Show time showdown
SeaWorld takes on the competition with its own nighttime fireworks-and-water show called Mistify.
By Greg Groeller | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted June 25, 2004
The last guest at SeaWorld Orlando had departed more than an hour earlier, but the work was just starting for the 50 technicians and managers responsible for ensuring that the theme park's newest and most-ambitious nighttime show goes off without a hitch this weekend.
It was near midnight Wednesday, less than 48 hours before tonight's scheduled "soft opening" of Mistify, a day-ending finale of fountains and fireworks over the central lagoon at SeaWorld's Waterfront area of shops and restaurants.
The show, more than a year in the making, combines pyrotechnics, 100-foot-high geysers and a digital movie projected onto a pair of 60-foot-high walls of water and mist.
From their vantage point on the darkened, outdoor deck of SeaWorld's new restaurant, the Spice Mill, a dozen workers stared out at the calm, black lake. They were about to test the second of two identical displays that will operate simultaneously along the Waterfront.
The first display, viewable from the Waterfront's older section, had been fully functioning since Monday. SeaWorld had run that display at 10 each night to gauge guests' reactions and do some last-minute fine-tuning.
But time was running out for the second display, which is visible to patrons of the Waterfront's newer section near the Spice Mill and a new pearl-diving attraction.
One worker trained a video camera at the lake's center. Another stared intently at a laptop computer. Still another murmured quietly into a cell phone.
Then the lake erupted.
A giant, fan-shaped screen of mist rose toward the sky, lit softly in blue by a battery of underwater lights. Music from an 86-piece orchestra boomed over speakers strategically placed around the lake. And the darkened water was awash in light.
From the Spice Mill's deck, Dave Goodman and Ted King watched the rehearsal with a mixture of giddiness and concern. Goodman, SeaWorld's vice president of entertainment, and King, Mistify's creative director, have dedicated most of the past year to making the show a reality.
They have shepherded Mistify from an idea pitched in a meeting to a full-fledged, multimillion-dollar spectacular, one that SeaWorld hopes will entice theme-park patrons to stay longer, come back more often and, of course, spend more money.
As fireworks exploded in the sky and colored flames blasted upward from the water late Wednesday, Goodman and King leaned close to each other, shouting over the blaring soundtrack as their eyes darted from the mist-made projection screen to the fireworks in the sky and back again. At times, they laughed and clapped each other on the back, looking happy and relieved. But the seriousness always returned, and when the show ended they were all business.
"I would say we're about 70 percent there," Goodman said. "We've got a lot of work tonight to do."
King nodded. "We do," he added. "But we'll be done in time. There always has to be some intrigue."
By "intrigue," King meant several underwater lights that never lit, a wayward fountain that shot water in the wrong direction, and some fireworks -- referred to as "pyro" by the crew -- that exploded at the wrong time, resulting in smoke that partially obscured the mist screen.
Mistify -- which opens officially in early July and is scheduled to run through Labor Day, is SeaWorld's attempt to compete with Walt Disney World's popular nighttime shows -- Epcot's IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth laser-and-fireworks show; Magic Kingdom's Wishes Nighttime Spectacular musical fireworks display; and MGM's Fantasmic! fireworks and water show.
Universal Studios once had a nightly park-closing show -- the Dynamite Nights Stunt Spectacular on its central lagoon -- but it halted the long-running program in February 2000. Both Universal Studios and its sister park, Islands of Adventure, still end the day with fireworks during certain times of the year.
Although Mistify is scheduled to last only a couple of months, SeaWorld already plans to bring it back next summer and use it during some holiday periods.
Nighttime finales are often expensive to produce -- SeaWorld officials won't discuss Mistify's total cost -- but they can pay off in higher ticket sales and bigger restaurant and merchandise receipts when they are done well, said Abe Pizam, a professor of tourism at the University of Central Florida.
"SeaWorld is testing the waters to see if it goes well and possibly make it permanent," Pizam said. "It's a significant risk, and if it doesn't work out in six months, we'll see it go away."
The 12-minute show tells the story of a little boy who, after returning home from a day at SeaWorld, dreams of swimming with the park's underwater creatures -- especially the park's star attraction, Shamu the killer whale.
Electricians, pyrotechnic experts and other technicians -- many of them certified divers -- have been working under and on top of the lake every night for more than three months preparing for the show's soft opening.
After Wednesday night's rehearsal, a groggy but cheerful Martin Steinke used his laptop to make minute adjustments to the fireworks' timing. As manager of pyrotechnics for Anheuser-Busch Cos., SeaWorld's parent company, Steinke has spent decades designing such displays. But Mistify, he said, is much different than an ordinary fireworks show.
"We're marrying lights with music and images," said Steinke, who was operating on about two hours of sleep. King, Mistify's creative director, said divers with cameras spent hours in the tank with Shamu trying to coax the killer whale into making moves that corresponded with Mistify's script.
"Ask a whale to nod his head in the wild, and he'll eat you," King said.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, SeaWorld had played the functioning half of the Mistify show for remaining guests in the park. Goodman, the entertainment vice president, was on hand for that, too, watching from the crowded outdoor patio of the SandBar restaurant, which overlooks the lake.
Orlando residents Gene Sabo, Kirstin Castle and Kirstin's 6-year-old son, Jordan, had caught the show on Tuesday night and came back Wednesday to watch it again. This time they brought Gene's father, Eugene.
"I thought it was neat with Shamu and the water cannons," Jordan said.
Despite the crowd's mostly positive reaction, Goodman was not satisfied. He thought the soundtrack was slightly out of sync with the rest of the show. And he noticed that the wind had shifted five minutes before show time. Although the smoke had not obscured the crowd's view, the wind would likely be a concern for the rest of the summer.
"We're so close right now," King said. "We are in the fine-tuning mode. We're going to make it."
SeaWorld takes on the competition with its own nighttime fireworks-and-water show called Mistify.
By Greg Groeller | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted June 25, 2004
The last guest at SeaWorld Orlando had departed more than an hour earlier, but the work was just starting for the 50 technicians and managers responsible for ensuring that the theme park's newest and most-ambitious nighttime show goes off without a hitch this weekend.
It was near midnight Wednesday, less than 48 hours before tonight's scheduled "soft opening" of Mistify, a day-ending finale of fountains and fireworks over the central lagoon at SeaWorld's Waterfront area of shops and restaurants.
The show, more than a year in the making, combines pyrotechnics, 100-foot-high geysers and a digital movie projected onto a pair of 60-foot-high walls of water and mist.
From their vantage point on the darkened, outdoor deck of SeaWorld's new restaurant, the Spice Mill, a dozen workers stared out at the calm, black lake. They were about to test the second of two identical displays that will operate simultaneously along the Waterfront.
The first display, viewable from the Waterfront's older section, had been fully functioning since Monday. SeaWorld had run that display at 10 each night to gauge guests' reactions and do some last-minute fine-tuning.
But time was running out for the second display, which is visible to patrons of the Waterfront's newer section near the Spice Mill and a new pearl-diving attraction.
One worker trained a video camera at the lake's center. Another stared intently at a laptop computer. Still another murmured quietly into a cell phone.
Then the lake erupted.
A giant, fan-shaped screen of mist rose toward the sky, lit softly in blue by a battery of underwater lights. Music from an 86-piece orchestra boomed over speakers strategically placed around the lake. And the darkened water was awash in light.
From the Spice Mill's deck, Dave Goodman and Ted King watched the rehearsal with a mixture of giddiness and concern. Goodman, SeaWorld's vice president of entertainment, and King, Mistify's creative director, have dedicated most of the past year to making the show a reality.
They have shepherded Mistify from an idea pitched in a meeting to a full-fledged, multimillion-dollar spectacular, one that SeaWorld hopes will entice theme-park patrons to stay longer, come back more often and, of course, spend more money.
As fireworks exploded in the sky and colored flames blasted upward from the water late Wednesday, Goodman and King leaned close to each other, shouting over the blaring soundtrack as their eyes darted from the mist-made projection screen to the fireworks in the sky and back again. At times, they laughed and clapped each other on the back, looking happy and relieved. But the seriousness always returned, and when the show ended they were all business.
"I would say we're about 70 percent there," Goodman said. "We've got a lot of work tonight to do."
King nodded. "We do," he added. "But we'll be done in time. There always has to be some intrigue."
By "intrigue," King meant several underwater lights that never lit, a wayward fountain that shot water in the wrong direction, and some fireworks -- referred to as "pyro" by the crew -- that exploded at the wrong time, resulting in smoke that partially obscured the mist screen.
Mistify -- which opens officially in early July and is scheduled to run through Labor Day, is SeaWorld's attempt to compete with Walt Disney World's popular nighttime shows -- Epcot's IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth laser-and-fireworks show; Magic Kingdom's Wishes Nighttime Spectacular musical fireworks display; and MGM's Fantasmic! fireworks and water show.
Universal Studios once had a nightly park-closing show -- the Dynamite Nights Stunt Spectacular on its central lagoon -- but it halted the long-running program in February 2000. Both Universal Studios and its sister park, Islands of Adventure, still end the day with fireworks during certain times of the year.
Although Mistify is scheduled to last only a couple of months, SeaWorld already plans to bring it back next summer and use it during some holiday periods.
Nighttime finales are often expensive to produce -- SeaWorld officials won't discuss Mistify's total cost -- but they can pay off in higher ticket sales and bigger restaurant and merchandise receipts when they are done well, said Abe Pizam, a professor of tourism at the University of Central Florida.
"SeaWorld is testing the waters to see if it goes well and possibly make it permanent," Pizam said. "It's a significant risk, and if it doesn't work out in six months, we'll see it go away."
The 12-minute show tells the story of a little boy who, after returning home from a day at SeaWorld, dreams of swimming with the park's underwater creatures -- especially the park's star attraction, Shamu the killer whale.
Electricians, pyrotechnic experts and other technicians -- many of them certified divers -- have been working under and on top of the lake every night for more than three months preparing for the show's soft opening.
After Wednesday night's rehearsal, a groggy but cheerful Martin Steinke used his laptop to make minute adjustments to the fireworks' timing. As manager of pyrotechnics for Anheuser-Busch Cos., SeaWorld's parent company, Steinke has spent decades designing such displays. But Mistify, he said, is much different than an ordinary fireworks show.
"We're marrying lights with music and images," said Steinke, who was operating on about two hours of sleep. King, Mistify's creative director, said divers with cameras spent hours in the tank with Shamu trying to coax the killer whale into making moves that corresponded with Mistify's script.
"Ask a whale to nod his head in the wild, and he'll eat you," King said.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, SeaWorld had played the functioning half of the Mistify show for remaining guests in the park. Goodman, the entertainment vice president, was on hand for that, too, watching from the crowded outdoor patio of the SandBar restaurant, which overlooks the lake.
Orlando residents Gene Sabo, Kirstin Castle and Kirstin's 6-year-old son, Jordan, had caught the show on Tuesday night and came back Wednesday to watch it again. This time they brought Gene's father, Eugene.
"I thought it was neat with Shamu and the water cannons," Jordan said.
Despite the crowd's mostly positive reaction, Goodman was not satisfied. He thought the soundtrack was slightly out of sync with the rest of the show. And he noticed that the wind had shifted five minutes before show time. Although the smoke had not obscured the crowd's view, the wind would likely be a concern for the rest of the summer.
"We're so close right now," King said. "We are in the fine-tuning mode. We're going to make it."
Thanks! 
