Doubtful.
I cannot speak for WDW and operations there are run by completely different people, but at DL we had a regular reservation to Blue Bayou in September and were offered the Fantasmic package when we checked in. I think itâs a good idea for them business-wise to do that (upcharge at time of dining). But if you have the chance to book it directly, Iâd do that. (or give them a call)
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The dining package has to be booked through the specific page.
Your ADR will still be valid, you just wonât get the Fantasmic passes.
Try and book a package and then cancel the regular ADR.
If they havenât sold all the package spots it certainly makes sense to try and up sell.
But I wouldnât rely on that, especially not in December. Demand is going to be huge.
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Showtimes announced
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I canât believe theyâre going to have just one show so quickly after it opens.
I mean, I can. Itâll be linked to thec critical shortage of character performers. But itâll mean a lot of people being disappointed.
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The skeptic in me wants to think this is more of creating a scarcity mentality so that dining packages - whatever they might price them at (ridiculous) - will sell out in a hot second.
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They donât have the cast to do more.
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I know. I did go on and say that.
Apparently the character performers are working 6 days a week and moving around all the time. So maybe one girl plays Minnie at Cape May breakfast and then has to appear in DHS all day.
This feels a little bull to me. I would imagine itâs much more efficient to have the same cast work say 4 hours instead of 2?
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Ugh, I donât understand why they are having the showing at 8pm the night we are there! (Nov 12) DHS is still open until 9 so we basically lose an hour of park time.
They arenât only doing Fantasmic - those performers are doing meet & greets, parades, etc as well.
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No I get that, but I still think it has to be more efficient to allow them to just stay in one place and repeat Fantasmic. Especially since itâs such a big thing. And half of the characters in Fantasmic arenât anywhere else anyway!
Wait.
I donât get this.
UnlessâŚ
Are you suggesting the characters ⌠are ⌠PEOPLE?? IN COSTUMES???
And worse, that they âPLAYâ multiple characters every day???
I am destroyed.
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Donât even get me started on why they are being so picky with hiring someone to basically wear an Aladdin costume and stand on a boat and wave for 3 minutes!!!
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See I thought they were looking for Aladdin himself.
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He probably would have been easier to find!!!
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Several factors I guess.
He has to be believable as Aladdin anywhere, including a close up meet & greet.
Cultural appropriation is now such a no-no that they need to be careful in filling specific roles.
Hiring CMs is still hard. And partly thatâs because they canât just put up the starting rate for new CMs without adjusting pay for all in the same role.
The heavy workload of character CMs is putting people off, and CMs are quitting for better pay and more time off elsewhere.
The College Programme is ramping up but meanwhile CMs are having to backfill in other roles, or just other locations. (Eg: the reason the Rose & Crown menu has just been slashed is because staff there had to be moved to Akershus to get that venue up and running).
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Youâre still pulling them away from whatever else they were doing. And many âfriends ofâ characters are friends of multiple characters. So they may be one character in Fantasmic, and another at meet & greets.
Characters are a specially skilled role, Iâm sure they are as efficient with scheduling as they can be. Itâs a zero sum game, to staff Fantasmic, they have to pull from something else.
Also, didnât they just announce a pull back in MK meet & greets? Likely not a coincidence.
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This just seems unreasonable. Like I know we are going to have to wait forever because they canât staff a second show. With all of the corners they have cut elsewhere, I feel like they could accept an âokâ character who literally has 2.5 minutes of wave time. But I hear you on staffing as a whole, however I have zero sympathy for Disney on that.