Which nighttime shows would you prioritize?

[PDXmouse]

My kids get increasingly disregulated at night. I think it would cause more harm than good to try and force too many park closings on our family.

So if we were to prioritize, which do you like best? I know this is an opinion, and that's what I'm looking for.

Kids will be 9 and 11.

Happily Ever After
River of Lights
Illuminations
Fantasmic

My kids LOVE Star Wars so A Galactic Spectacular would be a priority but the don't show dates past October. Does anyone know if it's ending? We're going in January.

Did I miss any other options?

 

[iujen94]

Full disclosure - I haven't seen ROL or Illuminations, but my kids have always loved and still love Fantasmic.

 

[mousehockey37]

Illuminations
HEA
Illuminations
Illuminations
Rivers of Light
Star Wars
Illuminations
HEA
Fantasmic

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Happily Ever After and Fantasmic are essential. DO NOT MISS THESE!

I am a weirdo because I am not impressed with Illuminations. YMMV

Rivers of Light is entirely skippable, especially if you are dealing with tired fidgety kids.

 

[BrianL]

My kids get increasingly disregulated at night. I think it would cause more harm than good to try and force too many park closings on our family.

So if we were to prioritize, which do you like best? I know this is an opinion, and that's what I'm looking for.

Kids will be 9 and 11.

Happily Ever After
River of Lights
Illuminations
Fantasmic

My kids LOVE Star Wars so A Galactic Spectacular would be a priority but the don't show dates past October. Does anyone know if it's ending? We're going in January.

Did I miss any other options?

Star Wars is not expected to be ending any time soon. It is a "permanent" show, it's just that Disney has not been putting out the schedules so far in advance lately. One thing to note is that they are going to run the Christmas show, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam this year as well, and that may mean Star Wars is not run every night. Last year when they tried to replace SW outright with Jingle Bam, it did not go over well and SW was brought back. No word on scheduling for this yet, just something to keep in mind if you are there during that time.

 

[CAS239]

Star wars will be there in January and it's not going anywhere. Their bringing back Jingle Bell Jingle Bam for the holidays so no word yet on if Star Wars will be shown on those same days as well or not

List of shows in order:
Happily Ever After: must see
Star Wars: must see
Fantasmic: great show
Illuminations: good show but has quite a few boring/slow parts
RoL: whole show is boring except for the holograms

 

[mickey1968]

Stick with the Castle and you can't go wrong!!

 

[deedubb]

HEA
HEA
HEA
Illuminations

...and that's it. Nothing else matters.

 

[Parker Clan]

Star Wars
HEA
Illuminations

 

[LizGirl]

When are you going? It gets dark and the parks close relatively early in January so it may not be as taxing as summer hours. My 10 and 7 year old are pretty good at hanging out in the parks really late. They are not super early risers, though, and will make up for it in the morning. We had them in MK until 3am over Thanksgiving 2012!

My priority list is:
HEA
Star Wars
Illuminations

Rivers of Light is pretty cool but not overly exciting. My kids really enjoyed it. I'm a Disney nerd but somehow have only seen Fantasmic once! I guess I determined it wasn't worth waiting in line to go back. I should probably give it another shot.

 

[Lightsoutx12]

Star wars will be there in January and it's not going anywhere. Their bringing back Jingle Bell Jingle Bam for the holidays so no word yet on if Star Wars will be shown on those same days as well or not

List of shows in order:
Happily Ever After: must see
Star Wars: must see
Fantasmic: great show
Illuminations: good show but has quite a few boring/slow parts
RoL: whole show is boring except for the holograms

Exactly what I was going to say.