IllumiNations fireworks

TheOneVader

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is probably a dumb question, but how do they do the fireworks that are so close to the ground. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. They're like the second fireworks that go off right above the barge. Wouldn't it damage the barge or something? Thanks! :sohappy:
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
TheOneVader said:
This is probably a dumb question, but how do they do the fireworks that are so close to the ground. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. They're like the second fireworks that go off right above the barge. Wouldn't it damage the barge or something? Thanks! :sohappy:
Those barges are solid steel, a little pyro won't hurt them. Think about what the do on the inferno barge.
 

TheOneVader

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Didn't think of that, lol. But do you know how they do it? Do they like shoot them up only a couple of feet or something?
 

TheOneVader

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A Couple More IllumiNations Questions

I have a few more RoE questions.

1. Why do they use so many green lasers? Why not red or blue or something?
2. Does anyone have like a map or satelite image of where exactly they put each of the barges on the lagoon?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just fascinated with RoE.
 

Dean[AU]

New Member
1) Green Lasers are the most powerfull i think,
2) You could go the last boat ride around the lagoon before they setup and you might be able to see.
 

TheOneVader

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've ridden the boat when the barges were out, but it's hard to tell like where they are on the lagoon. I guess I'm just an RoE freak :p
 

brkgnews

Well-Known Member
TheOneVader said:
I've ridden the boat when the barges were out, but it's hard to tell like where they are on the lagoon. I guess I'm just an RoE freak :p
Can't offer you a photo of where they are when they are set up for the show, but you may appreciate this...

Go to...

http://coffeejedi.darkimage.net/viewmap.php?name=epcot

(page may take a while to load -- several hundred small images loading at once)

Scroll all the way down and then all the way to the right. Now scroll up just slightly, and you'll see an offshoot waterway along the right hand side of the image. In that waterway, you'll find the four pyro barges, plus the big globe in its splayed-out "lotus' position. This is apparently their storage and loading area.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
All Illuminations lasers were brand new for RoE (1999) - the old single coloured ones used since Laserphonic onwards were removed. Despite the new ones being state of the art multi colour, green is still the most powerful visable colour a laser can produce (I may be wrong but I beleive any other colour used too much IR/UV light..)
 

Wannabe Walt

New Member
From what I've heard about lasers, green is the easiest to make and the safest. Blue, red, white, etc. are very hot compared to green and are much harder to produce and very dangerous. I believe the heat level goes Green, Red, Blue, White...I think. That's why Green and Red are the most common. Yellow is also produced, but it is less than green...not many yellow lasers out there. Blue and White are very very very hot lasers and are blinding almost instantly to the eye...VERY dangerous. This could be why you see so many green.
 

boo52

Active Member
TheOneVader said:
Didn't think of that, lol. But do you know how they do it? Do they like shoot them up only a couple of feet or something?
Those are called mines. Mines are pretty simple they consist of 2 things, lift charge and stars. The lift charge pushes the stars up out of the tube and ignites the stars also. So as soon as it's fired the stars start burningas they rise out of the tube. Mines are used at WDW in Wishes, ROE, Fantasmic, PI NYE, and Indy to name a few.
 

Dean[AU]

New Member
They have some that float and twinkle.. I read about how exactly they worked.. but another Disney invention (psst.. rctpyro.com)
 

TheOneVader

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It's a little late response, but thank you boo, nonetheless. I never really realized those "mines" are the same as the ones used throughout the show, probably because they're a lot louder and go out in all directions, instead of in just a pretty straight line like the various others... Right? lol

And I know about the "float and twinkle" ones. They shoot those out very softly, so they go a few feet away into the water. Then they ignite, and it makes them look scattered throughout the lagoon. They use it right after Chaos finishes and at some other times, too.
 

boo52

Active Member
Yes, the direction of the mines are controled by the angle the holder is placed. The second ones are called floaters or nautical torches.
 

DWSD

New Member
Just reading about green laser's I also think green is a easy colour to see at night, Every pay atteion to the lights of your cars dash board they are usually always green.
 

Wannabe Walt

New Member
The mines thing is different than what you explained...kindof. Sorry, I'm just a fireworks fanatic! I run the Wessel's 4th of July Spectacular around here lol. I gotta know this stuff. Mines are, yes, "stars" shot out of a tube in the direction they want them to go. However, mines are different than other fireworks. The ones I believe you were speaking of, originally, were the half-circle shells that are literally on the surface of the lake, right? If this is what you were talking about...good! I can answer it! They are just regular artillery shells, layed down or in a special tube, that have no lift force inside of them. They don't move therefore, and blow up right where they are. I have done this with a regular artillery shell before, with lift force. If you just lay them on something (I used gravel and dirt...so it may require resitance) they won't move. This is because there is nothing for pressure to build up inside of to lift them, so they don't end up going any where at all. They just blow up right there, and usually it all goes skyward. However, the ROE ones are probably the "special" shells that only blow up on one side (half) not the entire thing, so that sparks aren't under water AND on the barge.

Here are some pics that I took back in February of ROE.

Mines:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=4083.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=f950.jpg&.src=ph

"Half-Shells":
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=ac1a.jpg&.src=ph

Regular-Shell:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=5c83.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=f2d7.jpg&.src=ph

Comets (Single star):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=cfcf.jpg&.src=ph

Nautical Torches:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=11f8.jpg&.src=ph

Can someone name these for me???:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/david.wessel@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/69cf&.dnm=b883.jpg&.src=ph
 

boo52

Active Member
After going back and reading the original post, you are correct, those are not mines. They are called Direct Fire shells not Artillery shells. They are just set on barges on top of a pipe. They are made just like the other aerial shells except with no lift and the electreic match is wired directly to the center of the burst charge. If you were to suspend it high in the air, it would break semetrical. So there really is no trick to making it look the way it does. Artilleries are actually shells that just have reports. Also know as cuncussion shots or salutes. The end of the Holiday tag had a huge Artillery chain in it. Wishes has artillery shots in the park at the very end to give that loud punch. The ones that you are looking for someone to identify are Candles. The ones from ROE are from Italy.
 

Wannabe Walt

New Member
Thanks for naming them for me! I needed to find that out because I think those are really cool so I wanted to try and find some for our 4th of July party this year. We may actually be doing ROE...using an edited version of the music (edited by me) and shot over a lake, like we did last year. However, the fireworks probably wont be shot OFF the lake. The family and friends sit on the levy and we (shooters) are across the lake in the field part (grass mostly...) But it kindof looks like its off the lake because its right next to it and it reflects and everything. Its cool. I edited the music by taking out the slow, globe parts of ROE. We don't have a 3 story globe to float out on the lake, and we definatly dont have a 3 story globe with video screens! :lol: So, I just took those parts out. It sounds really good because I made transitions kindof and faded parts together and stuff. I hope we end up using it! If we use it, we will also use the intro speech that Epcot uses. The only thing is, we don't have big torches for him to blow out! SO...my plan: have a floating fire barge, like ROE except it doesn't shoot near as high and isn't used throughout a majority of the show. It's there in the beginning, throughout parts of the show, and at the end. I also want to see if I can get nautical torches anywhere...any suggestions?
 

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