World of Color Superthread

[lana772]

Is yours at AG too? I'm worried now. I've gone for AG because it suits us best, food wise, but the whole point of doing it is to see WOC...especially as I'm short (5ft 2).

Yes. On Sept 21st.

 

[seobaina]

It's the difference between what Disney says you need to see the show and what you actually need. Yes you can see the show if you arrive later. But often it is not from a good view point.

I have no idea what they are telling folks. I just ate at CCR yesterday for WOC lunch. Maybe if you go before 5:30 is it considered lunch? Hard to say. I am just telling you 6pm will probably be too late unless you are OK with a poor view or get a good view by luck. I would recommend that you See If you can make a res before 5:30. Read the OP for why that is. Good luck m

I asked for lunch or dinner, they said that AG is only taking from 5:30 onwards...doesn't matter what meal you want to do. I've read the OP but I don't know what to do now. I don't want to eat at CCR cause I'm a fussy eater and nothing appeals, which is why I went for AG Are there separate sections in the reserved seating? If so, I'm less worried cause that will mean that not many AG reserved will go through before me but if not....

 

[seobaina]

I've managed to change it to 5:30 but that's the earliest. Is this going to be ok?

 

[disneyworld1977]

Strategy help:

Going to do WOC on Sept 5th @ 8:15 of course.

What are anyone's projections when we should get in the queue or the area?

Thinking about the fire hydrant spot?

And I need to definitely get a FP? We did dining last time so didn't have to do that.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Is 5:30 when AG's open back up for dinner? It is a character meal at lunch so there wouldn't be any WoC options like there is at CCR. I can't answer why the dinner sitting is so late though.

 

[seobaina]

Is 5:30 when AG's open back up for dinner? It is a character meal at lunch so there wouldn't be any WoC options like there is at CCR. I can't answer why the dinner sitting is so late though.

I'm guessing so, yep. They certainly don't offer WOC dining before that.

 

[HydroGuy]

I asked for lunch or dinner, they said that AG is only taking from 5:30 onwards...doesn't matter what meal you want to do. I've read the OP but I don't know what to do now. I don't want to eat at CCR cause I'm a fussy eater and nothing appeals, which is why I went for AG Are there separate sections in the reserved seating? If so, I'm less worried cause that will mean that not many AG reserved will go through before me but if not....

I missed you were dining at AG. Not sure what to tell you. I think 5:30 is pushing it for an 8:15 show. It may work out for you. Usually one does not want to hurry thru dinner. If you can finish and get over to the WOC viewing area by 7 you will be OK I think.

 

[seobaina]

I missed you were dining at AG. Not sure what to tell you. I think 5:30 is pushing it for an 8:15 show. It may work out for you. Usually one does not want to hurry thru dinner. If you can finish and get over to the WOC viewing area by 7 you will be OK I think.

There are just two of us so hopefully we can eat in an hour and not feel rushed then get to WOC straight after. Hoping as well that as it's a tuesday in late sept it won't be too busy Thanks

 

[Peezle]

Back from our Aug 5-8 trip and wanted to post some info here about the late WoC show since I was asking questions about it before we left and no one had much experience. I'll also include some general info about our experience with the dinner and the show in case anyone is interested. I know DCA will be going to only one WoC show per day soon as the summer season closes, but while they are still doing two shows at 9:00 and 10:15pm, I wanted to share in case anyone needed help.

I had a WoC dining reservation at WCT at 7:00pm. I was told by the dining reservation rep that this would get me reserved viewing area passes for the late WoC show, which is what I wanted. When the meal was over and I had paid, the waiter brought me passes for the early show. I asked for passes to the late show instead, and he was able to exchange them with no problem.

We showed up about 10 min early for the dinner reservation. I asked to sit upstairs because we wanted to eat indoors. It took some doing, but they were able to squeeze us in. Once we got up there, we realized it's only partially indoors. There is open space between the glass along the railing and the ceiling, so it's kind of an open air area. Not really indoors. Not a problem for us. Just wanted to let everyone know.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the service as a 5. Service was extremely slow. We didn't get our food until we'd been there for 75 minutes! Our waiter did get approval (on his own) to give us a 10% discount because our food took so long (which I appreciated), but this is a big reason why Hydroguy recommends that you allow plenty of time for WoC dining, wherever you choose to dine. You never know how long it's going to take to get out of there, and you certainly don't want to rush when you are paying that kind of money for a meal. Fortunately, we had plenty of time, so it wasn't a big deal. The waiter that refilled our drinks spilled them on the table (pouring too fast or too much) three different times (yes, three!) and never apologized for getting our food and other items on the table wet. I expected much better service than we received.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the food as a 6. The bread that they bring out before the main course is very good. For dinner, I had the filet mignon. It was OK, but nothing special. I've had better at local steak houses here in TX. One daughter had the sea bass (sustainable fish). She really liked it and said it was very good. I tried a bite and agreed. My other daughter had the seafood pasta. She ate it, but did not enjoy it. I tried it as well and had to agree with her that it was bland and not very tasty. My son (very picky eater) had a cheese pizza off the kid's menu but didn't finish it because he thought it tasted strange. I didn't try it. The dessert tray was OK. It included tiramisu, macaroons (raspberry and pistachio), vanilla bean panna cotta with fruit and chocolate caramel espresso tart. We left a lot of it behind.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the atmosphere as a 5. We had a big group next to us that was extremely loud, to the point of being rude. All of the tables around us were very glad when they finally left. I had to kill a spider that was crawling up the wall right beside my daughter. That made me notice the wall and I saw two other bugs that had been smashed against the wall next to our table. Apparently they have pest problems there.

I don't want to make it sound like dinner was a disaster. It wasn't. We enjoyed our time together. Heck, we're on vacation! But I would not eat there again. I would try CCR or Ariel's for WoC dining.

As for lining up for the late WoC show, I finally determined that there was no line. I asked 3 different CMs in the area while the early show was going on. I was told several times that I didn't need to be there that early (we got there at 9:15pm) and also told that there was no line for the late show because it wasn't as crowded. The only specifics I got from any of them was to stand under the King Triton statue that is on top of the Ariel ride and wait there. We were the only ones in the area for quite some time. About 20 minutes before show time, others started to congregate in the area. Almost all of them asked CMs where to line up. They were all told the same thing. Go stand under King Triton. By the time they were getting ready to let people in, there had to be over 100 people "waiting underneath King Triton". There was a desperate need for a line. People kept inching closer and closer to the roped off area. As more people came, they would walk up to the CMs guarding the roped off area and ask where to go. They would just point them back to where a big group of people were already standing, so they would just back up to where they were in front of those of us who were already there. It got to the point to where others couldn't get through the walkway because it was so crowded. The CMs had to keep moving people back. It was very irritating to me that we were the first ones there but were clearly going to have to fight our way toward the roped off areas when they opened it up.

All of my kids knew where to go since we had scoped it out earlier in the day (more good advice from Hydroguy). I told my son (15) that he and I were going to be the ones to try to get in as quickly as we could and grab our spots on the rail just behind the wet area and the girls (22 and 20) could catch up later after they got in. My son and I kept working our way in front of the latecomers who were standing in front of us. It was a mad dash for the ropes when they opened it up. My son and I were the third group in. One family went straight to the wet area and the other family stopped on the side to wait for the rest of their group who hadn't gotten through yet. So we were the first ones to the rail just behind the wet area. We saved spots for the girls who got there a couple of minutes later.

It all worked out in the end. All of us loved the show and thought our viewing spot was excellent (thanks again for this thread, Hydroguy). It was one of the highlights of our trip.

But if you choose to attend the late show like we did (so we didn't have to deal with the larger, more chaotic crowds!), beware that there is no line. There is no control. Just a mob of people in front of the Ariel ride that turns into a free-for-all as soon as they open up the reserved area. A line would have been very nice and very helpful and prevented a lot of jostling and irritation on the part of all the people trying to show up early to ensure a good viewing spot.

I hope this is helpful. I'll answer any questions anyone has. I'll be including this info and everything else we did in a trip report soon.

 

[shelemm]

I'll add my experience from seeing the late show last week.

Did not do a dinner package. We went early in the morning for FP, and the CM said we could swap out our early showing FP for a later one 'on the spot.' She had a pocketful of yellow FPs for the later showing, so we exchanged our passes right away without having to come back.

The yellow line forms at 9:15 for the 10:15 show, there is no line before then. AT 9:15 they created the line with tape in front of Jumpin' Jellyfish (it said this on the pass), and we were among the first six or so people there. We sat down, and everything was orderly. They walked us into the audience at about 9:50pm.

The audience area seemed a bit different than on the map shown on the first post of this thread. The lowest walkway, with the wooden boardwalk, seemed to be one big area with no rope, and we didn't see how to access it. We went to the lowest entry point, which turned out to be the second lowest area. As one of the first ones in, we were able to get a railing position as far center as we could go before a rope. As we waited I decided to see what the view was like on the next level up. I was able to go much further toward the center line, but there were poles in the way. On the lower rung, the view was unobstructed.

Our view was just about perfect, even though we knew we were off-center. The lowest area had very few people in it, and we could have stood much more center if we knew how to access it, but we didn't really feel like moving at that point, and we were very pleased with our view.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread! The show was spectacular and better than I had imagined.

 

[Midnightred]

We had 6 pm reservations at AG for the WOC dinner, early show. We had to wait to be seated because we declined to sit outside, as it was too hot outside. Our server was fantastic, and the whole family enjoyed the meal. It took about an hour to get out of there, but we were not rushing at all. The meal was one of the highlights of our trip! We arrived at the viewing area at 7pm, or a little after, when they just started letting people in, and had no trouble. My two boys and I actually decided to move closer to the rail in the non-wet zone at 8:30, and had no trouble. We had the perfect spot! People were very nice for the most part, except for one lady who thought I was too close for comfort. She commented to her spouse, "let's move because it's obvious they want this spot". She was pretty annoyed, but I didn't feel like we were doing anything wrong or taking her spot. She was pretty uptight IMO. The show was absolutely fabulous! This was on a Wedensday night in July. I do not think 6 pm reservations are too late, unless we were just really, really lucky.

Midnightred

 

[Midnightred]

Now that I think about it it was for the 9:00 show. We were let in the viewing area at 8pm. We probably got out of the dinner closer to 7:30 or so. Sorry for the misinformation, but we did have a choice spot with only an hour wait.

Midnightred

 

[Jaina]

I have friends going September 5th (a Thursday). The park closes at 8 that night. If they have the first set of FP's (blue?) do they still line up left of the Golden Zephyr? What time? Would 7 be early enough? There are just two of them, but they are not super tall, (5'6-5'9 ish) and this will be their only chance to see WoC (they are just doing 2 days, 1-park-per-day). Since Disneyland is closing at 7 PM that week, do you think CA is going to be extra crowded for WoC? Thanks... (the only first-hand info I have is when we saw it in late February of this year with our 3 kids!)

 

[HydroGuy]

I have friends going September 5th (a Thursday). The park closes at 8 that night. If they have the first set of FP's (blue?) do they still line up left of the Golden Zephyr? What time? Would 7 be early enough? There are just two of them, but they are not super tall, (5'6-5'9 ish) and this will be their only chance to see WoC (they are just doing 2 days, 1-park-per-day). Since Disneyland is closing at 7 PM that week, do you think CA is going to be extra crowded for WoC? Thanks... (the only first-hand info I have is when we saw it in late February of this year with our 3 kids!)

Blue is not by Golden Zephyr - that is yellow. Anyways, as the OP states, if they want to know they have a good view they need to arrive 90 minutes before the show starts.

Will DCA be extra crowded that week? Yes, but the overall crowds will drop after Labor Day so I doubt it will be very bad.

 

[HydroGuy]

Back from our Aug 5-8 trip and wanted to post some info here about the late WoC show since I was asking questions about it before we left and no one had much experience. I'll also include some general info about our experience with the dinner and the show in case anyone is interested. I know DCA will be going to only one WoC show per day soon as the summer season closes, but while they are still doing two shows at 9:00 and 10:15pm, I wanted to share in case anyone needed help.

I had a WoC dining reservation at WCT at 7:00pm. I was told by the dining reservation rep that this would get me reserved viewing area passes for the late WoC show, which is what I wanted. When the meal was over and I had paid, the waiter brought me passes for the early show. I asked for passes to the late show instead, and he was able to exchange them with no problem.

We showed up about 10 min early for the dinner reservation. I asked to sit upstairs because we wanted to eat indoors. It took some doing, but they were able to squeeze us in. Once we got up there, we realized it's only partially indoors. There is open space between the glass along the railing and the ceiling, so it's kind of an open air area. Not really indoors. Not a problem for us. Just wanted to let everyone know.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the service as a 5. Service was extremely slow. We didn't get our food until we'd been there for 75 minutes! Our waiter did get approval (on his own) to give us a 10% discount because our food took so long (which I appreciated), but this is a big reason why Hydroguy recommends that you allow plenty of time for WoC dining, wherever you choose to dine. You never know how long it's going to take to get out of there, and you certainly don't want to rush when you are paying that kind of money for a meal. Fortunately, we had plenty of time, so it wasn't a big deal. The waiter that refilled our drinks spilled them on the table (pouring too fast or too much) three different times (yes, three!) and never apologized for getting our food and other items on the table wet. I expected much better service than we received.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the food as a 6. The bread that they bring out before the main course is very good. For dinner, I had the filet mignon. It was OK, but nothing special. I've had better at local steak houses here in TX. One daughter had the sea bass (sustainable fish). She really liked it and said it was very good. I tried a bite and agreed. My other daughter had the seafood pasta. She ate it, but did not enjoy it. I tried it as well and had to agree with her that it was bland and not very tasty. My son (very picky eater) had a cheese pizza off the kid's menu but didn't finish it because he thought it tasted strange. I didn't try it. The dessert tray was OK. It included tiramisu, macaroons (raspberry and pistachio), vanilla bean panna cotta with fruit and chocolate caramel espresso tart. We left a lot of it behind.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate the atmosphere as a 5. We had a big group next to us that was extremely loud, to the point of being rude. All of the tables around us were very glad when they finally left. I had to kill a spider that was crawling up the wall right beside my daughter. That made me notice the wall and I saw two other bugs that had been smashed against the wall next to our table. Apparently they have pest problems there.

I don't want to make it sound like dinner was a disaster. It wasn't. We enjoyed our time together. Heck, we're on vacation! But I would not eat there again. I would try CCR or Ariel's for WoC dining.

As for lining up for the late WoC show, I finally determined that there was no line. I asked 3 different CMs in the area while the early show was going on. I was told several times that I didn't need to be there that early (we got there at 9:15pm) and also told that there was no line for the late show because it wasn't as crowded. The only specifics I got from any of them was to stand under the King Triton statue that is on top of the Ariel ride and wait there. We were the only ones in the area for quite some time. About 20 minutes before show time, others started to congregate in the area. Almost all of them asked CMs where to line up. They were all told the same thing. Go stand under King Triton. By the time they were getting ready to let people in, there had to be over 100 people "waiting underneath King Triton". There was a desperate need for a line. People kept inching closer and closer to the roped off area. As more people came, they would walk up to the CMs guarding the roped off area and ask where to go. They would just point them back to where a big group of people were already standing, so they would just back up to where they were in front of those of us who were already there. It got to the point to where others couldn't get through the walkway because it was so crowded. The CMs had to keep moving people back. It was very irritating to me that we were the first ones there but were clearly going to have to fight our way toward the roped off areas when they opened it up.

All of my kids knew where to go since we had scoped it out earlier in the day (more good advice from Hydroguy). I told my son (15) that he and I were going to be the ones to try to get in as quickly as we could and grab our spots on the rail just behind the wet area and the girls (22 and 20) could catch up later after they got in. My son and I kept working our way in front of the latecomers who were standing in front of us. It was a mad dash for the ropes when they opened it up. My son and I were the third group in. One family went straight to the wet area and the other family stopped on the side to wait for the rest of their group who hadn't gotten through yet. So we were the first ones to the rail just behind the wet area. We saved spots for the girls who got there a couple of minutes later.

It all worked out in the end. All of us loved the show and thought our viewing spot was excellent (thanks again for this thread, Hydroguy). It was one of the highlights of our trip.

But if you choose to attend the late show like we did (so we didn't have to deal with the larger, more chaotic crowds!), beware that there is no line. There is no control. Just a mob of people in front of the Ariel ride that turns into a free-for-all as soon as they open up the reserved area. A line would have been very nice and very helpful and prevented a lot of jostling and irritation on the part of all the people trying to show up early to ensure a good viewing spot.

I hope this is helpful. I'll answer any questions anyone has. I'll be including this info and everything else we did in a trip report soon.

Thanks for your feedback! Every experience posted here helps! Glad this thread helped you have a good experience. We saw WOC last Wednesday ourselves and got the front rail spot.

The "queueing" for WOC reserved viewing has been a disaster for over a year now and Disney should fix it. They need to make an actual queue and not just tell people to go over by the LM ride. We did WOC CCR lunch last week. We arrived about 7:45 for the 9PM show. We were second or third there. But the first to arrive were not the first to be allowed into the viewing area because a mob formed just like it always does. We had to be aggressive like you were and watch the CMs very closely when they opened the area. And then moved quickly. As usual in my experience they opened the reserved viewing area about 8PM - one hour early.

The good part of this is most guests do not know where to go so the competition for the rail spots is not that intense. It was possible to get near the rail well after 8PM - maybe until 8:15 or so. Not at the front but right behind the front people so not too bad unless you are really short. The folks who showed up behind us had a 6 year old who we allowed to move to the rail next to us to see better. The mom stood behind the little girl so she had a decent view too. Not sure about the dad.

Also, my DS21 and his GF showed up about 8:15. We held spots for them at the rail. When they came the CMs tried very, very hard to direct them to the CCR viewing area at the back. They went so far as to tell them that that area is the best spot to see the show and not to bother coming down to the front rail where we were. We waved at them and the CM saw us and relented and let them come down to join us.

Again, the CMs will let you go anywhere with your reserved ticket and you need to assert yourself with them and tell them where you want to go. You are doing anything wrong when you do this. It depends on the CM how hard they will try and make you go to the area reserved for CCR.

 

[BWVPam]

We at DCA today and got the blue fast pass for th 9 show. Anything special we should look for

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Kevin_W]

Thanks for your feedback! Every experience posted here helps! Glad this thread helped you have a good experience.

I wanted to say thanks for this thread as well. We saw the show back-to-back nights on 7/31 and 8/1, both at the 10:15 show.

I was interested in the dining package, but we ended up just doing fastpasses and were in yellow both times. (Both times, the machines were still giving out FP's for the early show, but a cast member happily exchanged them)

On 7/31 we watched the Dl fireworks from near the hub and then walked over to WoC, hoping we'd still get a spot that wasn't too terrible. I was shocked. The fireworks end ~9:44 and we were probably over at WoC at 9:55 give or take a minute, and there were only 4-5 other people in our entire section. We were front and center right at the rail (although not in the wet section).

The area did fill up some over the next 15 minutes, but it wasn't terrible. The next night we were later (10:05-10:10) and we still were second row in the non-wet section. I would have preferred to be at the rail in the wet section (which was still available), but my glasses-wearing wife wanted to be able to see!

It was a great show and definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

 

[BobearQSI]

So, I'm a bit confused about WoC dining options - it seems the information in the first post doesn't reflect the latest info with Carthay Circle.

I'm going with a 2 year old on a Thursday in September off season (the 12th), and my main purpose for choosing a dining plan was because the 2 year old won't do well waiting for an hour in one spot. I was hoping to show up 30 minutes prior to show start and still get a good view.

I also choose Carthay Circle because the official website and the lady on the Disney Dining phone said that Carthay Circle guests get different spots from the other dining options, and those spots are also better.

However, the picture on the first post doesn't show this. Can someone point out where in that picture the Carthay Circle spots are?

Also, if I've read the last few pages correctly, it sound like the Carthay Circle spots are simply in the back of the whole preferred dining section? Are they really better? I'm very much of a front and center guy, but don't want to get 'wet' (mist is fine).

Do CCR people get to go in and choose spots before any of the other dining options? If so and it really is the same section, it sounds like the only advantage to CCR is that you get in before everyone else, which defeats my whole purpose of arriving later.

Can someone with experience shed light on what all the real differences are on the Carthay Circle passes vs. the other dining options, and where it is on the map in the first post?

Thanks.

 

[shelemm]

So, I'm a bit confused about WoC dining options - it seems the information in the first post doesn't reflect the latest info with Carthay Circle.

I'm going with a 2 year old on a Thursday in September off season (the 12th), and my main purpose for choosing a dining plan was because the 2 year old won't do well waiting for an hour in one spot. I was hoping to show up 30 minutes prior to show start and still get a good view.

I also choose Carthay Circle because the official website and the lady on the Disney Dining phone said that Carthay Circle guests get different spots from the other dining options, and those spots are also better.

However, the picture on the first post doesn't show this. Can someone point out where in that picture the Carthay Circle spots are?

Also, if I've read the last few pages correctly, it sound like the Carthay Circle spots are simply in the back of the whole preferred dining section? Are they really better? I'm very much of a front and center guy, but don't want to get 'wet' (mist is fine).

Do CCR people get to go in and choose spots before any of the other dining options? If so and it really is the same section, it sounds like the only advantage to CCR is that you get in before everyone else, which defeats my whole purpose of arriving later.

Can someone with experience shed light on what all the real differences are on the Carthay Circle passes vs. the other dining options, and where it is on the map in the first post?

Thanks.

Is it just the two of you? You and the 2 y.o.? If you had another person, one could wait and kind of hold your spot while the other takes the 2 y.o. to the bathroom or elsewhere to walk around. Also, there do seem to be benches in the dining reservation spot.... has somebody mentioned these before?

 

[HydroGuy]

So, I'm a bit confused about WoC dining options - it seems the information in the first post doesn't reflect the latest info with Carthay Circle.

I'm going with a 2 year old on a Thursday in September off season (the 12th), and my main purpose for choosing a dining plan was because the 2 year old won't do well waiting for an hour in one spot. I was hoping to show up 30 minutes prior to show start and still get a good view.

I also choose Carthay Circle because the official website and the lady on the Disney Dining phone said that Carthay Circle guests get different spots from the other dining options, and those spots are also better.

However, the picture on the first post doesn't show this. Can someone point out where in that picture the Carthay Circle spots are?

Also, if I've read the last few pages correctly, it sound like the Carthay Circle spots are simply in the back of the whole preferred dining section? Are they really better? I'm very much of a front and center guy, but don't want to get 'wet' (mist is fine).

Do CCR people get to go in and choose spots before any of the other dining options? If so and it really is the same section, it sounds like the only advantage to CCR is that you get in before everyone else, which defeats my whole purpose of arriving later.

Can someone with experience shed light on what all the real differences are on the Carthay Circle passes vs. the other dining options, and where it is on the map in the first post?

Thanks.

I am confused. The OP addresses all of your questions in detail.

1. Getting a reserved dining FP does not guarantee a better view. Guests should not get any WOC reserved dining option with the idea it guarantees anything other than an FP. IMO it is not worth getting a reserved dining option for WOC unless you want to eat at the establishment anyways and you are willing to dedicate the time required to get a good spot.

2. The CCR FP location is in the back and it is not a better spot to view WOC. No one knows why Disney has done this for the last year.

All of the "real differences" are detailed in the OP. I have done CCR reserved for WOC twice myself - as recently as two weeks ago. I also have done AG reserved three times.

You may want to re-read the OP more carefully for a thorough explanation. And then if you still have questions come back and post them and then we can help further.