Fireworks are just now scheduled projection shows, when did this happen?

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MoonRakerSCM

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm heading to the D on Friday... took at look at the schedules etc... and took note of this-

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I haven't been paying much attention to the parks lately... but since when was this a thing? I was a big complainer of Disney in recent years seemingly not 'pushing' to launch the fireworks in lieu of just doing projections. As in 'back in the day' they would push to do the fireworks as much as they could, delaying, finding a window to shoot the show etc... but in recent times they seemingly just say screw it and do the projections in a blatant cost savings move, flipping off the guests.

Now I see that the projection show is its own thing and that if you go on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday... sorry, too bad Jimmy, you should've come on a higher $ day for us, no fireworks for you.
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
MoonRakerSCM said:
I'm heading to the D on Friday... took at look at the schedules etc... and took note of this-

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I haven't been paying much attention to the parks lately... but since when was this a thing? I was a big complainer of Disney in recent years seemingly not 'pushing' to launch the fireworks in lieu of just doing projections. As in 'back in the day' they would push to do the fireworks as much as they could, delaying, finding a window to shoot the show etc... but in recent times they seemingly just say screw it and do the projections in a blatant cost savings move, flipping off the guests.

Now I see that the projection show is its own thing and that if you go on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday... sorry, too bad Jimmy, you should've come on a higher $ day for us, no fireworks for you.
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In the off season fireworks have always been weekends only. But now with all the great projection efforts, they also offer a night show every night of the week in the off season, with fireworks added on the weekends.

So before, you got nothing on a weeknight, now you get something. It’s a net win.

If you want to guarantee fireworks at Disneyland, you have to go during peak times, when they are nightly, or weekend in off peak times. Even then, Disneyland fireworks get cancelled so often, it’s never a guarantee.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Disney Analyst said:
In the off season fireworks have always been weekends only. But now with all the great projection efforts, they also offer a night show every night of the week in the off season, with fireworks added on the weekends.

So before, you got nothing on a weeknight, now you get something. It’s a net win.
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But wasn't that back when Disneyland would close at 8pm on a weekday in September and October? I remember watching Halloween fireworks from my OC house in September and October on weekends only, but only because the park closed at 8pm on weekdays and it wasn't dark enough in September to do fireworks that early.

It looks like Disneyland is busy enough to be open until 10pm or later even on September weekdays, but no fireworks?

On the flip side, this might be a thing to keep the neighbors happy. Now that the kids are back in school, it's probably nice to NOT have fireworks going off at 9:30pm on school nights.
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
But wasn't that back when Disneyland would close at 8pm on a weekday in September and October? I remember watching Halloween fireworks from my OC house in September and October on weekends only, but only because the park closed at 8pm on weekdays and it wasn't dark enough in September to do fireworks that early.

It looks like Disneyland is busy enough to be open until 10pm or later even on September weekdays, but no fireworks?

On the flip side, this might be a thing to keep the neighbors happy. Now that the kids are back in school, it's probably nice to NOT have fireworks going off at 9:30pm on school nights.
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I thought Disneyland only gets so many days a year to run the fireworks? In an effort to keep neighbours happy. So you have off season schedules vs peak season.

I believe they got special permission from the city to run the 60th fireworks for the entire celebration, which then reverted back to a normal schedule after that ended.
 
D

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
Disney Analyst said:
I thought Disneyland only gets so many days a year to run the fireworks? In an effort to keep neighbours happy. So you have off season schedules vs peak season.

I believe they got special permission from the city to run the 60th fireworks for the entire celebration, which then reverted back to a normal schedule after that ended.
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I thought Halloween season was near peak season these days?
 
denyuntilcaught

denyuntilcaught

Well-Known Member
To echo others, I actually don't consider this a cost saving move but more an effort to work in collaboration with the local population. Of course I don't know the numbers, but I'd argue that projection shows do less to retain visitors into the late hours (aka more $$$ spent per guest) than the fireworks shows do, so don't think this is a revenue-based move.
 
gerarar

gerarar

Premium Member
denyuntilcaught said:
To echo others, I actually don't consider this a cost saving move but more an effort to work in collaboration with the local population. Of course I don't know the numbers, but I'd argue that projection shows do less to retain visitors into the late hours (aka more $$$ spent per guest) than the fireworks shows do, so don't think this is a revenue-based move.
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Having Fantasmic! perform on weekends only during half the year (or maybe more at this point if we count all the plentiful cancellations, etc.) is absolutely a cost-saving move.

Kinda ridiculous Disney would leave guests without a "real" nighttime spectacular on those weekdays. They expect them to be content with a projection show on the castle (WJ or Mickeys Mix Magic) or hop over to DCA for World of Color..
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
gerarar said:
Having Fantasmic! perform on weekends only during half the year (or maybe more at this point if we count all the plentiful cancellations, etc.) is absolutely a cost-saving move.

Kinda ridiculous Disney would leave guests without a "real" nighttime spectacular on those weekdays. They expect them to be content with a projection show on the castle (WJ or Mickeys Mix Magic) or hop over to DCA for World of Color..
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There is definitely more they could do during the weeknights when big pyro isn't offered. Like a Castle only lite pyro version, with projections. Heck, could also do low level stuff at ROA and Small World for that version.

But again, they never used to offer anything (as far as I know) firework wise on the "low season" weeknights, so the projection show is a step in the right direction.
 
chadwpalm

chadwpalm

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
drizgirl said:
I think Halloween season is busier than summer these days.
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It is, but mostly because it's the time of the year locals attend the parks more. October-December do seem to be busier than summer, which is why using terms like "peak season" or "off season" don't really apply anymore in the traditional sense.

It's not really about crowds, but Disney choosing to stick to Summer being the nightly fireworks shows because it is traditionally when most kids are out of school and people vacation. As said above, they want to limit the days they run them over the year and they seem to want to favor vacationers over locals in that manor. Locals can go see the fireworks whenever they want, but vacationers usually do their vacationing during Summer, Spring Break, and Christmas break, so they schedule accordingly.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Disney Analyst said:
I thought Disneyland only gets so many days a year to run the fireworks? In an effort to keep neighbours happy. So you have off season schedules vs peak season.

I believe they got special permission from the city to run the 60th fireworks for the entire celebration, which then reverted back to a normal schedule after that ended.
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That was my understanding as well… the 60th they got special permission to run fireworks nightly year round.
drizgirl said:
I think Halloween season is busier than summer these days.
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During the week as well?
 
S

shambolicdefending

Well-Known Member
truecoat said:
Disney is really missing out on the drone train. This is in Oshkosh Wisconsin. The ending won't disappoint.

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I seem to remember that Imagineering was looking into using drones several years ago but the lawyers shot it down. They weren't comfortable with the safety guarantees and liability issues at that point in time. Drone displays are common enough now that you'd think it would be worth revisiting.

A lot of other things they could do theoretically with drones in various areas of the park, too (looking at you, Galaxy's Edge).
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
truecoat said:
Disney is really missing out on the drone train. This is in Oshkosh Wisconsin. The ending won't disappoint.

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We just got back from DL Paris and found the 10 minute drone show far more exciting than the fireworks show.

When we last went in 2018 we were absolutely blown away by their fireworks show, unfortunately now it felt like 25 minutes of projections and maybe 5 minutes of small fireworks. It was very disappointing.
 

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