Greenfield1984
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
I feel I should open up every post with a sincere thank you to the entire team for their phenomenal efforts, always as well as, recently with the huge announcements out of d23. Your coverage has been amazing and is really throwing gasoline on this nerds already unreasonable Disney passion.
Recently Ryno and Tom gave their thoughts on the recent changes to Fantasmic! in Disney Land and wanted to hear from us as well.
I’ll give my thoughts but first i’ll provide links to both the updated version:
as well as their review:
Just so we are all on the same page i’ll give a brief description of what Fantasmic! is.
Fantasmic! is a nighttime show in Disneyland, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Tokyo DisneySea. It combines lasers, fireworks, pyrotechnics, live stage show numbers, river floats, projections and water-effects that produce, in this humble amateur reviewers opinion, jaw dropping awe and amazement.
The basic story, effects, set design and pieces vary across the 3 parks but the basic story-line is that Mickey is using his imagination and having a dream that gets hijacked by the villains who wish to turn his dream into a nightmare. Of course Mickey will have none of this (you may want to skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want spoilers.....) and dispatches with these villains with such grandiosity, such bravado, such courage that I DARE them to cross him again. I DARE THEM! Pffft! Nobody messes with my man Mickey.
Darnit am I already on a tangent. Alright back to Ryno and Tom’s review.
Ryno started out by noting that they changed the music a bit. He used the new techno music version in the dumbo elephant scene as an example. Personally I think that the elephant scene in the original Dumbo was so trippy that it is extremely fitting to place it both in Mickeys dream as well as with a techno spin.
As long as the main Fantasmic theme song is untouched i’m going to be a happy camper.
Next Tom briefly hit upon the new lighting, lasers, projections and updated water cannons with World of Color lights.
He did so briefly not because it was a small edition however. The boys were clearly exhausted after an incredibly busy few days and i’m not sure how they had it in them to stop and put out even more content.
No it definitely wasn’t a small edition. It’s incredible the huge increase in effects this new version of fantasmic has.
Those unfamiliar with World of Color should check out the video that The Dis recorded. I haven't seen it in person but it looks outstanding and dream of one day seeing it. Link here:
Basically World of Color uses advanced water cannons that shoot up multicolored water and Fantasmic! has incorporated some of that technology into its show as well.
Combined with this new water technology its also advanced its lighting and lasers where they are much stronger making them a more prominent and easier to see effects.
Speaking of which they have upgraded their projections so that they too are much more visible. In fact there was one scene where they were running projections on the screen of water and a live version Mickey was doing his magic thing in the background on the stage. How I was able to see both the projection, and the Mickey clearly, is beyond me. Very impressive.
I do have to say however that the shear scope and size of the effects may be slightly dizzying. It may be crossing the line into more not necessarily being better. Its at times a little overwhelming. Kind of like how the new Disney World fireworks and projections are just throwing so much at you that your synapses are very nearly overloaded and dont know what to do with all the sensory overload.
Just to test the limit to see how many links I can include in this post i’ll also include The Dis coverage of said Disney World fireworks Happily Ever After.
In the new version of Fantasmic! I do find the new effects do enhance the already excellent original show.
I’m just a little concerned that they may have sacrificed a bit of the story’s cohesion by throwing every effect they could think of at us without thinking about how that could effect the overall story.
For me it is more important to have a cohesive story then just provide a wow overload. Although if you can pull off both concurrently then you will have achieved pure mastery.
I think Disney got close but missed the mark a bit on this one which i’ll discuss when I go over some of the other changes later in this review.
Another change was a brief Lion King scene that Ryno both commented on and said he appreciated.
Personally I thought it was out of place.
It starts with the instantly recognizable, and crowd pleasing favorite, NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA! Intro of the Lion King.
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/2f/2f1dc5b1b8a9e7d2d15ea3c3df0ad8db01304447bb67b842d0f1719053396767.jpg
Which by the way everyone should have as their alarm to wake up to. Both because its always good to wake up being reminded of Disney but also because it is so loud you will be unable to simply ignore it.
So it starts with that iconic intro but then immediately transitions into a large snake on the stage, followed by some odd neon monkeys dancing on moving water floats with more lion king music in the background.
The Lion King is my favorite Disney movie. I’d have no problem with it having a section within Fantasmic!. But they should have made this scene have actual characters from the lion king. Could just have easily had Timon and Pumba and Rafiki dancing on those floats instead of seemingly random animals unrecognizable from the films dancing to Lion King Music.
Not a big deal for me it just seemed out of place which will be a theme of this review methinks.
Speaking of which. The swapping out of Peter Pan for the addition of Pirates of the Caribbean.
I believe Craig in another video said that it felt out of place and kind of shoe horned in like Frozen was with every show after Frozen mania. I have to agree with him on this one. I think Disney figured Pirates is incredibly popular and recently opened another film so lets get it in there. But for me it didn’t really serve the story very well.
This entire show has been showing scenes of animated films. Then Mickey appears to get sucked into a whirlpool where I figure he is entering a nightmare where out of nowhere a pirate ship battle is occurring?
To be fair I've only ever witnessed the Pocahontas scene in Disney World. I do find that too is slightly out of place but i’m more forgiving of it. Possibly due to the fact that it at least is in the animated world and Pirates is not. For me my brain has classic Disney animation, and Pixar in two separate but similar categories and then another completely separate category for Disney live action films. In this category you have both Pirates as well other live action films as Sister Act (released under Disney’s Touchstone label) so i’m kind of brought out of the story-line. But that could just be my weird faulty brain wiring.
In any event, the Pocahontas scene ends with a big battle and culminates with Pocahontas embracing John Smith in a kiss. This transitions nicely into all of the other Disney Princesses dancing with their Prince’s on their own water floats. A nice seamless transition.
This as opposed to the new versions Pirate scene transitioning into a weird, and seemingly universally panned scene where Aladdin and Jasmine are singing upon their magic carpet. Both Tom and Ryno did not enjoy the Aladdin or the Pirate scene and they offer a really poor transition into the next, couples dancing on their respective floats, scene.
As Tom and Ryno mention the scenes are a little disjointed. We all seemed to be a bit confused as to what happens next. For some reason Mickey gets sucked into the magic mirror and the evil hag from snow white shows up declaring Mickey’s imagination will turn into a nightmare.
The current Disney World version is much more clear. The evil queen casts a spell, turns into the hag, enlists the help of other villains that then create an evil snake. This snake goes after Mickey who uses the Genie’s lamp to make a wish. This gets rid of the snake but the evil villains have more in store for him and create a dragon!
See this is all very cohesive and flows nicely.
The new version shows a few of the villains but doesn’t really establish what is going on, like in the original, and then abruptly jumps into the dragon scene.
I have to see though. Like Ryno and Tom, I am very impressed by the new dragon. It is huge, imposing, shoots fire and its incredible that the thing looks like it is being blown up by Mickey at times. It must have been quite the engineering feat to have created that monstrosity. Well done and kudos to be given here for sure. Just wish the story made a bit more sense.
Finally Tom said that he noticed the exit music has changed. I haven't been able to find the new exit music but if true that is a travesty. The original exit music is so good that I turned it into my ringtone so that instead of being annoyed when people call me i’m immediately put into a good mood and, when the music stops playing, hang up on whoever called me to stay in said good mood....
Any who here is a link to the original exit song. I highly recommend you adopt it as well! J
Overall its hard to really do my own review of the show (even though I just clearly did) because something is definitely lost when not in person. I watched both the Disney Land and Disney World versions, new and old, entirely too many times while writing this post and ultimately i'm quite pleased with the new one.
It may not seem this way because i’m very cognizant of the fact that I've been pretty critical during this post. That’s just the unfortunate nature of reviews I think. It takes longer to say what I didn’t like about this new show then what I liked. But the new special effects should not be discounted. They look simply phenomenal.
It could use a few tweaks but I suspect I might end up liking it a bit better in person and ultimately i'm just really glad they didn't get rid of fantasmic and try a new show. Fantasmic is still fantastic this many years on and while I thought wishes was past its due date fantasmic has a few more years to go.
At the end Rhyno and Tom did state that the new fantasmic is like listening to your favorite song being remixed and things are just a little off. Kind of like Beauty and the beast....oh lets not go there again. That new beauty and the beast was amazing!
But, honestly, they do actually have a point. It may take a bit of time to adjust to the new show but I think I will find it to be quite a bit better and do find myself hoping they do bring the new version to Florida so that I can view it in person for my trip next year.
I know this was long but I really enjoy reacting to the teams reviews. When Craig and Ryno first reviewed Beauty and the Beast I was inspired to write a review of my own as a sort of counter point to their negative review. This time I think I am way more in sync with their views. It was great! We loved the original!....and even though a few things could be tweaked it was impressive nonetheless.
And just another link for good measure to my other Beauty and the Beast post:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/b...nion-to-craig-and-ryno.3594578/#post-57364890
Recently Ryno and Tom gave their thoughts on the recent changes to Fantasmic! in Disney Land and wanted to hear from us as well.
I’ll give my thoughts but first i’ll provide links to both the updated version:
as well as their review:
Just so we are all on the same page i’ll give a brief description of what Fantasmic! is.
Fantasmic! is a nighttime show in Disneyland, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Tokyo DisneySea. It combines lasers, fireworks, pyrotechnics, live stage show numbers, river floats, projections and water-effects that produce, in this humble amateur reviewers opinion, jaw dropping awe and amazement.
The basic story, effects, set design and pieces vary across the 3 parks but the basic story-line is that Mickey is using his imagination and having a dream that gets hijacked by the villains who wish to turn his dream into a nightmare. Of course Mickey will have none of this (you may want to skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want spoilers.....) and dispatches with these villains with such grandiosity, such bravado, such courage that I DARE them to cross him again. I DARE THEM! Pffft! Nobody messes with my man Mickey.
Darnit am I already on a tangent. Alright back to Ryno and Tom’s review.
Ryno started out by noting that they changed the music a bit. He used the new techno music version in the dumbo elephant scene as an example. Personally I think that the elephant scene in the original Dumbo was so trippy that it is extremely fitting to place it both in Mickeys dream as well as with a techno spin.
As long as the main Fantasmic theme song is untouched i’m going to be a happy camper.
Next Tom briefly hit upon the new lighting, lasers, projections and updated water cannons with World of Color lights.
He did so briefly not because it was a small edition however. The boys were clearly exhausted after an incredibly busy few days and i’m not sure how they had it in them to stop and put out even more content.
No it definitely wasn’t a small edition. It’s incredible the huge increase in effects this new version of fantasmic has.
Those unfamiliar with World of Color should check out the video that The Dis recorded. I haven't seen it in person but it looks outstanding and dream of one day seeing it. Link here:
Basically World of Color uses advanced water cannons that shoot up multicolored water and Fantasmic! has incorporated some of that technology into its show as well.
Combined with this new water technology its also advanced its lighting and lasers where they are much stronger making them a more prominent and easier to see effects.
Speaking of which they have upgraded their projections so that they too are much more visible. In fact there was one scene where they were running projections on the screen of water and a live version Mickey was doing his magic thing in the background on the stage. How I was able to see both the projection, and the Mickey clearly, is beyond me. Very impressive.
I do have to say however that the shear scope and size of the effects may be slightly dizzying. It may be crossing the line into more not necessarily being better. Its at times a little overwhelming. Kind of like how the new Disney World fireworks and projections are just throwing so much at you that your synapses are very nearly overloaded and dont know what to do with all the sensory overload.
Just to test the limit to see how many links I can include in this post i’ll also include The Dis coverage of said Disney World fireworks Happily Ever After.
In the new version of Fantasmic! I do find the new effects do enhance the already excellent original show.
I’m just a little concerned that they may have sacrificed a bit of the story’s cohesion by throwing every effect they could think of at us without thinking about how that could effect the overall story.
For me it is more important to have a cohesive story then just provide a wow overload. Although if you can pull off both concurrently then you will have achieved pure mastery.
I think Disney got close but missed the mark a bit on this one which i’ll discuss when I go over some of the other changes later in this review.
Another change was a brief Lion King scene that Ryno both commented on and said he appreciated.
Personally I thought it was out of place.
It starts with the instantly recognizable, and crowd pleasing favorite, NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA! Intro of the Lion King.
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/2f/2f1dc5b1b8a9e7d2d15ea3c3df0ad8db01304447bb67b842d0f1719053396767.jpg
Which by the way everyone should have as their alarm to wake up to. Both because its always good to wake up being reminded of Disney but also because it is so loud you will be unable to simply ignore it.
So it starts with that iconic intro but then immediately transitions into a large snake on the stage, followed by some odd neon monkeys dancing on moving water floats with more lion king music in the background.
The Lion King is my favorite Disney movie. I’d have no problem with it having a section within Fantasmic!. But they should have made this scene have actual characters from the lion king. Could just have easily had Timon and Pumba and Rafiki dancing on those floats instead of seemingly random animals unrecognizable from the films dancing to Lion King Music.
Not a big deal for me it just seemed out of place which will be a theme of this review methinks.
Speaking of which. The swapping out of Peter Pan for the addition of Pirates of the Caribbean.
I believe Craig in another video said that it felt out of place and kind of shoe horned in like Frozen was with every show after Frozen mania. I have to agree with him on this one. I think Disney figured Pirates is incredibly popular and recently opened another film so lets get it in there. But for me it didn’t really serve the story very well.
This entire show has been showing scenes of animated films. Then Mickey appears to get sucked into a whirlpool where I figure he is entering a nightmare where out of nowhere a pirate ship battle is occurring?
To be fair I've only ever witnessed the Pocahontas scene in Disney World. I do find that too is slightly out of place but i’m more forgiving of it. Possibly due to the fact that it at least is in the animated world and Pirates is not. For me my brain has classic Disney animation, and Pixar in two separate but similar categories and then another completely separate category for Disney live action films. In this category you have both Pirates as well other live action films as Sister Act (released under Disney’s Touchstone label) so i’m kind of brought out of the story-line. But that could just be my weird faulty brain wiring.
In any event, the Pocahontas scene ends with a big battle and culminates with Pocahontas embracing John Smith in a kiss. This transitions nicely into all of the other Disney Princesses dancing with their Prince’s on their own water floats. A nice seamless transition.
This as opposed to the new versions Pirate scene transitioning into a weird, and seemingly universally panned scene where Aladdin and Jasmine are singing upon their magic carpet. Both Tom and Ryno did not enjoy the Aladdin or the Pirate scene and they offer a really poor transition into the next, couples dancing on their respective floats, scene.
As Tom and Ryno mention the scenes are a little disjointed. We all seemed to be a bit confused as to what happens next. For some reason Mickey gets sucked into the magic mirror and the evil hag from snow white shows up declaring Mickey’s imagination will turn into a nightmare.
The current Disney World version is much more clear. The evil queen casts a spell, turns into the hag, enlists the help of other villains that then create an evil snake. This snake goes after Mickey who uses the Genie’s lamp to make a wish. This gets rid of the snake but the evil villains have more in store for him and create a dragon!
See this is all very cohesive and flows nicely.
The new version shows a few of the villains but doesn’t really establish what is going on, like in the original, and then abruptly jumps into the dragon scene.
I have to see though. Like Ryno and Tom, I am very impressed by the new dragon. It is huge, imposing, shoots fire and its incredible that the thing looks like it is being blown up by Mickey at times. It must have been quite the engineering feat to have created that monstrosity. Well done and kudos to be given here for sure. Just wish the story made a bit more sense.
Finally Tom said that he noticed the exit music has changed. I haven't been able to find the new exit music but if true that is a travesty. The original exit music is so good that I turned it into my ringtone so that instead of being annoyed when people call me i’m immediately put into a good mood and, when the music stops playing, hang up on whoever called me to stay in said good mood....
Any who here is a link to the original exit song. I highly recommend you adopt it as well! JOverall its hard to really do my own review of the show (even though I just clearly did) because something is definitely lost when not in person. I watched both the Disney Land and Disney World versions, new and old, entirely too many times while writing this post and ultimately i'm quite pleased with the new one.
It may not seem this way because i’m very cognizant of the fact that I've been pretty critical during this post. That’s just the unfortunate nature of reviews I think. It takes longer to say what I didn’t like about this new show then what I liked. But the new special effects should not be discounted. They look simply phenomenal.
It could use a few tweaks but I suspect I might end up liking it a bit better in person and ultimately i'm just really glad they didn't get rid of fantasmic and try a new show. Fantasmic is still fantastic this many years on and while I thought wishes was past its due date fantasmic has a few more years to go.
At the end Rhyno and Tom did state that the new fantasmic is like listening to your favorite song being remixed and things are just a little off. Kind of like Beauty and the beast....oh lets not go there again. That new beauty and the beast was amazing!
But, honestly, they do actually have a point. It may take a bit of time to adjust to the new show but I think I will find it to be quite a bit better and do find myself hoping they do bring the new version to Florida so that I can view it in person for my trip next year.
I know this was long but I really enjoy reacting to the teams reviews. When Craig and Ryno first reviewed Beauty and the Beast I was inspired to write a review of my own as a sort of counter point to their negative review. This time I think I am way more in sync with their views. It was great! We loved the original!....and even though a few things could be tweaked it was impressive nonetheless.
And just another link for good measure to my other Beauty and the Beast post:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/b...nion-to-craig-and-ryno.3594578/#post-57364890
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