Sorry this is so long, but we had a different experience when we saw WoC on Wednesday Oct 18th that I wanted to share for anyone planning a weekday viewing this fall. There's only one show Mon - Thu, at 8:15, and no pre-show, and it is still very busy and "sells out".
We had WoC dinner reservations for 4:30 at Ariels Grotto. We finished dinner at 6pm, and the waitress gave us our FastPass, which said to return between 7-7:45pm. She told us to report to the area directly outside the beginning of the bridge next to Ariels.
We got to the area right before the bridge at about 6:30. There were no signs directing people where to wait. There were a few people there, and several CMs. I asked one if this was the right spot to wait for the Preferred Dining Viewing area. She said no, it wasnt and told me to wait by the walkway from Paradise Pier to Grizzly River Run. So we moved over there. There were more CMs there, putting up barricades in parallel lines in the walkway outside Paradise Park. (It looked like they were making an area to drive cattle through which made me laugh.) I asked one of them if this was the right area to wait for the Preferred Dining Viewing area. She said no, this area was only for Picnics and FastPasses, the dining area people were supposed to wait in the area before the bridge next to Ariels (where we were to begin with). I said our line will form over there? She replied theres never a line for the dinner people, just a crowd.
So we moved back over there, and sat down on the cement benches around that structure that looks like a lighthouse (Im not sure what its called). Still no signs anywhere. We waited until about 6:50, then a CM came and told us, and the other people waiting there, that we all had to move to the area by the walkway going to Grizzly River Run (the area we had been specifically told wasnt for us). I told this CM about how we were getting conflicting information, and he said thats because they keep changing how they are having people line up. He said it was different the night before so the other CMs I talked to probably didn't know the new system.
Well, by then the "correct" area was packed with people, all standing behind a rope, so we had to move to the back of the crowd. There were NO lines, just a crowd consisting of everyone, no matter what color FastPass they had.
At 7pm they removed the rope and let people move forward, through the lanes they had created with the barricades. They read everyones ticket and directed us where to go for Blue, White (dining), Red, and Yellow.
I had already decided from reading AVPs write-up at the beginning of this thread that I wanted to stand on top of the stairs, on the left, close to the section she colored yellow in the picture. However when we got to the dining section, it was roped off so that no one could stand on the stairs. The only open area was the flat circle area, and the areas closer to the water (which by then were full of people). I knew I didnt want to stand in the circle area (Im not tall and knew that I wouldnt be able to see from there). I went to several different CMs to politely ask if we could stand at the top of the stairs in the roped off area above the circle. None of them had any idea why it was roped off, so they couldnt let us stand there.
Finally one CM said the stairs on the right, above the circle, would be overflow for Yellow ticket holders, not for the dining section. He also said every spot here has been designed to give you a great view. (Yeah, right.) After about 15 minutes, a supervisor came over and a nice CM went to ask this supervisor if I could stand in the roped off area, and she said Sure! Im removing the ropes now! So it appears the area with the stairs above the circle was roped off to serve as overflow, ensuring the crowd moved forward first.
We were able to sit on the stairs until the show started, by which time the entire preferred dining area was full.
So in the end, with a lot of headache but persistence, we did get to stand on the top of the second set of stairs and had a great view of everything except the water level.
I learned that Disney changes its methods frequently, so you cant really count on everything youve heard from people whove already gone, but its still a very good idea to do your research so you understand the basics and have a plan, but be prepared for changes to the system. Also, I do want to say that every CM I talked to was very nice and helpful, they just werent getting the correct information so they couldnt in turn give me the correct information.
I also heard that night from the CMs that they are still running out of on-line picnic meals a few weeks before each show, and the dinner reservations also fill up a few weeks before each show, even the weekday shows. They run out of the free FastPasses early in the day when there's only one show. On Monday, Oct 18th, it was very empty in the park, but we passed by the FastPass machines at 11:45 and they already had the sign up saying they were no longer distributing FastPasses for that night.
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