We’re hoping to do a one day Christmas extravaganza on Sunday, December 1st mainly to see the holiday decorations and shows. I have a deluxe pass and am blocked on Saturday, November 30th, so Sunday is the only day we can visit the parks. Is it realistic to try for both the Holiday fireworks in DL and World of Color in DCA? Has anyone done that (successfully or unsuccessfully) before? Fireworks are at 9:30 PM and the last showing of World of Color is 10:15 PM.
There is a post (I think in the FAQs on this forum) made by TP staff that says they don’t recommend trying to do both. Due to crowd issues it is nearly impossible to get between the two locations in time.
That said, if you were to try, I recommend doing WOC first if there is an earlier showing. Even if you don’t get through the turnstiles in time to hear the music or see the projections, you’d still see the fireworks.
If your priority is fireworks first, I recommend standing as close to the Main Street train station as you can while still seeing the castle, then hustle over to DCA immediately after the last firework. You won’t get a good spot, but if you can’t see them on separate nights, it may be your only option.
Thanks. This is what I feared. Fireworks with a view of the castle are the priority. So getting from there to DCA is probably not realistic.
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If you only have one night and you are all mobile adults/teens then I wouldn’t discount it completely but be ready to bail if any part of transitioning between FWs to WoC becomes unbearably stressful.
Here is what I would gameplan if FWs were my priority and wanting to squeeze in WoC as well.
For fireworks: get a spot on Main Street right at the rope in one of the sections they setup ropes to create walkways (located at the PhotoShop and also Starbucks) - you would have to show up with an hour or so to really guarantee that you would get prime rope space.
Once the show is done, immediately follow the path of least resistance around working your way with purpose to the exit (will likely still have to weave through a lot of the crowd but they do instruct people exiting the park to use the street so traffic should open up in patches along the street with the general direction of the flow being to exit).
You also can work your way left to the sidewalks on the same side as the Penny Arcade/Confectionary and/or use the (mostly all connected shops) to get to the exit. Navigating the traffic out of DL will be your biggest challenge and being able to see WoC will depend on if you can make it out of the DL and to the DCA entrance before DCA closes at 10pm.
If you can get into DCA by 10pm close then you still have 15 min. to get to WOC viewing and your view will definitely be less than ideal, however, anywhere in the pier area you’ll hear the music and have some sort of (limited) view of the projections/fountains. If you do get a FastPass for the 10:15 WoC you should be able to join up at the back of section and see ok. But it is likely to be crowded with many last-minute people showing up and your view will greatly depend on how tall you are/how tall the people in front of you are.
Without a FastPass, you still have a variety of options the area. Most popular will be in front of the Little Mermaid ride show building but tends to fill pretty much an hour before WoC. The much more obstructed area near the Golden Zephyrs queue is also general viewing and bc the wheel is pretty much completely obstructed, not too many people stay in that spot, but you can still see the closer fountains as well as hear the music.
You can also check if they are allowing walk-ups behind the crowd the is in the FastPass section along the bridge toward Lamplight Lounge (sometimes they do allow it, sometimes no, it just depends on how busy the night is). Also, another unique view that would allow you to experience the music and fountains is walking to the back of the pier and watching it from behind. There are benches (that will likely be full before showtime) just across from the Incredicoaster/Jessie’s Critter Carousel that face towards the pier but you can stand near/around and see if there’s any rail space anywhere in the vicinity where you can see the show. It will be all backwards with fuzzy projections and no view of the wheel, but with typically a lot less crowds than the viewing areas, so for a last minute chance to experience the show, not a horrible option.
And lastly, in front of the yellow section (the viewing areas closer to Golden Zephyr/Jumpin Jellyfish) they reserve the very front & center areas for anyone to walk up and see but this is bc you are VERY likely to get wet/misted from the proximity of the fountains and depending on the wind direction can get drenched. If you are prepared to get wet (or don’t mind aka will be heading right back to your lodging to change once the show is over) then you’ll get a fully unobstructed view of the show. However, whenever we have watched near that area, I often see groups coming out of it all show bc they are just not prepared for and do not enjoy the drenching that can occur. We also dislike being that close for the fire effects that are pretty intense as well and to us far more bothersome than any mist we’ve experienced at WoC (I don’t remember if the Christmas show has any fire though, since we’ve only seen it once and has been a couple of years).
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Thanks for all the tips, @lolabear_la. We are all mobile and my daughters are particularly good at slipping through the crowds. We will probably try it but know that it may not work out. How good is the view of the castle from Main Street? I haven’t watched the fireworks from there in a long time. We’ve watched from somewhere in front of Jolly Holiday or up closer to the castle - usually.
I was considering the splash zone. My younger daughter and I stood there last August. We were pretty wet, but the view was amazing. If we had ponchos or hooded raincoats it might be an option since we’d be going home (to lodging) right after. The wet was much worse on the head and face than the body. LOL
It’s definitely small and if anyone puts their kids up on their shoulders, depending on where they are in relation to your view of the castle, can take that view away. BUT by the ropes is your best bet to get at least the turrets in your view even if working around kids on shoulders. I do personally prefer the atmosphere in Main St. with the projections around me and at least having the view of the fireworks framed over the castle as they were designed but don’t care too much about seeing the actual castle itself or any of the projections on it. However, if you are particularly good at weaving and would miss that castle view, you could and should watch from your closer to the castle spot and gamble that if they open up the walkways behind the Main St. stores you’ll be able to much easier navigate down to the entrance to make it in time for WoC.
Are the same projections on the Main Street buildings that are on the Castle? The last time I viewed from Main Street it was the Mickey Party last year that didn’t include fireworks - just projections and lasers.
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Just to report back … we did not get to test out our plan of fireworks and WoC on the same night. Fireworks, sadly, were cancelled on Sunday due to wind. The upside is that we had plenty of time to get over to DCA for WoC and I really enjoyed the holiday show!
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Bummer! Although honestly it’s sometimes a relief when fate makes the hard decisions for you. 
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Does the fun wheel challenge game still exist?
Doubt this helps for Christmas week, but last week there was an after hours private event I think in DCA on Thursday, and we saw WoC at 8:15, which was great for my kids. Would have had plenty of time to get to the fireworks, but we had seen them earlier in the week and took the kids back to the hotel.
I am not sure as of late, but they were not doing it when I went for my birthday in mid July.