Eat, Fantasmic or the Lights?

We're dipping into the old email bag this week to help Sam from Chicago figure out if he has enough time to do everything he wants in the park.

We will be in the Disney's Hollywood Studios on November 26th.  The TouringPlans.com Crowd Calendar rates it as a best park.

We're dipping into the old email bag this week to help Sam from Chicago figure out if he has enough time to do everything he wants in the park.

We will be in the Disney's Hollywood Studios on November 26th.  The TouringPlans.com Crowd Calendar rates it as a best park.

My question is Fantasmic! starts at 6:30pm, our dining reservation for 50's Prime Time Cafe is at 7:45pm, so will we have enough time after Fantasmic! to cruise over to see Osborne Lights and then make it to our dinner?

If not we will forego Fantasmic and see Osbourne since we have never seen it and we have seen Fantasmic! quite a few times.

The answer to this question comes down to math, odds and luck.  With Fantasmic! beginning at 6:30, that means the show will end roughly at 7:00pm.  If you were to stay for the whole show and try to leave with the masses of guests also trying to exit the Hollywood Hills Ampitheater, I would say you have to give yourself at least 10-15 minutes just to exit.

Disney recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to any dining reservation, so that means you ought to be at 50's Prime Time Cafe by 7:30 or so.  So best case scenario you are looking at 10 minutes of Osborne Lights time.

You could extend that a little bit by leaving Fantasmic! a few minutes early to beat the crowd and power walking to the lights and that may buy you another 5 to 10 minutes.  But in all honesty, that isn't enough time to see the Osborne Lights, especially if you've never seen it before.

In Sam's email, he says he is willing to skip Fantasmic! to see the Osborne Lights, which is a great option since Fantasmic! sucks a lot of guests away from the lights. An alternative option is to skip your sit down meal.  I love eating at 50's Prime Time Cafe but I would be tempted to see Fantasmic!, then head on over to the Osborne Lights and enjoy them and pick something to up either on your way out of the park if there is time or back at your resort.  Heck, I may even say skip dinner and Fantasmic! and just take the time to enjoy the lights.

On the day Sam is going to Disney's Hollywood Studios, the park will be open until 8pm.  If he sees Fantasmic!, he will have roughly an hour or so of official park time to see the lights (the Osborne Lights do stay on for an extra half hour or so after the park officially closes, depending on the day).  If you've never seen the lights, I think you can easily spend an hour walking around and seeing the displays as well as the various dance sequences. In a perfect world, I would recommend one night for the Osborne Lights and another night for Fantasmic!.  I'm leaning in that recommendation simply because Sam has never seen the lights before and I would think he and his family would like to have as much time as possible to really take them in.