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Dory
09-06-2006, 01:20 PM
I think i saw Fantasmic the year it opened and don't remember if it was ever intended to be a permanent show at the park. I thought at the time it was supposed to have a temporary run of a year or maybe two. Didn't the ads at the time sort of promote it as a temporary thing? I think that in itself explains why they have so many congestion/traffic problems in the park at night. Like i said in another thread, if the show is going to stay for the long run, why don't they build a permanent venue for it over in DCA? The show could even be greatly improved if it had its own venue with bleachers and such.

Frogberto
09-06-2006, 01:37 PM
I had never heard of it being temporary, but I did find these little known facts --

* The first Fantasmic show premiered in May, 1992.

* Original name for Fantasmic was Imagination but was changed since Disney could not copyright the name.

* This was the first show in the US to use the new French water screens. Film images are projected onto three massive mist screens which appear on the River, using 70mm projectors. Each screen is 50 feet wide, 30 feet high, and 6 inches thick.

bradk
09-06-2006, 02:05 PM
it's my understanding that it was never meant to be temporary per se, but it wasn't necessarily thought it would run as long as it has. it is going on 15 years, which is pretty long for any individual show.

annieb727
09-06-2006, 02:56 PM
it's my understanding that it was never meant to be temporary per se, but it wasn't necessarily thought it would run as long as it has. it is going on 15 years, which is pretty long for any individual show.

Wow!! have there been any changes to it since it started?

bradk
09-06-2006, 03:20 PM
the giant ursula was removed... for a while, pinocchio was out of it for technical reasons.. other than that, i don't believe so

Malcon10t
09-06-2006, 03:53 PM
I remember seeing it in Aug of 92 for the first time. It really hasn't changed much over the years, except for Ursela. It is still the greatest show there.

kirstie_29
09-06-2006, 03:55 PM
I wish they would bring back Ursula, I loved the way she would "glide" through the fog. Everytime I watch the show and it gets to her part I hold my breath and hope to see her come out, but alas....no Ursula.

annieb727
09-06-2006, 06:13 PM
very cool...thanks for the information! :D

experiment626
09-06-2006, 06:28 PM
i wouldn't want them to move it to DCA but I would love to see bleachers for seating, that would rise from below ground, at say 7pm (or 1 hours before show time, which ever is first) and then lower after the show(s).

Klutch
09-06-2006, 06:39 PM
Hey, bradk, pardon my ignorance, but what's the scoop on your "Mad Mermaid" avatar? It's baffled me ever since you premiered it.

bradk
09-06-2006, 07:12 PM
hmm.. scoop? like why she has that face? for whatever reason, she didn't have her dinglehopper on her, so one of the CMs (probably my guide) was speculating that scuttle may have taken it.

averagedork
09-06-2006, 08:47 PM
She looks like she may hurl

cstephens
09-07-2006, 07:06 AM
They've changed the dragon at least once. When I first started watching Fantasmic, the dragon was amazing. I've since gotten used to the "new" dragon, but the first time I saw it, I remember wondering why they replaced the really cool dragon with this paper mache streamer thing. It's still pretty impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the old dragon.

stan4d_steph
09-07-2006, 07:28 AM
Another bit of Fantasmic! trivia: one of the original slogans for the show was "Ignite the Night." That changed after the unfortunate coincidence with the LA Riots. I have a friend who has some promotional materials with the original slogan that he bought off of eBay.

Bolivar
09-07-2006, 10:57 AM
We took my son to Disneyland for his fifth birthday. This was his first trip there. At one point during the day he enjoyed watching the ducks in the Rivers of America. Later, we watched Fantasmic. When the dragon came out and started breathing fire, igniting the river, he jumped to his feet, pointed at the water and started screaming, "the ducks, the ducks!" He had tears running down his face.

Now we always joke that those massive chicken leg things they sell at the carts are actually roasted ducks from last night's Fantasmic show.

Opus1guy
09-07-2006, 11:34 AM
hmm.. scoop? like why she has that face? for whatever reason, she didn't have her dinglehopper on her, so one of the CMs (probably my guide) was speculating that scuttle may have taken it.

My neighbor's kid...whenever he has to take a dump...always says, "I have to go feed Ariel." Which is sorta funny in a teen poopy-joke kinda way. :)


Another bit of Fantasmic! trivia: one of the original slogans for the show was "Ignite the Night." That changed after the unfortunate coincidence with the LA Riots. I have a friend who has some promotional materials with the original slogan that he bought off of eBay.

Yeah. I've got lots of that stuff in my collection and I remember lots of folks at the time using the slogan logo and Photoshoping scenes of the riots behind it.

Vegitabeta
09-07-2006, 11:34 AM
We took my son to Disneyland for his fifth birthday. This was his first trip there. At one point during the day he enjoyed watching the ducks in the Rivers of America. Later, we watched Fantasmic. When the dragon came out and started breathing fire, igniting the river, he jumped to his feet, pointed at the water and started screaming, "the ducks, the ducks!" He had tears running down his face.

Now we always joke that those massive chicken leg things they sell at the carts are actually roasted ducks from last night's Fantasmic show.
Haha! That's a good one!

Disneyfreak
09-07-2006, 01:20 PM
Wow!! have there been any changes to it since it started?
Yes when they drained the ROA last they replaced all the nozzles and pumps in the system. That is why the screens shoot more water than when the show premiered. Each nozzle that sprays a waterscreen costs 100 grand. They have to import these from France.

Disney Vault
09-07-2006, 01:43 PM
Yes when they drained the ROA last they replaced all the nozzles and pumps in the system. That is why the screens shoot more water than when the show premiered. Each nozzle that sprays a waterscreen costs 100 grand. They have to import these from France.
They also added the twinkling lights on the island.

dsnydon
09-07-2006, 07:19 PM
I started the summer of 1992, Fantasmic was then and still is the best thing we do:cool: I visited FL in 2000, the show there in a word stinks. No Mark Twain, and no Peter Pan:mad: I work days now and haven't had chance to see the show in a while. The last time I saw it the Crock was missing, has it come back:confused:

darph nader
09-07-2006, 10:01 PM
I'll admit F is cool,i've seen it twice,but it has to be the 'biggest' crowd problem ever.:( Beside I like RoA at night on the Mark Twain.:cool:

Another Dimension
09-07-2006, 10:24 PM
They also added the twinkling lights on the island.

The low level swirling fountains that are now on during the Princesses and pre-finale segements were also added, during the most recent extended refurb of F! and the ROA.

WDW F! has had those for little fountains many years.

It's really cool WDW F! actually had something new and fun to add to the already much better DL show. :)


Tic Toc has been back in F! for a while. When you missed him it was either a short refurb, the Columbia had to be pushed or the float driver missed his queue, are the most likely reasons he wasn't in the show..


And I really think the Remember... crowds and crowd control problems are far worse than F! has ever been, in the past 13 years.
Far more GC CM's yelling too. :mad:

lauramaynot
09-09-2006, 04:18 AM
Wow lots of info about F! that I didn't know. But here is my question. Since WDW has a theater type set up for the show (we didn't see it since so many have said it isn't that great and we had limited time) I assumed that Disneyland had the first version of the show but now I am confused - who's got the copy?

bradk
09-09-2006, 06:00 AM
DLR's was first.

Klutch
09-09-2006, 08:26 AM
I do find it odd although MGM at WDW has a very nice outdoor theater with actual seating, the show itself is pretty lackluster compared to the DL version which has a "Woodstock" viewing arrangment.

There's really not much MGM Studios can do about the ship/boat. The water area in the theater is nowhere near large enough for craft the size of the Mark Twain and Columbia. Yet, there's more to it than that. I've seen each show only once. I'm not sure why, but DL does a better job in more ways than one.