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Fantasmic - dining package with priority seating
Fantasmic is one of our favourite night time shows, however, the one thing we dislike is having to arrive at The Hollywood Hills Theatre ages before the performance starts, in order to guarantee ourselves a seat. For a prime seat, especially in peak season, this can be as much as 2 hours before the show begins.
This trip we decided to opt for the dining package with priority seating for Fantasmic, having been disappointed last year when everywhere was booked up, we booked about 4 months in advance through Walt Disney World Dining Reservations.
Our choice was The Brown Derby restaurant, there were no children in our party and we thought this would be a really nice “fine dining” experience. We were not disappointed!!
We arrived at the restaurant 10 minutes before our reservation time and were given the proverbial beeper. We had been a bit concerned about our attire in such a nice restaurant, there is no dress code but a day in the parks does not exactly leave you looking your best. It was nothing to worry about as the place was full of people looking exactly like us, hot and a bit sweaty!!! A quick trip to the restrooms to freshen up before our meal was all we needed to look presentable.
We waited only a short time before we “buzzed” and were shown to our table.
The Maitre D led us right through the restaurant to a small annexe at the rear, we never did find out if this was purely for people on the Fantasmic package but it was like a small intimate dining room with only half a dozen tables and was absolutely lovely with crisp white tablecloths and polished silverware. The Maitre D indicated the blue voucher on the table which was our pass for Fantasmic and said the server would explain it to us when she arrived.
The Fantasmic package, we were told, was a fixed price $35.99 and entitled us to an appetizer, a main course and a dessert , there were no restrictions as to what you could choose from the menu and as all our choices came to more than $40 each this was great value for money.
For our appetizers two of us chose crab cakes, one goats cheese and one soup of the day which in this case was tomato and basil. Everything was delicious and beautifully presented and we all looked forward to our entrée. This time there were three fillet steaks served on a bed of yukon gold mashed potato with a red wine reduction and fresh vegetables. The steak was so tender to coin a phrase it really did “melt in the mouth”.
My brother in law chose fish which he said was delicious and there was certainly nothing left on this plate at the end!
Finally the desserts which were two crème brulee’s, one ice cream concotion and for me a chocolate mousse, all were as good as the preceding two courses.
The boys treated themselves to a really good bottle of wine from the extensive wine list which was at an additional cost, but as designated driver I stuck to unlimited refills of iced tea.
On the back of our voucher were the directions to our “special entrance” situated at the Crossroads just inside the park on the left handside and we were advised to arrive about 30 mins prior to the performance. As we had about an hour and a half after our meal, we were able to make the most of our day and enjoy some other attractions before we eventually strolled down to the gate.
Our voucher was checked by the security officer on the gate and we then made our way “behind the scenes” to the reserved seating area.
The seats were not centrally situated, but were at the extreme right of the auditorium, they still, however, provided an excellent view of the show and removed the necessity of the usual long wait.
As usual the show was excellent and in future we will always choose Dining with priority seating if we want to visit Fantasmic!.
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