Fantasmic!

The other big “Summer Nightastic” attraction at the DL Resort this summer is Fantasmic. It’s not new (going on 18 years, I think), but it’s been freshened over the last year with new lighting, water screens, digital projection, and dragons.

World of Color premiere

I was crazy enough to go see the World of Color premiere at Disney California Adventure on Friday, June 11th. I got up at the crack of dawn and arrived in the Pumbaa parking lot at 6am. A few minutes later I was in line outside of the “secure zone”.  At about 7:15 or so, they began to let us into the park… and about 30 minutes later, I had my Fastpass for the 9pm show!

Come about 5:30pm, people began to congregate around the viewing area on Paradise Bay. Things were not well organized — every cast member had a different story about what was going to happen next. At around 7:15pm they let us in and I found a spot toward the back of the view area.

In terms of eye candy, World of Color was jaw-dropping. It was filled with “how did they do that?” moments, and unbelievable technology and choreography.  There isn’t much of a plot… rather, it’s just a series of scenes from mostly newer Disney/Pixar movies.  The Lion King scene was a bit of a letdown for more than one reason. The Finding Nemo portion was uninspiring. But for the most part, the rest of the show was breathtaking.

I watched the next show from a non-reserved area and this reaffirmed what I’d heard: that you must watch from the viewing area!  While you can see the fountains from other areas, the huge water screen can only be scene from straight-on.

Enjoy the photos!

Oh, and here’s a short video of the post-show: