When visiting Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, one of the best attractions is the nighttime firework show, Fantasmic! People come from all over to catch a glimpse of Mickey as he fights an epic dragon on a mountain surrounded by a lagoon. Many of his friends join him during the show, and you will see projections, lasers, water animation, boats, and fireworks during the incredible nighttime production.

Because of the shows popularity, it can be incredibly difficult to get a seat, and people start gathering at the bleachers hours ahead of time. There is a way for you to get special VIP seating, and a way for you to enjoy a nice sit down dinner reservation that same evening.

Continue reading as I share my family’s experience with the Fantasmic! Dining Package to see if it something that you and your family would enjoy during your next Disney World vacation.

What Is The Fantasmic! Dining Package?

Screenshot taken from disneyworld.disney.go.com

If you have a park day planned for Hollywood Studios, and you are planning on staying for the Fantasmic! show, this may be just the package for you and your family! This package allows you to reserve a VIP seat at the show, along with a dinner reservation at one of five sit-down restaurants at the park.

What Restaurants Can I Choose From?
- Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano-this is the one we chose! Keep reading for more on this restaurant and for some reviews on the food and service.
- Hollywood & Vine
- The Hollywood Brown Derby
- 50’s Prime Time Cafe
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant

What is Included?
- An entree and appetizer or dessert at select full service restaurants or 1 full buffet, along with one non-alcoholic beverage.
- One voucher for guaranteed seating at Fantasmic! In a reserved area per person in your party.

How Much Does It Cost?
- Adults (ages 10 & up) Kids (ages 9 & under)
- 50’s Prime Time Cafe:
  - Adults: $54, Kids: $23
- Hollywood & Vine:
  - Adults: Breakfast $59, Lunch & Dinner $ 75, Kids: Breakfast $39, Lunch & Dinner $49
- Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano:
  - Adults: $56, Kids: $23
- Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant:
  - Adults: $51, Kids: $23
- The Hollywood Brown Durby:
  - Adults: $77, Kids: $31

How To Make A Reservation

As with all dining reservations, you can go online to Disneyworld.Disney.go.com, or to the My Disney Experience App 60 days in advance of the day you are trying to book. I always set an alarm for myself the day of at a few minutes before 6:00 am so that I don’t miss my opportunity to book the reservation that I want. Make sure you are logged in, have the restaurant page up and ready to go, and that you are familiar with the keystrokes to get to where you need to go because these reservations go faster than Lightning McQueen. Choose your party size, date, restaurant, and time.

You will need to put a credit card down to confirm your reservation, and if you do not cancel within two hours of your reservation, you will be charged a fee of $10 per person. The Fantasmic! Dining Package is available on all Fantasmic! Show days. Your dining reservation will still take place, even if the show is canceled. If the show is canceled (due to weather or whatever), you will not be given compensation or a voucher or anything for a future date.

Fantasmic! The Logistics

You will pick up your seating voucher for Fantasmic! At the time of your meal. Keep that with you, as you will need to turn that ticket in at the entrance to Fantasmic! It is important to know that your seats are not assigned. You will choose them within the reserved section on a first come, first served basis. The reserved seating section for the Fantasmic! Package is located in the Mickey and Scar sections (the middle two sections) of the theater. Your voucher is only good for the first show of the evening (when we went in late January it was at 8:30pm).

The entrance to the reserved seating is located on Sunset Boulevard next to Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage. Seating will begin 90 minutes prior to the Fantasmic! Show and I highly recommend that you arrive at least 30 minutes before showtime to be seated in the reserved section. There are concessions and bathrooms inside where you will be sitting.

Screenshot taken from disneyworld.disney.go.com. This photo shows all of the seating and the stage for the Fantasmic! show. The bleachers highlighted in yellow are where the reserved seats are located.

The Dining-Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

The Ambience

Located in the Grand Avenue section Hollywood Studios, between the Muppet Vision 3D attraction and PizzaRizzo, you will find Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. The atmosphere is that of a home style Italian restaurant, complete with checkered curtains, twinkle lights all around, and walls covered in Knick knacks. You can tell right away that this is a park favorite because there are tons of tables and the place is packed!

On the My Disney Experience App, you can read the Mama Melrose’s Story that goes like this:

“Once upon a time, a young girl from a small Sicilian village moved to Hollywood to become a star. However, she soon found that cooking was her true calling as she re-created her papa’s secret recipes for her starving actor friends. At their urging, she opened a restaurant in a vacant backlot warehouse once used to store film equipment. Mama’s culinary talents soon attracted the patronage of film industry insiders, who dubbed her Mama Melrose’s, after the lively Los Angeles thoroughfare. Her establishment became known as the place “where Italy meets California in the heart of the Backlot”, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

We checked in via the app about 20 minutes before our scheduled reservation time and received a text confirmation. About a minute later, we received a text telling us that our table was ready and that we could proceed inside to be seated. You could also check in with the host/hostess that was outside but there was a long line and the app process just seemed easier.

Our reservation was for 4:55pm so it had just switched over to dinner (at 4:00pm) and they were not at full capacity by any means (I would say once inside they were about 2/3 full). We were pleasantly surprised that we were able to be seated early as this does not usually happen.

The Menu

With the dining plan, you can choose either an appetizer or dessert, one entree, and a non alcoholic beverage for $56 per adult. In our party, there were four adults, so our server suggested that we get two appetizers to share and two desserts to share (that way we would be able to try more) and we took his advise.

They had a great selection of choices to choose from in terms of food, and also had an extensive drink menu.

The first appetizer we chose was the Crispy Calamari $16. Served with Spicy Pickles, Spicy Aioli, and Fresh lemon. We found it to be crispy, crunchy, and the sauce to be nice and tangy. Just what you would expect from an Italian breaded Calamari. 8/10

The second appetizer we decided to share was the Margherita Flatbread $17. Mozzarella, House-made Marinara Sauce, Fresh Basil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil drizzle. This one was a bit of a let down for us. While it was a good portion and shareable for the four of us, the flatbread was soggy and limp, and it could have been warmer. 3/10.

My dad and I both went with the Charred Strip Steak as our Entree. $36 Four-Cheese Macaroni with Pancetta, Aged Balsamic-Shallot Butter, and Chianti Wine Reduction. The steak was cooked to perfection, and the macaroni was creamy and tender. Great flavor. We were really pleasantly surprised. We had eaten at the Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White the night before, and thought our entrees were better here. 9/10.

My mom and my husband both went with the Shrimp Campanelle as their entree. $31 Sautéed shrimp and Campanelle pasta tossed in a four cheese sauce with cauliflower, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh spinach, and sweet onions. Again, super creamy, great flavor, big juicy shrimp. 9/10.

The first dessert we decided to try was the Cherry-Chocolate Cake $9. Plant based chocolate cake with a morello cherry pomegranate molasses sauce. You could not tell that the cake was plant based as it was soft and fluffy, but the overall taste was just not our particular favorite. 5/10.

Would you even be eating Italian if you didn’t try the Tiramisu? $8.50 Layers of mascarpone and espresso soaked lady fingers topped with cocoa powder and whipped cream. There was a WHOLE lady finger off to the side of this thing. As far as Tiramisu’s go it was fine, not the best I had ever had in my life. 6/10.

Fantasmic! The Show

After dinner, we made our payment, collected our tickets to use for our reserved seating, and continued to enjoy the park. Fantasmic! begins allowing guests to take their seats 90 minutes before showtime and it is a fan favorite, so it fills up fast. We decided that even though we had a reserved area to sit in, that we still wanted to ensure we would have good seats, so with the show starting at 8:30pm, we headed over to grab a seat at around 8:10pm. We are so glad that we did! There are two sections set aside for reserved seating, and we were in about the fifth row from the back in one of the two sections at that time.

There are bathrooms and concessions at the amphitheater, so you are sure to be comfortable even if you arrive super early to get seats. Everything is better with Disney popcorn, so grab your family, your snacks, and get settled in to watch the show.

Mickey Mouse dreams that he is a sorcerer’s apprentice during the show, and the Disney Villans try to turn Mickey’s dream into a nightmare. Watch as Mickey uses the power of his imagination to overcome the Villians by using his powers to control water, color, and magic! You will see TONS of your favorite characters so have your cameras ready!

Some key things to know about Fantasmic!:

The show is appropriate for all ages.
It is accessible.
It is about 29 minutes long.
Depending on the time of year there can be one or two showtimes. The dining package reserved seating is ONLY for the first showtime.
The amphitheater curves around the lagoon so every seat is a good seat, but they fill up FAST!
If you sit in the first couple of rows you could get wet!
You may arrive as early as 90 minutes prior to each show to find a seat.
This show is outside and is subject to cancellation due to inclement weather.

In Summary

Based on the price of the plan, if we were planning on spending a whole day at the park, doing a sit-down dinner, and staying for Fantasmic!, we all agree that this was absolutely worth it. Not only was the food at mama Melrose’s some of the best we had all week, but the service was great, and the convenience of having a reserved area to sit helped ease some anxiety over the nighttime entertainment.

Cost Breakdown:
- My Dinner: Appetizer $16 Dinner $36 Drink $4.79 Total $56.79 (Dining Package $56).
- Matt’s Dinner: Appetizer $17 Dinner $31 Drink $4.79 Total $52.79 (Dining Package $56).
- Mom’s Dinner: Dinner $31 Dessert $9 Drink $4.79 Total $44.79 (Dining Package $56).
- Dad’s Dinner: Dinner $36 Dessert $8.50 Drink $4.79 Total $49.29 (Dining Package $56)
- Total Dinner: $203.66 (Dining Package $224).

If we had ordered the exact same food items it would have actually cost slightly less ($20.34), and even though there are reserved seating areas, they can still fill up and do not guarantee you a seat, so that is still a risk you are taking. It may not be for everybody, but we had a great experience.

Have you ever done the Fantasmic! Dining Package? Tell us about it in the comments!

Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano-Walt Disney World-Hollywood Studios-Fantasmic! Dining Package