Walt Disney World simply introduced the return date of Fantasmic and eating packages to Hollywood Studios! This submit shares particulars, what to anticipate with Genie+ and eating packages, and commentary about how this can change the gang dynamic at DHS this fall and Christmas season.
Fantasmic is the final main nighttime spectacular to return to Walt Disney World, and will likely be a welcome addition to the leisure lineup heading into the busy vacation season that primarily kicks off Veterans’ Day weekend. It ought to assist handle attendance and Park Hopping dynamics, redistributing visitors extra evenly all through the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Within the previous couple of months, the reimagined Finding Nemo: the Musical debuted Theater within the Wild and the total Festival of the Lion King returned to Animal Kingdom. The former was an enormous addition that modified attendance (and wait time) traits at DAK, making it much less of a half-day park. As we’ll focus on within the commentary, we’re anticipating an excellent larger influence at Disney’s Hollywood Studios due to the return of Fantasmic.
Fantasmic returns to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on November 3, 2022.
Here’s the official announcement from Walt Disney World: “Back and better than ever, the larger-than-life, open-air nighttime musical will boast the live performers, stunning effects, rousing music and dazzling pyrotechnics you know and love – complete with a brand-new show sequence!”
The return of Fantasmic! will embody the debut of an all-new sequence that may convey to life heroic moments from Disney tales similar to “Moana,” “Mulan,” “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas,” and “Frozen 2.”
“Through this entire sequence, we go on a journey with our heroes. We see them faced with a decision, and how hard that can be for them, then watch as they find that strength within themselves to push through in a truly spectacular way,” says Disney Live Entertainment Show Director, Matthew Hamel.
The new heroes sequence includes a high-energy Aladdin chase with stunts by no means earlier than seen on the “Fantasmic!” stage, a robust scene with Elsa set to the music “Show Yourself” that’s certain to thaw probably the most frozen of hearts, and stirring moments with Pocahontas, Moana and Mulan.
Fantasmic Fun Facts:
- Fantasmic! initially opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on October 15, 1998.
- The present options animation and characters from greater than 25 movies.
- The moat surrounding the Fantasmic! island stage accommodates 1.9 million gallons of water.
- Maleficent, in dragon type, is the ultimate villain that Mickey Mouse battles, and he or she stands 40-feet tall.
- In addition to Maleficent, 10 different villains seem within the present.
- In the finale, Mickey Mouse and 35 different characters seem on a steamboat impressed by the one seen in “Steamboat Willie,”
- Located off Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater seats 6,900 visitors with extra standing room for about 3,000 visitors.
- To assist choreograph the genuine Chinese martial arts you’ll see in Mulan’s scene, the inventive crew introduced in Mimi Chan – the unique muse and mannequin animators used when bringing the character of Mulan to life for the 1998 animated movie.
“We know this show means so much to people, and we’ve kept that in mind every step of this journey.” says Disney Live Entertainment Producer, Laurice Marier. “Even beyond the new scene, we’ve taken this time to upgrade the lasers, the lighting, the sound, all to bring this show back even more beautiful than it’s ever been. We’re all really just so excited for guests to see it.”
“It was extremely exciting to take advantage of technological enhancements that didn’t originally exist when the show opened in 1998,” says Katrina Mena Rick, broadcast inventive producer for Disney Live Entertainment. “So, we [worked] with other disciplines such as special effects, lighting, lasers and music to ensure that our visual content was as exactly seamless and as beautiful as it could be.”
“Bringing back Fantasmic! here at Disney’s Hollywood Studios means so much to our guests,” says Mena Rick. “It was a task to not only preserve the legacy of the show but also introduce new characters for the next generation.”
“Fantasmic! is a show that will take you on a journey to see so many characters, so many villains and heroes,” says Melanie Gagne, leisure proprietor for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. “It’s one in every of our largest exhibits, and lots of visitors will plan their day or their complete trip round Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! will likely be carried out nightly at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests can enter the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater as much as 90 minutes previous to the present’s begin. Since it’s an outside venue, the present is topic to cancellation attributable to inclement climate. Showtimes are topic to alter.
Walt Disney World additionally revealed that Fantasmic eating packages will likely be launched for choose eating places at Disney’s Hollywood Studios beginning on October 26, 2022. These eating packages will solely be accessible for performances November 30, 2022 and past.
We have far more about Fantasmic eating packages, together with pricing, collaborating eating places, how troublesome these ADRs will likely be to attain, and whether or not we predict they’ll be “worth it” for Christmas 2022 in Fantasmic Dining Packages at Walt Disney World: Restaurants, Pricing & More.
Offering Fantasmic eating packages makes excellent sense. Fantasmic has an enormous seating space, eating packages generate income, and there’s loads of precedent for his or her return. Just take a look at Candlelight Processional or different EPCOT competition leisure.
On high of that, I’m fairly assured that Disney’s Hollywood Studios has held again Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) availability in the course of the vacation season. A number of readers have inquired about this, and when spot-checking myself, I’ve discovered equally “suspicious” outcomes.
Next, there’s the query of whether or not the nighttime spectacular will be a part of the Genie+ lineup. Currently, no night leisure is a part of paid FastPass at Walt Disney World. DHS may undoubtedly use extra capability for the Genie+ service, so it could make sense. It’d additionally possible be simpler to implement than reserved viewing for Harmonious at EPCOT.
Still, we may see that one going both method. Genie+ requires staffing, and likewise theoretically cuts into eating bundle gross sales. So Disney would possibly maintain off on introducing it till after the vacation season.
My guess is that Fantasmic is included within the Genie+ service. Fantasmic eating packages are going to promote out in minutes, regardless, so the added capability and gross sales of Genie+ in the course of the peak intervals round Veterans’ Day, Jersey Week, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. is extra invaluable to Walt Disney World than “juicing” eating bundle gross sales that received’t want any assist promoting, anyway. But that’s only a guess.
There’s additionally the query of what number of instances Fantasmic will likely be proven every night. While Walt Disney World has given no phrase on the variety of nightly performances per night, our guess is 2 in the course of the vacation season.
Not solely is there a ton of pent-up demand for Fantasmic, however now there’s no nighttime spectacular in Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom will shut early a number of instances per week for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. If in any respect potential, DHS will want two performances of Fantasmic by way of the remainder of this 12 months (ideally, by way of January 8, 2023) to assist take in crowds.
The final vacation season that Fantasmic was proven pre-closure, it’s regular nightly efficiency instances have been 9:00 pm and 10:30 pm. That was in the course of the preliminary opening interval for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, when Disney’s Hollywood Studios saved unprecedented park hours.
Currently, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is scheduled to shut at 9 pm nightly in the course of the Christmas season. It would make a whole lot of sense to increase that till 10 pm, and have Fantasmic performances at round 8 pm and 10 pm. Even if hours aren’t prolonged, Fantasmic may nonetheless do showtimes of seven:30 pm and 9:30 pm with the sooner winter sundown time. (I’m placing 2 hours between showtimes moderately than the traditional 90 minutes, as I think Disney will want a bit extra turnaround time at first–however all of that is merely spitballing on my half.)
Now, let’s flip to commentary about present adjustments and crowds.
As beforehand mentioned, the brand new heroes section is anticipated to switch the prolonged Pocahontas scene, which has a runtime of roughly 82 minutes (longer than the film!). While that’s most likely a slight exaggeration, the Pocahontas portion is prolonged—lengthy sufficient for a number of alternative scenes.
The Walt Disney World model of the nighttime spectacular has all the time felt inferior to Disneyland’s, and one large cause why is the Pocahontas half that drags and dates Florida’s Fantasmic. It could be like if this present debuted within the mid-aughts and nonetheless featured a prolonged scene based mostly on Meet the Robinsons (sorry, followers of that—however it’s no basic) regardless of the promotional window for that movie closing way back.
One of my go-to “dad jokes” is looking the Disney’s Hollywood Studios model Pocahontasmic! I’ll fortunately retire that feeble try at humor as soon as Fantasmic 2.0 debuts on November 3, 2022–particularly if it means a greater model of the present. What could be a actually good shock is that if the inventive crew behind Fantasmic additionally managed to persuade the misers who maintain the pursestrings to present us a brand new dragon. There have been rumblings about a whole lot of adjustments to Fantasmic 2.0, however that’s NOT one in every of them, so don’t maintain your breath.
Walt Disney World has immediately addressed questions on Fantasmic’s period, indicating the reimagined nighttime spectacular will likely be 29 minutes, which is definitely 3 minutes longer than the previous model of the present was, pre-closure.
That is totally great to listen to! It’s additionally considerably of a shock, as different stage exhibits have “trimmed the fat” from their runtimes in an effort to extend visitor satisfaction whereas additionally decreasing labor prices. Going in the other way with Fantasmic is admittedly refreshing.
Our expectation is that regardless that Fantasmic 2.0 is longer, this model of the present will ‘feel’ tighter and higher structured with the heroes section changing the Pocahontas portion, which actually dragged down the present to a snail’s tempo. If the Disney Heroes section lives as much as its full potential, it’ll fly by!
The subsequent query considerations crowd dynamics. Without query, this can alter the attendance distribution at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’ll additionally influence evenings at EPCOT.
For the final couple years, wait instances at DHS have peaked within the morning—earlier than some other park. They’ve fallen sharply in late afternoon, with the final couple hours being blissful.
While Genie+ already has pushed crowds later into the day, this can change that much more considerably. Fantasmic will preserve folks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios a lot later into the night. Wait instances received’t drop till shortly earlier than seatings start, which means 2-3 hours earlier than park closing will nonetheless see elevated wait instances.
The upside to this comes for many who didn’t beforehand keep late. More visitors ought to arrive at DHS later within the day, which means extra time within the morning when wait instances stay low. Midday will nonetheless be busy, however the park received’t be completely bonkers by 10 am.
With that mentioned, it received’t be purely a redistribution of present crowds at DHS. It’s possible the park may have its capability cap elevated on account of this new dynamic. Even if it doesn’t, extra folks will Park Hop to DHS, as a substitute of the present night exodus.
The upside there comes for guests to EPCOT and, to a lesser extent, Magic Kingdom. No longer will these parks pull disproportionate numbers of Park Hoppers from each Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Instead, three parks will pull hopping visitors from Animal Kingdom—nearly precisely how issues labored preclosure.
Another dynamic that we’d anticipate to finish is Disney’s Hollywood Studios being the (subjectively) greatest vacation spot for day visitors of Magic Kingdom on celebration nights. We’ve talked about a number of instances that DHS has been our go-to park after a morning in Magic Kingdom on dates when Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is held. For no matter cause, DHS has had decrease crowds and surprisingly good Lightning Lane availability.
Do not anticipate that development to proceed on or after November 3, 2022 when Fantasmic returns. Instead, our expectation is that DHS turns into the go-to park for day visitors of Magic Kingdom with out occasion tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Ultimately, we’re nonetheless actually excited for the return of Fantasmic. It brings life to the evenings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and is a real nighttime spectacular. It has additionally wanted a refresh for a very long time, because the DHS model has felt caught within the Nineteen Nineties whereas Disneyland has continued to iterate and enhance upon its model of Fantasmic.
Then there’s the sensible perspective. Fantasmic will likely be returning simply forward of the height vacation vacationer time at Walt Disney World, and will likely be massively useful to absorbing crowds, particularly since Disney’s Hollywood Studios has points with attendance distribution all through the day and issues with folks bouncing from DHS to Epcot for Harmonious. Nightly performances of Fantasmic would remedy all of that. It may be overdue information that’s been delayed a number of too many instances, however it’s good to know that Fantasmic will return on November 3, 2022!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider this information that Fantasmic will return to Walt Disney World on November 3, 2022? Disappointed that it received’t be again this month, or simply completely satisfied it’s coming again by Christmas? Excited for the brand new Disney Heroes section that includes Moana, Frozen, and Aladdin? Or did you benefit from the prolonged Pocahontas version? Are you truly dissatisfied by the return of Fantasmic, preferring to take pleasure in comparatively uncrowded evenings at DHS? Any questions we might help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!