World of Color / DL Fireworks

[TinkerbellSecret]

Decided to go ahead with my solo day on Sunday (less than 48 hours now!)....

I will get to the parks between 11-11:30 a.m. if no flight delays. I have never seen WoC. Last year I saw the fireworks show at DL, (RDCT?) and it was, hands down, my favorite nighttime Disney show (DL/WDW combined). I thought I could easily catch both shows, but after reading the WoC sticky, I'm not so sure.

Originally I thought I'd watch the fireworks @ 9:30 @ DL, then run over to CA for the 10:15 show. But with CA closing at 10:00, would they let me in at 9:55-10:00?

Now, I'm thinking go straight to CA when I get there and get a fast pass for the 9:00 WofC show...then run to DL after to catch the fireworks there? I will be alone, so it's easy for me to move around, and I'm not concerned about the "best" seat.

Thoughts/input?

TIA!

 

[HydroGuy]

It will be tough no matter what you do. WOC and fireworks on the night does not work very well. I would first suggest that WOC is 100 times better than the current summer fireworks Magical. So if anything should get the short end of the stick it would be fireworks. Do not do anything to risk that.

RDCT is a different story. But that is not playing now. We saw both this week. Magical I will skip in the future.

 

[mrswh]

You can do the 9:00 WOC show and still make the fireworks at DL. You won't have a "great" spot, but IMO pretty much anywhere on Main Street is perfectly fine for viewing fireworks. You could try to stay toward the back at WOC, then make a beeline over to DLR (though if the construction walls are still up as they were last week it will be a little tougher than normal). If you don't make it over, worst case you can stand on the plaza and watch them . . . you won't see the parts involving the castle, but you'll still get the majority of the show.

As for the 10:15 show - timing wise, I see no reason you could't watch fireworks (they only last 15-20 minutes) and then head over to DCA for WOC. I do have to say that I have only been to the 9:00 WOC show, and I know they line up differently for the later show . . . but for the 9:00 show anyway, you can show up at 8:55 and still get in just fine. If it is the same for the later show, you would have no problem at all, as long as you were somewhere on the end of Main Street closer to the exit - so you don't get stuck in the masses leaving after fireworks.

P.S. You can still enter DCA at 9:55. We walked over after DL fireworks just to cut through to get back to the GCH, and there were plenty of people streaming in at that time. The CMs said to us, "Enjoy the Show!"

 

[Eeee-va]

I've never tried to do both at all. Are you well above average height? If not, you may have trouble getting a good view for World of Color if you don't get there early, which might rule out the 10:15 show. (When I say "not a good view", I mean probably missing most of the projections and water-level effects if you are not quite tall and/or near or at a rail.) You could manage to get a good spot, but you might be completely unable to.

With the 9 PM WoC, it sounds like you should be able to at least get in to Main Street to see most or all of the fireworks--probably early enough to see Dumbo fly, if he does.

I don't know if there are any likely weather issues in August, but if there are high-altitude winds, they can delay or even cancel the fireworks. If fireworks were delayed, that could cause difficulty getting to WoC. If they're canceled, you could be stuck waiting for a show that never happens. (Or even in a better case, if it's windy on the ground, Tinkerbell and Dumbo may not fly. In June 2009 we had to watch the fireworks 3 times before Dumbo flew, and one show we saw was canceled halfway through! No idea how windy August is.)

World of Color is much less likely to be canceled (and like Hydroguy, I think it's superior to Magical). So I think it's a better place to invest your time waiting.

The only real advantage I can think doing fireworks first is that if you see them from the end of Main Street, you would minimize overall waiting for both shows (you could get the fireworks spot without much waiting--aside from the time taken to get down Main Street!--and then after fireworks it'd only be about 30 minutes before WoC started). The 9 PM WoC plan involves waiting for WoC for at least an hour (probably more), but probably getting a substantially better view of WoC.

Have a great trip!

 

[HydroGuy]

You can do the 9:00 WOC show and still make the fireworks at DL. You won't have a "great" spot, but IMO pretty much anywhere on Main Street is perfectly fine for viewing fireworks.

I am not sure an Olympic sprinter could do this. On nights when WOC starts at 9pm then it ends at 9:26. A person would have to work their way out of the crowded viewing area which takes 1-2 minutes if you are near the front. Then navigate the crowds leaving the show on the walkways. Then make their way to the park exit and to the DL entrance. It usually takes a minute to wait in line at the DL turnstile that time of night. Sometimes a little more. Then make their way to Main Street. All for a mediocre view of the fireworks.

I think if the average person hustled they could make it to Main Street by 9:40 - which would be 10 minutes late for this 15 minute show. So one could catch the last 5 minutes of a mediocre fireworks show from mediocre viewing location. I cannot see why anyone would want to attempt this.

 

[TinkerbellSecret]

Thank you for all of your input! Since one of the main reasons I decided to do the solo trip was to see WoC, I will try to get a fastpass for the 9:00 show and make that a priority. Since the fireworks show at DL is NOT RDCT, I'm okay missing it. IF it was still playing, I'd consider getting a two-day pass, even though I''d only have a couple hours Monday night to "Play", lol.

I wish RDCT was still playing! Is it going to be coming back at all?

 

[mvf-m11c]

I wish RDCT was still playing! Is it going to be coming back at all?

RDCT fireworks plays during the off season at DL. The months that RDCT will be playing is January to May & September to November. One point is that in October DL will be showing RDCT on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), Fridays are MHP nights and will be showing Halloween Screams. The summertime is Magical, Halloween during MHP is HS and Believe...In Holiday Magic fireworks during the Holiday season.