Fantasmic! the show on the Rivers of America at Disneyland is worth the purchase of your ticket into Disneyland. Showing the battle between good and evil, Mickey and various Evil personas from the Disney Movies and of course Mickey is the victor. Every time Fantasmic! is shown, Mickey wins. What a wonderful world, and what a fantastic imagination Mickey Mouse has!
The bright colors, beautiful music, and water screens standing so tall make this a show that everyone needs to see at least once.
I have had the opportunity to see this show many times. The first time, when Fantasmic! premiered, we sat up against the rail at the Rivers of America for almost 2 hours to have a front row center seat. I still remember feeling the cold from the water screens, and the heat from the fire. I loved the show, but we decided then and there we would not sit that long on the hard ground again.
The very next year we were at Disneyland and I was making reservations for Blue Bayou when I overheard the man in front of me making reservations for Fantasmic! I immediately checked on that and found out about the Balcony seating, on the Balcony of the Art Gallery. The cost was $30.00 each and included a dessert buffet. We felt it was worth it and paid right then and there.
Our next trip to Disneyland the reservations for the Balcony were done the same way; purchased on Main Street. After that year things changed. More people were now aware of the wonderful Balcony seating and it became a very sought after ticket. We now had to purchase tickets through guest relations; which opened at 7:00. This was to be done on the day of the show you wanted to see. We quickly found out that we needed to line up early.
The last year this process was followed you had to be in line by 5:00 am in order to have a shot at that evenings showing of Fantasmic! Not many things would cause a stir like this but the Balcony is something special. It is high above the crowds and almost perfectly centered to Tom Sawyer Island. The desserts are rich, some are fruity, and all are delicious. Being on the Balcony makes me feel like a queen.
Now it is much easier to make your reservations for Fantasmic! Balcony seating. It is done over the phone 30 days in advance. And of course Balcony seating is much more expensive.
Effective August 1, 2007 Fantasmic! balcony seating will no longer be an option. The Disney Gallery is closing with no word on a reopening date. While the Gallery is closed the balcony is inaccessible. There is also no word yet that balcony seating will even be offered once the Gallery is transformed into whatever Disney is planning.
Please check back here for information, or check out message boards for updates. Balcony seating is one of our favorite things to do at Disneyland, and I will be sure to update this information as it comes in during the next few months.
We did this twice before I got pregnant. Once our son was born we were not sure what to do about Fantasmic! But, we decided what the heck; and in 2003 paid $47.00 each to sit on the balcony. That year Alex was free.
In 2004 we were trying to save money for the big trip in 2005. So for our trip in June of 2004 we did not buy Balcony tickets. We were not even going to see Fantasmic! because of the wait and our young child. However we got lucky. About three minutes before it started we were walking to the Haunted Mansion and we were able to slide under the rope near the Premium Riverside Seating. Everyone that had been seating waiting for the show had stood up and there was plenty of room. We stood, had a great view and it cost us nothing. It was not as comfortable as the premium seating but it was still the same wonderful show.
Once we tried the Premium Riverside Seating. We were lucky. We did both the Riverside seats and the Balcony seats on the same trip. It was the first year the Premium Riverside seating started and at the time we got our desserts in a keepsake box. I still have the boxes from that wonderful evening. They no longer do boxes at the Premium Seating, so the boxes are nice keepsakes.
This year, 2005, we paid for 3 Balcony tickets at the cost of $53.00 each. To us it is worth it to avoid the long hot wait for a good seat. It is also pretty much a tradition for us. This is something we plan for on all our trips to Disneyland.
I love to see Mickey use his Disney magic and win the fight over Evil. We have been through Mark Twain refurbs - where the characters all stood on Tom Sawyer Island when Fantasmic! ended. We have been there when Pinocchio didn't work. The funny thing about Fantasmic! is that it doesn't matter. It doesn't all have to be perfect because the show is so incredible. Of course, when it is all working properly it is better, but this show is just so great I can take the bad with the good.
I highly recommend seeing Fantasmic! If you can afford it, I recommend the Balcony, or the Premium seating. If you have the time to sit for 2 hours to get a front row seat, do it, because you won't regret the time lost.
In March of 2011 we again sat in the Riverside Premium seating. ($60 per person) We highly recommend it. The videos below were filmed from that spot.