What's the advantage of Fantasmic! Dining Package over Fastpass?

[cooperams]

or is there not really an advantage...
Thanks.

 

[HopperFan]

Dining Package has the best section to sit in but you must arrive early to get dead center.

FP+ gets you in but your arrival time will determine your section.

 

[AngelDisney]

Fantasmic FP+ is a tier 1 ride. I would rather pay for a dining package as we like eating at Mama Melrose's, than not fastpassing our favourite TSMM. A Fantasmic FP+ won't allow you to get a 4th FP+ either since it is so late.

 

[Owl X]

DHS has Tiered Fast Passes. You only get 1 Tier 1 FP+.
Tier 1 rides include Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Beauty and the Beast, the Great Movie Ride and Fantasmic.
By using your only Tier 1 FP+ on Fanstasmic, you lose the ability to use it on one of the other rides.

 

[HopperFan]

PPs are absolutely correct on the FP+ Tier 1 issue.
We never book Fantasmic as an original FP+
but we have often picked it up as our 4th FP+.

 

[cooperams]

But neither option...if I get it as a 4th FP or if I do the dining package...has a significant time difference, right? I would have to arrive at the venue about 45 minutes early with either option???

And what is your opinion on seating: is package seating SOMEWHAT better than fastpass or SIGNIFICANTLY better?
Thanks

 

[King of Naboombu]

As PP have said dining package section is dead center. You can get just as close with FP+ but still need to arrive early to get close to center. It is most helpful to see it in map form. Thanks to @Robo we have an awesome map reference, see post below and you can see if it is worth it for you.

You can get a FP for Fantasmic!

What a FP+ for F! offers is more CHOICE in seating.



If you DO get a F! FP+, you can choose to sit in either the FP section (virtually the entire left half of the theater) or the Standby section (virtually the entire right half of the theater.)

So, whatever section has the better seating at the time you arrive, you can go there.

Without a FP, you can only choose a seat in the Standby section.



There is a very good chance that you can get a FP+ for F! as a 4th or 5th FP of the day because they issue SO MANY of them (enough to cover nearly the entire left half of the seating.) On many nights, it is possible that you can gat a FP+ for F! as you are walking to the theater.



As to when to arrive at the theater, I'd get to there 45-60 minutes before the show-time.

Even with a FP or Dining Pkg. reservation, don't wait too late.



On busy nights, the CMs can stop holding the reserved sections within 20-30 minutes before show-time, and turn over any available seats to waiting walk-in guests.



There is sometimes a "pre-show" (such as it is) that can help pass the last 30 minutes before show time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------



Map Below-

Arrows indicate the center of the seating.

Shaded areas:

(First or Only F! performance of the evening)

Cyan= Standby (walk-in) seating

Red= Dining Package Reserved

Blue= FP+ Reserved

Purple= Can be either FP+ or Dining Plan Reserved, depending on needs.



(Second or Third F! performance of the evening)

Cyan= Standby (walk-in) seating

Red, Purple, Blue= FP+ Reserved

(Although much of the outer Blue will likely be used for Standby.)

--------------------------------------

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, the FP doesn't really let you arrive later, but it does give you a choice of which side to sit on since you can use the FP side or the Standby side. If you get there and FP section is more filled in, you can switch. It really is not worth using as one of your 3 FP choices, but is relatively easy to pick up as an additional one. The dining package area is dead center and has a finite number sold, so you can get the best seating, but if you want to be closer to the front you still have to get there early. There's just no way around it.

 

[AngiTN]

The reason I like the Dining Package vs. FP is 2 fold,
1, we are going to eat at MM anyway
2, we can arrive later and still have a great view. If we arrive at the same time with a FP we would not have as good a seat. Really, this reason alone is enough for me to not FP F! I don't want to arrive super early. If I'm going to do that, I'd just Stand by the thing

 

[CAS239]

But neither option...if I get it as a 4th FP or if I do the dining package...has a significant time difference, right? I would have to arrive at the venue about 45 minutes early with either option???

And what is your opinion on seating: is package seating SOMEWHAT better than fastpass or SIGNIFICANTLY better?
Thanks

The seating really isn't much better vs FP. We do Fantasmic as a 4th or 5th FP, get their early, and sit as far to the center as we can. So the dining package is only a rope away. The dining package section is dead center with the FP section next to it. But when you're sitting there looking at the stage, there's not much difference in view at all.

Dining package, FP, standby..Either one, you'll still want to get there 45+ min early. If you get there too late and it's a busy night, you might find that the CM's are already filling in the dining package area with FP

The only advice I give on doing the Dining package for Fantasmic, is that if you ALREADY plan on eating at one of the two restaurants inside HS, then it's a no brainer and you might as well do the dining package. If you don't plan on eating inside one of the HS restaurants, then there's absolutely no reason to do it simply to get the dining package. You can 99% of the time easily get Fantasmic as a 4th or 5th FP