[MomBee]

Don't know if this has been brought up yet but I cannot find it any where, I was taking for granted that IllumiNations would show every night, however there is not one schedueled showing for the month of september on the Disney site. Oversite? or is it really not showing?

[DisneyTeacher]

It may just be an oversight, keep an eye on the schedule. Illuminations has always been every night, hopefully that will continue.

[Soundgod]

There have been problems with the September calendar since Disney put it up last month.
Illuminations has been EVERY night for decades, not just years. The current version has been running for going on 10 years now.
I doubt in the extreme that Illuminations will not be performed at all in September. In fact, I'd bet good money that there will be 30 performances during September.

[WDWmemories]

I have never head of a situation where Illuminations wasn't planned. I would be surprised if it wasn't scheduled. But then again, I was surprised that Fantasmic went into a limited schedule.

[cinderbella]

Originally Posted by DisneyTeacher

It may just be an oversight, keep an eye on the schedule. Illuminations has always been every night, hopefully that will continue.

Ditto. It happens every night and almost always at exactly 9 p.m.

[Soundgod]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

Ditto. It happens every night and almost always at exactly 9 p.m.

You can pretty much set your watch by it.
Same with any WDW fireworks.

[cowanfamily]

So, do you think the other fireworks, such as Wishes and Fantasmic, though scheduled, will be increased? I sure hope so, the Sept. schedule really bites.

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by cowanfamily

So, do you think the other fireworks, such as Wishes and Fantasmic, though scheduled, will be increased? I sure hope so, the Sept. schedule really bites.

It's possible. Plan around what's been posted and hope more are added. I wouldn't count on more Fantasmic shows being added, I think it's been twice a week even this summer. Sad.

[Soundgod]

Originally Posted by cowanfamily

So, do you think the other fireworks, such as Wishes and Fantasmic, though scheduled, will be increased? I sure hope so, the Sept. schedule really bites.

As far as I know, Wishes is nightly and has been nightly since it was rolled out 5 years ago. The only nights Wishes isn't performed are on hard ticket event nights, and those events have their own fireworks shows.
Fantasmic is different. Since the beginning of this year, they cut it back from nightly performance to only a couple performances a week. However, even though it has been cut back, they still seem to be adding extra performances and sometimes even adding a second performance when the crowd levels are up. This is the same as setting a schedule of park hours now for October and then a week or so in advance extending hours at MK, AK, and DHS (Epcot's hours have been set in stone forever).
Make your basic plan (as far as Fantasmic) based on the posted schedule, but there is always the possibility of more. Wishes, assume if the park is scheduled to close at 8 or 9 or 10, that that is the time Wishes will be performed. If the park is scheduled to close at 11, look for Wishes at 10 and SpectroMagic at 11.

[DisneyDad1964]

Originally Posted by Soundgod

...Fantasmic is different. Since the beginning of this year, they cut it back from nightly performance to only a couple performances a week. However, even though it has been cut back, they still seem to be adding extra performances and sometimes even adding a second performance when the crowd levels are up...

I think IllumiNations is and always has been every night. We almost got burned by the fact that Fantasmic is not. For June, it was only 4 nights a week- usually twice per night. We got rained out (both shows) the first time we went, and when we went back (2nd to last night of our trip) it wasn't showing. Luckily, we noticed that before we went into the park since we didn't have Park Hopper. Had we gone in, we would have been left out because we had to see Wishes one more time on our last night. As it was, we just took the shuttle back to our car and headed to Magic Kingdom instead.

We were able to see Wishes that night, and headed back to Hollywood on our last night to see Fanstasmic. Definitely worth it!

Be sure to check the schedule for Fastasmic- you won't want to miss it! For the early show, we got there about 1 1/2 beforehand and there were several hundred people lined up already!

[Soundgod]

Originally Posted by DisneyDad1964

IWe almost got burned by the fact that Fantasmic is not. For June, it was only 4 nights a week- usually twice per night. We got rained out (both shows) the first time we went, and when we went back (2nd to last night of our trip) it wasn't showing.

It sounds like you were there around the same time I was there.
It rained so bad on June 16 that EVERYTHING after dark was rained out!
It started raining some time around 6 PM and didn't stop until probably 11 PM.
I could see Epcot from my room in the Contemporary and I know Illuminations never happened. We ate dinner in Chef Mickey's at 9:30 and I know that Wishes never happened that night and SpectroMagic had to have been rained out as well. There certainly was no way that Fantasmic was going to happen, either early or late, not with rain pouring and not with a stage that was soaked.

[DisneyDad1964]

Originally Posted by Soundgod

It sounds like you were there around the same time I was there.
It rained so bad on June 16 that EVERYTHING after dark was rained out!
It started raining some time around 6 PM and didn't stop until probably 11 PM...

Almost! We got there on the 18th, and our rainout at Hollywood was on the 20th I think. Exactly as you described though. It was thundering and pouring all nite. Just when it looked like it would clear up, it would start again!

We had a similar experience at Magic Kingdom a couple of days later. It rained soooo hard and lightning criss-crossed the sky. We had our ponchos though and trekked from one end of the park (Pirates of the Caribbean) to the other (Buzz LightYear) in the storms. We got soaked! There must have been 2 inches of water in the streets and not many others were out. We had to ring out our socks and shoes several times in line at Buzz Lightyear.

As bad as it sounds, it's one of my favorite Disney memories! Quite an adventure! :)