Old Illuminations

[JLW11Hi]

Does anyone remember the old Illuminations? The one before Reflections of Earth? I saw it the last year it was out in 1999, but I can hardly remember it. I was behind a large group of people, so I couldnt see much. (This was just before I started learning more about WDW, so I didnt know about all the "good" spots)

I do remember a lot of green lazers, and after the show, while you left Epcot, Spaceship Earth had these laser projections on it of all the contenents rotating around the planet. I thought that was an awesome effect. Why did they get rid of that?

 

[disneydudette]

I don't remeber it either

I think theres a video on the site of it...:veryconfu

 

[wdwcrazy]

http://www.wdwmagicmedia.com/illumina.htm

 

[dmspilot00]

The old original Illuminations actually ended in September 1996 when it was replaced by one especially designed for the 25 year anniversary. I like the original better. Ironically the original ended like the 2nd day we were there on our trip, and we didn't happen to see it until the 4th day...

On the original, the laser was projected onto a small sphere in the middle of the lagoon that was especially designed for the purpose. Either they started doing it on S.E. in 99, or you were just confused. They also projected the name of each country and played theme music for it while lighting it up. This is why it was (is) called "Illumi Nations."

 

[MrPromey]

Originally posted by dmspilot00
The old original Illuminations actually ended in September 1996 when it was replaced by one especially designed for the 25 year anniversary. I like the original better. Ironically the original ended like the 2nd day we were there on our trip, and we didn't happen to see it until the 4th day...

On the original, the laser was projected onto a small sphere in the middle of the lagoon that was especially designed for the purpose. Either they started doing it on S.E. in 99, or you were just confused. They also projected the name of each country and played theme music for it while lighting it up. This is why it was (is) called "Illumi Nations."

No, the sphere in the center was there all the way up to Reflections of Earth. What the other person is talking about is something they used to do at the end. After Illuminations was done while everyone was leaving, they would project an outline of the landmass of earth on the back side of spaceship earth (facing world showcase) from I think, America. The image appeared to rotate making it look sort of like a spinning globe from the back side. The front side was just lit up like it is now. I thought it was sort of a cool effect and wish they hadn’t gotten rid of it, too.

 

[dmspilot00]

Originally posted by MrPromey


No, the sphere in the center was there all the way up to Reflections of Earth. What the other person is talking about is something they used to do at the end. After Illuminations was done while everyone was leaving, they would project an outline of the landmass of earth on the back side of spaceship earth (facing world showcase) from I think, America. The image appeared to rotate making it look sort of like a spinning globe from the back side. The front side was just lit up like it is now. I thought it was sort of a cool effect and wish they hadn’t gotten rid of it, too.

Thanks for clarifying that. I would have thought it would be hard to do with all the triangle things on S.E., but I guess not.

I don't mean to offend fans of this site but intercot has much more complete information on the Illuminations evolution.

http://www.intercot.com/edc/IllumiNations/index.html

 

[ToTBellHop]

Well, the finale of this show generates a ton of smoke (more than past IllumiNations shows), so I could see why they wouldn't have that effect going right after the fireworks, but I'm not sure why they got rid of it completely. They do, however, have two lasers on while you leave...I believe a blue and a green one, and it seems to be coming from Future World pavillions. Anyway, they do have the special post-IllumiNations soundtrack playing as you exit, so perhaps they thought that would be dramatic enough (and it is kewl hearing "Promise" as you leave).

 

[MrPromey]

Originally posted by dmspilot00


Thanks for clarifying that. I would have though it would be hard to do with all the triangle things on S.E., but I guess since WS is so far away it looked okay.

I don't mean to offend fans of this site but intercot has much more complete information on the Illuminations evolution.

http://www.intercot.com/edc/IllumiNations/index.html

I don’t think you’ll be offending many people. WDW Magic isn’t in competition with any of the other sites out there. Not all of the other site owners realize sometimes which can be a problem but the owner of this site (Steve) generally doesn’t care about links unless they get excessive (like you’re spamming the boards to advertise)

 

[jimmybop]

Anyway, they do have the special post-IllumiNations soundtrack playing as you exit, so perhaps they thought that would be dramatic enough (and it is kewl hearing "Promise" as you leave).

that, and then they play the old Tapistry of Nations parade soundtrack, its a really nice to walk out of the park to...

 

[MrNonacho]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
They do, however, have two lasers on while you leave...I believe a blue and a green one, and it seems to be coming from Future World pavillions.

Actually, I believe those are two of the Syncrolites that are also used in the show.

 

[dixiegirl]

the original was also a lot longer thyan the one now..........

 

[wdwmagic]

Originally posted by MrNonacho


Actually, I believe those are two of the Syncrolites that are also used in the show.

You are right they are the show syncros!

 

[wdwmagic]

Originally posted by MrPromey


The image appeared to rotate making it look sort of like a spinning globe from the back side. The front side was just lit up like it is now. I thought it was sort of a cool effect and wish they hadn’t gotten rid of it, too.

This was a cool effect. The water cooled lasers that projected that image (from The AA), took ages to cool down after the show, so I am wondering if the effect was removed to reduce the time that CMs had to be with the laser after the show.

 

[JLW11Hi]

I always find it hard to see the lasers at these shows, and I think it is mostly because of the large amount of smoke produced by the fireworks that blocks teh lasers. RoE and Fantasmic lasers are hard to see, and I never seem to get them on film when I record them

 

[dmspilot00]

I don’t think you’ll be offending many people.

Yeah I just wanted to cover the 1% just in case

Originally posted by dixiegirl
the original was also a lot longer thyan the one now..........

I did notice that they are getting shorter and shorter with each incarnation!

Did you like the old one better too? I haven't seen the current one. While I'm sure it must be more spectacular, I think I would still like the old one better, because Illuminations just isn't the same without each country being highlighted with it's own song and everything. It is misleading keeping the name when the focus of the show is no longer illuminating the nations ...

 

[raven]

Originally posted by JLW11Hi
I always find it hard to see the lasers at these shows, and I think it is mostly because of the large amount of smoke produced by the fireworks that blocks teh lasers. RoE and Fantasmic lasers are hard to see, and I never seem to get them on film when I record them

There has to be smoke in order to see the lasers. Other wise you can't see anything. It's the lasers projected on the smoke is what you will see. And for the best viewing, you should be at the pavillion opposite if the pavillions with the lasers. So, I know Canada has one and you can see it from Italy and Germany.

As for the music as you are leaving, why leave so quickly? Walk opposite of the crowds and take your time soaking in the music and sights. They will not push you out for another hour or so. And you will miss all the long lines for the busses and trams to your resort and cars. They still run thoughs shuttles up to 2 hours after the parks are closed!

 

[dmspilot00]

LASERS

That must be true for some of the lasers, but you can see the lasers like the one at Mexico (if it is still there) perfectly without any smoke. Probably they are different types.

I would guess that they have to use different types because the vivid kind like at Mexico are only allowed to be aimed into the sky away from people, and the other ones that go through the smoke are aimed horizontally.

If I had a video capture device, I could show you, but I don't

 

[MicBat]

Anyone else remember the "sparkling 25" on SE during the 25th Anniversary?

 

[RobFL]

The Nations are Illuminated during the "exploration" portion of the show. As people spread out over the world and create countries they Illuminate.

-Rob

 

[JLW11Hi]

Originally posted by dmspilot00

I did notice that they are getting shorter and shorter with each incarnation!

Did you like the old one better too? I haven't seen the current one. While I'm sure it must be more spectacular, I think I would still like the old one better, because Illuminations just isn't the same without each country being highlighted with it's own song and everything. It is misleading keeping the name when the focus of the show is no longer illuminating the nations ...

Never judge till you see it!

I haven't seen the old ones (I dont remember them, anyway). But RoE is probably the best, I dont know. I saw a video of the first one, and as spectacular as it looked, it looked like it had very little meaning compared to the one they have now. Seriously, from what I read, the show is VERY deep and full of meaning, instead of a fireworks show like, say, Fantasy in the Sky, or the previous versions of IllumiNations that simply played a lot of music and shot off fireworks. In RoE, everything stands for something. There is a place on this site that gives the directors full story of the show.

I think the show still "illuminates the nations", but I do think it does a better job of "bringing the nations together". That is a very importaint point of World Showcase, which can really only be showcased during the light show that encompases all the nations. it does this by bringing the nations together for a show that, instead of playing music from each individual country, tells a story of earth, past present, and future.