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

[FerretAfros]

Noticeably absent from that video: Steve Davison

If I'm not mistaken, he also wasn't involved with Rivers of Light. For someone who is "Lead Creative Executive for Parades and Spectaculars", he seems to have gone missing recently. Is he still even with WDI?

 

[pixargal]

I am looking forward to checking this out. The projections on the castle look great and the music sample in the video sounds amazing.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Noticeably absent from that video: Steve Davison

If I'm not mistaken, he also wasn't involved with Rivers of Light. For someone who is "Lead Creative Executive for Parades and Spectaculars", he seems to have gone missing recently. Is he still even with WDI?

yes he is...

his FP post from Jan 4th

"I'm back from Holiday and ready to start on new surprises. Thank you all for your kind words regarding World of Color-Season of Light. It turned out to be something very special. Now into even more exciting projects coming your way. They haven't been announced yet, so I can't chat about them, but they'll be really fun to create.

More soon. S"

 

[Mark P.]

Bittersweet news. Very glad we will get a chance to see Wishes one last time in April -- watching it with my girlfriend, then fiancee, then wife for the first time will remain among my fondest WDW memories - but optimistic that between this and Pandora, our November trip will offer even more to look forward to...

 

[Magic Feather]

Surprised it took this long to announce. This sadly needed to happen, although it is the death of the projection/screen less firework show. Skeptical about projection usage.

 

[Donaldfan1934]

It's actually later than originally planned.

Just as I assumed. Was it for last October's anniversary like I thought?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Lets hope that the show is still primarily a firework show, and just supplemented with the lighting.

Hope so too, but the video does seem to indicate an emphasis on fireworks. I guess we'll see. Will be a massive disappointment if they heavily reduce the fireworks portion.

I did not see this announcement coming so out of the blue. I know Martin has said this has been in the works for years now and is actually late, but I still didn't expect such an abrupt announcement without prior warning.

I hope they can incorporate the projections into the castle's design better than the previous two projection shows. The original Magic Memories and You projection show from a few years ago has thus far had the best execution. Every surface and shape of the castle including spires, windows and other geometry was used to make it seem like the castle was a natural part of the video elements. Newer projection shows haven't done this nearly to the same degree. I don't want them to mostly use the front as a generic projection surface with little thought put into all the unique geometry of the castle. The thumbnail from Steve's video shows some promise in this regard for instance.

Not feeling the music so far though, kind of reminds me of a far more bland and derivative take on something like Fantasmic's music (I actually like Fantasmic's music though). Would have been nice if they had incorporated water jets into this show as well like Dreams...

 

[brb1006]

I'm absolutely thrilled to see that they're throwing brand new hand drawn animation into this. However, the timing for this show seems sort of sudden. Would've made most sense for them to open this in October for the 45th, but I guess that's just modern Disney making absolutely no sense as usual. I also have some trepidations about the show's score. Most Iger era scores have been bland and do not compare to Eisner era shows such as wishes. I just kind of wish (pun intended) that they'd just update Wishes with state of the art projections and other effects.

Let's hope they do brand new hand drawn animation for the return of Disneyland's Fantasmic this Summer.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

@marni1971 any reason for the sudden blitz of announcements? It's interesting that they're coming out one at a time (as opposed to a single announcement) but very close together.

 

[yellowb]

Sad, and exciting news. Wishes has definitely been a staple of all of our trips, so it is sad to see it go. I hope that the replacement is better.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I personally can not see them pulling a HS move where their newer firework shows have been primarily based on projections and lasers. I personally believe this new show will use lasers and projections as an accent, not as a replacement.

 

[marni1971]

Noticeably absent from that video: Steve Davison

If I'm not mistaken, he also wasn't involved with Rivers of Light. For someone who is "Lead Creative Executive for Parades and Spectaculars", he seems to have gone missing recently. Is he still even with WDI?

TDO doesn't just rely on Davison anymore. The long term effect is still to be seen.

 

[SpaceMountain75]

It's nice to see them plussing something! My only fear is that having two back-to-back castle projection shows will be somewhat redundant, but I'm reserving judgment till I get there since I haven't seen Once Upon a Time yet.

 

[marni1971]

I know Martin has said this has been in the works for years now..

Nope you misunderstood.

A replacement for Wishes has been in the works for years. Not this show.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I'm not a fan of projection shows, so at this time I'm not terribly excited about this new show replacing 'Wishes!'. Until I can see it for myself, of course.

Sadly, I'm expecting more projection and less fireworks, because that fits very, very well with the Iger-era "cost-containment" mantra.

 

[GhostHost1000]

@marni1971 any reason for the sudden blitz of announcements? It's interesting that they're coming out one at a time (as opposed to a single announcement) but very close together.

there is another park down the road that has a few things coming soon as well... so maybe this is why?

 

[marni1971]

@marni1971 any reason for the sudden blitz of announcements? It's interesting that they're coming out one at a time (as opposed to a single announcement) but very close together.

This one is later than originally planned.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Nope you misunderstood.

A replacement for Wishes has been in the works for years. Not this show.

That's interesting. Maybe they shelved the other one until the 50th?

 

[marni1971]

Just as I assumed. Was it for last October's anniversary like I thought?

No. Still this year. Just not May.

 

[marni1971]

That's interesting. Maybe they shelved the other one until the 50th?

The others were axed.

I'd expect something totally new in 2021.