Fantasmic Dining Package Discussion Thread

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We had a RBT reservation on Tuesday for 6:40. They sat us on the terrace, but then rushed us through our meal. They brought out our meals before we were even halfway through our appetizers. They were setting the tables for the premium dining packages while we were eating. While we were glad to have the reserved viewing, we were all very disappointed in the meal itself. It cost slightly more than our WOC package at Carthay Circle for lunch but wasn't half as good. In hindsight, I would rather have spent the extra money on BB package.

 

[tnzzz]

Hungry Bear review

We were late checking in at our meal pickup time and it wasn't a problem at all. We chose Salmon which came with a rice pilaf and kale salad. I am not huge on Kale, but I liked the rice and the salmon was a good portion a cooked well. The lemon wedges were quite elderly. Kids had salmon and chicken. The meat portion for the kids was small. They got grapes, the rice, and could chose Kale salad or Goldfish crackers. Adult dinner came with fancy canned soda, which my kids grabbed.

You line up at Harbor Galley (where they serve soup) There were people gathering by 7:20 so they let us into the area at 7:30 even though they said it wouldn't open till 8. Area was standing for the show. there was plenty of space for all but we had to hold our space. You could leave and come back. We were at rail but I didn't realize the tom Sawyer raft sign was right in front of me seeing projections. boo. My kids and Dad had a good view. I would recommend getting spot right at rope dock area. Our view of Mickey and the island was great! People sat as they waited then we had to stand about 30 min before showtime to give room for everyone to get space.

I really liked the show. Next time I would get a regular FP and skip meal, but this worked well for us since it was a one day trip and my Dad was having leg trouble. I brought my own chair pad from home for him to sit on.

Afterwards it was a good fireworks view spot. Unfortunately show was stopped midway through due to high winds.

Thanks for leaving a review! Would you say it is less crowded in this area than if you were in a regular fp area?
Debating on the value of this one, we had planned on RBT but they are closed for refurb.
Do you think smaller kids not at the rail will be able to see the show well?

 

[StarlitNight05]

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]Overall I enjoyed the premium RBT package. I definitely would do it again just for the convenience. We didn't have to beat the crowds and being that we arrived at 7:40pm, there was a very minimal wait time.

Overall I thought it was a decent package.

Thanks for the review!

 

[D2Pugs]

Thanks for the review and pictures, I'm glad you had a good experience! I'll have my DD9 with me. Do you think she'd be able to see decently? I'm loving the idea of sitting in a chair and not being crammed into a viewing area for the show (why I love the WOC dessert party!) but i want her to be able to see.

Thank you for the kind words. And to answer your question yes, I think your daughter will be able to see it. My father sat down the entire time during the show and he had my 3 year old son sitting on his lap and they were able to see everything. My son was naming and pointing out the characters the entire time so he must have had a pretty good view. Hope this helps!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'm curious about the BB seat cushions. What happens to them after the show? Do CMs collect them back? Or do you keep them? What are they like?

You keep them. I wish I took a picture, we did RBT and our friends did BB. They reminded me of some of those purse patterns, they had a bunch of little pictures of diff stuff from the parks on them. I was pretty jealous and wish I'd got one.

 

[monorailrabbit]

I love all these reviews! I think we will be doing BB - I kind of super want a seat cushion! Has it been confirmed if you get it either way with or without premium? We are going in October, so there won't be a MSEP. Will F! be an every night thing or weekends only? We will only be there Sun-Tues so I'm hoping we don't miss it since we aren't on a weekend.

 

[22Tink]

Thank you for the kind words. And to answer your question yes, I think your daughter will be able to see it. My father sat down the entire time during the show and he had my 3 year old son sitting on his lap and they were able to see everything. My son was naming and pointing out the characters the entire time so he must have had a pretty good view. Hope this helps!

Thank you it does help. I think we'll keep our reservation!

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

You keep them. I wish I took a picture, we did RBT and our friends did BB. They reminded me of some of those purse patterns, they had a bunch of little pictures of diff stuff from the parks on them. I was pretty jealous and wish I'd got one.

This is just for the premium BB package right?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

This is just for the premium BB package right?

My friends did not pay extra for theirs, but it was the first day. So might have been first day confusion among the cast members.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Crossing my fingers they will still give the BB seat cushions out on Saturday!

 

[onlyoneash]

Crossing my fingers they will still give the BB seat cushions out on Saturday!

In my opinion, everyone that books the BB dinner should get one!

The "premium" package includes an extra glow drink and MSEP tickets and a light up lanyard and I think that is enough to pay more money without taking away the seats from the regular BB F! package.

It would be sad to see people who booked the BB F! not get the F! seat.

Buuuut, when MSEP ends next month, how are they going to bribe people to buy the expensive BB premium package? That's right. Take away the padded seats and only give them to the premiums because now that is the only benefit (plus the drink I suppose)

 

[ktlm]

Same here. Our DD8 is a pretty good eater but my DS12 likes more kiddy food. So most likely they will swap and DD8 will eat the adult meal and DS12 will eat the kiddy meal (mac and cheese with the selections). (Or good to know that they let the older one order from kids menu (I assume at adult price though). Sounds like he might be hungry afterwards though. Thanks for the warning. Sounds like we might need to bring a snack or something for afterwards.

One last thing to confirm...with River Belle Terrace, do you get seat cushions? Or is that only for Blue Bayou?

They actually only charged the kid price for her which was nice of them. I would not count on that one though. The mac and cheese was about the size of the individual Kraft containers you can buy at the store and microwave. DD ordered the kids meals a couple of places and it seemed like the portion sizes had shrunk from what they used to be.we did have to get her a snack right after one of the meals- we would have if she had only been 5 years old too. It was just too small of a portion for most kids other than toddlers. Good to hear they are doing some other dessert options for the kids already because Tuesday they told us that was the only kid option and DD did not think it was at all fair that her Dad and I were offered Strawberries or Chocolate and she could not get anything but butterscotch pudding. We heard pretty much every table with a kid was complaining about that- several kids did not even know what butterscotch was. She also was not impressed with the fact that she got green beans and we got tater tots. Cushions are only at BB-they are still just a foam lake float piece, but they are a lot cuter now than they used to be. The corn chowder and desserts were really good at RBT. The entrees were okay- not as good as the BBQ we can get from most places at home, but nothing to complain about either.

 

[gardenrooms]

Thank you to everyone for all the great information. I wonder what they are doing at RBT (the refurbishment). Is it possible they might be expanding the premium seating area in some way?

What are the projections during the fireworks? Don't recall anything like that from the old Riverside Seating days.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Has it been confirmed if you get it either way with or without premium?

This is just for the premium BB package right?

My friends did not pay extra for theirs, but it was the first day. So might have been first day confusion among the cast members.

I will reiterate what I posted earlier in this thread. I did the regular BB dinner, not the premium, on Tuesday and we were given the seat cushions. Nobody from RBT or HB had the seat cushions.

They are the same ones that are sold by the roaming carts before the parades. They seem very cheap, but they made a big difference for sitting on the ground. They are a bit strange to take home, as I don't know what I will do with them and I wouldn't exactly want to carry them around at DL for a future event.

 

[ariel1025]

I had the second show last night. The seating for me as a Blue Bayou person and the RBT was exactly the same. The line up in the holding tank was the same, first come first served, all grouped as one large group. We had seat cushions from BB. The RBT did not. After we were all sitting down, a mob of people were let in to sit behind us. I asked them what they did to get to sit there and they said they had Hungry Bear on the go package. BB and RBT all had first row and the rest of the area was full of Hungry Bear people who were sitting down. I told them I was under the impression that HB had to stand somewhere and they said, yes, they were standing in another area, but were told that there was extra room in our area and they were allowed to move if they wanted to sit down.

I didn't see the show from RBT, but my opinion after last night is that it would be my last choice for viewing. If you are capable of sitting on the ground, BB or RBT dining packages are better. If you want to chance it and maybe have to stand, go to HB. They may let you sit with BB and RBT people even though they say HB is standing room only.

I'd pick based on menu items. What do you want to eat? How much do you want to spend? Where you will be seated is not the issue when deciding where to book your dinner, at least not for the second show.

At what point did they let the HB people in to fill in the area? We currently have the BB package booked because my husband outright refuses to wait an hour plus in line for a show. If we come in after the HB people are let in and in the back is the view difficult for short people / children to see? If we pay for this meal and still get the back of the pack with a bad view without being there that early he will be super irked, so I may just need to cancel. Thanks!

 

[cruisehopeful]

At what point did they let the HB people in to fill in the area? We currently have the BB package booked because my husband outright refuses to wait an hour plus in line for a show. If we come in after the HB people are let in and in the back is the view difficult for short people / children to see? If we pay for this meal and still get the back of the pack with a bad view without being there that early he will be super irked, so I may just need to cancel. Thanks!

It was after we were all seated. All of BB and RBT were already seated. I don't know what time it was, but it was after 10:15 for the 10:30 show. Everyone who had BB and RBT had front row, railing view. I will say that the railing was a bit annoying to look through/over. If I had sat further back, I don't think I would have had the railing in my way. Also, when the HB people came in, they crowded everyone, meaning the person behind me had their foot against my butt during the show. It was not necessary to do that. The area was never full. I would have been happy to sit in the back row and not had a shoe against my butt and a railing in my view.

 

[Lesley Wake]

I'm trying to think about a strategy for Saturday. I have BB at 4:40 and will get a pass for the first show so I can see fireworks. I'm trying to decide if I should attempt the 2nd or 3rd shows that night (I love Fantasmic and I'll already be at the park late, so might as well). When they start to clear people out, can I head west (towards Critter Country) to find a standby area for Show 2? Or are they forcing people to travel east towards Frontier/Adventure land and I should try to merge into the standby area on that side?

Or should I leave that area after Show 1, ride some other rides on the other side of the park, then make my way back for Show 3?

I supposed another option would be to find a friendly Fantasmic CM and ask them where I should go, with the hopes that they may just tell me to wait there and let me into the back of the reserved seating for the next show? I've had surprisingly good luck with stuff like that when I'm alone (was able to use an Anytime FP that wasn't supposed to work for DCA, but the GotG ride attendant let me in just fine, other times CMs saw I was alone and let me get into crowded areas as long as I stayed at the back).

 

[DLtorgo]

Thanks for leaving a review! Would you say it is less crowded in this area than if you were in a regular fp area?
Debating on the value of this one, we had planned on RBT but they are closed for refurb.

Do you think smaller kids not at the rail will be able to see the show well?

We were let in at 7:30. We walked by around 7:20 and there were a few families lined up already. We got in line and then they let us in. We were at a rail but my littlest had to sit on the rail to see. There are thick bushes between the rail and the view. If you are able to get to the front where the ropes for loading the keel boats are then smalls could see when standing. Everyone I saw had to hold their small kids to see since it was a standing area.

Not sure if it was more or less crowded.

 

[DLtorgo]

It was after we were all seated. All of BB and RBT were already seated. I don't know what time it was, but it was after 10:15 for the 10:30 show. Everyone who had BB and RBT had front row, railing view. I will say that the railing was a bit annoying to look through/over. If I had sat further back, I don't think I would have had the railing in my way. Also, when the HB people came in, they crowded everyone, meaning the person behind me had their foot against my butt during the show. It was not necessary to do that. The area was never full. I would have been happy to sit in the back row and not had a shoe against my butt and a railing in my view.

I didn't know the HB let you fill in at the center area. We lined up at the Harbor Galley and they let us into the left side of the viewing area only. As it got closer to showtime and our area was full do they then let the HB people fill in as standing room behind BB and RBT viewing area is?

 

[Frozen2014]

They actually only charged the kid price for her which was nice of them. I would not count on that one though. The mac and cheese was about the size of the individual Kraft containers you can buy at the store and microwave. DD ordered the kids meals a couple of places and it seemed like the portion sizes had shrunk from what they used to be.we did have to get her a snack right after one of the meals- we would have if she had only been 5 years old too. It was just too small of a portion for most kids other than toddlers. Good to hear they are doing some other dessert options for the kids already because Tuesday they told us that was the only kid option and DD did not think it was at all fair that her Dad and I were offered Strawberries or Chocolate and she could not get anything but butterscotch pudding. We heard pretty much every table with a kid was complaining about that- several kids did not even know what butterscotch was. She also was not impressed with the fact that she got green beans and we got tater tots. Cushions are only at BB-they are still just a foam lake float piece, but they are a lot cuter now than they used to be. The corn chowder and desserts were really good at RBT. The entrees were okay- not as good as the BBQ we can get from most places at home, but nothing to complain about either.

Thanks for reporting about the kids meal at RBT. Do they provide bread or anything on the side? My 12 year old will much prefer the mac & cheese but sounds like it will be link an appetiser in terms of the size. Also, wonder if they let you substitute for tater tots? No way either kid (even my good eater) would eat green beans. That's even one of the veggies my DH won't eat. Definitely need to count on a snack before/after if not.