News Happily Ever After fireworks show returning to Magic Kingdom in 2023

ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
MTBaymax said:
She actually starts from the reappearing keyhole and flies around the hub before she starts making her way back to the structures (that explains the “pixie dust” within the bushes).
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She actually starts in Never Land during the Hunchback scene but we don’t see her for like 10 minutes. It would take longer without the Lunar Orbit Insertion slingshot she takes advantage of.
 
Z

zulemara

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
JediMasterMatt said:
While I can neither confirm nor deny any water works from my eyes, I will share that one of the nice things about my nighttime spectacular photography hobby is that I get to meet a lot of nice people while waiting hours sometimes for the shows. I vividly recall this elderly couple that stood next to us at the end of Main Street in early 2018. The gentleman was very reserved and a bit grouchy while his spouse was the more talkative of the two. Both asked how this new show was and wanted my thoughts and if it was worth waiting for as they both loved Wishes and were concerned it wouldn't live up to the legacy. He especially was vocal about Wishes departure. I explained I was also in a similar boat where I was apprehensive until I saw it for the first time. I told them that by the time it gets near the end, it will have changed their minds as it has multiple finale worthy moments. While I did see them both smiling during the show, I wasn't certain of their thoughts until the gentlemen turned toward me with tears in his eyes after Go the Distance's double fans went off and told me I was right.

On the more humorous side of things, I had some Cast Members that work the EPCOT shows ask me for my thoughts on Harmonious and I said the best compliment I can give it is that at least it's not Enchantment. Everyone laughed. Harmonious isn't/wasn't a horrible show. It's actually a good show that uses horrible infrastructure that makes a mess out of the park it's in. It also is a show that thematically is in the wrong park; but, its greatest detriment is similar to Enchantment - it didn't come close to measuring up to its predecessor.

From a photography perspective, I did enjoy taking advantage of all of the perimeter launch locations around the lagoon. So, at least it had that to keep me entertained
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The summer it debuted, we went pretty much every week so my husband could take video from different angles. We had so many amazing conversations with ppl while waiting. We met one young couple, became friends with them on facebook, and have since watched as they got engaged and had their fairytale wedding. You truly never know who ur gonna meet or the impact you can have from a simple conversation while waiting for fireworks.

I was starting my journey of entrepreneurship that year. I think that’s part of the reason the show took hold of me so strongly. The fact that it’s coming back right when I have made a second evolution in going after my own dream is poetic beyond measure and this time I get to go watch it with all the friends and business partners I’ve attracted on the journey. I can’t wait to all go together and watch
 
Disone

Disone

Well-Known Member
JediMasterMatt said:
One of these days, I'll get my HEA photos posted online; but, my penchant for Disney's nighttime spectaculars means that I get intimately acquainted with these and the various story beats of them. Of all of the MK's various spectaculars, Tink's flight in HEA has never been better built-up and integrated within a show as it is here.

A little discussed feature of this is if you watch carefully, she actually starts out on the outermost left castle turret's "stained glass window" on Pan's shoulder and then travels across to the inner turret with Alice before swooping back and forth up the castle before coming out the real window from the pinnacle in unison with You Can Fly. Simply marvelous storytelling and execution.

I LOVED and I mean LOVED Wishes. It was the perfect companion to Spectromagic and the two set the tone of regalness that was ideal for closing the night at the Magic Kingdom. I feared its loss and was so concerned when I learned that TDO was developing the sequel on its own as while the various castle projection shows had improved significantly since the Magic, Memories, and You - I didn't know if they were capable of producing a comprehensive show from start to finish. They certainly did as from my very first viewing of HEA, it's clear that they learned what has worked and what hasn't over the years.

  • MK's evenings are best suited for an aura of regalness. HEA taps into this immediately with the trumpet fanfare that transitions into the royal projection overlay (also the immortal voice of Tom Kane doesn't hurt).
  • Cinderella Castle projections work best when they are used to paint the castle in large patterns that modify the appearance of it. It doesn't do a great job with small details that tend to get lost due to the overall scale of the castle combined with the lack of resolution. This was obviously the first lesson learned as the projectors were introduced for the Magic, Memories, and You which used the gimmick of putting Photopass pictures up on the walls. HEA rarely uses anything small for its projections and even when putting character moments up, significantly enlarges them or in the case of the afore mentioned stained glass windows - uses them in creative ways. From the new videos, it appears that the Main Street projections are a perfect extension of the rest of the show.
  • The MK isn't blessed with Disneyland's Tink on a flying rig configuration and regardless of the spectacular musical cues selected or pyro burst combinations, Tink is always going to be a huge crowd pleasing moment. Saving it for the end simply is the most obvious way to build towards the climax and when you combine it with the showmanship I reference above with her flying up to the top via projection before the big reveal, it's simply magical. HEA uses her to its advantage.
  • Speaking of climaxes, this is another lesson that other nighttime spectaculars have passed along to HEA and its use of how to build them. Wishes did a good job of having several moments that build to a release and then begin building again. HEA does this in spades. Every transition is done with flourish throughout the show and as it nears the true finale, it has the climax of Adversity that could end any show, only to be followed up by the perfection of Triumph's spectacular double fantail during the end of Go the Distance that harkens back to and improves on the Blue Fairy's introduction from Wishes (see my avatar photo), leading into the previously mentioned You Can Fly Tink's flight before unleashing the spectacular color changing on the beat Cinderella Castle finale. It's an awe-inspiring experience that I can only think of maybe the original Magic, Music, and Mayhem's pirate assault on the Castle that could top any one of these climaxes.
  • As I mentioned previously, the storytelling of these shows is important as well. Wishes did a great job of this by using Jiminy Cricket to frame the narrative. While HEA doesn't have the legacy of this classic character, it does have the intro and outro songs along with Tom Kane relaying the narrative to us and they both do a masterful job of painting this picture in our minds and hearts. Yes, HEA is more of a clip show of IP; but, it goes about it in a very soft handed approach that is as well done as we can expect in these IP mandated times. The music and IP selected here were so good in fact that they were cannibalized for use in Harmonius. You can see here in HEA how much better integrated into the narrative they are here.

In short, HEA is a very worthy successor to Wishes and is certainly in a completely different league than Enchantment. I can best sum up my feelings on this by saying that I never missed a HEA performance anytime I was onsite at WDW and the same was almost true for anytime Wishes was performed (with only a few exceptions). Since the 50th started, I've been onsite for more than 30 days. I've seen Enchantment only 4 times and the last 2 times were only because I wanted to get a different camera setup.

Welcome back HEA. You are very welcomed in your return. Long may you stay and when you do depart - may your successor build on your accomplishments and not forget your lessons learned (like Enchantment seemed to do).
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JediMaster, that was a masterful write-up. They did so many things right with HEA. Sometimes the sum of the parts is just greater than the individual parts and HEA is a great example of that. There was so much debate about replacing wishes but after that first show.... HEA shut down a debate like I've never seen before. Almost, emphasis almost, across the board. It was universally loved overnight. Word spread like wildfire and what is arguably the greatest show in Magic Kingdom fireworks history was born.

Whether intentional or not, HEA was lightning in a bottle. I knew from the moment they announced Disney Enchantment that there was no way they were going to get lightning in a bottle two times in a row. Especially for a show that was as young as HEA.

I do think they would have done DE if they had come out of the gate with the nostalgia piece that they would add in many months later. The show was definitely much better with it than it was without it. But it's still not HEA.

Welcome back HEA.

TDO.... You did a great job modifying fantasmic. I actually prefer to Disneyland's version now. And you made it wise decision bringing back the fan favorite HEA. I'm cautiously optimistic about what you have in store for the new replacement show had Epcot.
 
gerarar

gerarar

Premium Member
Disney Glimpses said:
Thanks for doing this. I didn't realize how frequent those mega lights were used. It's really obvious now, wow.

With the amount of reprogramming, safe to say they are gone for good. I just don't really understand the new intro programming though. It's really bad.
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Well good thing they haven't removed them yet.

The mega spotlights are still there, just been covered up with a white tarp or something for the past 7+ months. Hopefully they're just awaiting repairs or something. I really want them to come back..

From @bioreconstruct last month:
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Up close:
Screenshot_20230317_115312_YouTube.jpg
 
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Disney Glimpses

Disney Glimpses

Well-Known Member
gerarar

gerarar

Premium Member
Disney Glimpses said:
@gerarar is like the ultimate spotlight sleuth! great work. I don't recall ever seeing them up close.
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It's from the original bts video right before HEA debuted. They even dedicated like 10 secs to highlight them; from installation of the mega lights, to programming, to them in action in the show.

That's how you know it was a super important element in the original show.

Happens around the 3 mins mark


Side note, I always go back to this video because not only does it always gives me chills, it's so nice to see all the pieces come together beautifully. They didn't do anything like this for DE or Harmonius afaik..
 
Disney Glimpses

Disney Glimpses

Well-Known Member
Supposedly these things cost upwards of $300,000+ per unit. What I don't understand is that if some are in need of repair, it would certainly be a fraction of that. Can't imagine a scenario they would need replacement that would not be covered by warranty or something. Unless maybe there are parts on back order for many months; which is certainly a possibility.

The ones on the Fantasyland roofs are the Falcon Beam 2 by AO Lighting.


1679080433297.png
 
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Squishy

Squishy

Well-Known Member
Disney Glimpses said:
Supposedly these things cost upwards of $300,000+ per unit. What I don't understand is that if some are in need of repair, it would certainly be a fraction of that. Can't imagine a scenario they would need replacement that would not be covered by warranty or something. Unless maybe there are parts on back order for many months; which is certainly a possibility.

The ones on the Fantasyland roofs are the Falcon Beam 2 by AO Lighting.


View attachment 704469
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These are also used for Epcot forever so it will be interesting to see if they return with it.
 
cjkeating

cjkeating

Well-Known Member
Squishy said:
These are also used for Epcot forever so it will be interesting to see if they return with it.
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If they weren't used for Harm then do we think they are still there? Wouldn't they be 'retired equipment' because they aren't required for the new permanent show? Forever was never meant to come back...
 
Disney Glimpses

Disney Glimpses

Well-Known Member
cjkeating said:
If they weren't used for Harm then do we think they are still there? Wouldn't they be 'retired equipment' because they aren't required for the new permanent show? Forever was never meant to come back...
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They are designed to last for a decade (or longer), so I don't believe they would be considered "retired." My guess is they will return for EF. They likely simply weren't compatible with Harm.
 
Z

zulemara

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
gerarar said:
It's from the original bts video right before HEA debuted. They even dedicated like 10 secs to highlight them; from installation of the mega lights, to programming, to them in action in the show.

That's how you know it was a super important element in the original show.

Happens around the 3 mins mark


Side note, I always go back to this video because not only does it always gives me chills, it's so nice to see all the pieces come together beautifully. They didn't do anything like this for DE or Harmonius afaik..
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting, bookmarking this. Having a bad day? Take 3 min and turn the day around - no crowds required! Haha
 

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