We still have about 50 minutes till showtime, and Haunted Mansion is practically right next to our preferred seating area, so we decide to hop into the Lightning Lane real quick.
The Lightning Lane ends up taking way longer than anticipated and we get a little nervous we’ll be late for Fantasmic but we end up boarding the ride at 8:35PM which should get us out with just enough time to get to the seating area.
The Haunted Mansion has the Holiday Nightmare overlay here as well, which is very similar to the overlay in Tokyo. The main difference is the version here has Oogie Boogie at the end and in Tokyo there was no Oogie Boogie.
Afterwards, we head over to our Fantasmic Seating which is directly across from the main stage area in the Rivers of America. Dave and Nathalie don’t have preferred seating so we’ll meet back up with them after Fantasmic.
Unlike Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios which is in a dedicated Amphitheater with great sightlines no matter where you sit, here the viewing area is just the walkway around the Rivers of America and the sightline aren’t exactly great. Given I’m the tallest person in our party, and I’m only 5’3” I was very uncertain how just how difficult it would be to see Fantasmic, so we decided to buy a the Fantasmic Dinner Package to get a preferred seating area.
Aside from the VIP tour we did at the very beginning of the tour, this is the only time we opted for any preferred viewing package this trip and only the 3rd time in our entire lives we have paid for a preferred seating area in our many years of going to Disney Parks. The only other time was when we saw World of Color in California Adventure in 2017. Typically viewing for a nighttime show isn’t tough to get if you arrive early enough, but I was just not familiar with the layout here so we didn’t want to risk it. Another major difference from the Hollywood Studios version is there is no mountain in the middle which forces the action lower to the ground so I really wasn’t sure just how easy it would be to see.
Our whole family loves Fantasmic and it’s one of favorite things to see when we go to Disney World. We watch the show, and we all agree it just isn’t as good as the Hollywood Studios version. While the majority of the vacation I felt that most Disney World versions of things just are lacking compared to their counterparts around the world, the one area where Disney World definitely wins is nighttime spectaculars. Fantasmic is the best nightshow and Happily Ever After is definitely the best nighttime spectacular.
Unfortunately, the Disneyland version just doesn’t have the same grandeur or scale as the Hollywood Studios version.
It’s also missing the dragon at this time ever since it caught fire, and it also doesn’t have the newer parts that incorporate Moana, Aladdin, and Frozen to keep it a little more modern. It’s still a great show but lacks the sheer spectacle of the Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios.
Another annoyance was that while the preferred seating is in a great location, since everyone is sitting, which I really appreciate, this also makes it such that you need to watch the show through the fence that surrounds the Rivers of America. This made for some difficult photography at times as I am having to raise my camera above the level of the railing.
The one thing that was definitely an improvement in relation to the Hollywood Studios version though, was the use of the S.S. Columbia as a set piece with between Captain Hook and Peter Pan. This was VERY impressive and entertaining to see them utilize the S.S. Columbia in this way.
At this point it’s about 9:30PM and we still have a handful of Lightning Lanes we haven’t used. To be honest though, the crowd today has been moderate at the worst, and I would honestly characterize it as light. We all figured it would have been very busy being the last day before Christmas break ended, but in the end, there were really very few people in the park, and given it was a school night, after Fantasmic the park was nearly dead. In retrospect the regular Lightning Lane Multipass would likely have been enough, I’m just not sure how much more walking we would have been doing. We walk to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but it’s sadly closed, but the cast members state that it will hopefully reopen soon.
Galaxy’s Edge, otherwise known as Batuu west, since this is the west coast version, is pretty close to Big Thunder Mountain so we head to Rise of the Resistance.
Walking through Batuu west is nearly identical to Batuu East. There are only very minor differences, primarily relating to the size of the walkways, and the location of some of the larger props in the land. We didn’t do this on our VIP tour in Disney World as it is pretty time intensive, and to be honest, so much seems to be broken on Rise of the Resistance every time we go on it, it’s just lost a lot of the magic. We get to Rise of the Resistance and it is literally a walk on. I honestly couldn’t believe it and never thought I’d see the day it was a walk on. We still use our Lightning Lanes as since we bought them so why not? Although it really doesn’t change our wait time at this time of the night. There are some minor queue differences, but it’s otherwise pretty much the same.
We go through the preshow and everything is working in the preshow for a change. There have been times where I have not gotten a preshow at all and another time when BB-8 was not functioning so this was a pleasant surprise.
We then get to board the shuttle, which was great as once I walked through a drywall hallway to bypass the shuttle as it was not functioning that day.
We enter into the hangar bay with all the storm troopers and are quickly whisked to the holding cells.
The First Order officers were particularly brutal to us today and must have gotten up on the wrong side of their barrack. We entered our holding chambers and thankfully the resistance breaks us out and we board our prisoner transport vehicles. Impressively enough, for the first time in a very long time everything is functioning except the cannons at the end, which had been permanently disabled but have just recently been fixed.
It was definitely a pleasant surprise for almost everything to be working and made the trip just a little more magical.
We start walking out of Batuu and back toward Big Thunder Mountain as it is now functioning again.
At this point it’s again basically a walk on, but we still use our Lightning Lane pass. This might be the quietest I’ve ever seen Disneyland to be honest.
Big Thunder Mountain here is the original, and much smoother than the Disney World version. It is basically identical except it has some slightly updated effects in comparison to the Magic Kingdom version, and it has a goat. In general it’s slightly superior to the Magic Kingdom version in our opinion. Really, the general theme of this trip we’ve found is that most of the rides in Walt Disney World for some reason tend to be inferior to their counterparts in other parts of the world. The unique attractions in Disney World are real stand outs, but the ones that have been cloned elsewhere or cloned into Disney World are not as good. Big Thunder Mountain is getting a refurbishment this year, so hopefully it’ll be updated to the standard of Disneyland.
It’s getting pretty chilly at this point and it’s getting late and we’re starting to get kinda tired so we decide it’s time to do Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
We left it for last as we didn’t want to be soaking AND cold for the last part of our day. Tiana’s does have a short 5 minute wait. We use the Lightning Lane just because but there really is no difference in time at this point.
It’s slightly different from the version in Magic Kingdom and only has a single file log. From all accounts, everyone states since the conversion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that it now has become an absolute soaker of a ride. Ironically, we brought ponchos on this vacation for two reasons. One, was in the event it rained, and aside from 15 minutes that we were indoor in Tokyo, it has actually NOT rained the last 19 days. Two, to use on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Ironically, the ONE time in 19 days we need a poncho, we left it in the room. Either way, this is our last ride of the day so the worst case scenario is we are wet and cold for about 15-20 minutes until we get back to the room.
Tiana’s ends up being pretty similar in most respects to the Magic Kingdom version with the Magic Kingdom version being slightly better. I felt the show scenes and ride in general felt a little tighter and less grand in Disneyland, especially the portion prior to going up the hill right before the big drop, but otherwise no major changes. I felt this Splash Mountain moves faster, likely due to the single file long.
It DEFINITELY get’s you significantly more wet. After the first small drop, Lucy was absolutely soaked, and Kendall got pretty wet as well.
I managed to barely get wet, likely because I was holding a plastic bag with a sweat shirt in it. For the big drop, Lucy again got absolutely soaked, and was now totally freezing.
We start to head out but right near the exit to Tiana’s is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and it is a walk on so we decided to do just one more ride.
After doing Pooh’s Honey Hunt in Tokyo pretty much anything else is going to be a disappointment, and not suprisingly this was as well. It’s definitely an improvement from the Magic Kingdom version, but compared to the trackless Tokyo version, it’s not even close. For a walk on though, really you can’t complain.
We pass by Sleeping Beauty’s castle on the way out and it is gorgeous. Lucy say it’s the prettiest castle of the vacation and her favorite.
We end up taking our 6th and final castle picture of the vacation.
Right nearby there is a stand selling a Peppermint Hot Cocoa Churro. Amazingly, there is a choice at this stand. They are selling regular churros as well. Again, after coming from Tokyo Disney Resort, the idea of having a choice of snack at a snack stand is just mind blowing. We buy two of the Peppermint Churros and it is actually pretty good and a great end of the day snack.
Right by the churro stand the double decker bus had just let off a load of people, so we figure we’ll actually make this our last ride of the vacation. We felt it only appropriate to take a true opening day ride as the last ride of this around the world trip. Almost 3 weeks ago we started with Dinosaur and tonight we will end with a Main Street Vehicle.
We say goodbye to Dave and Nathalie and we start the walk back to our room through Downtown Disney.
We decided to make a quick pit stop at the World of Disney Store for some last second gifts.
I’m still having to readjust to the US prices after our time in Tokyo. I’m still looking for an either a zip up fleece or sweatshirt which is the one item I was looking for this whole vacation, but could never find one I liked at any of the stops. Although in all honesty, the international Disney’s don’t have many options at all on that front. Amazingly enough, the World of Disney only has one design as well, which just isn’t to my liking.
Again, I’m not one to buy souvenirs, and I guess I’ll just end the trip with a bunch of new magnets and some room keys. Throughout the whole day we had been looking for stand with buttons, or cast member with buttons. We did not feel like going to guest services to wait in line, but typically, when walking through a US park you randomly see someone with buttons, and we really wanted to get a button. Lucy ends up buying a cup for her teacher and as she is checking out, we finally find someone to make a button. We all get a button saying “I’m Celebrating All 12 Parks!” Better late than never.
It’s about 11:00PM when we arrive back at the hotel.
We make the long trek down the hallway and finally arrive back at our room.
While arriving back at the hotel is typically not a huge deal for most people, today, it is a very huge deal. This is because Kendall just successfully completed walking a true full Disney day logging in over 26,000 steps with ZERO wheelchair assist. There is no asterisk on this one. This wasn’t a half day, this wasn’t a partial day, this wasn’t Hong Kong Disneyland, a park 1/5 the size of Epcot. This was the real deal. A true full Disney park day.
When she first started her recovery journey, one of the very first things I said was “You’ll walk again. I know you’ll walk again. I don’t think you’re ever gonna be walking a full day at Disney again, but I know you’ll walk again.” Well, I’ve never been more glad to be wrong. This was something I never thought possible two and half years ago, but throughout her recovery she just kept moving the goal posts. She can finally stop moving them.
Day 19, January 5th, 2025 Step Count – 29,193 Steps
Total Step Count – 319,122
Continue to the next day here.
Read about the previous day here.
Discover more from The Small World Family
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The Small World Family 