News 'Disney Enchantment' coming to Magic Kingdom October 1 2021

[Ayla]

Ok, I just watched a video from last night (from The Dis, so it was centered (and still!!)) and I'm commenting before I read anyone else's comments.

The first word that comes to mind is frantic. The switching between scenes was WAY too fast. The effects on the castle are neat, but geez, let us look at them for a few seconds! I could feel my heart rate increasing as I was watching and I didn't like it.

Good amount of pyro (after the disappointment of HarmonioUS) and even though the laser on the right side of the castle was not working properly, I liked them.

The narration sounds dark and sinister.

Even for Disney songs, they were way oversung.

 

[Ayla]

I did not see Tink when did she fly?

13ish minutes in. I think around the 13:20 mark?

 

[jpinkc]

Yeah they really dont Highlight Tink like they should. Like any Disney history with this 50th they dont want to talk about it in the park.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Yeah they really dont Highlight Tink like they should. Like any Disney history with this 50th they dont want to talk about it in the park.

If they thought they could get away with tink flying in the fireworks shows to save money they would

 

[wtyy21]

Just saw the Disney parks post on Instagram and the comments are brutal. This is not a good week for Disney and their “celebration” that really doesn’t celebrate anything other than merch sales

I assume that the negative comments about Enchantment were come from hardcore Disneyland fans or someone who prequently visited Disneyland only to see Remember... Dreams Come True (their 50th anniversary fireworks) and disappointed that the 50th anniversary of WDW fireworks were not focused on park. I also had the negative review about DE at Disneyland-focused forum Micechat. You can join discussion here.

"Enchantment" Firework Show Review - MiceChat

So I watched the live stream for Enchantment this evening. It was very underwhelming, especially for Disney World's 50th Anniversary. It felt soulless, and lacking story? I thought I was being too hard on it though, so I checked social media to see what others thought... and to my relief, I...

discuss.micechat.com

 

[GhostHost1000]

I assume that the negative comments about Enchantment were come from hardcore Disneyland fans or someone who prequently visited Disneyland only to see Remember... Dreams Come True (their 50th anniversary fireworks) and disappointed that the 50th anniversary of WDW fireworks were not focused on park. I also had the negative review about DE at Disneyland-focused forum Micechat. You can join discussion here.

"Enchantment" Firework Show Review - MiceChat

So I watched the live stream for Enchantment this evening. It was very underwhelming, especially for Disney World's 50th Anniversary. It felt soulless, and lacking story? I thought I was being too hard on it though, so I checked social media to see what others thought... and to my relief, I...

discuss.micechat.com

Those comments were definitely not from Disneyland visitors

 

[waltography]

I personally think the biggest canary right now for how aware they are of guest feedback for Enchantment and Harmonious is that Disney's TikTok page hasn't posted a thing about either show. Imagine not one but two nighttime spectaculars debuting for the 50th and not a peep from your social media team.

Granted, they still have the next few days to hype them up, but I'm expecting limited comments if they ever post anything about them.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I just rewatched it and something else that strikes me as odd is how little the crowd reacts when tink flies.

There’s just no building up or emotion there like before. The show falls flat

 

[dreday3]

I just rewatched it and something else that strikes me as odd is how little the crowd reacts when tink flies.

There’s just no building up or emotion there like before. The show falls flat

It's a crowd of invited guests and VIPs.
That's like watching your favorite band perform at some awards show and the audience is just kind of sitting there.

Wait for the common people. We the people.

 

[Andrew C]

It's a crowd of invited guests and VIPs.
That's like watching your favorite band perform at some awards show and the audience is just kind of sitting there.

Wait for the common people. We the people.

You sure we are common people? I think most of us are pretty nutty..

 

[Sir_Cliff]

It's very curious to me that Disney has always been the masters and these kinds of nighttime spectaculars, and now we see two big misses in a row. In Enchantment's defence, it was rushed and it's more underwhelming and a step backwards from its predecessor than a disaster. Harmonious is more of a head scratcher as it was both meant to replace the long tradition of Illuminations at Epcot as part of the big park relaunch and had so many obvious issues, beginning with parking those massive barges permanently in WS Lagoon.

This is really making me wonder what has happened to Disney in-house talent. Have they fired them all or do they maybe need some fresh blood? I know on some level Chapek holds some responsibility, but he's not designing the shows and I doubt even he considers himself a creative executive.

There are plenty more quality issues recently at WDW, with the new industrial entrance to the Polynesian standing out as weirdly bad theming for Disney, let alone for a Disney deluxe resort.

 

[GhostHost1000]

It's a crowd of invited guests and VIPs.
That's like watching your favorite band perform at some awards show and the audience is just kind of sitting there.

Wait for the common people. We the people.

This is gonna fall flat on most any kind of people

 

[Andrew C]

It's very curious to me that Disney has always been the masters and these kinds of nighttime spectaculars, and now we see two big misses in a row. In Enchantment's defence, it was rushed and it's more underwhelming and a step backwards from its predecessor than a disaster. Harmonious is more of a head scratcher as it was both meant to replace the long tradition of Illuminations at Epcot as part of the big park relaunch and had so many obvious issues, beginning with parking those massive barges permanently in WS Lagoon.

This is really making me wonder what has happened to Disney in-house talent. Have they fired them all or do they maybe need some fresh blood? I know on some level Chapek holds some responsibility, but he's not designing the shows and I doubt even he considers himself a creative executive.

There are plenty more quality issues recently at WDW, with the new industrial entrance to the Polynesian standing out as weirdly bad theming for Disney, let alone for a Disney deluxe resort.

I don't see Enchantment as a miss. The one other one, though....

 

[GhostHost1000]

I don't see Enchantment as a miss. The one other one, though....

It’s a miss if you think each new show should be a step up and better than the one it’s replacing

 

[Andrew C]

It’s a miss if you think each new show should be a step up and better than the one it’s replacing

I like it about as much as HEA, although I haven't seen it in person yet. Was HEA a step up from Wishes? I think you can argue either way.

IMO, when all is all said and done, enchantment will be seen as a success and "the other one", not so much. And I think the reactions around here aligns with this. One has been strongly hated. Enchantment, liked by many, disliked by a decent amount.

 

[jpinkc]

The only thing that would have WOWed me last night was if they let Christina sing When You Wish Upon a Star. Wow just had a brainwave, imagine if they had her sing it in a duet with the Julie Andrews recording!!!!

 

[James Alucobond]

It’s a miss if you think each new show should be a step up and better than the one it’s replacing

This kind of thinking is what causes shows to stagnate and overstay their welcome when they strike gold, as it were. This show may be a fairly lateral move, but it brought with it new capabilities like the Main Street projections and additional launch sites. Every few years, they should be exploring new programming, and with that should come additional enhancements to infrastructure and show tech. But it shouldn't be an arms race to make you bawl your eyes out more than last time, double the size of the orchestra, or layer more screechy descants on top of songs.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

This kind of thinking is what causes shows to stagnate and overstay their welcome when they strike gold, as it were. This show may be a fairly lateral move, but it brought with it new capabilities like the Main Street projections and additional launch sites. Every few years, they should be exploring new programming, and with that should come additional enhancements to infrastructure and show tech. But it shouldn't be an arms race to make you bawl your eyes out more than last time, double the size of the orchestra, or layer more screechy descants on top of songs.

I agree shows shouldn't just live on forever because they're popular. As it is, they tend to stay on too long.

However, I do think you at least need to try and do something better or at least different with each new show. As others have noted, there is an obvious backward step in this show when you look at the projections on the castle and the way they just insert clips from films rather than integrating them into the castle. The show also doesn't do anything new: it shows clips from movies as the last one did, this time with the aforementioned poorer integration into the environment as well as a weaker/non-existent narrative thread. That leaves you with the projections on Main Street which are an enhancement, but not enough to overcome all the other ways in which the show falls short of what came before. It also doesn't result in a better show than adding the Main Street projections to HEA.

I honestly think HEA leaned less into the sentimentality and "make you bawl your eyes out" factor than Wishes and was a better show for it. I don't think anyone is arguing that they should be forever ramping up the emotional punch until they get to the Schindler's List of nighttime spectaculars.

 

[mikejs78]

Maybe people are beginning to question what they are really trying to celebrate with no real things that appear to reflect homage to the park history

Is the celebration for Disney’s bank account or guests?

We recently had a nightime show that celebrated a park'a history, and even included Walt's voice -- and everyone panned it.

 

[SoFloMagic]

Since when is someone disliking something you like toxic? I don't understand this.

I think it's more trashing a perfectly passable show because it's not perfect in your eyes is pretty toxic. This show looked OK, and I think I'll like it better in person.
Harmonious on the other hand was a mess. A mess that 80% of guests will love. (the people who yell "OMG it's Brave! Look at her!)