Hi Roxanne!
Fantasmic! is by far my favorite show at Walt Disney World, this is always one of my families must do's while we are visiting. The show typically lasts around 25 minutes, but you will want to factor in travel time when making your dinner reservations. I would suggest making your dinner reservations for 8:15or 8:30, which should give you plenty of time to reach Downtown Disney.
There are a number of options to reach Downtown Disney from Hollywood Studios, but most will require switching buses or transportation. Usually a lot of guests will exit the park after the first showing of Fantasmic! so exppect longer lines than usuall for the buses and water taxis. Your best bet would be to find the shortest line or if you see a bus pulling up, get into that line.
The best two routes I have found for traveling between Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney:
- Take the bus to Pop Century and then transfer to the bus going to Downtown Disney
- Take the bus to Saratoga Springs and exit the bus at Congress Park which I believe is the 4th bus stop. From there you can just walk to Downtown Disney or take the water taxi.
Downtown Disney is currently broken into two sections, Marketplace and Westside. Shops within the Marketplace section close at 11:30 pm, while shops on the Westside close at 12:00 am. There are a few attractions such as the new Splitsville, that are scheduled to stay open until 2 am and Disney buses run until 2 am.
I hope you have a magical vacation and please visit us again if you have anymore questions!
Best Wishes!
Mandy