The truth be told I almost didn’t see Fantasmic on my last trip either. Like usual it seemed like everything went wrong. After a horrible (and I mean horrible as in worst ever) dining experience at the Hollywood Brown Derby that ran about an hour longer than it should have, a wife who got sick, and a niece who didn’t care if she saw it or not I figured it would be at least another two years before I saw Fantasmic.
In the end my wife told me to go. By that point I figured it would be a bust because it was the second showing and people were already seated.
When I got over to the venue it was still ten minutes to the show but I had to sit in almost the last section to the left. Needless to say it was not a good seat but I figured it would still be good after all the majority of the deeks out there rave about Fantasmic.
If you do the dining package or are late this is the kind of seat you will end up with.
There are some high and low points to the show. From where I was sitting the scene where they set the lagoon on fire was impressive. You really feel the heat pouring off of the water.
There is a limited use of fireworks but it’s a little disappointing. Then again the main focuses of the show are the characters and the story. In regards to that your experience will vary greatly depending on where you are sitting. If you are on the side you will miss most of what is going on.
The use of the lagoon for multiple boats and other aspects is really fun and allows everyone to get a good view of that part of the show.
Fantasmic suffers a low point much like Illuminations low point. It’s a scene where a lot of movie clips are displayed on water screens. It’s a nice technology and it’s fun at first but it just goes on for too long. You start to get bored with it.
The music in Fantasmic is okay. It’s just okay. The music for Wishes is better and the music for Illuminations is drastically better. Fanasmic has about twenty seconds of good music and then a lot of generic bland music.
Overall Fantasmic suffers from its popularity and its venue. The venue is so limited that you really do have to get in line at least an hour early to really see the show. If you try to just show up or get in line too late you will end up with a poor seat. While you will technically see Fantasmic you will miss a lot of detail that other people will get to see. It’s this aspect that hurts Fantasmic so badly. A lot of planning and time is needed to really enjoy Fantasmic. It’s really hard to justify that kind of planning just to see a show.
