Fun Facts of Fantasmic, Florida

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1. Fantasmic - Maleficent QuickTime Video
2. Fantasmic - Snow White QuickTime Video
3. Fantasmic! Florida takes guests inside the dreams of Mickey Mouse - into a world where his magic creates dancing waters, shooting comets, animated fountains, swirling stars, balls of fire and other amazing wonders. When Disney villains intrude on Mickey's fantasy and turn his dreams into nightmares, he uses the power of good to triumph over the evil-doers.

   Fantasmic! Florida is different but similar to Fantasmic! in Disneyland. Disneyland's Fantasmic! takes place on Tom Sawyer's Island and on the Rivers Of America. For Fantasmic! Florida, Disney built a special Fantasmic! area at the Studios.

   This aquacade features a man made lagoon rigged with gysers amid fountains and an island with a 40-foot-high "mountain" as well as room for 6,900 seated guests and 3000 standing in the amphitheater. Fantasmic is be performed nightly but it has a major difference than the Disneyland show, Pochahontas comes in a dense fog on torch-lit canoes, there is also a wildly colorful production to The Lion King. Although Disneyland will incorporate much of the Studios' new version, Florida's also features villians like Jafar, Ursula, Hades, Scar, and Chernabog. Disneyland still maintains Captain Hook's Pirate Ship (the Columbia), the Prince & Princess Boats, "Pink Elephants" and the "Jungle Book" parts. It closes, like Disneyland, with the Maleficent/dragon effect. Towards the end of the 25 minute show Mickey is faced with Maleficent who amist green smoke and fire shoots a fireball at Mickey's feet, the stage goes dark. When the lights come back on, the 40 foot dragon shoots a fireball and lights the lake on fire. Mickey rises on a fountain of water and creates a huge water curtain smothering the flames and killing the villans one at a time! Then the Steamboat Willie river boat carries our favorite Disney characters as Mickey sets the whole area with sparklers and fireworks. The last second of the show Mickey disappears with a blink of an eye into a blinding light.
   REPORTED: anon 06 AUG 98

4. Towering over the island is a 59-foot man-made mountain . . . making it the fourth highest "mountain" at Walt Disney World.
5. If you watch the Fantasmic presentation, you'll notice that despite the advertisements, Mickey does not actually rise on a column of water to shoot a fireball at Maleficient. I worked custodial the first night that it opened, and was told two reasons for this by the on-site techs; One, that they couldn't get the hydrollics to work, and that Michael Eisner inspected the show and began to feel that there was a possible religious conflict with Mickey walking on the water.
   REPORTED: Goot 22 FEB 99
6. When Jafar screams out "Enter the cave of wonders" and Mickey is on the flying carpet, there is a drawing error. Well not really a drawing error, but instead of drawing Mickey Mouse on the carpet, they leave the original drawing of Aladdin on the carpet. This takes place when Mickey is being chased by the lava and he enters the room with all the gold coins (the place where he found the carpet). Since the carpet flys out so fast, it gives you about half a second to a second to notice that Mickey is not on the carpet, but Aladdin is.
   REPORTED: BILLY POULOS 23 JAN 99
   Mickey is the one you see when the carpet explodes out of the wall. You actually are seeing Mickey's bright face and not Aladdin's baggy pants.
   UPDATE: anon 20 FEB 99
7. This is not a hidden Mickey, but a hidden Mufasa, in Fantasmic. It can be seen perfectly from the Jafar section of the theater after dark. The top part of the mountain (the circle above the two shadows that look like the mountain has eyes)is Mufasa's head with the features formed by shadows cast by the blue lights, from the ripples in his mane to the outline of his nose and lips. It looks just like his head in the clouds in the movie. I know I'm not imagining it because everyone in our section was confirming they could easily see it after I pointed it out.
   REPORTED: Kim Parker 05 DEC 98
   The hidden Mufasa is an interesting coincidence but nothing more.
   UPDATE: anon 16 DEC 98
8. In the grand finale, 26 Disney characters cruise across the moat aboard a replica of the Steamboat Willie boat. At 80 feet long, it's bigger than Christopher Columbus' Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The Steamboat Willie river boat is a part of Fantasmic! at the Studios. The boat was built in the Central Shops behind the Magic Kingdom.
   REPORTED: Rob Hamilton 09 JUL 98
   CONFIRMED: anon 02 AUG 98
9. In the grand finale, 26 Disney characters cruise across the moat aboard a replica of the Steamboat Willie boat. At 80 feet long, it's bigger than Christopher Columbus' Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
   REPORTED: Jason Dixon 23 NOV 99
10. Each mist screen generates 800 gallons of water per minute.
    REPORTED: Susan 28 OCT 98
    To create a surface on which animation can be projected, water screens pump 2,400 gallons of water into the air every minute . . . and if called upon, could fill the 500,000-gallon Earffel Tower in less than three hours.
    UPDATE: Jason Dixon 23 NOV 99
11. The fire that belches from the dragon's mouth in Fantasmic is actually COFFEE CREAMER. It is blown out by compressed air and ignited electrically. This creates a small "dust" explosion that cascades into the water where natural gas takes over.
    REPORTED: anon 06 OCT 98
    The dragon fire is partly Cremora brand coffee creamer but it is also a pyro product called a fireball.
    UPDATE: anon 16 DEC 98
12. On Peter Pan's Flight, during the seen where Wendy is walking the plank, look to the right of her. You'll see the "mountain" which also serves as the stage for Fantasmic! at the Studios.
    REPORTED: Chris J. 05 JUL 99
    This is an interesting coincidence but is not intentional
    UPDATE: anon 10 NOV 99
13. Towering over the island is a 59-foot man-made mountain . . . making it the fourth highest "mountain" at the Walt Disney World Resort.
    REPORTED: Jason Dixon 23 NOV 99
14. Almost every single night at Fantasmic there is some part of the show missing. Be it because of high winds, electrical storms, or technical difficulties, few audiences have seen the entire show. Very often the dragon either refuses to appear, or gets stuck halfway out of it's lair. In that case the Malificent actor comes back out and pretends to be casting a spell. Another very frequent occurrence is Malificent appearing in Pocahontas' nook instead of growing into the dragon. Other rarer difficulties include:
    1. Mickey not appearing on the top of the mountain
    2. No splashes when Monstro hits the water on screen
    3. Animals being left out of the jungle scene
    4. Mickey's fingers not shooting fireworks at the beginning of the show
    5. Fireworks either misfiring (ruining the effect of Mickey "conducting" them) or not firing at all
    6. Characters being left off the steamboat
    7. Bad/no pre-show entertainment
    8. Lighting being slightly off
    9. L late start which means Epcot's "Illuminations" conflicting and ruining the show or
    10. No show at all.
    Many times technicians try to tempt fate when there is a storm and will fill the theater to capacity before cancelling a nightly show. A few times the show has had to be stopped in the middle to ensure the safety of the audience and the cast. All in all, Fantasmic is a very iffy experience. However, it's the most fabulous attraction in all of WDW when it run's perfectly (and even when it's not so perfect). I love Fantasmic!
    REPORTED: anon 18 JUL 99
    The have nothing to do with deciding to load the theater and can only make recommendations as to whether to continue or cancel a show. Management makes those decisions.
    UPDATE: anon 10 NOV 99
    Fantasmic! being delayed by Illuminations is not true. They run both shows at the same time if they end up starting at the same time now. This is because of traffic. By the time Illuminations is over, Fantasmic! is only at the (spoiler if you have yet to see the show) Pocohontas battle scene so now they run the shows at the same time so that traffic is not congested by people comming from both parks at the same time.
    UPDATE: Indiana Jones 05 JUN 01
    First of all the Techs aren't trying to "tempt fate" Managers aren't either. What would happen if at 8:30 the skies look terrible, there's lightning all over the place, and they decide to cancel the show, then at 9:00 (show time right now) ts clear as can be? Everyone would be mad. We don't cancel the show untill the last minute so you have the best chance of being able to see it. If there is severe electrical activity in the area we won't load the house for a few reasons:
    • those benches are all metal,
    • there's 1.9 million gallons of water in the moat, and
    • the mountain itself is entirely made of metal.
    Typically guests who want to wait will be taken into TOTS, until the weather clears. The theatre's capacity is 8,950. It can only fit 6,900 if it is packed well enough. (You know when the Cast Members are telling you "Slide all the way across that bench": That's packing.) And that number is also going off of WDI's 18 inch butt space per person...
    UPDATE: anon 04 JUL 01
15. If the show is delayed for more than 15 minutes Fantasmic will frequently be cancelled but it is normally because the situation delaying can't be resolved.
    REPORTED: anon 10 NOV 99
16. Guests are now allowed to travel on the backstage road between Oscar's and the Theater of the Stars. If you eat dinner at the Brown Derby, Hollywood and Vine or Mama Melrose, you get priority seating to Fantsmic. You take this route to get to your special seats at the Fantasmic Theater.
    REPORTED: Boso 10 AUG 00
    Guests can get an unusual look at the backstage area at the Studios by taking advantage of the Fantasmic Priority Seating Dinner Packages the park now offers. You can make reservations at the Brown Derby or Mama Melrose's for dinner and after you eat they will give you a ticket that will give you reserved seating to Fantasmic. This not only saves you A LOT of waiting time (you only have to show up a half hour before the show as opposed to the lines that sometimes form up to two hours ahead of the show) and in order to get to the special seating, cast members will take you backstage next to Oscar's Service Station past a cast member break area, the building that houses currency control, all of the stroller storage and the Beauty and the Beast theater.
    CONFIRMED: KAREN 11 JAN 01
    It is true, It does save time though the spot they put you in is at the far side of the theater and where you are sitting you can miss some of the action. Though two hours is a long wait, you have a better chance of getting a seat where you can see everything and not miss any of the action. Seeing the show 156 times (yes, i have seen it that many times), take it from me, it would be better to wait the hour and a half to two hours to get good seats compaired to paying for a dinner and getting one of the bad areas for the show.
    UPDATE: indiana jones 12 FEB 01
    Someone stated that the seating isn't very good, well I was very pleased of where we were seated considering we got there 30 mins. before the actual show. Fantasmic is truley an amazing show! GO DISNEY!
    CONFIRMED: Jonathan Ruiz 19 JUN 01
    There's lots of debate on this page about weather or not the dinner package seating is any good. I have always thought that the idea of being able to show up 30 minutes before a show and have a seat is a good thing, but people don't like being in the far two sections of the theatre. Well I have good news and bad news. Right now we are trying a new experiment at The Hollywood Hills Ampatheatre with the dinner package seating. We are now seating dinner package guests in The Mickey and Scar sections of the theatre (Mickey is the very center section, and Scar is one over from center) General seating will now start in Poca. and continue through Beast, then go back to Seabass. and continue through Witch. This is a good thing for dinner guests, not such a good thing for non-DP Guests. If this little experiment is succesfull, it will stay in place, and (here's the bad news) the restaraunts will start to charge extra for dinner package seating. So now you might get a better seat with your dinner package ticket but it will cost more!
    UPDATE: F! CM 22 JUN 02
17. Mike is the show's manager with Jo Ann, and Johnathan helping.
    REPORTED: Indiana Jones 20 MAY 01
18. The most visited show at MGM is Fantasmic! The show since Oct. 18th, 1998 has had 8500 seats.
    REPORTED: Indiana Jones 20 MAY 01
19. I have seen the show 156 times.
    REPORTED: Indiana Jones 20 MAY 01

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