Hollywood & Vine and Star Wars - a Galactic Spectacular in December

We are going to WDW from Dec 18-22 for the first time, and I want to go to Hollywood Studios as my son and I love Star Wars! I really want us to check out the Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular (SWAGS) fireworks, but looking at last year's schedule, they moved the show up to 6:15pm to make way for the Jingle Bell Jingle Jam show :( My thoughts, to see SWAGS, the Fab 5, and to maximize our dining planning credits, would be to:
  1. see the SWAGS show at 6:15
  2. go have Minnie's holiday dinner at Hollywood & Vine at 6:45 (using the ADR with the Fantasmic package)
  3. go see Fantasmic at 8pm (I heard we'd have to be there by 7:30pm with the dining package).
Is this a crazy and unrealistic idea? Should we just forego Fantasmic? Do you think i'm nuts for choosing SWAGS over Fantasmic? Is 1 hour enough to finish dinner at Hollywood & Vine (I have a 5 and 2 year old so you never know how fast they will eat!)?

Thanks so much!!!
 

nickys

Premium Member
We are going to WDW from Dec 18-22 for the first time, and I want to go to Hollywood Studios as my son and I love Star Wars! I really want us to check out the Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular (SWAGS) fireworks, but looking at last year's schedule, they moved the show up to 6:15pm to make way for the Jingle Bell Jingle Jam show :( My thoughts, to see SWAGS, the Fab 5, and to maximize our dining planning credits, would be to:
  1. see the SWAGS show at 6:15
  2. go have Minnie's holiday dinner at Hollywood & Vine at 6:45 (using the ADR with the Fantasmic package)
  3. go see Fantasmic at 8pm (I heard we'd have to be there by 7:30pm with the dining package).
Is this a crazy and unrealistic idea? Should we just forego Fantasmic? Do you think i'm nuts for choosing SWAGS over Fantasmic? Is 1 hour enough to finish dinner at Hollywood & Vine (I have a 5 and 2 year old so you never know how fast they will eat!)?

Thanks so much!!!

The Fantasmic Dining packages all have an early finish, depending on which restaurant you choose. I think the last one anywhere is at around 4:30.

So your best bet would be to do lunch instead, and then there's a chance you might manage both. Bear in mind though, the original plan for 2016 was that the Star Wars show stopped early December (I think) and was replaced by the Jingle Bam thing. Then quite late on, after they switched them, they announced that for the Christmas to New Year week both events would run. We were gutted thinking we would miss Star Wars but managed both quite easily. Star Wars was on at 6:15 ish, we then had time for the Launch Bay before heading to Fantasmic.

However during the summer and autumn/fall, the timing was such that you couldn't do both without missing the last few minutes of Fantasmic to beat the crowd. There's no knowing what will happen next Christmas. You might want to plan for an extra night at DHS to fit both in, if you are getting park hoppers.
 
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Canuckgirl78

Member
Original Poster
Thanks so much! I didn't know the Fantasmic dinner times were so early. We're going the week before Christmas, & last year they had both shows, so I'm hoping they will do so again this year. Maybe we'll do an early dinner at 4:30, see the SWAGS show @ 6:15, and then see Fantasmic at 8pm. Thanks again!!
 
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ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I would not plan based upon last year's schedule. It was retrofitted to include SWAGS because Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam failed to hit it out of the park. IF they have both shows this year, I'd expect the Christmas fireworks first.
 
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Canuckgirl78

Member
Original Poster
I would not plan based upon last year's schedule. It was retrofitted to include SWAGS because Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam failed to hit it out of the park. IF they have both shows this year, I'd expect the Christmas fireworks first.
Thanks. I was wondering if they would keep the same schedule as last year as I heard the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bag wasn't great too. I guess time will tell! But it's hard to plan ADRs when you don't know what the show schedule will be!
 
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LeighM

Well-Known Member
We are going to WDW from Dec 18-22 for the first time, and I want to go to Hollywood Studios as my son and I love Star Wars! I really want us to check out the Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular (SWAGS) fireworks, but looking at last year's schedule, they moved the show up to 6:15pm to make way for the Jingle Bell Jingle Jam show :( My thoughts, to see SWAGS, the Fab 5, and to maximize our dining planning credits, would be to:
  1. see the SWAGS show at 6:15
  2. go have Minnie's holiday dinner at Hollywood & Vine at 6:45 (using the ADR with the Fantasmic package)
  3. go see Fantasmic at 8pm (I heard we'd have to be there by 7:30pm with the dining package).
Is this a crazy and unrealistic idea? Should we just forego Fantasmic? Do you think i'm nuts for choosing SWAGS over Fantasmic? Is 1 hour enough to finish dinner at Hollywood & Vine (I have a 5 and 2 year old so you never know how fast they will eat!)?

Thanks so much!!!

During our October trip, we had the Halloween seasonal dine at Hollywood and Vine. We checked into our ADR on time, but had to wait 20 minutes before our name was called. When you have a character dinner, it sometimes takes longer for tables to empty especially if there are younger kids. It also took a long time for each character to come to our section. If I had children, it would have been irritating but as two adults, it wasn't a big deal. If you were seated promptly, and you didn't care about the characters, and ate fast then you could possibly be finished in time. That just was not our experience. I forgot how long it takes to walk from H&V to Fantasmic theater...
 
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Canuckgirl78

Member
Original Poster
Thanks all. I think we'll try to get an ADR for the 4:30 Fantasmic reservation. Hopefully SWAGS will remain at the 7:30pm time so we can take our time with dinner, find a good spot for SWAGs, and not have to rush to Fantasmic.
 
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