an hour and a half - 2 hours before Fantasmic plays to get over there. Just to be safe. You will not regret it.

I agree..Fantasmic is far and away the best attraction at WDW in my humble opinion...For me it is a do not miss and when I have missed it I have been dissapointed.

Now as for Park hoppers..this is the one I really do not get. Like me, most of the time..I have one day allotted for each park and want to see as much as I can, so why on God's green earth would I want to waste and hour to an hour and a half waiting for a bus, riding a bus, going through bag check again, getting through the turnstiles again, when I can be enjoying the park?

Hollywood Studios can be done in a day even with it being a Fantasmic day. BUT you have to plan...and you 1) have to do rope drop 2)do counter service meals rather than set down (set down will waste an hour to 1 1/2 hours) 3) you have to use fast pass...and I feel you must get to Fantasmic an hour before show time...

The difficulty with HS is there are several "shows" that are only shown at certain times of the day..so you have to plan at what time do you want to do which show so you can see them all...I know there is a website that you can go to to get a park time guide about a week before you leave..perhaps someone has a link to that...

But more than any other park..this one needs planning, planning, and more planning...Good Luck

 

[ShannonMB]

I think what we will do is plan another park for Sunday, Feb 6. Then about 3 hours BEFORE Fantasmic, we will head to DHS. Once there, we can assess the crowds. If it is too crazy, or our kids just don't want to deal with the lines & waiting...we will just stay at DHS and do some of the rides/shows. I'm guessing that while Fantasmic is playing, the rest of the park is fairly empty??? Do the other rides stay open during F!?

I really don't think you're going to have too much trouble the week/day you are planning on. In your situation, I would just head to the entrance of Hollywood Hills about an hour and 15 minutes before showtime. Then about an hour before showtime they'll open the theater and you can go in and find your seats. If you show up at that time, I think you'll get pretty much your pick of seats. Then spend that remaining 50 minutes or so buying popcorn and drinks that the vendors walking around are selling (like at a baseball game), and maybe a light-up toy or 2 for the girls. As the crowd starts filling in the auditorium, they usually start doing the *wave*, which my DD LOVES. The time resting your feet will go by fast, and as it gets darker and they turn the purplish green light on the mountain, the excitement gets going, till voila, it's time for the awesome show!!!

I hope you're convinced -- your girls will likely LOVE it as much as my DD does! By the end, we are SCREAMING for Mickey along with the deafening applause. I just got goosebumps thinking about it!!!

 

[LovinRafiki]

I'm kind of stuck on this one too. We are going to WDW in a few days for our 3rd visit and have yet to see F! The waiting around and crowds throw us off. I kinda doubt we will see it this time either because it doesn't fit in well with our plans. I just wish they would have it a little more often to make the crowds a little thinner.

 

[luvmytwins02]

You have done a great job convincing me...to at least be there 1 1/2 hours before the show and SEE what it looks like. I don't think I can have a successfull trip, knowing that we didn't TRY to go see F!.

 

[luvmytwins02]

Maybe the fact that I am going to be at Fanstamic at the SAME time the Superbowl is going on will help in the crowd factor???? I meant to say we would be at the Feb 7th showing of F!, not Feb 6.

 

[luvmytwins02]

One more question: Does ridemax take F! crowds into consideration when putting your plan together?

 

[Stephandy03]

We are going before Easter and there is a show every night. Will it still be very crowded?

 

[tawasdave]

I really think an hour and a half is to much..an hour should be plenty..and here is a little trick I have used the last few times I have gone to F...(Cast Members please stop reading now)...As the sections fill up..there will be cast members at the top of the stairs directing you left..further away from center stage...I will pick the center stage row and tell them the rest of my family is down there..(well...we are all part of the Disney Family right?)...as I walk down the stairs there are always pockets of seats available and I almost always set center stage...while the CMs do a great job of "slide to your left...filling in every available space" on most attractions for some reason they do not do it much here Good Luck..and trust me..when a 51 y/o man gets misty eyed at the end of F everytime...it's got to be worth seeing...

 

[U2_rocks!]

I'm struggling with this too. I don't think we're going to upgrade to hoppers, it's not worth the extra $$ to me, and I can plan a good trip without them - the only sticking point is Fantasmic. Is it really worth over $200, which is what the hoppers will cost us to upgrade? We really can work out a great itinerary without them.

DHS isn't our favourite park anyway, and we were planning to take a long afternoon break. Do you think this is doable without huge crowds and waiting: rope drop on a Fantasmic day to do RnR, ToT and Toy Story, and then back in the late afternoon to do maybe the stunt show before lining up for F? We don't need to do any of the other DHS attractions again. We will be at BCV, and may even bring in our own picnic (well, buy drinks and "dessert" in the theatre maybe). I know the late afternoon will be wall to wall, and the crowds will be bad getting out of DHS afterwards - but at least we can walk back to our hotel if we want to, and won't be fighting for buses or boats.

ETA: if there's a day where DHS has morning EMH as well as F in the evening, is it worth going on that day? I would think we could get through 3 morning must-dos quite early, spemd the rest of the day at Stormalong Bay etc., and come back in the p.m. around 4 or 4.30 to do 1 or 2 shows and then F. Would that plan land us with even bigger crowds in the p.m., or will many people have hopped away to the park with the evening EMH by then?

 

[ZoZo]

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.

I totally agree. After doing the Fantasmic dinner package at Mama Melrose, then still having to get there 30 to 40 minutes early to snag a seat, I was disappointed. I know lots of people love Fantasmic, but I just thought it was okay (no offense to those who like it, but I was bored!). To me, my time is better spent elsewhere, at one of the great parades or at Wishes.

I think this just shows you how much people like different things!!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think Fantasmic is the best night show, and I always recommend it for first-timers. I would get a hopper, tour DHS on a day that Fantasmic isn't showing, and then just go over there for Fantasmic on a different day.

 

[luvmytwins02]

Now they have added a 2nd show! YEAH!!! How are crowds at the second show of the day?

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Now they have added a 2nd show! YEAH!!! How are crowds at the second show of the day?

It's usually less crowded at the second show.

 

[g-dad66]

Now they have added a 2nd show! YEAH!!! How are crowds at the second show of the day?

The second show rarely ever fills to capacity. If the second show isn't too late for your family, that's the one to aim for!

On a horrendously busy day last March, we got in line about 45 minutes before the show. And it was already a grotesquely long line all the way down Sunset Boulevard. Yet everyone got in, and when the show started, the end sections on each side were mostly unfilled.

We could have walked in 5 minutes before show time, just like a PP did on New Years Eve.

 

[luvmytwins02]

How late do you get back to your hotel by watching a 8:30pm? My kids are usually ok to be up until 10pm or so when on vacation