Saturday, May 19, 2012

Fantasmic's New Preshow (pics)

Several weeks ago, Fantasmic debuted a new preshow. Instead of nothing at all (the very old method) or a few boisterous crowd-control folks organizing "the wave" in the audience (a newer method), they've turned to professional help.

New warm-up actors (professionals, you can tell) use microphones and rile up the crowd. Among the tricks is a trivia contest, and getting each "half" of the stadium to root for a winner. When the show is ready to start, they encourage everyone with a glow toy or a light-up screen to hold it up -- the results are pretty neat looking.





The show is great, as always, though it lacks the advanced effects you'll find on today's version in Anaheim. I'd never noticed before this trip that they have pyro (fireworks) guys right there in the middle of the Indians.







We were surprised by two things in the merch area. First, they are selling R2D2 containers for churros (what a weird combination!). Second, they had the "back" concession stand open. It's been a long time since I've seen that, though admittedly we only go once every few months.






Kevin Yee is the author of numerous independent Disney books, including the popular Walt Disney World Earbook series and Walt Disney World Hidden History.