DisneySky - COMPLETE & RESTORED

[D Hulk]

ACT II: INVENTION - Mercury
4:06

(0:00 - 1:07)
“Mercury.” Act II, Invention, dedicated to natural and mythical flight.

With a playful scherzo, the mountain and stage are increasingly overcome with tangled plant life. The Sprite conducts bird imagery onto Mt. Helios - hatchlings learning to fly from early in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Down in the lagoon, a projection globe inflates from one of the boat floats. It resembles a bird’s egg which swiftly hatches. Once it breaks open, the drones again sail up into the skies, this time as a flock of birds. We reveal how the drones may be used in 3-dimensions, as they seemingly rush straight at the audience before pulling up and rising vertically.

(1:07 - 2:11)
The music becomes calm and melodic before again building to a louder repeat of its initial melody.

Mt. Helios transforms into Australia’s Uluru (Ayers Rock), with footage from The Rescuers Down Under. As the Sprite’s float fades into darkness, Mt. Helios plays out footage of Marahute’s glorious flight with Cody. Water splashes leap from the Sprite’s unseen stage in unison with Marahute’s journey. The drones gracefully skim the water’s surface like birds.

(2:12 - 4:06)
Accompanying another playful scherzo, Mt. Helios becomes Mt. Olympus. New projections are initially from Fantasia’s Pastoral Symphony, and then from Hercules. The imagery shows how flight evolves, from the natural to the mythical. Cupids. Pegasus horses. Zeus appears high up in Mt. Helios’ peak clouds, smiling upon creation. The drones hover still in midair, forming 3D constellations of Hercules and the Olympian gods.​

 

[D Hulk]

ACT III: REFLECTION - Venus
3:12, partial use only

(0:00 - 1:26)
With “Venus” and Act III, the composition grows peaceful and serene as we focus briefly on man’s earliest attempts at flight.

Mt. Olympus sinks away, replaced by cloud projections. Now two globe floats appear in Langley Lagoon, each drifting around the blackened central stage and each featuring projections from Aladdin. It’s the “Whole New World” sequence, with Aladdin and Jasmine flying the night air on their Magic Carpet. The drones, hovering in place in a 3D grid pattern, turn their lights on and off like twinkling starlight.

(1:27 - 3:12)
With a key change, the drones all fade into a warm orangish red as they float peacefully like sky lanterns. Projections on Mt. Helios transform it into the fairy tale Corona castle from Tangled. The lagoon globes feature footage of Rapunzel and Flynn together in a rowboat, the poetic and romantic “I See the Light” sequence.

As the music quiets, every visible light fades away in unison. There is a tranquil silence just waiting to be broken...​

 

[D Hulk]

ACT IV: DESTRUCTION - Mars
3:52, partial use only

(3:16 - 4:16)
Militaristic drums build. “Mars, Bringer of War.” Act IV brings us to the lowest ebb of Skies of Fantasy, the moment where villainy and the powers of darkness threaten to overwhelm everything!

Lava flows from the peak of Mt. Helios! The mountain swells with a building, fearsome eruption! Lava seemingly hits the lagoon’s edge, creating very real and very physical waves and steam which rush forward over the water’s surface. A third globe screen now inflates, and all three together present footage of Fantasia 2000’s molten Firebird. The drones form a burning red inferno, rising up like embers.

(4:17 - 5:58)
The music grows ever louder, more chaotic, more sweeping! The world becomes a sickening dark purple as the drones transform into rising ghostly spirits. Mt. Helios transforms into a sickly pale minaret...it transforms into Bald Mountain!

Evil drum beats! A ghoulish physical form arises near the peak of Mt. Helios...It is Chernabog, an enormous animatronic puppet previously hidden in a hangar on the mountain’s high slopes! (With our attention drawn elsewhere, the drones secretly fade into darkness and return to their lagoon boat platforms.) Moving like a simpler Fantasmic dragon, foul Chernabog stretches his arms out across the scene. His shadow descends down Mt. Helios. The three globes careen violently across the primordial waters, their screens awash with demonic imagery from Fantasia, from The Black Cauldron, from “Hellfire” in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

(5:59 - 6:07)
Real flames burst all over the mountainous slopes! They fire off repeatedly with the adrenal music!

With a crescendo, Chernabog sets the entirety of Langley Lagoon aflame! Vertical searchlights surrounding Chernabog show rising souls. Vertical pillars of flame shoot up from specialized portholes along Helios’ slopes!

(6:08 - 6:32)
There is an eerie quiet. The Sprite reemerges below Chernabog, lit beatifically like the sunlight itself. She projects solar rays to fight back against the unholy lagoon flames. Her stage sparkles.

(6:33 - 7:08)
As the music pounds and pounds, the two opposite forces clash! Water splashes violently. Shadows racing down Mt. Helios meet the Sprite’s sunbeams. It is a literal battle of light versus dark, with light swiftly rushing up Mt. Helios and overtaking the diabolical Chernabog. The drones suddenly reappear in the skies and join in, seemingly bouncing off each other as good and evil colors.

Fireworks shoot from the Sprite’s arms! A bright spotlight shines directly onto Chernabog! The dark lord shudders in pain and sinks away into the mountain’s depths, never to be seen again. Flames die along the waters.

Lights out!​

 

[D Hulk]

ACT V: REBIRTH - Jupiter
7:45

(0:00 - 1:03)
For now, silence. Smoky clouds project across Mt. Helios. Real clouds spread out over the surface of the dark lagoon.

Then...a heavenly light breaks forth! “Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity.” The Sprite - now a pure white light elemental - orchestrates white puffy clouds rising up along the mountain. These clouds form into shapes resembling other objects. Winds blow away the lagoon fogs.

(1:04 - 1:39)
The Final Act is underway, celebrating all manner of man-made flight.

We begin with UP. Balloon projections cover Mt. Helios. The drones float around like countless multicolored balloons. Five globe screens now bob along the lagoon, each of them a differently colored oversized balloon. The Sprite’s stage simply erupts into a merry light show to compliment Holst’s supremely merry composition. She dances with glee!

(1:40 - 2:27)
Noble horns build as the UP scene continues. The drone “balloons” form together into a 3D shape resembling Carl’s flying house, held aloft by more drone balloons. This form pirouettes seemingly across the surface of the lagoon, before a mountainous backdrop of simple cumulonimbus clouds. More and more colored lights underneath the lagoon waters join in, growing increasingly energetic with the music.

(2:28 - 2:39)
Crescendo! Extreme multicolored water spigots surround the Sprite’s stage, with a spectrum of colors much like Carl’s balloons! Multicolored fireworks explode from the mountain ridges, from the pyrotechnic hideaways. The scene becomes totally abstract! Mt. Helios is lit up in psychedelic projected imagery. Swirling colors quickly envelop the Sprite’s stage!

(2:40 - 2:58)
With a calm musical slowdown, Mt. Helios fades away. The only lights which now remain are underwater, all soothing tones which reveal silhouettes on the surface above them. There are eight floats now, eight globe screens circling the Sprite’s darkened stage.

(2:59 - 4:58)
Melodic and peaceful music repeats the “Jupiter” theme, slowly building to greatness. The eight globes, now fully revealed, spout off LED laser light shows! The Sprite commands everything from her perch. The globes start together in unison, then increasingly they lack in synchronicity, as a wild montage of Disney footage plays across their screens. We progress chronologically over man’s history, from the fantastical to the contemporary to the futuristic:
​

• Dumbo the flying elephant. ​
• Peter Pan soars with the Darling children. ​
• Yzma and Kronk cross a chasm in their glider. ​
• Basil of Baker Street rides balloons up to Big Ben. ​
• Mr. Toad pilots his biplane. ​
• Orville and Wilbur from The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. ​
• Buzz Lightyear “falls with style.” ​
• Dusty Crophopper and pals from Planes. ​
• Baymax carries Hiro over the skies of San Fransokyo. ​
• Lastly, all the globes at one depict the interplanetary galleon spaceships of Treasure Planet!​

Throughout, the drones above form a 3D grid and pulse a rainbow of colors.

(4:59 - 5:18)
Horns and flutes calmly rework the theme. Only one globe remains on, the others dimmed. This globe appears as the Earth. Two drones - colored to resemble WALL*E and Eve - fly and dance serenely in rotation around the globe.

(5:19 - 5:58)
A grand musical crescendo! All at once, the seven other globes light up as the other planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They join Earth in a circle dancing around the Sprite’s stage. Her platform lights up like a swirling black hole. She commands laser lights shooting from her base. She also directs the drones, now circling overhead in a 3D black hole vortex. The Sprite magically changes her platform and the drones, transforming both into nebulae.

(5:59 - 6:34)
The merry music is reworked. As the eight planets revolve around the Sprite, drones revolve in opposite directions around the planets as their “moons.” With the music becoming increasingly joyous, the Sprite merrily commands fireworks and laser bursts from her stage.

(6:35 - 7:08)
The music imitates twinkling stars, as do the drones. With all other lights out, the drones in the skies sparkle like glittering sunbeams.

Then the music builds once again. A star field projection illuminates the darkened Mt. Helios. The heavenly lights create a beacon on the mountain’s very peak, where a new globe screen inflates, one that is far larger than the planetary globes in the lagoon. This is the Sun, a magnificent glowing ball of warmth and light. Its rays slowly creep down Mt. Helios like the morning’s light over a lush landscape. These lights fall upon the eight planets, granting them all richer and more vibrant glowing tones.

(7:09 - 7:25)
The music enters into its final, grand, climactic overture! The planets swirl! Energy beams sail up Mt. Helios, like lightning inside a cloud! Golden water splashes in the lagoon! Golden sunny fireworks dot the slopes! The golden drones form one of the most quintessential Disney shapes: Sleeping Beauty Castle!

(7:26 - 7:45)
THE GRAND CLIMAX!

Searchlights shine in all 360 degrees surrounding the summit Sun globe!

Low level fireworks go nuts from every conceivable surface!

Water spigots in the lagoon!

Flames shoot from the Sprite’s stage!

The drones flash and form together into pulsing psychedelic 3D Mickey Mouse ears!

The final notes, and EVERY light vanishes...except for the Sun!
​

---

The music ends and the show concludes. Normal lights return to the shores surrounding Langley Lagoon. This post-show period is accompanied by Holst’s “Neptune,” distant and mysterious. The Sun globe remains on for a while, before it too like Holst’s composition slowly and subtly fades away.

Skies of Fantasy is the ultimate statement on DisneySky. It summarizes the entire park in a singular thematic bow, while also providing a conclusive capper to the day. Nearly every one of Disney’s nighttime spectacular tricks is on display here - plus some never before utilized - but they’re all in service of a unified goal. Skies of Fantasy doesn’t merely replay Disney footage without rhyme or reason. It incorporates many disparate elements into a single symbolic narrative, encompassing the entire history of Mankind and Planet Earth. This show is sure to dazzle and it is sure to inspire, providing hopefully a bold optimism for the future to come. It is quite unlike anything you have ever seen before!​

 

[D Hulk]

This now concludes our extensive tour of Disneyland Resort’s third theme park. We hope you had a pleasant journey.

Thank you for visiting DisneySky! ​

 

[Evilgidgit]

 

[Suchomimus]

I want someone to draw all the churro cart designs.

 

[Pi on my Cake]

This now concludes our extensive tour of Disneyland Resort’s third theme park. We hope you had a pleasant journey.

Thank you for visiting DisneySky! ​

A truly incredible and impressive feat of Armchair Imagineering! One of the best things I've ever seen on this forum!

 

[spacemt354]

This was something special - a 4 month odyssey in one of the most detailed projects ever. This will be one for the record books!

 

[Pi on my Cake]

This was something special - a 4 month odyssey in one of the most detailed projects ever. This will be one for the record books!

This hasn't been going on for four months!
There's no way...
*Checks the date of the first post*

 

[Suchomimus]

I want someone to draw all the churro cart designs.

@MickeyWaffleCo. , @D Hulk , @Pi on my Cake , @NateD1226

 

[James G.]

This was, and always will be, the "gold standard" for all other proposals. In-freakin'-credible!

 

[spacemt354]

This was, and always will be, the "gold standard" for all other proposals. In-freakin'-credible!

I'd really like to see your Americana 1900 laid out in this format too!

 

[Suchomimus]

I'd really like to see your Americana 1900 laid out in this format too!

I’d like to see Monstrous Realms revisited someday and done in the SKY format as well.

 

[Solaris Knight]

I've been adoring this pitch since you started, and it's going to be a favorite of mine for years to come, my personal "Go the Distance" moment of what I want to live up to as an armchair Imagineer

 

[James G.]

I'd really like to see your Americana 1900 laid out in this format too!

I am working on it, but it will be quite some time before it's ready. I have a general idea how long @D Hulk was working on this, and I believe he has more free time than I do, but I am working on it. It's not going to be a copy of his remarkable layout, but inspired by it with my own touches. Americana 1900 and DisneySky are totally different concepts- DisneySky is a land of excitement. Americana 1900 is much more laid-back, subtle, slow, hopefully historic without being boring. DisneySky is energy- Americana 1900 is elegant. I am inspired by what we all just experienced- I hope that months from now (and no, I don't know how many months from now, you'll be moved by what I present to you. Americana 1900 is coming.

 

[MickeyWaffleCo.]

A couple weeks ago I was feeling very inspired reading through DisneySky posts, and I decided to write a short song for DisneySky. That idea grew a bit, until it became a sort of a soundtrack for the JetRail. I finally recorded it today, and while the performance is far from perfect, I did my best to capture the spirit of this entire project.



(Make sure to read the description. )

 

[D Hulk]

A couple weeks ago I was feeling very inspired reading through DisneySky posts, and I decided to write a short song for DisneySky. That idea grew a bit, until it became a sort of a soundtrack for the JetRail. I finally recorded it today, and while the performance is far from perfect, I did my best to capture the spirit of this entire project.



(Make sure to read the description. )

That is incredible! I really don’t know what to say. It really does capture the spirit of the JetRail. Thank you for doing this.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

I love it.

 

[James G.]

A couple weeks ago I was feeling very inspired reading through DisneySky posts, and I decided to write a short song for DisneySky. That idea grew a bit, until it became a sort of a soundtrack for the JetRail. I finally recorded it today, and while the performance is far from perfect, I did my best to capture the spirit of this entire project.



(Make sure to read the description. )

I think that all of us who have dabbled in imagineering have an idea how moving that must have been for @D Hulk . You did a great job of catching the spirit of DisneySky that I had while exploring it with everyone else.