Orlpassholder's review of Wishes ***** 5 stars

[orlpassholder]

Greetings All

We just got back here at the Geek Labs and had to close up shop tonight with of course my review of Wishes.

Let me first say with Epcot closing early it was a MAD house...Shessh I haven’t seen that many people on Main Street USA in a long time. Imagine a couple hundred people trying to squeeze through a one way door.

But I was not going to have that ruin my time and ruin my chance to see Wishes.

I had originally planed to see Wishes and to meet with some CM friends and a fellow WDWMAGIC board member needless to say it didn’t happen I think everyone passed each other on opposite sides of the streets

Now onto my thoughts on Wishes.

First let me start out by saying I am a die hard ROE fan so I compare allot of things against that. Wishes holds true and delivers a GREAT show. The music I couldn’t hear to well from my vantage point but I will be there Saturday for another round. From what I could hear it did sound nice. I particularly liked the children singing "star light star bright"

I did like the fireworks totally. The shots from around the castle and the ones behind it where awesome. Tinkerbell starts it off (ala Fantasy In The Sky) with her flight over to tomorrowland then the fireworks roll out and roll out they do. Wishes does start off a little slow but then kicks in the high gear. There’s fireworks that do shapes there’s shots that stream forever it seems. My favorite are the ones I call "racers" they fire off and when the firework explode these little sparks of fireworks race around the sky it's so cool to see those.

The castle changes to different colors with the theme of the music and fireworks.

Disney has done a wonderful job with Wishes and I feel those who enjoyed Fantasy in the Sky will enjoy Wishes also.

There where still pins for sale for Wishes but I didn't see allot of them left. Now I want the music.

I will try and get some good photos Saturday of Wishes. I didn’t want to tonight due to the crowd and also I wanted to experience with both eyes instead of one through a view finder.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Thanks OrlPassholder for a wonderful report!!! Always nice to have our people on the scene!!! Belle

 

[surfsupdon]

Yipee!

Sounds good, thank you.

 

[wdwmagic]

THanks for the report!

Just a question about the audio. I have always found the audio levels to be way to low during Fantasy in the Sky, making the soundtrack hard to hear from main places. Now with Fantasy, it wasnt so critical, as the pyro wasnt really precisionally synced like Wishes is. I saw you mention that you had trouble hearing the soundtrack for Wishes. Was this due to some specific problem? or have they not improved things over Fantasy in terms of the audio playback?
Thanks!

 

[X2CommNavISTC]

With the audio it was a little low. Add in the fact that everyone was Oohing and Ahhing the entire time, it made it even a bit harder.

I think the best place might have been by the docks over at the TTC, little more room, and you might have been able to hear the audio (Im not sure if they still do this, I know they did it during FITS though).

I simply loved the fact that people left strollers in the middle of Main Street which cause the street to get conjested. Add in the people who were going like salmon against the crowd, that just totally bottlenecked the area right at the ice cream store.

And meeting someone there (Like passholder said) wasnt really possible (I did keep an eye out for you though, although, at 6:35 when the last show started for Cindy, I knew it was futile).

There were a few parts that were synced but they werent, they sorta fired like two seconds after the note when it orginally would have. But for the most part, it was done very, very, very....(Im not going into that again)...good.

Hopefully itll be less packed Saturday when I go to see it again.....provided it doesnt rain as bad as these "forcasters" are saying itll be.

 

[orlpassholder]

Originally posted by wdwmagic
THanks for the report!

Just a question about the audio. I have always found the audio levels to be way to low during Fantasy in the Sky, making the soundtrack hard to hear from main places. Now with Fantasy, it wasnt so critical, as the pyro wasnt really precisionally synced like Wishes is. I saw you mention that you had trouble hearing the soundtrack for Wishes. Was this due to some specific problem? or have they not improved things over Fantasy in terms of the audio playback?
Thanks!

I saw Wishes by Casey Corner hot dog stand which being under the little porch roof didnt help any with its nice echo effect. Plus with the crowd it was half enjoying the show half yelling to their parties to either keep walking or go here, or over there etc. I could make out allot of things but others I couldnt.

 

[Marijil]

sorry to be ignorant but whats ROE?

 

[orlpassholder]

Originally posted by Marijil
sorry to be ignorant but whats ROE?

Your not ignorant

ROE = Reflections Of Earth at Epcot

 

[NemoRocks78]

Nice report orlpassholder, I am going to be there Saturday night as well. Where do you think is the best viewing area?

And also, were any parts of the park closed off during the show?

 

[orlpassholder]

Originally posted by NemoRocks78
Nice report orlpassholder, I am going to be there Saturday night as well. Where do you think is the best viewing area?

And also, were any parts of the park closed off during the show?

Nemo to be honest with the crowds the way they where last night I was unable to go to "deep" into the park. I made it to the end of main street and thats it forget even trying to get close to the HUB.

Anywhere in front of the castle, HUB, and bridges leading off are gonna be the best to see.

 

[sillyspook13]

Wishes= I wish security was more prepared for the crowds!

Let me share my Wishes experience....... and I do mean EXPERIENCE!

Throughout the day Magic Kingdom was about as busy as a typical Summer day- not terrible but still pretty full. Strollers were a nightmare. All fantasyland attractions had strollers clogging up the roads. (Enough that even a Disney veteran such as myself had to comment...) Of course this was due to Epcot's early closing.

I was supposed to meet a friend from work (ooh la la.... :kiss: ) on the second level of the train station to watch wishes. Big mistake. I got there at 6:30 and it was already busy up there. So I went back downstairs and watched the parade.

For the parade I sat at the very beginning of the route, in front of the barber shop. I followed the parade up to the train station to see if my friend was there. Big mistake #2. A HUGE fight broke out in the stairway below where I stood. Apparently some guy trampled a child in a stroller, some woman beat him up...... I don't know. Naturally, being Americans, everybody wanted to watch. So I left again.

I made my way down to the mass chaos that was Main Street. To somewhat avoid the crowds I forced my way over to the shops on the right and made my way up the road. I emerged from the bakery and once again found myself immersed in the Main Street chaos. Nobody was moving. Then my friend calls. I forced my way over to Casey's Corner to meet him. Perhaps the only successful meeting of the night.:animwink:

The two of us went back out to the sea of people. When we couldn't move anymore we decided to wait in that one spot for the fireworks. Fortunately we didn't mind getting a little cozy.:kiss:

Big mistake #3. We were stuck next to the trickle of people trying to exit. People were yelling, using strollers to shove their way through the crowd, our feet were run over several times, people were getting sick from lack of oxygen......:hurl:

The thing that bothers me is that nothing was done to ease the congestion. Typically in this situation a backstage walkway would have been opened. I'm sure the fire marshall was not impressed.

Finally it was time for Wishes. The show made everything worth it! I've never seen anything so beautiful...... I cried from the moment I saw that first comet streak over the castle. WOW!!!!

I give it 5 stars ***** and a big :sohappy: !

 

[BigDreamer]

I must admit my experince was wonderful last night (depite the sea of people). I sucesfully met my parties as we watched the show from the hub area...granted it did take 15 minutes to cross the bridge from Liberty square to Mainstreet.
The show was amazing, as everyone here has said. I might actually have a hard time choosing which firework show to attend now. I was supposed to go to the "preview party" the night before and wioth the HUGE crowds Thursday I think that might have been a great idea. On the other hand, the crowd (in my particular case) added to the experince. Everyone around me was so energized. They were very responsive during the show giving me the impressions that the "kiss goodnight" idea worked. I think everyone left with a smile on their face. My face hurt from smiling. The music was great, I could hear it woderfully from my location. Some of the words were hard to hear but i think that was a combination of the crowd and the overload of things going on in the sky. The effects were amazing. Everyone especsiailly loved the heart fireworks.
Anyway, after the show I made my way toward the castle to go ride PhilharMagic again and was pleased to see (and hear) the postshow pop verson of "Wishes."
And what do ya know, in true Disney style, the castle lights are choreographed with the music. Very cool effect with the smoke and lights on the castle and of course, the music is so amazing.
I left wondering if the CD had been released yet, which it is not but i had a "magical surpirse" waiting for me at home. My freind did indeed make it to the preview party the night before and picked me up the "press badge" they handed out which included a CD of the "Wishes" soundtrack. Now i can relive the magic everytime i get in my car
Anyway, hope everyone here gets a chance to experince this show soon. It's a real treat and leaves you with that good 'ole Disney feeling.:sohappy:

 

[sillyspook13]

Originally posted by BigDreamer
CD of the "Wishes" soundtrack

Do you have a cd burner? If not, may I borrow the cd?:animwink:

 

[Figment1986]

1 day tilll i see this...

I cannot wait...

 

[paperboy]

Wishes

I, too enjoyed Wishes. I stayed at the Contemporary, so I was able to see the test runs, with music, during the week before opening day.

DW and I went to Epcot opening morning and we were able to walk on to every ride, including Mission:Space. We headed to MK at 4. Because of the 8PM showing of Spectro, we decided to camp out at 6:30 to watch Wishes. Spectro would be a nice distraction for us while we waited. We sat in the hub directly facing the castle, on the bench where the "Partners" statue stands.

Finally the moment arrived, and Wishes is even better from inside the park! I must say, I had very high expectations for it, but in IMHO ROE is still the better show. I liked the music, but Jiminy Cricket's narration was distracting. I prefer to let the fireworks and the music do the talking, which is why I love ROE so much.

After the show, we let the crowd disperse while we walked around the less crowded parts of MK. We were there for a while, and at 11PM, the "Kiss Goodnight" came on, which topped off our evening perfectly.

In all, it's a better show than FITS, but ROE is still the best attraction in all of WDW.

 

[Figment1986]

Wishes and Iluminations tie first.

Wishes is best character theme show. and iluminations best non. in FLA.

6 ****** stars in my opinion for Wishes.

 

[X2CommNavISTC]

Re: Wishes

Originally posted by paperboy
[BAfter the show, we let the crowd disperse while we walked around the less crowded parts of MK. We were there for a while, and at 11PM, the "Kiss Goodnight" came on, which topped off our evening perfectly.
[/B]

Did you say bye to Mickey when he was standing in front of the train station (The gate side with Mickey's head in the flowers)?

 

[Figment1986]

Re: Re: Wishes

Originally posted by X2CommNavISTC
Did you say bye to Mickey when he was standing in front of the train station (The gate side with Mickey's head in the flowers)?

I did.. From A Far...

 

[dox]

If anyone gets the opportunity to see Wishes from California Grill...please report. I always watch the fireworks from there, but since wishes is a different show, curious if it is not as enjoyable.

 

[Invero]

Originally posted by wdwmagic
THanks for the report!

Just a question about the audio. I have always found the audio levels to be way to low during Fantasy in the Sky, making the soundtrack hard to hear from main places. Now with Fantasy, it wasnt so critical, as the pyro wasnt really precisionally synced like Wishes is. I saw you mention that you had trouble hearing the soundtrack for Wishes. Was this due to some specific problem? or have they not improved things over Fantasy in terms of the audio playback?
Thanks!

Try going to the TTC. When I worked there, we'd go deaf with the FITS music. So freakin' loud! *sigh* oh well.