For all of you worried that Happily Ever After won't be a good replacement for Wishes

[GADisneyDad14]

For me personally, I'm not a big fireworks person so I like all the projections. I thought the way they intergrated the newer technology added more "punch" to the whole show. The colors are so vivid and projections so clear it puts the projections of Fantasmic to shame.
My take on the theme is not so much telling a story but showing a compilation of beloved
characters with the ending of "happily ever after". That part I found refreshing, seeing older characters and ones without a big park presence.
For me, I felt the same vibe that I had seeing spectromagic for the first time back in 1994. Back then it was impressive to see how Disney went above and beyond with entertaining their guests. I feel like HEA (and also ROL) do that. Like a step forward and far above entertainment at other theme parks.
The villain section was a big "wow" for me and the whole show was stunning. I really loved it. And I'm one who is still crying over spectromagic! I never had that vibe with msep or wishes. I thought they were cute, but didnt watch either every time we're here.
It's subjective, some will like it, some won't. But I'm glad for some new things to keep Disney fresh and moving forward.
I will mention that the crowd was very vocal during HEA and the general concensus was that it was an impressive show. People oohing and awwing, clapping, singing, crying. It was really cool.

This is a great write-up and I totally agree with your perspective. The crowd on Saturday was certainly into it as well. Lots of applause after several segments.

 

[mckennarose]

.......It did happen to make me cry in parts (like when Tink flies, the hunchback part, the go the distance part and the finale).
......

Same! I got teary in a few parts. So did a few of my adult children!

 

[Verstehen]

I really can't stop thinking about how much I loved the new show. Wishes was always meh for me. I went the first night as a last minute decision and while the park was absolutely packed, I'm still so glad I went. NOTHING will beat the energy of that first night when it's new to everyone. My friend who came with me was scared that it would be only new movies represented, so I was really happy to see not just older movies, but older movies that get less attention like Hunchback and Hercules being included.

I don't like that it now matters more where you view from. I'm a shortie at just over five feet and if you stand in front of me, that's fine if you got there first because I can usually find a little place to peek through. But the group in front of me kept moving around during the entire show. Had it just been fireworks, it would have been fine since as Pete said in a recent episode, "they're in the sky." But with so much concentrated on the castle it definitely presented a challenge. But as they say, that's progress for you.

Also I pretty much lost it at the Moana section, especially with the stingray...won't spoil it but dear lord I got teary describing it to someone.

 

[Accident]

I completely understand why many aren't seeing the story or the emotional connection you had with wishes.. When wishes first came out, people were saying the same thing about wishes. If it's the only fireworks show you've seen at MK over the years, you have those memories (although they are still memories and you will still be sitting in the hub with family so it's not really gone). Maybe you most connected with the classics in your life so wishing upon a star and one day your prince will come is the message that resonates with you and it invokes times in your life or your childhood memories. Maybe you just really liked the relax nature of the show and whatever memories it reminded you of.. Maybe your a grandparent now and your interaction with disney is mostly what you remember of your childhood and what you make of it today.

I've been through more than 1 fireworks change, my daughter has been through a fireworks change. We still get together in the hub and experience the end of night show. That part for us, having gone through it, hasn't disappeared. Also the message of my daughters generation has been you can be or do anything you want if you work hard. Overcoming adversity, getting through life challenges, doing it alone or with a friend/partner. These are the messages of the disney movies starting about little mermaid which is the oldest character as far as I can tell in this show aside from the stained glass moment with a nod to the all the characters that have been apart of the night shows at the castle in the past.

The storyline is simple, it's an inspirational message that if all of these characters can do it, so can you. It's not that dream and relax, it's a get up and make it happen story so it's a very different emotion than wishes has. For me, It's a reminder of all the things disney played apart in and it invokes memories of my time with my daughter so far around these characters. I'm at the point in life where I've overcome a lot of obstacles so it's more reminders of things that happened for each character. I remember the little mermaid bedsheets, or the excited face going to see some of these movies in the theater with her, her face opening up an xmas present to find something related to these movies and sitting on the beach at poly seeing moana a few days before it hit theaters. It's a great parental, I guess I did a pretty good job moment for me.

For my daughter, much like those who the classics resonates with them and wishes meant a lot, this story resonates with her. It's the message she's been hearing from disney movies that have inspired her. It's a different emotion than wishes as it's more get up and go and less relax your problem will be solved with a wish. Neither a wrong message, just how the message has changed over the years. At some point in her life, she might start a family and the fireworks show will once again change and hopefully keep updating with whatever we tell our children tomorrow. I probably won't understand that message or like the new show as I'll have moved onto the grandparent role where my time with the grandkids and disney will not be the same as a parent that is always around to enjoy it.. And one day we will all be sitting in the hub, I'll remember all the years of doing the same, enjoy my daughter struggling to keep her kids in line and just smile and take in the new memory...

you still have fireworks in the hub.. the show changes but your time together at the end of the night in magic kingdom is still available... enjoy the friends and family and the new memory and new excitement from them.. Before you know it, you'll have some type of emotional connection with the new show, even if it's just enjoying your time and their enjoyment of the show while you think back to all the other times you had this moment and how it's your childs turn with their children.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Dang @Accident, getting me all

 

[Tink1987]

Yikes...I am surprised that there is even a single person that doesn't think this show is amazing. I don't understand it. Wishes was wonderful, but this is truly a nighttime spectacular...a finale to your day at MK. It encompasses everything that is Disney. I'm not looking to criticize anyone at all...I'm not that kind of person. I just don't understand how any human being can not think that this show is nothing short of spectacular. Take Wishes and any emotional attachment that you have to it out of the equation. If you were a first time Disney visitor and you saw this...how could you not be in awe of it, inspired by and wowed by it? How could you not be moved by the story and the music? It is inspirational. Encouraging you to dig deep, follow your heart, reach for the sky, persevere despite obstacles, and go and find your happily ever after. What else could people be looking for?

And I don't understand how you can like it when it seems to me a bunch of characters projected onto the castle. I don't see what you see that they have dug down and found their happily ever after when it just showed pictures to me. But we all have different opinions. Like another poster said if message boards were around in 1993 to the extent they are now I am sure there were people annoyed when Wishes debuted.

 

[linzbear]

I just uploaded the video I took with my GoPro from Saturday's showing. We were able to see the projections, but because we weren't right up close, the camera didn't really pick them up. You can hear my family, families around me, and all the crowd reactions really well, though. This definitely invoked emotion when I rewatched it. In any case, if you want to know what the show looks like without the projections, it's a good taste.

It's just the last 6 minutes because it's unedited and the GoPro only takes 12m chunks.

I hope this helps answer the emotion/how does it look from afar questions.

 

[kniquy]

We watched a youtube video of it over the weekend and it was so amazing just on the video. I can't imagine what it will be like in person. I can say that i was a little disappointing that some of the songs/singers were not that of the original movies or voices close to them. Other than that it is so amazing they can project that on the castle in such detail.

This will certainly limit what you can see from the top of the world lounge -- i will be interested to see the view/video from up there. I would still plan on seeing it once in park and another night from the lounge.

 

[Accident]

This will certainly limit what you can see from the top of the world lounge -- i will be interested to see the view/video from up there. I would still plan on seeing it once in park and another night from the lounge.

It's a great fireworks show if your just after the fireworks. It holds it own even though you might be missing some of the images. It's going to be more about how you feel about missing the projections.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Dang @Accident, getting me all

Yep, me too. Beautifully said, @Accident .

 

[Accident]

Dang @Accident, getting me all

Yep, me too. Beautifully said, @Accident .

thanks. it's actually something that hit me last year when after not doing it since I was little, we had a 3 generation viewing of illuminations when my dad helped us move down here. You may not like the show but that's kind of a selfish view because the younger generation and their kids are going to love it and it's disney updating for the times and giving some love towards characters that are void in the parks and some peoples favorites.. as a parent I now get it, wdw at some point starting being more about them and what they like about it and you get a new type of enjoyment out of what they think, how it inspires them and the part you played in letting that happen.

reading the I hate it posts kind of reminded me about why i go to WDW with my daughter and what we do when there and I thought it was fitting for those that haven't experienced a major night show change before.

 

[yulilin3]

I completely understand why many aren't seeing the story or the emotional connection you had with wishes.. When wishes first came out, people were saying the same thing about wishes. If it's the only fireworks show you've seen at MK over the years, you have those memories (although they are still memories and you will still be sitting in the hub with family so it's not really gone). Maybe you most connected with the classics in your life so wishing upon a star and one day your prince will come is the message that resonates with you and it invokes times in your life or your childhood memories. Maybe you just really liked the relax nature of the show and whatever memories it reminded you of.. Maybe your a grandparent now and your interaction with disney is mostly what you remember of your childhood and what you make of it today.

I've been through more than 1 fireworks change, my daughter has been through a fireworks change. We still get together in the hub and experience the end of night show. That part for us, having gone through it, hasn't disappeared. Also the message of my daughters generation has been you can be or do anything you want if you work hard. Overcoming adversity, getting through life challenges, doing it alone or with a friend/partner. These are the messages of the disney movies starting about little mermaid which is the oldest character as far as I can tell in this show aside from the stained glass moment with a nod to the all the characters that have been apart of the night shows at the castle in the past.

The storyline is simple, it's an inspirational message that if all of these characters can do it, so can you. It's not that dream and relax, it's a get up and make it happen story so it's a very different emotion than wishes has. For me, It's a reminder of all the things disney played apart in and it invokes memories of my time with my daughter so far around these characters. I'm at the point in life where I've overcome a lot of obstacles so it's more reminders of things that happened for each character. I remember the little mermaid bedsheets, or the excited face going to see some of these movies in the theater with her, her face opening up an xmas present to find something related to these movies and sitting on the beach at poly seeing moana a few days before it hit theaters. It's a great parental, I guess I did a pretty good job moment for me.

For my daughter, much like those who the classics resonates with them and wishes meant a lot, this story resonates with her. It's the message she's been hearing from disney movies that have inspired her. It's a different emotion than wishes as it's more get up and go and less relax your problem will be solved with a wish. Neither a wrong message, just how the message has changed over the years. At some point in her life, she might start a family and the fireworks show will once again change and hopefully keep updating with whatever we tell our children tomorrow. I probably won't understand that message or like the new show as I'll have moved onto the grandparent role where my time with the grandkids and disney will not be the same as a parent that is always around to enjoy it.. And one day we will all be sitting in the hub, I'll remember all the years of doing the same, enjoy my daughter struggling to keep her kids in line and just smile and take in the new memory...

you still have fireworks in the hub.. the show changes but your time together at the end of the night in magic kingdom is still available... enjoy the friends and family and the new memory and new excitement from them.. Before you know it, you'll have some type of emotional connection with the new show, even if it's just enjoying your time and their enjoyment of the show while you think back to all the other times you had this moment and how it's your childs turn with their children.

and you were one of the ones who was hesitant about this new show
Beautifully said

 

[Accident]

and you were one of the ones who was hesitant about this new show
Beautifully said

oh I still think they are going to pull out a lot of the fireworks slowly and I hope I'm wrong. but right now, there is still 1 place in WDW where I can go for my firework fix, even if I don't want to deal with the hub. I thought it was amazing behind the castle, wishes was getting stale.

 

[yulilin3]

oh I still think they are going to pull out a lot of the fireworks slowly and I hope I'm wrong. but right now, there is still 1 place in WDW where I can go for my firework fix, even if I don't want to deal with the hub. I thought it was amazing behind the castle, wishes was getting stale.

out of curiosity why do you think they will get rid of fireworks?

 

[Accident]

out of curiosity why do you think they will get rid of fireworks?

It seems to be the pattern right now...

1: they started to make a lot of operational cuts and it seemed to be somethign they were proud of in shareholder meetings when reporting the reducing.
2: I saw the jingle not that much boom tests from my house and the show they debuted was not the show they tested, very stripped down fireworks. (and the rumors that came out that they want to reduce the fireworks spend and this was a test of that).
3: star wars went from being my favorite fireworks show to what happened to all the fireworks I don't even care if I never see it again in under a year.. I see a lot of similarities in where they could pull them out in hea.
4: of the 10 times I've tried to film illuminations this year, not once was the full fireworks show. This is more subtle but I haven't seen the shore to center of lake fireworks go off at all but I don't know illuminations well enough to say if anything else. I do know from my house, I don't hear them as loud so something more has changed.
5: they didn't run the full wishes for the final night with the perimeter version (but that could also be related to the dryness issue going on as I did see water trucks that afternoon while you were streaming from the park trying to wet down the side roads).

and now that I've seen it...

a: they seem to be conscious of where in the hub you can't see the fireworks well and put in a lot more close to castle, from the castle and high altitude bursts.
b: second night it was humid and even behind the castle, I could barely see the high altitude and I found in hub video from someone and you couldn't see most of the out of park ones.
c: because of a with a little bit of b, I think we're going to see the high altitudes get reduced like they did in star wars and jingle whatever in favor of the close pyro, lighting, lasers, eventually fire added because there is a projection show that is the story..
d: I think it's just a matter of time that this happens, right now people are still buying the outside the park experiences at a premium.. Even their own terrace view is not a good view of the castle... I think people reducing their spend on these will trigger the "you can't really see them anyway, everyone wants projections so why spend the money on that part".

and of course I hope I'm wrong.. I really hope I'm wrong as a real fireworks show gone from MK would be a major change and I will join in with everyone saying this show is awful if it happens.

but the ray of hope is it came out strong and france just got a new show that is a lot of fireworks and they seem to be spending money to make money again so maybe this was originally the plan and that was canceled with the success of increasing visitors again.

 

[yulilin3]

It seems to be the pattern right now...

1: they started to make a lot of operational cuts and it seemed to be somethign they were proud of in shareholder meetings when reporting the reducing.
2: I saw the jingle not that much boom tests from my house and the show they debuted was not the show they tested, very stripped down fireworks.
3: star wars went from being my favorite fireworks show to what happened to all the fireworks I don't even care if I never see it again in under a year.. I see a lot of similarities in where they could pull them out in hea.
4: of the 10 times I've tried to film illuminations this year, not once was the full fireworks show. This is more subtle but I haven't seen the shore to center of lake fireworks go off at all but I don't know illuminations well enough to say if anything else. I do know from my house, I don't hear them as loud so something more has changed.
5: they didn't run the full wishes for the final night with the perimeter version (but that could also be related to the dryness issue going on as I did see water trucks that afternoon while you were streaming from the park trying to wet down the side roads).

and now that I've seen it...

a: they seem to be conscious of where in the hub you can't see the fireworks well and put in a lot more close to castle, from the castle and high altitude bursts.
b: second night it was humid and even behind the castle, I could barely see the high altitude and I found in hub video from someone and you couldn't see most of the out of park ones.
c: because of a with a little bit of b, I think we're going to see the high altitudes get reduced like they did in star wars and jingle whatever in favor of the close pyro, lighting, lasers, eventually fire added because there is a projection show that is the story..
d: I think it's just a matter of time that this happens, right now people are still buying the outside the park experiences at a premium.. Even their own terrace view is not a good view of the castle... I think people reducing their spend on these will trigger the "you can't really see them anyway, everyone wants projections so why spend the money on that part".

and of course I hope I'm wrong.. I really hope I'm wrong as a real fireworks show gone from MK would be a major change and I will join in with everyone saying this show is awful if it happens.

but the ray of hope is it came out strong and france just got a new show that is a lot of fireworks and they seem to be spending money to make money again so maybe this was originally the plan and that was canceled with the success of increasing visitors again.

Illuminations and SWaGS have not been at full fireworks mode because of fire threat and dry conditions.
Maybe the testing was pulled back to not disturb so much the neighbors? I'm not sure, I know they complained very publicly about Disney waking them up at 1am

 

[Accident]

Illuminations and SWaGS have not been at full fireworks mode because of fire threat and dry conditions.

It's been all of 2017 for both so it's not just dry conditions. I'll give benefit of doubt for the moment but they've really ramped up the irrigation around HS post the fire fighters calling them out in the news... epcot they fire over the lake, do you have knowledge that nobody has reported on about this. I hope that doesn't come out like I don't believe you, it's a do you have some reliable info question that illuminations was scaled back for fire threat?

 

[yulilin3]

It's been all of 2017 for both so it's not just dry conditions. I'll give benefit of doubt for the moment but they've really ramped up the irrigation around HS post the fire fighters calling them out in the news... epcot they fire over the lake, do you have knowledge that nobody has reported on about this. I hope that doesn't come out like I don't believe you, it's a do you have some reliable info question that illuminations was scaled back for fire threat?

Sometimes they have decided not to shoot the shore fireworks for Illuminations because of fire threat and wind direction.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Remember there was a small brush fire on the shore around World Showcase near one of the perimeter launch sites, not too long ago. Like within the last six months. I remember seeing Twitter posts about it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I don't know @Accident, I was in the hub (Plaza Garden East) Saturday night and had a great view of low altitude and high altitude fireworks alike even with it being more humid and the smoke lingering a touch. If you were behind the castle in the smoke in my pic below, no wonder you couldn't see! You were sort of ground zero for smoke and fall out back there on this particular night.