Fantasmic Blue Bayou Package- I'm confused

JHollinsworth

Earning My Ears
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Hi all,

Trying to start planning our park days for our spring break California trip. We will be in Disneyland on a Thursday (4/5) and assume they will be showing Fantasmic that night, correct?

I guess from what I'm reading the best way to get good seats for the Fantasmic show is by doing one of the restaurant packages and after looking at them, Blue Bayou would work for our family So, I assume I make a reservation for Fantasmic Dinner? Does it matter what time? Do you go right from the dinner to the show? If so, what's a good time to get the dinner reservation? Or do we eat when we want and get a seat cushion and carry it around until it's time to line up? and what time would that be?

If we don't want to spend the money at one of these restaurants and want to eat wherever we want, we can try to just pull Fast passes for the show? I think I read that this is standing only section. Does it really matter? What I'm ultimately asking is is it worth it to pay for the dinner at Blue Bayou?

Thank you for your help!
 
The last time I did the Fantasmic Blue Bayou dining package was in 2015 but I did the Main Street Electric Parade Blue Bayou Dining package in 2017 so its basically all the same procedure.

1. Decide what time you want to eat and make the reservation for that time. I usually go in June and there is usually 2 times for Fantasmic, 9pm and 10.30pm.

When there are 2 times for the show, dining reservations before 6pm will be given tickets for the 9pm Fantasmic show. Dining reservation for after 6pm usually get tickets for the 10.30pm show.

2. When you get seated at your table the Fantasmic cushions will be at each persons chair.

3. Have your meal as usual

4. When you are paying at the end of your meal you will get Fantasic tickets for each member of your party. They are very like the paper Fastpass tickets.

5. Printed on the Fantasmic ticket will be the time of the show and what time the viewing area opens.

6. They usually open the viewing areas about 90 minutes before the show. There are lots of CM's in the general area around this time and lots of ropes. As far as I can remember the Blue Bayou package viewing area entrance was over by the Haunted Mansion Merchandise Cart. It might be changed now, so just ask a CM

7. Depending on general park crowds, it is possible the viewing area could fill up quickly. I think we were in the viewing area around 7.45pm for the 9pm show. We were at the front, almost at the railings, with a centre view of the stage.

8. I usually make a reservation around 4pm which means I get a ticket for the 9pm show. We usually spend about 90 minutes in the restaurant. After eating I remember we put the cushions into a bag and carried them around with us. I think we just had time to have a look in the shops and go one 1 ride.

9. It is worth it for me to do a dining package as Blue Bayou is my go to resturant and I would be eating there anyway on my trip.

10. There are other options for dining packages, not just Blue Bayou

11. There are other viewing areas, like you mentioned the Fast Pass area. It all depends on your budget, if you like the food at Blue Bayou, would you eat there anyway, how important is a good view for Fantasmic
 
Thank you! A few more questions. Do you actually SIT down during the show if you do a Fantasmic Dining package? That is worth it to me. Also, what time are the fireworks shows so I can plan around that too? Do we stay where we are to watch the fireworks or have to race somewhere to get a seat for that too?
 
Thank you! A few more questions. Do you actually SIT down during the show if you do a Fantasmic Dining package?

Yes if you have been given a cushion at your restaurant then the viewing section will be seated. Everyone in that section will be told to sit. The last time I was at Fantasmic, some of the dining options did not get a cushion, but as they were in the seated viewing section they had to sit.

I am used to sitting on the ground, waiting in line for concerts, so for me having the added bonus of the cushion was great.

Before the show people were standing but once the show started everyone had to sit.

Also, what time are the fireworks shows so I can plan around that too? Do we stay where we are to watch the fireworks or have to race somewhere to get a seat for that too?

The fireworks are usually about 9.30pm. They time Fantasmic so that it ends a few minutes before the fireworks. They show the animations and play the music on the Fantasmic fountains / water wall and alot of people stay in their spot to see this. I havent done it before but its on my list for my June 2018 trip

You would never make it back to Main Street in time to see the fireworks on The Castle. New Orleans Square back through Adventureland to Main Street gets horribly crowded after Fantasmic. I usually stay in that section of the park after the first show. After Fantasmic in 2015 we went straight to Pirates and Hunted Mansion, as these are walk ons during the Fireworks and Fantasmic.
 


This information is for member's reading this thread that are not aware of the two reservation windows for Blue Bayou.

"Blue Bayou Restaurant" is for general dining at the Blue Bayou. This does not provide a Fantasmic! viewing FP.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/blue-bayou-restaurant/
2018-01-14 002.JPG


"Fantasmic! Dining Packages" is for dining at the Blue Bayou and a Fantasmic! viewing FP.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/fantasmic-dinner-packages/
2018-01-14 001.JPG



The important part of making a Blue Bayou reservation for Fantasmic! is to be sure you are on the correct scheduling window.

Geemo
 
Thank you again. So, there's no way to watch fireworks AND Fantasmic in the same night? Like what? We were only going to spend one day in DCA and one day in DL and weren't going to get hopper passes. I know EVERYONE says to get hopper passes but we go to WDW and NEVER use them and don't feel like we miss anything. Having said that, if there isn't a way to do both on the same night, I will consider them. But don't I need to be in DCA on my DCA night for the World of Color thing? which I don't plan on buying desserts to see and have not started my research yet on that. ugh
 
Thank you again. So, there's no way to watch fireworks AND Fantasmic in the same night? Like what? We were only going to spend one day in DCA and one day in DL and weren't going to get hopper passes. I know EVERYONE says to get hopper passes but we go to WDW and NEVER use them and don't feel like we miss anything. Having said that, if there isn't a way to do both on the same night, I will consider them. But don't I need to be in DCA on my DCA night for the World of Color thing? which I don't plan on buying desserts to see and have not started my research yet on that. ugh
Many say that when they have gone to the first Fantasmic! show (if there are two that night) they have been able to stay in the River's of America area to view the fireworks. You won't see any of the projections on the castle or main street but you'll see the fireworks.
 


Thank you again. So, there's no way to watch fireworks AND Fantasmic in the same night?
The only way is to stay in your Fantasmic spot and see the animations projected onto the water and hear the music. You will also hear the bangs of the fireworks. It will be a different experience than actually being on Main Street and seeing it projected onto The Castle.

Also dont get too hung up on the fireworks. They get cancelled on a regular basis at short notice, or sometimes they dont run the entire show. They have wind issues or other issues alot of the time. Alot of the time everyone will fill Main Street waiting for the fireworks and at 9.25pm there will be an announcement that its cancelled tonight.

Getting from Fantasmic back to Main Street is a major bottle jam anyway. Its especially bad around Indiana Jones at normal times, then when you add in the wave of people exiting from Fantasmic you are really talking about single line traffic and its slow and painful.

We were only going to spend one day in DCA and one day in DL and weren't going to get hopper passes. I know EVERYONE says to get hopper passes but we go to WDW and NEVER use them and don't feel like we miss anything.
I did this last year, but I did 2 days in the main park and didnt go to DCA. Other years I have got hopper passes.
The thing about California is that the 2 parks are right beside each other. In fact its closer to walk from Main Street Train Station to California Adventures entrance than it is to walk from Main Street Train Station to Indiana Jones in Adventureland.


But don't I need to be in DCA on my DCA night for the World of Color thing? which I don't plan on buying desserts to see and have not started my research yet on that. ugh

Yes you need to be in California Adventures to see World of Colour.
Although it is the same issue getting from World of Colour back to Main Street / The Castle. You are just part of a wave of people exiting the park and you can only go so fast. Alot of people sit / stand in the esplanade area between the 2 parks to see the fireworks
 
ok, what about if we get passes for the second Fantasmic show and watch the fireworks first? Will that work? Is there a way to get the fastpasses for the second show from the restaurant?
 
ok, what about if we get passes for the second Fantasmic show and watch the fireworks first? Will that work? Is there a way to get the fastpasses for the second show from the restaurant?

that would work.
You would need a reservation for after 6.30pm. People start getting spots in Main Street from around 8.30pm, so you would need to go diretly to Main Street once you finish your meal. The fireworks are from 9.30pm to almost 10pm. You would then need to go directly to the Fantasmic viewing area. Depending on crowd levels in the park the Fantasmic viewing area may be crowded by the time you get there and you may end up at the back of the viewing area. You will still have a good view, a better view than those not in the viewing area.

ok, I took a screencap from Google Maps

The red box is the Fantasmic Blue Bayou Viewing area.
Now look at the yellow line and see the walkway / road from this area to The Hub / Castle area. Look at how narrow it is compared to Main Street which I have in a green box.

Everyone exiting Fantasmic exits along this walkway road AND everyone who is going to the second show of Fantasmic is entering. Also people who are trying to go to Pirates/ Haunted Mansion/ Indiana Jones/ are also using the same walkway.

fantasmic.JPG
 
Yes, you can see fireworks from the Fantasmic! viewing area + projections on the water screens in the river. OR, yes, if there are 2 shows you can do fireworks first and head over to Fantasmic! at the end....always less people for the 10:30 showing. Don't restrict yourselves, get park hoppers.....the 2 parks are more like 1 big park.....nothing at all like DW. It's about 100 yards entrance to entrance and no bag checks / security between the parks.
 
Chiming in here. We did the blue bayou package just a couple weeks ago. We had dinner at 540 which got us tickets to the 1st show. We had some time between finishing dinner and lining up for the show at 8. We shopped and rode a ride. We had seat cushions and lined up at 8 and got front and center seats. After the show was over the announced asking people to stay to watch fireworks.

I can’t compare to watching fireworks in front of castle, but I really enjoyed the fireworks and projection from our fantasmic viewing area. It deff felt like I got a 2 for 1.
 
We did that in 2016. It was worth it to us because we wanted to do both. We had a good view of the fireworks (it was the D60 fireworks) but not as good as being in front of the castle itself. Personally I'd stay put and watch from your viewing spot. It wouldn't be worth the hassle/rush of trying to get to mainstreet and at that point having a partially obstructed view anyway.

If/when we return to DL we'd do that package again. I think everyone else covered the highlights well.
 
ok, what about if we get passes for the second Fantasmic show and watch the fireworks first? Will that work? Is there a way to get the fastpasses for the second show from the restaurant?
You really can watch the fireworks from the Fantasmic! viewing area... and it’s possible it will just be the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks, which are only 4 minutes anyway... the Pixar ones don’t start until April 13th. As PPs have noted, the fireworks are not really something to plan around too much because they get cancelled so often. And seriously, the Fantasmic area viewing is fine...

But yeah, you can also ask the restaurant for FPs to the second show if you’d prefer that.
 
ok, what about if we get passes for the second Fantasmic show and watch the fireworks first? Will that work? Is there a way to get the fastpasses for the second show from the restaurant?
As others have said, the guaranteed show time is based on the time of your reservations. I suspect that if they have availability, they would allow you to swap times, but there is no way to know if that is possible until you get to the restaurant. It is (generally) possible to view fireworks from MS and then head to the second F!, but you will be in the back of the viewing area. There is also the chance that, for the second showing, they combine the viewing areas for all dining packages. When I did the BB F! dining package for the second showing, they initially let guests into the viewing areas based on your dining package, but after the initial queue was empty, they let folks sit wherever they wanted. Personally, for the price you're paying for the BB, I would want to make sure I had as good a view as possible.

Now look at the yellow line and see the walkway / road from this area to The Hub / Castle area. Look at how narrow it is compared to Main Street which I have in a green box. Everyone exiting Fantasmic exits along this walkway road AND everyone who is going to the second show of Fantasmic is entering. Also people who are trying to go to Pirates/ Haunted Mansion/ Indiana Jones/ are also using the same walkway.
For the last several trips, they've been using one way traffic control after fireworks. Guests leaving the F! viewing area exit via Adventureland and guests trying to enter have to use Frontierland.
 
You've already received some great feedback but here are two reviews I posted a while for both the Blue Bayou Experience and the River Belle Terrace Experience. For Blue Bayou I was assigned to the first show but they let me trade for the later show because that is what I wanted. But it sounds like that doesn't necessarily go both ways because the earlier show is often "sold out." So if you have the late show they didn't let you trade for the earlier.

Both times I did watch the fireworks on Main Street and then walked over to Fantasmic and got the exact spot I wanted without having to wait in line too long, but if you want first pick because you are dying to be at the very front you likely would want to be over there waiting. The videos below go into a little more detail and will give you an idea of where we were seated. Both times for the later viewing they mixed the Blue Bayou and River Belle together... But for the food alone Blue Bayou is worth the added cost.



 
Fantasmic on a Thursday night is possible because it is the week after Easter, but not guaranteed. During lower seasons Fantasmic only runs on weekends and holidays. Unless it is down for repairs, World of Color shows pretty much every night.

If there are two shows and you can stay up late, then seeing the fireworks and Fantasmic is a plan, but the current fireworks show is short and an older one.

PHXscuba
 
Can you still see the fireworks from the Hungry Bear seating area? We have a short time in the park and the added time for Blue Bayou won't work well.
 
As already mentioned earlier, I would have to agree that catching the 9pm Fantasmic and staying for the fireworks is the best 1-2 combo of entertainment that the park has to offer.

Can you still see the fireworks from the Hungry Bear seating area? We have a short time in the park and the added time for Blue Bayou won't work well.

Yes. All the dining packages are seated along the waterfront and can see the fireworks without an issue.
 
Thank you for all of your replies and the cool video which my kids and I watched! I think we will go for the Fantasmic viewing and then stay for the fireworks right there. Perfect! PHXscuba, you make a good point about the weekday but I'm hoping since it's spring break for many (including us) that they will show it on Thursday. I can change my dates to be in Disneyland to Friday and Saturday instead of Wednesday and Thursday but I was hoping that the weekdays would mean a bit lower crowds. Any thoughts on that? I can move my hotel reservations around still. Thanks!
 

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