First, I've got to say, wow, what a show. I'm glad I went up front. I've only seen it once, but I would imagine that some of the effects at the top of the fountains that make you feel like you are 'underneath' them would simply be less effective viewed from the back of paradise park which would put you further away and higher up.
So, I did Ariel's Grotto, and thought the Tri-tip was excellent and the quality and quantity of food for the price wasn't much different than a restaurant not inside a theme park, IMO.
At the end of the meal, the server gave us directions to the viewing area. He did a very good job of directing us to the wrong location - he told us to go to the 'lighthouse' which is the Blue FP lineup. Thanks to this thread, I knew this was wrong and asked a CM there where to go and he told us 'in front of the Little Mermaid ride in the parade viewing area.' I knew all this, but just wanted to confirm.
We ate at 5:30, were done by 6:20 or so, and spent some time organizing, feeding the baby, etc., before heading over at 6:45, which was 90 minutes before the 8:15 show. As I passed the north Blue FP queue, there were already about 30 or so people in line. This was Thursday, September 12th. On Wed the 11th I happened to be in Cars Land at 8:00 park closing, so I wandered over and took a look from the Ariel's Grotto entrance, and the whole Paradise Park was packed. So even in 'off season' it does seem very popular.
This has been detailed before, but there really is no organization for the Dining waiting. I'll share what I saw. I arrived at the Dining entrance at 6:45, directly across from where the ropes open as if I were at the front of the area allowed for the parade, and was the only one there in line for about 10 minutes. People started showing up standing next to me, behind me, and even directly in the middle of the walkway in front of me. A CM a couple of times told people standing near the entrance and in the middle of the walkway to go back to the group at the parade line. They never went to the back, always to the side building the group wider, not deeper. Then, about 7:10 (5 minutes before they let us in), people started crowding right at the entrance. There was a different CM there now, and they seemed to not mind people waiting there. I made the decision to go join that group, worried I might get asked to go back and not be able to get the front anymore. So I stood right next to the entrance, behind about 8 other people now, instead of first in line. They never made us move back. At 7:15 they just started letting us in. I nicely slipped my way up closer to the front and was the 3rd 'group' in. Fortunately, these people didn't seem to know about the 'show centerline' and so I still got the exact spot I was going for. They went for the middle of the rail, near the garbage cans in my picture below. My spot on the far right was obviously dead center when you looked out at the fountains and projection boxes out in the water. It is not exactly perpendicular to the Mickey Wheel.
The front rail filled up right away, but no one came behind me until about 20 minutes later (40 mins before showtime).
The view was great with one caveat - parents with shoulder kids. I took a picture from the Sun wheel the next day - here's the front dining rail, the green circle shows where I was standing:
I can't post images yet with only 5 posts, so you'll have to copy/paste:
h t t p: //i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb417/bobearqsi/dining_front.jpg
The Red X's indicate where parents were standing with kids on their shoulders. I don't know how they got these stair locations, as when I went in the CM stood in front of the stairs and directed us over to the rail area. But regardless, it was okay for me because they were lower so it was about the same as just 2 normal height people in front of me. I couldn't see the fountains where they were, but I could still see the bottom of the fun wheel. If they happened to be a couple stairs up, or more shoulder kids, it would have been worse. I could still see the fountains over everyone else standing on the stairs.
All in all it was a great show, I only wish Paradise Park offered its intended 'excellent viewing from any location' so I didn't have to wait 90 minutes every time to see it.
And whatever that happens to be I'm sure my sons and I will love it. 
9-days left
fftop:
Thank You for keeping up this site. It has to be a lot of work
So we quickly changed our plan and decided to go to the Happiest Place on Earth.
