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

[Ryan H. Serowinski]

It's already a winner for ignoring "Let It Go"!

It's already in Once Upon a Time anyways.

 

[tirian]

The sweet spot will be by Casey's.

After being disappointed by ROL, I'm happy with this show.

 

[Rumrunner]

Just saw Happily Ever After. Was not inspirational, kind of scary for kids, limited fireworks, and for my money a total bomb.

 

[Little Green Men]

Heres a video showing more of the fireworks:

 

[Bolt]

Just saw Happily Ever After. Was not inspirational, kind of scary for kids, limited fireworks, and for my money a total bomb.

Did you watch it in the parks or online?

 

[Sonic Sunglasses]

I was too wowed by the projections to pay attention to the fireworks, and that's fine. The times the fireworks were are the forefront, they worked well. The odd imposition of Cars on a decidedly Brave scene was a bit jarring and, for me, was the big clunker moment of the show.

On the whole, it was a fun and moving show. I loved it. And like @Captain Barbossa, the surprise inclusion of the PotC theme was a delight. Having played a Sparrow-esque character at Renaissance faires for a number of years, it really got my blood pumping.

 

[ToTBellHop]

After being disappointed by ROL, I'm happy with this show.

I'm in the same boat. Let other people enjoy the fountain show--this show is right up my alley.

 

[Meeko77]

Just watched the live stream of Happily Ever After. Thought this thread needed to be started. Here's my thoughts/opinions.

What I didn't like
1. The fireworks were a disappointment in my book. They seemed very basic and didn't live up to all the hype.
2. The transition and theme didn't seem to flow smoothly. One second it was Brave and the castle was covered in greenery. Makes sense. Then at the very bottom was Lighting McQueen. Doesn't add up. The transition from Tiana to the Little Mermaid seemed sudden. Didn't like the whole gear thing either. Didn't make sense to me (especially when Aladin and the Jungle Book were thrown in there).


What I did like
1. I liked the score. I thought it was well written.
2. The projections were UNBELIEVABLE. Absolutely blown away.
3. I liked the use of some of the older Disney classics, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame (shed a few tears during that part).
4. And last, but not least, the Pirates of the Caribbean part. Was a little surprised that they included, but I think it was my favorite part.

Overall I enjoyed Happily Ever After, but it's a laser/projection show, not a firework show. Thats my opinion. Please let me know what you thought of it!!

I agree - it was nice to see Pirates featured! I was really glad they included music from Tarzan - made me miss Tarzan Rocks all the more. I feel that these projection shows save them money in the end because of less fireworks which is a shame. Fireworks can be seen from so many places inside the park, but to truly enjoy the experience, now you have to be in front of the castle. I think it was nice that they included so many films that haven't gotten as much "love" as some of the more popular films. I was relieved Tinkerbell finally showed up!

 

[BAChicagoGal]

I believe that a fireworks show should have the fireworks as the star of the show. I didn't feel that. This show favors the projections, which I admit were amazing. I can see why Disney spent so much money to change the Hub, and change the views in front of the castle. The castle is now entertaining the guests, as a huge screen at night, and a stage during the days. I enjoyed the live stream of Happily Ever After, and after watching that, I watched a video of last night's final showing of Wishes. I will miss Jiminy Cricket narrating Wishes, and the feeling it always gave me when I was fortunate enough to see it. Perhaps I will get to WDW soon, and see Happily Ever After live. However, it did not give me goosebumps, the way Wishes always did. I'm not that fond of this song either. It does nothing for me. perhaps my age has something to do with all of this I am 69.

 

[tirian]

It doesn't say...

Magic magic

Wish wish

Dream dream

Magic

Wish

Dream

... Which makes it superior to every recent castle show in the last six years (not including Wishes, of course).

 

[tirian]

I believe that a fireworks show should have the fireworks as the star of the show. I didn't feel that. This show favors the projections, which I admit were amazing. I can see why Disney spent so much money to change the Hub, and change the views in front of the castle. The castle is now entertaining the guests, as a huge screen at night, and a stage during the days. I enjoyed the live stream of Happily Ever After, and after watching that, I watched a video of last night's final showing of Wishes. I will miss Jiminy Cricket narrating Wishes, and the feeling it always gave me when I was fortunate enough to see it. Perhaps I will get to WDW soon, and see Happily Ever After live. However, it did not give me goosebumps, the way Wishes always did. I'm not that fond of this song either. It does nothing for me. perhaps my age has something to do with all of this I am 69.

To be fair, the song is a little too radio pop to inspire goosebumps like the lush instrumentals of Wishes. But even though the show is different, it's still quite good.

 

[Sonic Sunglasses]

I was relieved Tinkerbell finally showed up!

Tink's appearance was a real corker! I was so happy to see that get featured so nicely.

 

[TsWade2]

I saw it on live stream when I'm in California, and I love it. And I guess I was wrong about Bob Iger hating the classics. They are there. Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and etc were in included. But, what really got me excited is they included Quasimodo from HOND. And they include the song Go To Distance from Hercules. AWESOME! Hey, I wonder if Disney can consider brand HOND, Hercule, and Tarzan a little more often. I can't wait to cherish this on youtube. WHEE!

 

[Rumrunner]

I believe that a fireworks show should have the fireworks as the star of the show. I didn't feel that. This show favors the projections, which I admit were amazing. I can see why Disney spent so much money to change the Hub, and change the views in front of the castle. The castle is now entertaining the guests, as a huge screen at night, and a stage during the days. I enjoyed the live stream of Happily Ever After, and after watching that, I watched a video of last night's final showing of Wishes. I will miss Jiminy Cricket narrating Wishes, and the feeling it always gave me when I was fortunate enough to see it. Perhaps I will get to WDW soon, and see Happily Ever After live. However, it did not give me goosebumps, the way Wishes always did. I'm not that fond of this song either. It does nothing for me. perhaps my age has something to do with all of this I am 69.

I agree with you it was not very inspirational-at times I thought I was in a night club instead of at Disney. Whole show was disconnected and definitely not inspirational in the least.

 

[nelsonj3]

Here's a 4K video of the show!

 

[VJ]

Honestly I love how people are making up stuff about the show to complain about. Truth is the show is about the best today's Disney could possibly do despite the lack of flow and I feel like the sheer amount of films represented in the show as well as the message of it makes up for those shortcomings. Please, for those of you who don't see the show the way we do, let us enjoy this. It's not every day the Magic Kingdom gets a brand-new fireworks spectacular, and the last thing any of us want is for our parade to be rained on.

 

[Rumrunner]

It is not something to stand and wait an hour for. In the future will just ride rides while others are watching the show.
I know people wanted it to be great-the hype was everywhere-but for my money it was kind of a bomb. I am sure others will like it but I have found few that did not like Wishes.
That will not be true of Happily Ever After.
Wanted something more inspirational for the younger generations in my life. This wasn't it.

 

[dothebrdwalk]

WHEN MUFASA SPOKE WITH THE HERCULES MUSIC I WAS A MESS

 

[Magic Feather]

Just to put my two cents in, I think this is the best projection-fireworks hybrid show Disney has done (not counting the projections on Remember recently added at DL, since its original incarnation). One perk of this format is that it allows for greater use of different IPs by content or value, as opposed to music. One instance is how during "Touch the Sky," we see other characters instead of having the song from Brave 100% devoted to Brave, and, in case you are wondering, that is why Disney was able to use lesser known songs like Go The Distance, was because they could be paired with well known images.

 

[BAChicagoGal]

I have always been one to stay late into the night to watch a fireworks show. I can't see myself doing that with this one. It is a projection show, and sure the projections are super. However, they just don't spark the emotion the way other fireworks have done when they have combined the fireworks, with the narration, and with the music all together. This just did not have enough punch to make me want to see it again. I love fireworks lighting up the night sky, but the older I get the harder it is to convince myself to wait that long to see a show that won't have me grinning ear to ear at the end, the way Wishes always did.