!!SPOILERS AHEAD FOR FANTASMIC!!

So on May 26th, I watched the new Fantasmic for the first time since the dragon incident. And while I was very upset over what happened, and I knew that the dragon would never be coming back, I thought that I would give this new version a shot. Also with the return of the Peter Pan segment, my hopes were raised high.

Maybe I raised them a little too high, because I thought those would be the only changes they would make. Turns out, they weren't. And after the show ended, I felt something it might I would never feel when watching this show. I felt disappointed. And I hate that I feel that way because outside of a couple rides, I would consider this to be my favorite thing at the park.

Maybe I'm overreacting a bit, but when Fantasmic reopened in 2017 (dubbed Fantasmic 2.0), it was honestly one of the best things I've seen the Disney company do at the parks. It felt like such a spectacle that had to be seen to be believed. It felt so GRAND, for lack of a better term.

Watching the show now, only made me feel like I didn't appreciate the prior version enough. The new show does have like a mix of the original and the 2.0. And don't get me wrong, I like the original show, but it also showed me why the 2.0 was an improvement in every sense.

Minor complaints that I have about the new show, the fact that the crocodile doesn't even chase the boat anymore makes me so sad. That was one of the most clever things I've seen about that segment. And while yes it has a water screen showing the crocodile, it just feels a little disappointing. Now, maybe the crocodile is permanently broken, or maybe they got rid of it after Pirates took over, I don't know, but it makes me sad.

Also, the fact that Aladdin and Jasmine don't have the carpet anymore. Now maybe they don't have this because it was on the same platform the dragon was on, which is the most likely case. And I mean, yeah I guess I get it. But it kinda defeats the "A Whole New World" for me just a little bit.

And of course, the fact that there is no dragon. Now, I'd say that the dragon was literally half the reason I liked the show to begin with. Now while there were variants/B-Modes for when the dragon doesn't work, it at least made sense if I knew I could see the dragon next time. But now that there is no dragon anymore, and I'm gonna have to see Maleficent stand on her tall awkward platform every time I see it...kinda makes me disappointed. I guess I just miss the dragon I guess. Although, I do like that Mickey appears at the very front of the island when the scene starts. That's pretty neat.

Other than those minor complaints and couple of things like some weird music transitions, reverting back to the original intro, and some projection tweaks, the show is basically the same. And, yeah I guess I still like the show, and it might take me some time to get used to it. I guess my final thought about all of this is that, you just can't top a dragon.