News Wishes to be replaced with new 'Happily Ever After' nighttime spectacular

[Kman101]

If you don’t want to watch the projections you don’t have to. No ones forcing anyone to look at them. Stare at the fireworks or watch someplace other than the hub. As stated this show has MORE fireworks. I don’t get the opinion that it isn’t a fireworks show. It sure is. It just happens to have projections now. This is why we can’t have nice new things.

 

[donsullivan]

I was able to see HEA for the first time on the 13th. I found it to be an ok show at best. I like castle projections, but I love a great fireworks show. I found that the castle projections alone were good, but also very distracting. I would have preferred to have had minimal, if any castle projections and another great fireworks program, like Wishes, but instead, we got half way ok fireworks with a good enough finish and a lot of castle projections to distract you from noticing that Disney went cheap on the fireworks for this show. I have not read the other reviews, this is just my opinion. I was so glad that I had Holiday Wishes on the 14th to help revive my faith in Disney fireworks programs. Honestly, HEA was a one time only. I will not take time out of my evenings to watch that again. Wishes.....it never felt right to not watch it every trip. I miss Wishes.

It does feel like you may have gone into this not wanting change from Wishes and saw what you wanted to see (you would not be the first). There are far more fireworks in HEA than any generation of Wishes (yes, it changed over the years as well). The combination of the projections, the spotlights and the fireworks makes for a much better show than Wishes. You can see that clearly in the massive crowds mashing onto MS and in the hub every night causing the crowd control problems described. There is no doubt that Disney has a hit on their hands with this show and the guest demand proves it. After all, we're not even getting Holiday Wishes during Christmas week like we normally do this year due to demand for HEA.

 

[DisneyMann]

Is Once Upon A Time still running prior to HEA?

 

[marni1971]

If you don’t want to watch the projections you don’t have to..

They can be a distraction. That’s what the OP seems to mean.

By definition a distraction can’t be ignored since it’s... distracting.

 

[donsullivan]

No Holiday Wishes this year during Christmas week is a great service to the Guests. Who wants to see a watered down Christmas fireworks show when they can experience one of the greatest fireworks shows Disney has ever created*?

* opinions may differ

I completely understand why they scheduled it that way, and don't blame them at all. They've got a fantastic show on their hands with HEA (much better than Wishes and Holiday Wishes) and they are reacting appropriately to guest demand.

I just personally like having Holiday Wishes during Christmas week but I'll get over it and will likely brave the crazy once or twice next week to see HEA. My main concern was the rumors of Holiday Wishes getting a refresh for next year so I was originally hoping to have at least one more chance to see/photograph it this season just in case.

 

[marni1971]

My only gripe about them is that, sometimes, there is so much happening at once on the castle I don't know where to look. Not necessarily a bad thing since I have the luxury of seeing it anytime I want

Indeed. I think sensory overload is a good description.

Before I’m hounded down by the HEA die hards I did enjoy the show.

 

[Kman101]

They can be a distraction. That’s what the OP seems to mean.

By definition a distraction can’t be ignored since it’s... distracting.

I guess if you want to look at it that way.

 

[Brian]

Indeed. I think sensory overload is a good description.

Good point, though.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I made sure the first time I saw HEA I was close enough to make out all the projections very well. It was difficult to see the fireworks at the same time.

The next time, I got farther back and concentrated on the fireworks. Since I already new what the projections were, I could occasionally glance at them while taking in the fireworks.

Both viewing modes were excellent, IMO. HEA is very dense, which makes it good for repeat viewing.

And if you can't see the castle but only the fireworks and music... well, that's pretty much the set-up for Wishes. While the new fireworks aren't as dense, they are more plentiful and last longer. So, I don't see what's so bad bout seeing HEA without seeing the castle. The projections are just gravy... really good gravy.

With Wishes, there were times I couldn't see it from the Hub because it was packed. So, I saw it from behind the castle. Which is OK, but you wind up with either the local fireworks or the high altitude fireworks at your back... you couldn't see both at the same time. So, the point is, even with old Wishes, there were times you didn't get a good view of it if you weren't in the Hub.

 

[marni1971]

So, the point is, even with old Wishes, there were times you didn't get a good view of it if you weren't in the Hub.

HEA asks that you see the castle for the complete show though. Just an observation.

It’s the Remember Dreams Come True syndrome again.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I was able to see HEA for the first time on the 13th. I found it to be an ok show at best. I like castle projections, but I love a great fireworks show. I found that the castle projections alone were good, but also very distracting. I would have preferred to have had minimal, if any castle projections and another great fireworks program, like Wishes, but instead, we got half way ok fireworks with a good enough finish and a lot of castle projections to distract you from noticing that Disney went cheap on the fireworks for this show. I have not read the other reviews, this is just my opinion. I was so glad that I had Holiday Wishes on the 14th to help revive my faith in Disney fireworks programs. Honestly, HEA was a one time only. I will not take time out of my evenings to watch that again. Wishes.....it never felt right to not watch it every trip. I miss Wishes.

I couldn't agree more. (Well except that HEA does not look cheap)

Fireworks are superior in every way. More magical, they appeal to a deep, more instinctive emotion, they complement the castle rather than take it over, they can be admired from any vantage point.

HEA is a poor man's Dreams from DLP. Which is already teh old. And they needed to pave over the entire park in front of the castle because the one place to see it well is the hub. HEA reduced the majesty of a fireworks show to the ubiquitousness of videoclip projections. The fireworks and projections don't really feed off of one another either. Being video based, you grow tired of HEA after a few times, I already do not need to see it again.

Wishes vs HEA, fireworks vs projections, is the same as AA/actual sets vs screen based rides. The latter are not bad, per se. But the real immersion, the true magic is not there.

 

[MinnieWaffles]

I found the fireworks to be just as impressive when viewed from behind the castle in Fantasyland and from our balcony at BLT as watching in front so we could see all the projections.

Tiana singing the evening star at the beginning always makes me emotional.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Magic, majesty, the most enduring image, the most sacred Disney rite, the fire in which the bond is forged:

Sensory overload, the pizza with too many toppings, the banality of the all-characters-all-the-time Disney:
http://www./wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-05-at-10.18.02-AM.jpg


There are trees in the top picture, as there should be. The trees frame the view of the fireworks, but are in the way of the video show. Trees, nature, the moat, these represent the reassuring innocence of natural values. Cinderella castle is a symbol of the good in this world, not of the forces of Mordor and the wood choppers of Isengard. All the current HEA lacks is a word from the sponsor, the Brazilian logging company.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I found the fireworks to be just as impressive when viewed from behind the castle in Fantasyland and from our balcony at BLT as watching in front so we could see all the projections.

I've watched HEA from the Poly beach behind the trashy trailer park on poles, and last time from the train station behind the Christmas tree. I found the show much nicer without the distraction of the videoclips.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

What are you even talking about? HEA is more of a firework show than Wishes if your basing this on shell count.

I would think it would be precisely the fans of HEA who would argue that HEA isn't a fireworks show?

 

[bclane]

I still feel that Wishes was a more elegant show and it brought tears to my I eyes every time I saw it. I miss it terribly. But HEA freaking rocks and if they would just bring back Wishes for special occasions I would send Mickey a little extra money just to help him pay the bills. Just because you know, I be rollin in that $100 bonus I got for Christmas this year.

 

[DisneyInsider101]

precisely the fans of HEA who would argue that HEA isn't a fireworks show?

So your calling a firework show not a firework show? Then what are those things that burst in the sky every second during happily ever after?

 

[ToTBellHop]

So your calling a firework show not a firework show? Then what are those things that burst in the sky every second during happily ever after?

It’s a bit much for me, too. Disliking HEA due to artistic decisions is perfectly reasonable (full disclosure: I loved Wishes and love HEA) but claiming it’s not a firework show is a bit unreasonable. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for folks to say it’s #NotMyFireworksShow

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Will they ever do projections on fountains in the RoA like at DL?

 

[The Empress Lilly]

So your calling a firework show not a firework show? Then what are those things that burst in the sky every second during happily ever after?

At Fantasmic, whose broad stars on the sorcerer's hat, through his perilous fight, over the snack carts we watch, are so gallantly streaming in the fireworks' red glare and the bombs bursting in air? Mickey's!

Yet, despite the fireworks, surely Fantastmic isn't a fireworks show? Wishes, in turn, isn't a theater production because of one actress / stunt woman. Fantasmic is a stage show with fireworks, Wishes a fireworks show with live acting.

HEA, and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, and Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam! are...what's the termd...multimedia shows. Consisting of projection mapping (where most of the attention is drawn too), music, lasers, searchlights, fire and pyrotechnics. Water fountains and water projections sometimes thrown in the mix for good measure too, as in HEA's daddy, Dreams.

Great shows, I just wish they would be used in DHS, and fireworks in the MK, for the sake of variety, crowd management, tradition and applicability.