Fantasmic Dining Package Discussion Thread

[DisneySuiteFreak]

You get pre assigned tables and chairs. That is it. Was not good for me. 1/2 the view was blocked and they did make the people ROA sit down so you can not see anything at water level. Not worth what they charge and lie about

They DIDN'T make the people on ROA sit down?? Or did? I think they don't and that is the biggest issue with booking RBT premium. Ugh. Sorry to hear you disliked it.

 

[figment_jii]

I've posted my full review of the Blue Bayou Fantasmic with Premium MSEP Upgrade on the Disneyland Dining Review thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/m...-with-pictures.1253888/page-226#post-58106523

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Actually, if you get to the HB section early and sit in the front rows closest to the BB section (so furthest to the right of section #2 on the map), you will be fairly center in your view. We saw people waiting and heading for those spots with great determination. After they sat down, we figured out why they knew they wanted to sit there. Their view was pretty good, especially in light of the price paid compared to the price of the package paid just one seat over the tape to their right in section #3.

My response was in response to a map someone else posted and it showed HB all the way to the far left of the ROA. When we went with HB and RBT, we were right in the middle next to BB peeps. Right under the sound and light and VIP area. But according to your posts, this is changing constantly...

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Sometime in July, there was some experimenting with mixing the dining package guests together in the seating areas, so that's probably when you were seated in the center area with the BB people. But now the areas look much more like the areas on the map posted on the previous page. It really is interesting how little difference there is between the HB seating closest to the BB area and the BB seating closest to the HB area. The views are almost identical, yet the price is hardly identical!

 

[Musicbug]

Ok it's 8am PST and the reservations for sat Oct 28th aren't up yet. Why?

 

[Sith]

Ok it's 8am PST and the reservations for sat Oct 28th aren't up yet. Why?

Because it isn't the 60 day mark yet.

 

[Musicbug]

Because it isn't the 60 day mark yet.

*Facepalm* I was thinking of it as two months from today not exactly 60 days. Thank you! I'll stop refreshing all day today now

 

[Sith]

*Facepalm* I was thinking of it as two months from today not exactly 60 days. Thank you! I'll stop refreshing all day today now

No problem. Tuesday is the day they should become available. I know this because that is the same night that we plan on going.

 

[minnieralyks]

*Facepalm* I was thinking of it as two months from today not exactly 60 days. Thank you! I'll stop refreshing all day today now

I've done that too when I forgot that July and August had 31 days! lol

 

[gsrieff]

Did I miss a menu announcement for the CO package anywhere?

 

[mmmears]

Oops. Wrong thread. Sorry.

 

[Royals]

We got seat cushions with our BB package tonight! No mention of any premium package upgrade.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

We have reservations for both BB and RBT this week and only want to keep one, but we can't decide which! The menu at RBT doesn't sound as appealing to me, but I also don't know that BB would be worth the extra $40 for the both of us...But the seating area is just as important as the food to us, since that is the main reason we are doing a package. Does one restaurant have a better viewing area than the other?

Also, how early do you need to arrive to Fantasmic with the dining package? We want a good view, but don't necessarily need to be in the very front row.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Ok, so this isn't a dining package review, but I wanted to post about our experience with F! as walk-ups, no dining packages, no FPs.

I have chondromalacia in my knees which makes it almost impossible for me to get up if I'm sitting on the ground, so doing a dining package that included seating on the ground was really not an option. Originally we booked the RBT 8pm option, which gives you seating at RBT during F!, but after being in the parks and seeing how far back the seating was and observing that guests WERE being allowed to walk between RBT and ROA during the show, plus learning that you could be sitting all the way at the back of RBT and still pay a premium ... plus finding out that if F! was cancelled we would still have to pay ... I decided to cancel our dining package. Thought about going with a regular FP or even a different dining package, but standing in line for an hour or two at prime ride time for lots of attractions just didn't appeal to me.

We were there a couple weeks ago ... saw F! on 8/16. DD13 and I grabbed a spot in front of and just to the right of HM around on the rail for the 9:00 show. Note that this was NOT the rail by the water; it was the rail along the main walkway not far from Harbor Galley next to a cart. Was it a great view? No. It was definitely a view from the side. But I felt like we were able to see everything and we didn't wait 2 hours for a spot. So you CAN see F! without waiting 2 hours or paying a premium.

I'll add here that I'm not averse to paying the $$ for a great experience. We did a VIP tour a couple years ago, and we do WOC Dessert Party every year at a cost of over $300. But that's DCA and I don't feel I'm missing as much waiting AND you have actual seats with GREAT views. I can't say the same for F! at DL. We may do RBT package some day, but I'm just not there yet. I just can't give up 2 hours of prime DL time and lots of $$ for this show.

 

[Lesley Wake]

We have reservations for both BB and RBT this week and only want to keep one, but we can't decide which! The menu at RBT doesn't sound as appealing to me, but I also don't know that BB would be worth the extra $40 for the both of us...But the seating area is just as important as the food to us, since that is the main reason we are doing a package. Does one restaurant have a better viewing area than the other?

Also, how early do you need to arrive to Fantasmic with the dining package? We want a good view, but don't necessarily need to be in the very front row.

In my opinion, do Blue Bayou. I much preferred the food there and the atmosphere is just great! Get to the restaurant earlier than your time and request a water table! RBT just feels like a typical restaurant, while BB is a full experience. BB also gives a cooler (temperature wise) place to eat, as well as quieter.

For Fantasmic, BB is center. You can also show up later and still get great view. By later I mean get there around 8:15-8:30. BB has less people and a larger space, so once the other areas fill up they start letting those people sit in BB area, so you want to get there before that. RBT still has a good view, but you could end up all the way on the edge; all of the areas of BB are great.

 

[BobearQSI]

I can also confirm that tonight, Sunday 8/27, we paid for the $65 BB package and got seat cushions. Not a word from anyone about a premium upgrade either.

A few other thoughts on our experience:

• Today was the first weekend day the lowest tier annual passes were unblocked after the summer, plus the CHOC walk. The walkways were pretty crowded at Fantasmic time.
• Our server said show up 15 minutes before the show. Certainly for today that was not good advice. We showed up an hour early, they hadn't let people in yet, and there were about 30 or so people in front of us. We got good spots - I prefer slightly back from the railing, and the 30ish people in front of us gave us some good options of short people to sit behind I left and returned about 20 minutes before showtime, and the BB section was packed. The CM actually directed me to a different section - I don't really know which section it was, but it was a different roped off area from my group (I'm guessing RBT, it was just to the right of my section when looking towards the river). I rejoined my group instead. I double checked the return passes before I actually left to make sure they were BB section. The section my group was in did not even have an opening in the rope anymore to get in.
• It looked like all dining sections were separate.
• MaxPass worked well here. While first sitting, I was browsing the app, and noticed Big Thunder had return times 10 minutes out. At about 40 minutes until showtime, I grabbed passes for me and the 2 kids. Us three left while the 2 others stayed with our bags and seat cushions. After navigating the crowds and one way paths, we arrived at Big Thunder 5 minutes before our fastpasses were valid. The app didn't show the barcodes yet, but the physical tickets worked to scan us in. Rode and returned at about 20 minutes until showtime, and as I said, the BB section was packed.
• No flying Aladdin and Jasmine tonight, but the dragon was there.

PSA to anyone thinking of doing something similar to us of sending a couple people from your group onto a ride while waiting: know that if a ride goes down while you're on it, you could miss your costly dining package show

 

[closetmickey]

We got seat cushions with our BB package tonight! No mention of any premium package upgrade.

We received them as well on Friday at BB!

 

[Curlyxz]

So hopefully the BB 'premium' package is non-existent now. We'll see for sure on Friday once Fantasmic comes back, as it's now on weekend-only operation.

 

[mom2rtk]

So hopefully the BB 'premium' package is non-existent now. We'll see for sure on Friday once Fantasmic comes back, as it's now on weekend-only operation.

Didn't the premium package include viewing for MSEP? With that gone, how would it come back (unless they bring PTN back to DL over the holidays before moving to DCA next year)?

 

[Curlyxz]

The rumors going around were that the seat cushions would be removed from the standard BB dining package, and would be offered as the premium package upgrade. I think it might just be from misinformation among CMs and guests, but we'll see.