Fantasmic! Disneyland vs WDW

[tirian]

Fantasmic! Disneyland vs WDW Side-by-Side video

Check out these recent videos of the finales from Fantasmic at DL and WDW's. Someone posted them as a side-by-side comparison on YouTube, and I saw the link on another board.

The biggest difference is the dragon, with DL getting a very impressive beast (when it works) recently. They also upgraded their projection to HD. Of course, the Mark Twain riverboat makes the barge at WDW look like a joke. The storylines are also slightly different—their villains scene doesn't last as long as Florida's, and the final confrontation with Malificent seems too short. Just the same, their show is better funded and better produced than the one at DHS, and there's no good reason for it.

I also noticed that WDW dropped its choreography with the banners; now the characters just wave. When did this happen?

Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x3PIT6nH74

Edit: I don't expect a show-only version of the Steamboat Willie to look as impressive as the Mark Twain, but it could at least look more cartoonish and less like PVC pipes.

 

[sponono88]

yeah it's surprising to see how different the shows area, especially now with DL's new dragon. Not to mention the other upgrades DL has received in the past couple of years

- HD digital projectors
- LED lighting for princess/monkey barges
- overhaul of the lighting system
- Strobe lighting/projections on the island(stage)
- reworked finale with new pyro
- new crocodile
- new dragon
- flotsam and jetsom eels.

LED lighting on princess barges - tones shift from blue to full color w/ sparkle effect.

[youtube]smUFM3lBwCU[/youtube]

 

[_Scar]

This is like the third thread on this.

We get DHS doesn't compare to DL. Give it a few years...

 

[Laura]

Pretty sad seeing them side by side like that. As usual, WDW builds bigger, and DL builds better.

I still haven't seen the new dragon. I tend to avoid NOS at all costs in the evenings. :lol:

 

[tirian]

This is like the third thread on this.

We get DHS doesn't compare to DL. Give it a few years...

No, actually this is the first with a side-by-side video, which was just posted a few days ago.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

This is like the third thread on this.

We get DHS doesn't compare to DL. Give it a few years...

Someone new running TDO, then?


DL's Fantasmic looks great. Only think I like better about ours is the mountain (Mickey on a shack? :lol: Really?) and I actually like our pyro sequences better. DL's looks too organized, and almost too techy, especially with the lights. The free for all at DHS is much more organic and real for the moment.

 

[sponono88]

Someone new running TDO, then?


DL's Fantasmic looks great. Only think I like better about ours is the mountain (Mickey on a shack? :lol: Really?) and I actually like our pyro sequences better. DL's looks too organized, and almost too techy, especially with the lights. The free for all at DHS is much more organic and real for the moment.

yep, that's Mickey on a "shack". sounds strange but it works. here are some pieces of artwork that show the initial design and how the TSI surroundings help provide the setting for the DL show.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

yep, that's Mickey on a "shack". sounds strange but it works. here are some pieces of artwork that show the initial design and how the TSI surroundings help provide the setting for the DL show.

Cool stuff.


Never understood why Fantasmic was in Frontierland, too, BTW. DHS has the edge for location, IMHO.

 

[Lee]

Never understood why Fantasmic was in Frontierland, too, BTW. DHS has the edge for location, IMHO.

That's 'cause you haven't been to Disneyland.:lol:
The New Orleans Square location is awesome. Can't let theme be an issue for a show like this.
True, you don't get nice metal bleachers to sit on....but otherwise, the setting is absolutely fantastic.

 

[Chrononymous]

Even before DLs upgrades, I liked it better.

It's a show built around the existing real estate, and with that in mind it is absolutely amazing.

The real difference for me is the Columbia with Peter Pan.
I seriously cry everytime I see it.

The whole Pocahontas thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

That's 'cause you haven't been to Disneyland.:lol:
The New Orleans Square location is awesome. Can't let theme be an issue for a show like this.
True, you don't get nice metal bleachers to sit on....but otherwise, the setting is absolutely fantastic.

Well, I meant in theme. :lol:

How is there a cinematic and imaginative fantasy suddenly on the banks of the Rivers of America and in New Orleans?

 

[sponono88]

That's 'cause you haven't been to Disneyland.:lol:
The New Orleans Square location is awesome. Can't let theme be an issue for a show like this.
True, you don't get nice metal bleachers to sit on....but otherwise, the setting is absolutely fantastic.

True. Besides, I don't see Fantasmic as a Frontierland show.. more like a Disneyland show. Just like the fireworks don't have to match the theme of 1900s Main St., yet that is usually the place you're standing in when you watch them. The show encompasses the central themes of the park - adventure, fantasy, magic?.. :lookaroun DL's F! location can't be beat :shrug: imo!

Well, I meant in theme. :lol:

How is there a cinematic and imaginative fantasy suddenly on the banks of the Rivers of America and in New Orleans?

ahem, Mickey's imagination!

 

[Lee]

Well, I meant in theme. :lol:
How is there a cinematic and imaginative fantasy suddenly on the banks of the Rivers of America and in New Orleans?

Because it just is.
Same way odd characters can parade up and down Main St. and through Frontierland a couple times a day. And dancing mice do a show on a stage in front of a castle.

It just happens.

 

[Krack2]

DL Fantasmic is great. But the biggest issue there is that, because of it's Frontierland/New Orleans Square location, people start camping out there 2 hours before the show starts and the congestion along the river is unreal. On a moderately crowded day, you can't traffic through Frontierland after 6 or 7 PM; you literally can't walk.

 

[LucyintheSky]

Years back when Fantasmic! opened in the Studios, I still lived in Pa with my family. We came down on vacation, and I was excited to see it. I'd heard alot of great things, and wanted to check it out for myself. Well, we went, waited for like an hour and a half, and I was not impressed. At all. I liked the end, but I was bored to tears with the bubble section, and all the projections on water. And Pocohantas. :snore: I was seriously baffled about the raves I heard about the show. :shrug:

I knew that Disneyland also had Fantasmic, but I had never been there, and didn't know much about it at the time. I thought that the comments about Fantasmic I'd been hearing was referring to that version. But I figured, it's the same show, how different could it be? Ha!

A couple years ago, I was browsing around YouTube and I suddenly had the idea to look up Disneyland's Fantasmic, so I could see for myself the differences. Let me just tell you, when the Columbia appeared, I was hooked. Then of course the end with the Mark Twain... Wow. I think I might have said out loud, "So THAT'S what it's supposed to be! I get it now!"

Since then I've become slightly obsessed with Disneyland's version, even though I still havent' seen it in person. I've lived in Orlando for almost 10 years now, and I've had plenty of opportunities, but I've only bothered to watch Fantasmic here maybe once. If given the choice, I'd actually rather watch Disneyland's on a video than WDW's in person. That's how strongly I feel about this subject.

I usually can't stand comparing WDW to Disneyland, and all the "we win", "ours is better" stuff. Fantasmic is the one thing I will willingly say, Yeah, Disneyland wins. I just hope I can get out to Ca to see it in person someday.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

True. Besides, I don't see Fantasmic as a Frontierland show.. more like a Disneyland show. Just like the fireworks don't have to match the theme of 1900s Main St., yet that is usually the place you're standing in when you watch them. The show encompasses the central themes of the park - adventure, fantasy, magic?.. :lookaroun DL's F! location can't be beat :shrug: imo!



ahem, Mickey's imagination!

Because it just is.
Same way odd characters can parade up and down Main St. and through Frontierland a couple times a day. And dancing mice do a show on a stage in front of a castle.

It just happens.

All the explanation this neophyte needed.


This neophyte needs to go to Disneyland already...

 

[imagineer boy]

I think the only advantage WDW has over DL is the stadium seating and stage setting. Everything else at DL blows WDW's away. At WDW there's too much reliance on the mist screen effect, the bubbles part takes too long, the Pocahantas part really is a "Big Lipped Alligator Moment", too many villains show up (Follo, Scar, and Cruella show up and they do nothing! They're pointless!), and need I mention the dragon?

There is one gripe I have with both shows though. Who on earth did the voices of the Snow White witch and Maleficient? They don't sound a thing like their theatrical counterparts. They go for the "cackling witchey-poo" voice rather than the bone chilling evil voices like the movies.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

the Pocahantas part really is a "Big Lipped Alligator Moment"

:veryconfu

That's right, I bumped a month old thread just to get an explanation of that comment.

 

[imagineer boy]

:veryconfu

That's right, I bumped a month old thread just to get an explanation of that comment.

Here you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJRBPlnBg24

 

[the-reason14]

I have never in my life set foot in the theater at mgm to see fantasmic. I've always planned on it, but the lines for ToT are always so short and I always never do it. I know Im missing out, but I have heard about how certain things may not work, or certain effects stopped working over the years, and I honestly dont think I will ever see it in mgm with ToT being less than a minute away.

I did however, get to see a bit of it at DL last year while we were coming off of pirates, and I have to say I was amazed. I couldnt believe I missed out on it, even though I didnt see the entire show, I saw enough to know I want to watch it one night at Disneyland. I rather see it there because from what I've heard, its better, and its not right by the ToT. And I love how its on the rivers of America and I got a sneak preview of it every night while we were there as we did Thunder mt. and Pirates. I love how you can see it without actually staging up to see it. But one day, I will watch it, in DL. And from the vid, it does look better there.