For many years, I was obsessed with the nighttime fireworks display at the Magic Kingdom, Wishes. My husband and I tried to make sure to catch it at least twice every trip, sometimes more often. We watched it from the front of the castle, from the rear of the castle, from the top of the Contemporary Resort, from the porch at Narcoosee’s at the Grand Floridian, from the beach at the Polynesian…you name it, we tried to watch it from there. And I cried…Every single time. The first time I told him I loved him….was during Wishes. He proposed to me one night in front of the Castle…just after Wishes had ended…I have the soundtrack for Wishes, and probably about a million pictures of it. Needless to say, I was very ATTACHED to Wishes.
Here’s a favorite “Wishes” picture from the Disney PhotoPass gallery:
When Disney announced that they were ending Wishes and would be introducing a new show, I was really sad. But I know that Disney isn’t a time capsule, it’s something that has to keep changing and growing to keep from getting stale. So even though I loved Wishes with great passion, I knew I had to let it go, and be open to the new show. Based on the press releases Disney released as they were developing the new shows, I had very high hopes for Happily Ever After.
I was crushed that we weren’t able to see Wishes one last time though. The last time we watched it was the night after we got married–we caught the tail end from the rail station at the front of Magic Kingdom. We had no idea then that we would never get to watch it again. {sigh}
Luckily, there are tons of really great videos of the show still on YouTube. Here’s a link to a great video of the very last show, posted by the Dis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTO1RlF12ZU No matter how good the videos are (and the videos from the Dis are always TERRIFIC!), they just can’t compare to the real thing.
Wishes had it’s final show on May 11, 2017, and the new, very high tech Happily Ever After premiered on May 12, 2018. In honor of it’s one anniversary, Disney Parks Blog posted a video of a couple of minutes from Happily Ever After, included here below:
Frank and I saw Happily Ever After for the first time during our November trip. I wanted to be sure we had a great spot to view it from, so I had reserved the Fireworks Dessert Party–Garden View for the two of us. I’m so glad we did! The park was PACKED that night, and the crowds around the hub to view the show were CRAZY! The special Garden View area wasn’t even there last time we’d visited; it was put in as part of the hub construction project that finished last year. They put in two of these; one in front of the Crystal Palace/Casey’s area and one in front of the Plaza Restaurant area. The Plaza area one is used for the Fireworks Dessert Party, Garden View. The Dessert Party area was NOT super crowded; we had a spot at the back where we could sit on the ground while we waited for the show to start, and even standing, it didn’t feel crowded and we had a fairly good view of the castle. We liked the area so much, we stayed put and waited for the Once Upon A Time projection show that happened about 45 minutes after the fireworks ended.
Here’s a couple of shots we took of Happily Ever After from our spot.
So the big question is: As a Wishes lover that was so SAD that Wishes went away, what did I think of Happily Ever After?
The short answer? I liked it. I liked it a lot. It’s very visually impressive, and the music is really terrific. I downloaded the song on Itunes as soon the show was over.
I didn’t LOVE it though, and I’ve been trying to put my finger on WHY I didn’t love it ever since.
We watched the show again from our balcony at Bay Lake Tower on the last night of our trip. One of the channels on the TV will play the audio so you’re synced up with the show. I really liked watching it from that angle; it’s fun to get the different perspective on those shows from different viewpoints. Of course, from that angle and distance you cannot see most of the projections on the castle–and that’s where a LOT of the action is with this particular show. When you are in front of the castle, it looks like all the fireworks are being shot off from RIGHT behind the castle, doesn’t it? Interestingly, when you watch the show from Bay Lake Tower or the Contemporary, you can see that most of the fireworks are shot off from quite a distance away.
Here’s a couple of the pictures we took from our balcony:
Keep in mind, we could see much better with our naked eyes than the camera lens can…it’s really pretty spectacular, but the camera REALLY didn’t like this distance combined with trying to absorb all the light…
During my May trip with Mom, we chose NOT to stay in the Magic Kingdom for the show. Mom isn’t as enamored with the fireworks shows as I am, and it was the end of our trip and we were both pretty worn out, so we decided to head over to Bay Lake Tower and watch the show from the Top of the World lounge. Mom watched from her seat at the bar; I headed outside to watch from the deck.
Here’s a couple of shots from that show. Very similar view to the balcony view; just a few floors higher!
I’ve also watched a couple excellent video recordings of the show, so at this point, I’ve seen it five or six times. And I still really like it.
It doesn’t make me cry…which makes me a little sad (but not enough to cry😉) . But it’s a very good show, absolutely. I think I’ve finally figured out why it doesn’t get me emotionally like Wishes did…
Happily Ever After is a VERY busy show. There is a LOT going on…there is music and fireworks, of course, but beyond that, there is tons of very detailed computerized, animated projections on the castle throughout the show, and many of them are quite beautiful…some are DAZZLING. There are lasers and pyrotechnics…there is so much going on, you actually miss a LOT of what is happening–it can be challenging to take it all in. Every time I watch the show, I notice different things. I think this will be GREAT for repeat viewings; not to mention that Disney can change and add content quickly to promote new projects or to take advantage of sudden bursts of popularity for old favorites…I think this will make this show very versatile and flexible for Disney.
The disadvantage, though, at least for me, is that there is SO much going on, I don’t really get a chance to CONNECT with the show the way I did with Wishes. My heart doesn’t get involved because my brain is so focused on all the visual stimulation. As much as I like the music, it doesn’t connect in me personally with the visuals–in part because so many of the visuals invoke their own soundtracks in my heart, and in part because the visuals are just so strong and moving so fast, I can’t keep up.
Perhaps after dozens of viewings, it won’t be quite so overwhelming, and I WILL find myself connecting with it emotionally. I hope so. Because it really is a beautiful show. It’s just….a LOT to absorb.
Have you seen Happily Ever After? What did you think? Were you a Wishes fan? How do you think Happily Ever After compares?
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke