How much does it cost to put on Wishes?

steener618

steener618

New Member
Original Poster
I know recently that Hallowishes was cut short due to budget and economy (no doubt the same will happen to Holiday Wishes sadly).

Ive also had a cast member tell me that it cost $6 million to put on Magic, Music, and Mayhem (of course I knew he wasnt telling the truth).

But out of curiosity, how much does it cost to put on Wishes or any fireworks display at WDW?
 
chaggy102

chaggy102

Member
I wouldnt' say 6 million but I know it's a lot. There have been a few threads on the cost of fireworks and one known fact is that a private fireworks display for something like a Disney Wedding is something like 6 grand.
 
joel_maxwell

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
Disney makes there owe fireworks from what i have been told so the cost is significantly lower then city around the country hiring companies to come do them.

Still not cheap, but i dont think it is a deal breaker.
 
dolbyman

dolbyman

Well-Known Member
this summer we had a large japanese firework display. duration was around 40min and it was packed with very nice and large displays. the cost was estimated at around 90.000€ ... I guess a 20min show for disney can't cost that much more .. so 6million is .. err nahh .. or maybe those golden rain are real :lookaroun
 
W

WDW Monorail

Well-Known Member
IllumiNations: RoE is up around $30,000, although the exact value is not released. Wishes is less than that.

Disney does not 'make' their own product. Yes, they design the shells and certain aspects of the launch system but they don't actually produce the shells themselves. Of course, they have their own teams that perform the shows. 5 to load Wishes and around 50 or so total techs for IllumiNations.
 
hpyhnt 1000

hpyhnt 1000

Well-Known Member
WDW Monorail said:
IllumiNations: RoE is up around $30,000, although the exact value is not released. Wishes is less than that.

Disney does not 'make' their own product. Yes, they design the shells and certain aspects of the launch system but they don't actually produce the shells themselves. Of course, they have their own teams that perform the shows. 5 to load Wishes and around 50 or so total techs for IllumiNations.
Click to expand...

Holy carp! :eek: Fifty?! That's a lot of techs for a 13 minute fireworks show! Any idea what Fantasmic runs?
 
B

backstagematt

Member
WDW Monorail said:
IllumiNations: RoE is up around $30,000, although the exact value is not released. Wishes is less than that.

Disney does not 'make' their own product. Yes, they design the shells and certain aspects of the launch system but they don't actually produce the shells themselves. Of course, they have their own teams that perform the shows. 5 to load Wishes and around 50 or so total techs for IllumiNations.
Click to expand...

Uhh... I just checked the schedule... it takes far less than 50 techs for RoE... this week its 13 tracks. Wishes is even less.

The APA show that was a couple of weeks ago had a crew of approx 18. Granted that show was 6 times the size of wishes but and took a couple of days to load, but was completely doable with far less than 50 people.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
WDW Monorail said:
50 or so total techs for IllumiNations.
Click to expand...

Nope.

In the morning two Cast Members load all the fireworks and in the afternoon a crew of 10 takes 14 barges out into the lagoon. During IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth three lasers and 15 laser bounce mirrors give the illusion there are multiple, multicolored lasers over the lagoon. Each night the crew scales stairs, ladders and rooftops to check the lasers.

Wishes takes only 4 people for set-up and 5 people to run the show. Fantasmic has a cast/crew of over 80 people.
 
hpyhnt 1000

hpyhnt 1000

Well-Known Member
raven said:
Nope.

In the morning two Cast Members load all the fireworks and in the afternoon a crew of 10 takes 14 barges out into the lagoon. During IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth three lasers and 15 laser bounce mirrors give the illusion there are multiple, multicolored lasers over the lagoon. Each night the crew scales stairs, ladders and rooftops to check the lasers.

Wishes takes only 4 people for set-up and 5 people to run the show. Fantasmic has a cast/crew of over 80 people.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarifications.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
Speaking of Wishes...

Where is the central tech booth for the show? Does it have one? Is it run from one of the tech positions for the castle shows?

I know where Illuminations' booth is, and Fantasmic's is unmissable, but I've never heard about MK fireworks. (Actually, I don't know where the Studios' pyro control booth was either, when they were running SITS)

-Rob
 
W

WDW Monorail

Well-Known Member
backstagematt said:
Uhh... I just checked the schedule... it takes far less than 50 techs for RoE... this week its 13 tracks. Wishes is even less.

The APA show that was a couple of weeks ago had a crew of approx 18. Granted that show was 6 times the size of wishes but and took a couple of days to load, but was completely doable with far less than 50 people.
Click to expand...

That's not what I was told... And I'm not talking pyro techs.


Rob562 said:
Speaking of Wishes...

Where is the central tech booth for the show? Does it have one? Is it run from one of the tech positions for the castle shows?

I know where Illuminations' booth is, and Fantasmic's is unmissable, but I've never heard about MK fireworks. (Actually, I don't know where the Studios' pyro control booth was either, when they were running SITS)

-Rob
Click to expand...

Show control is in DACS. There is a booth above on of the buildings in the hub (for the castle shows). I'm not positive if that spot is used for Wishes observation or a spot above the Plaza.
 
D

DeLorean Rider

New Member
The globe in illuminations is actually driven out there into the show. There is a small highly protective cockpit for the driver to sit in during the show. I understand it's very boring considering they have to get ready ~15min before the show and stay about 30min after untill the globe is driven back into to home. This is why some days the globe goes out really fast, some days it goes pretty slow.
 
boo52

boo52

Active Member
Wishes is fired from two locations. The large shells at the main launch site from behind the park are fired from a blockhouse 30 feet from the launch bunkers. The in park stuff is fired from on top of the northeast gazebo in front of the castle. The gazebo is also set up to fire the main site shells if the need arises.
The only part DACS plays in the show is they run the audio, control the blackout on Main Street, and send the timecode to the firing and lighting computers.
 

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