More news about Fantasmic!

[bgraham34]

OK thanks. I liked Fantasmic, but you have to sit near the middle to get a good view of Mickey.

That is a great pic. Makes me want to sit close now when i go.

 

[wdwmagic]

All of the times I've seen Fantasmic! at DHS over the past decade, they have literally forced the entire crowd down a back of house alley lit by industrial lighting and unceremoniously dumped us in the parking lot. Maybe I just visit on bad nights, over and over and over during the last decade, but it seems like DHS has no other traffic flow option after the show but to exit out a spectacularly unmagical back alley past cement buildings and glaring flourescent lights.

Do they ever let the post-show audience just flow back into the park and Sunset Blvd. at DHS?

They don't exit Fantasmic directly into the parking lot. The exit goes one of two ways (or both) -

1. exit past ToT onto Sunset Blvd
2. exit via the back-ally behind the shops, and emerge on Sunset Blvd by Beauty and the Beast.

 

[Rob562]

They don't exit Fantasmic directly into the parking lot. The exit goes one of two ways (or both) -

1. exit past ToT onto Sunset Blvd
2. exit via the back-ally behind the shops, and emerge on Sunset Blvd by Beauty and the Beast.

And occasionally they'll use what was essentially the reverse route of the former Fantasmic Dining seating access route, and use the backstage road to bring people out by Oscar's Super Service by the front entrance. (This is most likely the route that the person was thinking of when they said they were dumped out into the parking lot)

The only time that I've ever been sent out that way was on a night when Fantasmic was shown at park closing time, and there was an after-hours party in the Studios. So they brought people down that way and into the entrance plaza to keep those Guests from filtering back into the park. (They had Hollywood Blvd roped off to keep people from going back up there)

The "back alley" back onto Sunset is most often used during the exit of the first show on nights when it's shown twice. Back in September, we went to a 930PM showing on a night when the Studios closed at 930 (it was a day where the park hours were extended and a second show added). We exited back down the entrance walkway and down Sunset.

-Rob

 

[TP2000]

And occasionally they'll use what was essentially the reverse route of the former Fantasmic Dining seating access route, and use the backstage road to bring people out by Oscar's Super Service by the front entrance. (This is most likely the route that the person was thinking of when they said they were dumped out into the parking lot)

That's it, thanks for the clarification! It turns out I'm not going crazy. :lol:

If I stop and think very, very hard :dazzle: of all my WDW trips over the past decade or so, I can think of three times where I was sent down that exact back alley and landed out by the front entrance and on to the parking lot trams with seemingly thousands of other people. It was less than magical.

There was another time ('04 I think?) I was sent down some other back alley but then landed on Sunset Blvd., which must be that alternate Back Alley Exit that wdwmagic mentioned. It's a bit fuzzy though; all I remember was being forced down another backstage CM route after the show. After all those visits over the past decade, I just assumed the only way they exit a Fantasmic! show at DHS is through a backstage industrial alley of some sort.

But again, I tend to visit WDW outside of the summer months or peak vacation weeks when they just have one show per night. I don't think I could deal with the Florida climate in July just for the pleasure of exiting the Fantasmic! theater out through an Onstage walkway. :lol:

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[Rob562]

That's it, thanks for the clarification! It turns out I'm not going crazy. :lol:

If I stop and think very, very hard :dazzle: of all my WDW trips over the past decade or so, I can think of three times where I was sent down that exact back alley and landed out by the front entrance and on to the parking lot trams with seemingly thousands of other people. It was less than magical.

There was another time ('04 I think?) I was sent down some other back alley but then landed on Sunset Blvd., which must be that alternate Back Alley Exit that wdwmagic mentioned. It's a bit fuzzy though; all I remember was being forced down another backstage CM route after the show. After all those visits over the past decade, I just assumed the only way they exit a Fantasmic! show at DHS is through a backstage industrial alley of some sort.

But again, I tend to visit WDW outside of the summer months or peak vacation weeks when they just have one show per night. I don't think I could deal with the Florida climate in July just for the pleasure of exiting the Fantasmic! theater out through an Onstage walkway. :lol:

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Well really the backstage road is one and the same. As you leave the back of the theater, you're ushered off to the left and onto the backstage road. When you get to the bottom of the hill, it's then up to how they decided to run the Guest flow. They'll turn you to the right to go onto Sunset, or turn you left to go to the front entrance by Oscar's.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=28.358432,-81.559238&spn=0.001407,0.002063&t=k&z=19

And actually, if you scroll the map to the northeast, you can see where they originally considered dumping the Guests right outside the park near the boat dock (the backstage road makes a beeline for that pathway) until they realized that a) that would cause a problem with the crowds at the boat dock and would require the dock to be moved, and b) more importantly, dumping Guests *outside* the park would lessen the post-show merchandise sales in the gift shops.

-Rob

 

[TP2000]

Well really the backstage road is one and the same. As you leave the back of the theater, you're ushered off to the left and onto the backstage road. When you get to the bottom of the hill, it's then up to how they decided to run the Guest flow. They'll turn you to the right to go onto Sunset, or turn you left to go to the front entrance by Oscar's.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=28.358432,-81.559238&spn=0.001407,0.002063&t=k&z=19

And actually, if you scroll the map to the northeast, you can see where they originally considered dumping the Guests right outside the park near the boat dock (the backstage road makes a beeline for that pathway) until they realized that a) that would cause a problem with the crowds at the boat dock and would require the dock to be moved, and b) more importantly, dumping Guests *outside* the park would lessen the post-show merchandise sales in the gift shops.

-Rob

Thank you! Now these different Back Alley Exit Nickel Tours I've been receiving at DHS post-Fantasmic! make much more sense.

Most of the times in the last decade that I've been herded down the flourescent-lit back alley's past some storage buildings and backstage support facilities I've apparently turned to the left and ended up at the park turnstiles and parking lot, but at least once I've been turned to the right and ended up back inside the park and halfway down Sunset Blvd. Now I see it was nearly the same route.

It's a shame they do this so often, as it really kind of puts a flourescent-lit damper on the evening to be shown the door like that. Still, I'll take that rather gritty and unglamorous exit from Fantasmic! over dealing with the Orlando climate in July or August any day. :lol:

 

[JeffH]

I WISH they'd let us directly out the exit exit...

Do they ever let the post-show audience just flow back into the park and Sunset Blvd. at DHS

We've seen the show over a hundred times and only once (maybe twice) did we exit out the dining entrance near Oscars.
We normally wait for the 2nd show so we don't have to worry about not getting a seat and can enjoy the park at night.
Also, recently, we've avoided the back alley exit because I'm convinced the walk is farther than if you simply went out the main entrance (unless you are doing show #1/2 and get funneled out by ToT. I WISH they'd dump us out at Oscars, because by that time of night I don't appreciate the extra walking and it really es me off that after all that walking they essentially dump us out near the main entrance (to an closed park) to then have to walk the rest of the way down the street then down Hollywood, when we were just a few steps away from the exit at one point. In that case, to me, it would be magical to, "poof" be right there at the exit...what a relief at the end of a long night.4

 

[Ilovewishes]

Going back to the original point of this thread, I love Fantasmic! It's one of my favourite shows (second only to Wishes) and we usually see it at least 3 times per trip.

We were at WDW for 2 weeks in October and it was our first experience of the reduced shows. I hated it.

Granted, we weren't at Disney as much as usually are (we stayed off site as we had extra family members with us) but in two weeks, we saw it once and even then we had to get there an hour and 45 minutes early. And it was full a good long time before it started.

And I'm with the person who gets irritated by the Wave. Although I do find it entertaining when it starts to die a death and some valiant people struggle to keep it going.

First time I saw F! must have been in its first couple of years and (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm sure there was an entertainer there to keep the crowd going. He had a microphone and was getting everyone singing Disney songs and he got them to turn all the lights off and told everyone to set their camera to flash and did a wash of people taking flash pictures. Ten years later, I still remember that pre-show entertainment.

It sure would make the time go a bit quicker if they had someone like that all of the time!

 

[dreamfinder]

First time I saw F! must have been in its first couple of years and (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm sure there was an entertainer there to keep the crowd going. He had a microphone and was getting everyone singing Disney songs and he got them to turn all the lights off and told everyone to set their camera to flash and did a wash of people taking flash pictures. Ten years later, I still remember that pre-show entertainment.

It sure would make the time go a bit quicker if they had someone like that all of the time!

They have had a few different pre show acts. I remember at one time there were a pair of ToT bellhops in the front that did a bit. Ladders, cleaning the floor, something along those lines.

 

[Rob562]

They have had a few different pre show acts. I remember at one time there were a pair of ToT bellhops in the front that did a bit. Ladders, cleaning the floor, something along those lines.

That would be Delman and Moe, who did a comedy balancing act with ladders and chairs.

-Rob