Fantasmic Dining Package Discussion Thread

View Fantasmic! from River Belle restaurant OR from dining fast pass area

  • River Belle Restaurant

    Votes: 26 41.3%
  • Dining Fast Pass Area

    Votes: 37 58.7%

  • Total voters
    63
Just an update. I did write an email. I got a canned email response thanking me for my input.

They don't care. So just know going into it that unless you are seated on the ground near the front insulated by others on the dining package, you might end up in hand to hand combat to protect your spot.
Super annoying that other park guests would do that to you (and others). Hopefully it doesn’t happen all that often. Sorry Disney didn’t seem more apologetic.

Oh, and on the topic of "being misted" in the front... maybe it was the wind that night, but it more felt like we were drowning. I had to wring out my hair afterwards, and had to start digging for a plastic bag to wrap the camera in mid-show. That never happened before.
Sitting a bit back was great during Fantasmic - we didn’t get misted at all. But then during the fireworks where the screens were up the whole time we got a lot of mist. People up front kept leaving (making us get misted more :goodvibes)
 
Wait so did you get to keep the cushion? Were you hauling around a cushion the rest of the night?

We received our cushions at the end of dinner and carried them around until our 10:30 show. They aren't heavy and it wasn't really a big deal for us. They came along on Star Tours, Mission Breakout, and we watched the fireworks before finally using them. I thought my friends might just throw theirs away after the show but they took them home saying how they would be good on the knees when working in the yard/garden, etc. So while they aren't amazing they are a nice little bonus. And we didn't have any trouble carrying them around.
 
I think i may be the only one who does not want to sit to watch the show. Sitting is so uncomfortable for me on the ground. So BB and RBT are sitting only? Which can you stand for? Has anyone done the premium recently, I couldn't find any recent comments. Was curious how the fireworks viewing worked for that. A blog made it sound like you can stay to watch the fireworks from your table.
 
Yes, you have to stay seated for the Blue Bayou section. However, the seat cushions are about 1 inch thick foam and it makes it really nice. I don’t love being squished and every time we have done the BB section, we have had room. Plus, since everyone is seated, you don’t have to worry about tall people suddenly moving in front of you—I’m looking at you, Carthay Circle WOC section. That one I can pass on, but the BB experience is completely worth it—especially if you love the surf and turf and are too much of a cheapskate to actually order it by itself on the menu. Cough. Cough.
 


I think i may be the only one who does not want to sit to watch the show. Sitting is so uncomfortable for me on the ground. So BB and RBT are sitting only? Which can you stand for? Has anyone done the premium recently, I couldn't find any recent comments. Was curious how the fireworks viewing worked for that. A blog made it sound like you can stay to watch the fireworks from your table.
We were allowed to stand in the back of the RBT section. I wanted to photograph the show, and enjoyed sitting while waiting, then standing for the show itself.
 
For anyone who has gone and done this during the holiday season: After the first showing, do they make it snow over NOS during the fireworks show?
 


We did the regular Fantasmic package at River Belle on Friday 12/22 the food was horrible, I had the Chicken sandwich and my DD had the pork sandwich. We have done the Blue Bayou package in the past and wanted to try something different. The service was just OK the atmosphere was on par with Cafe Orleans.
The view for the show was decent.
 
Late review - we did the RBT package on 12/10. Food was actually quite good - I liked my ribs and it was a generous potion. Malificent dessert was very good. The servers were nice but the actual service itself was awful. Mains came out before the salads...to be fair they were very apologetic. One of the servers asked DH if he wanted any dipping sauces, and walked away before I could ask for some ranch for myself. DH wanted his dessert to go and they packed up both of ours. Fantasmic FPs didn't come with our check, and I had to ask our server to make sure we got them. I know service can be very hit or miss, but we've always received fairly competent service at DLR TS meals so we were surprised and disappointed at how subpar the experience was. We did not complain to a manager, but interestingly, I received a Disney survey a couple days later asking about our dinner.

Fantasmic was great, we got there about 45 miutes before the show and were a few rows back, clear of the railing and right next to the Blue Bayou area. We brought our old seat cushions from the last time we did a BB package which made the wait easier (we stay across the street and carry relatively little into the parks, this didn't take up much space in our backpack). The show was great! YouTube videos don't do it enough justice. I noticed they changed up the PoTC dialogue...the lady was less screechy/annoying.

With all of the FP area changes I think we'll continue to do the Fantasmic dining package, but next time we're going back to BB and I'd have to think long and hard before booking RBT again. We did WoC lunch at CCR a few days later, which was a much better value at the same price as F! dinner at RBT.
 
Can someone comment on the Hungry Bear section. Can I show up right before the show and have a decent spot? I have a toddler and I will be alone and there will be no showing up early. He just can't. Is Hungry Bear seated or standing?
 
Can someone comment on the Hungry Bear section. Can I show up right before the show and have a decent spot? I have a toddler and I will be alone and there will be no showing up early. He just can't. Is Hungry Bear seated or standing?
The only actual seating available for Fantasmic is the Premium RBT package where you stay seated in the restaurant. The rest are all roped off sections by the railing. Most require you to seat, although the RBT (non premium) section we were in allowed us to stand in back for the show.
 
The only actual seating available for Fantasmic is the Premium RBT package where you stay seated in the restaurant. The rest are all roped off sections by the railing. Most require you to seat, although the RBT (non premium) section we were in allowed us to stand in back for the show.

So Hungry Bear will be mandatory seated? I wonder if they would let me stand in the back with my son seated in his stroller.

Do you think we will be able to have a decent view if we show up 5-10 minutes before the show? Is that even possible with all the crowding in the area prior to the show? I know that people recommend arriving at the section 45 minutes before the show starts, but I'm trying to come up with a reasonable planning knowing that my son simply will not be able to wait long before being "entertained" by the show starting. I will probably give him a giant lollypop or something to help out but he is an almost 3-year-old boy who can't sit still long at any time much less when he's all excited at the end of the day. Once the show starts he will be fine, but it's the time right before that will be a challenge.
 
So Hungry Bear will be mandatory seated? I wonder if they would let me stand in the back with my son seated in his stroller.

Do you think we will be able to have a decent view if we show up 5-10 minutes before the show? Is that even possible with all the crowding in the area prior to the show? I know that people recommend arriving at the section 45 minutes before the show starts, but I'm trying to come up with a reasonable planning knowing that my son simply will not be able to wait long before being "entertained" by the show starting. I will probably give him a giant lollypop or something to help out but he is an almost 3-year-old boy who can't sit still long at any time much less when he's all excited at the end of the day. Once the show starts he will be fine, but it's the time right before that will be a challenge.
Maybe? I know they let me stand in the back of the RBT section because it was a walkway behind us. Not sure what's behind the HB section.

I would have been fine not arriving until near showtime, but I didn't know that going into it, so we got there early. The ground is fairly well sloped so we would have probably been ok anywhere in the section if we had to sit.

It's just hard to know going into it how many will be there on a given night. We were there on a night they were doing Candlelight Processional so a very busy night. But some CM's handle things differently too.
 
Maybe? I know they let me stand in the back of the RBT section because it was a walkway behind us. Not sure what's behind the HB section.

I would have been fine not arriving until near showtime, but I didn't know that going into it, so we got there early. The ground is fairly well sloped so we would have probably been ok anywhere in the section if we had to sit.

It's just hard to know going into it how many will be there on a given night. We were there on a night they were doing Candlelight Processional so a very busy night. But some CM's handle things differently too.

Thanks for sharing. I have not watched Fantasmic in about 20-25 years (since it debuted when I was in high school!) so I don't have a good handle on what the seating areas look like. I did end up in the general area about an hour or so before a show when it first came back recently and it was such a mob scene. I definitely wouldn't even attempt it without a dining package, especially since I can dedicate a chunk of time to showing up early and waiting.

We rarely do dining packages, and in fact, rarely see the nighttime entertainment since he's so young, but I decided to splurge and do a few packages before my son turns 3 since he's free and also because there are some earlier showtimes available since it gets dark early this time of year. I chose Hungry Bear for Fantasmic because I'm going bigger and doing a mommy-and-me WOC Dessert Party, too. Although I read on here that the kids don't get the glow cups anymore, which is a big bummer as I was counting on that to help keep him entertained, ha ha.
 
Thanks for sharing. I have not watched Fantasmic in about 20-25 years (since it debuted when I was in high school!) so I don't have a good handle on what the seating areas look like. I did end up in the general area about an hour or so before a show when it first came back recently and it was such a mob scene. I definitely wouldn't even attempt it without a dining package, especially since I can dedicate a chunk of time to showing up early and waiting.

We rarely do dining packages, and in fact, rarely see the nighttime entertainment since he's so young, but I decided to splurge and do a few packages before my son turns 3 since he's free and also because there are some earlier showtimes available since it gets dark early this time of year. I chose Hungry Bear for Fantasmic because I'm going bigger and doing a mommy-and-me WOC Dessert Party, too. Although I read on here that the kids don't get the glow cups anymore, which is a big bummer as I was counting on that to help keep him entertained, ha ha.
I'm actually thinking the next time we see it, we'll do a package again but arrive last minute. The night we were there the park was nearly gridlocked though so it was better to just be sitting somewhere anyway.
 
I'm actually thinking the next time we see it, we'll do a package again but arrive last minute. The night we were there the park was nearly gridlocked though so it was better to just be sitting somewhere anyway.

Barring illness, we will be doing this next week so I'll report back how it goes to pop into the section at the last minute.
 
We did the B.B. package for the first showing on 12/27. Our B.B. reservation was at 6. My husband ordered surf and turf and I ordered the ribeye. He had the salad and I had the gumbo. My kiddo has the Mac and cheese (I think). We had the pumpkin dessert and sorcery Mickey. We thought the food was really good. We had had Ariel’s earlier in the day and were left unimpressed with the food (character interaction was great tho) our service was great and we were seated right away. Our seat cushions we were given did say fantasmic on them and the waitress did a great job of telling us where to go. We went to check out the spot to line up about 715 ish and was told line up would be around 8. We rode Winnie the Pooh and shopped in some shops and came back. A line was already forming but a CM came out and very firmly told people the could not line up yet. This was due to the crowds and needing the walkway to be clear. The people who were already in line were not happy and were very vocal about it.
We found a seat on a bench and hung out...when right at 8 the CM started the line. I jumped right up and was at the very front of the B.B. line. They did divide the line up by packages and checked everyone’s fast passes twice. We ended up right front and center and the rail. My son loved it. We watched the ducks on the river before the show. The show was amazing and the fireworks after were great. The announcer asked people to stay for the fireworks a but people were leaving and everyone stood up for the fireworks. Then it snowed- which I didn’t expect and it was total magic. The whole expirence was great and I deff recccomend it. The seat cushions made a big difference!


The only negative.. is the place they had us park our stroller while we watched the show. Our stroller was SOAKED when we went to get it. It actually shorted out my sons bubble wand we left in it. (Disney replaced it). My son rode back to the hotel sitting on our seat cushions lol!

High recommend!
 
I think i may be the only one who does not want to sit to watch the show. Sitting is so uncomfortable for me on the ground. So BB and RBT are sitting only? Which can you stand for? Has anyone done the premium recently, I couldn't find any recent comments. Was curious how the fireworks viewing worked for that. A blog made it sound like you can stay to watch the fireworks from your table.
We did the premium viewing on Dec. 28 and we all loved it! We got a table right at the railing on the far left side, so right in front of the island. We all enjoyed our food and could not even finish it. :) We saw the first showing and just watched the fireworks from our seats at RBT. Would do it again.
 
Barring illness, we will be doing this next week so I'll report back how it goes to pop into the section at the last minute.

We arrived at the RBT seating area's entrance about 8:40 for a 9:00 show last summer (about a month after it re-opened). Since we were just 2 adults we knew we had more options and I wanted to sit in the back anyways to get photos. The area was getting full by that time but we got center seats in the back just in front of the roped-off walkway (no one camped out behind us once the show started). Part of the reason we decided to do the dining package was to avoid the long wait in the FP holding area and having to devote up to 2 hours for that one thing. I figure the small upcharge from the food value at RBT was worth the hour and a half it saved me on a busy day -- we did Pirates and Big Thunder during that time.

PHXscuba
 
I did the BB package last friday. It was absolutely worth it! The food was by far the the best meal we had, and the view for the show was unbeatable. My mom loved the experience so much, she decided to book it for her and her husband again in march. The cushions are cute. Black with the F! logo on one side, and the BB logo on the other. I've just never been able to experience F! as magically as that. They didn't pack us in tight at all, and we were in the first showing. I would recommend!
 

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