Fantasmic! gets show lighting upgrades ahead of its 15th anniversary

[Cosmic Commando]

I wouldn't necessarily say that they're trying to replace or hide the dragon with the new lighting. It's clear as day that the dragon is fully functional, unlike the Yeti, so I see no reason to hide it. The lighting, instead, is probably there to enhance the scene. Before the lighting upgrades a few years ago, the dragon scene lacked color because everything was drowned out by the bright flames. The new lighting fixes that, in my opinion, and also creates cool shadow effects with the dragon.

By the way I love that picture of the yeti! It's the most accurate drawing of the ride scene.

This is IMO, but the fountains and lighting effects are hiding the dragon at DHS. That dragon is a head on a stick with wings from JoAnn Fabric. The new Disneyland dragon is a (mostly) full-bodied animatronic... it's amazing and you don't need to hide it with fluff.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

If it means Fantasmic! will replace Pocahontas with Trans Siberian Orchestra, I'm all for it.

I'd camp out for that. I love TSO!

 

[flynnibus]

This is IMO, but the fountains and lighting effects are hiding the dragon at DHS. That dragon is a head on a stick with wings from JoAnn Fabric

It was still better than the old DL dragon.. Same with Ka... but those were about the only areas DHS was better

 

[Cosmic Commando]

It was still better than the old DL dragon.. Same with Ka... but those were about the only areas DHS was better

I like the idea of making the snake Jafar, but I think that way of doing a snake is too darn slow to be a menacing villain. I think it works better in Mickey's little jungle acid trip in DL.

 

[Californian Elitist]

It was still better than the old DL dragon.. Same with Ka... but those were about the only areas DHS was better

I really like the Lion King segment in DHS' version. A lot.

 

[Jones14]

I'm not entirely sure if this has been posted already, but I was at the studios last night, and when we went to see Fantasmic! there were some updates (and somethings that looked new to me, but may have been there all along), so I thought I'd share what I saw.

1) In the Pocahontas scene, there are stacks of logs that are positioned stage right, and partway through the scene they fall and knock over several of the actors. I'm not sure if this is new, but it's the first time I've seen it.

2) The Princess floats have been upgraded, and I mean upgraded. The lights twinkle and move in blues and whites when they're in the dark, and when the spotlights come on the colors "explode" with the music. It looks fantastic, and it's hard to describe, but it's really amazing.

3) Fog effects have been added that conceal the dragon. It makes her look far more realistic and really distracts from the fact that it's just a head on a stick.

4) Sorcerer Mickey's pyro effects when he starts waving his arms like a madman have trails that spin, similar to how the comets in the Sorcerer's Apprentice cartoon spin around him in his dream. This is also hard to describe, but it looked really neat.

Overall, the show has never looked or sounded better, although Jafar's right eye almost didn't light up. Just thought I'd share what I saw!

 

[wdwmagic]

Thanks for the update!

 

[Rob562]

FYI, #1 is not new, but I think it's one of the first things to get cut if the stage is wet and deemed unsafe (along with John Smith's rope swing in that scene).

-Rob

 

[mm52200]

Just wanted to also add that when I saw the show over Christmas break, I also thought that the show was in great shape! The best I had ever seen it honestly. Everything looked to be pretty cleaned up and neat, new fog effects, working lasers, all pyro working, the new lighting on the princess barges, and the list goes on. Everything was just in great shape! Honestly the only other upgrade I would really like to see is to have the projectors upgraded to digital HD ones like in DL. Well that and a new dragon, but the new lighting and fog effects actually really make the Dragon look a lot better than it is.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm not entirely sure if this has been posted already, but I was at the studios last night, and when we went to see Fantasmic! there were some updates (and somethings that looked new to me, but may have been there all along), so I thought I'd share what I saw.

1) In the Pocahontas scene, there are stacks of logs that are positioned stage right, and partway through the scene they fall and knock over several of the actors. I'm not sure if this is new, but it's the first time I've seen it.

2) The Princess floats have been upgraded, and I mean upgraded. The lights twinkle and move in blues and whites when they're in the dark, and when the spotlights come on the colors "explode" with the music. It looks fantastic, and it's hard to describe, but it's really amazing.

3) Fog effects have been added that conceal the dragon. It makes her look far more realistic and really distracts from the fact that it's just a head on a stick.

4) Sorcerer Mickey's pyro effects when he starts waving his arms like a madman have trails that spin, similar to how the comets in the Sorcerer's Apprentice cartoon spin around him in his dream. This is also hard to describe, but it looked really neat.

Overall, the show has never looked or sounded better, although Jafar's right eye almost didn't light up. Just thought I'd share what I saw!

Thanks for confirming this on the Princess Float, I only see Fantasmic every few years and when we saw it this trip the floats definitely looked a lot better than I remembered.