Disney's Hollywood Studios

Dinner and a Show

Fantasmic! Dinner Package. Call or check ahead to visit on a day when you can see the after-dark Fantasmic! show, with its 25 powerful minutes of Disney characters, special effects, fireworks, flames, fountains, and even animation sequences projected onto water screens. If you're not crazy about the idea of arriving at the 6,500-capacity Hollywood Hills Amphitheater 60 minutes ahead of showtime for a good seat, it's worth booking a Fantasmic! Dinner Package.

You get a prix-fixe meal at buffet-style Hollywood & Vine or a full table-service dinner at Hollywood Brown Derby or Mama Melrose's, along with a preferred-entry pass to sidestep the main line at the Fantasmic! show. Each dinner includes appetizer, entrée, dessert (the Brown Derby's grapefruit cake is a sweet-tart wonder), and a nonalcoholic beverage.

There's a small catch (well, actually, there are three):

You'll have to book an early dinner or go for the lunch option at Mama Melrose's so you have plenty of time between your dining time and your arrival for showtime. This means you'll probably have some time to kill before the show. (Disney recommends that you show up at the theater 30 or more minutes ahead of time to choose your seat).

The dinner package is offered only for the first show on peak nights when Fantasmic! is performed twice.

If it rains, Fantasmic! might be canceled. You still get dinner, but you lose out on seeing the show and having preferred seating.

It's best to reserve the package a couple of months in advance. You'll have to provide a credit card number to do so. If you cancel 48 hours or less before the show, your card will be charged $10 per person. Sunset Blvd., Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World, FL. 407/939-3463 reservations. $37-$60 adults, $13-$22 children 3-9 (prices vary by restaurant and exclude tax and gratuity). Fantasmic! usually performed twice weekly during nonpeak seasons; twice nightly during holidays and other peak visiting times.