Let me preface this post by saying that I don't intend it to be critical of anyone--we all have bad days. It seems that tonight was one of those nights at Fantasmic where things were a bit off kilter.
First time I've ever experienced them having to start the show 3 times before it began successfully.
First time: show starts. Audio intro begins. White lights center stage come up. Almost immediately, the audio interrupts with "this show has been stopped. We hope to resume..." My guesses are either equipment malfunction (lights or hydraulics or a door) or someone (Mickey) wasn't in proper position.
Wait about 5 minutes. Start #2. This time I notice that the crowd lights are still on when the audio and white center lights come on. Once again the audio interrupts with "this show has been stopped." At this point the crowd--very rudely--starts booing. I'm guessing either the 1st problem recurred or the crowd lights being on triggered the abort.
3rd time, everything proceeds. However, perhaps due to the multiple restarts, a lot of things seem out of sync based on shows I've seen in the past. One glaring problem--or change in the show since I saw it 2 weeks ago--the dragon at the end was very hard to see. It didn't seem to be lit as normal and all you could see was a vague outline and some minimal backlighting. I also thought it was odd that when the snake appeared, he didn't move! The head shifted back and forth a bit, but the body remained totally stationary. Other elements seemed odd as well, as tonight is the only time I've seen the lights come back on full while the stage crew was still out positioning props.
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the show. I thought that and Beauty and Beast, which I also saw today, was definitely a hit with the very full crowds.
First time I've ever experienced them having to start the show 3 times before it began successfully.
First time: show starts. Audio intro begins. White lights center stage come up. Almost immediately, the audio interrupts with "this show has been stopped. We hope to resume..." My guesses are either equipment malfunction (lights or hydraulics or a door) or someone (Mickey) wasn't in proper position.
Wait about 5 minutes. Start #2. This time I notice that the crowd lights are still on when the audio and white center lights come on. Once again the audio interrupts with "this show has been stopped." At this point the crowd--very rudely--starts booing. I'm guessing either the 1st problem recurred or the crowd lights being on triggered the abort.
3rd time, everything proceeds. However, perhaps due to the multiple restarts, a lot of things seem out of sync based on shows I've seen in the past. One glaring problem--or change in the show since I saw it 2 weeks ago--the dragon at the end was very hard to see. It didn't seem to be lit as normal and all you could see was a vague outline and some minimal backlighting. I also thought it was odd that when the snake appeared, he didn't move! The head shifted back and forth a bit, but the body remained totally stationary. Other elements seemed odd as well, as tonight is the only time I've seen the lights come back on full while the stage crew was still out positioning props.
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the show. I thought that and Beauty and Beast, which I also saw today, was definitely a hit with the very full crowds.