Happily Ever After Review
Happily Ever After is the new fireworks show in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. In this review of the nighttime spectacular, we’ll take a look at whether Happily Ever After lives up to the legacy of Wishes, how it compares to other ‘castle park’ fireworks shows, and share photos from show. (This review contains spoilers…to the extent text and photos can spoil a fireworks show.)
If you read my Wishes – A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams Tribute, you know it was bittersweet for us to see Wishes go. While it was not a fireworks show of which we were particularly fond, over time nostalgia had wormed its way into our hearts, giving us a sense of attachment to that show. We weren’t alone in this–for many Walt Disney World fans, Wishes was the only normal Magic Kingdom fireworks show they had ever known.
Initially, I was cautiously optimistic about Happily Ever After. Disney’s initial announcement sounded promising; it seemed a lot of effort was being put into the show. Then we saw Disney Illuminations in Disneyland Paris. I shared my thoughts on that fireworks show in our recent trip recap, but most of you probably didn’t read that. Suffice to say, Disney Illuminations felt like a poorly-edited commercial for hot new films, completely disjointed and lacking heart. It worried me that Happily Ever After would have similar issues, or perhaps an insufficient amount of pyro for a Magic Kingdom fireworks show…
Thankfully, both concerns were completely unfounded. Happily Ever After is the best regular fireworks show to ever grace the skies above Magic Kingdom (there are only 2 others, so not exactly a huge accomplishment) and conceivably Magic Kingdom’s best fireworks show ever, period. The latter is a much more significant accomplishment considering some of the excellent seasonal shows.
Ostensibly, Happily Ever After is the same type of fireworks show as Disney Illuminations. Both feature projections and other effects, and are heavy in the montage clips. Yet, there’s a night and day difference. Happily Ever After takes the aspects of Disney Illuminations that work well, avoids the ‘fireworks show as a commercial’ pitfall, adds superior projections and a ton more pyro.
Let’s start with the pyro, as that seemed to be the concern of many readers. I cannot say definitively that there’s the exact same amount of pyro in Happily Ever After as Wishes, but if there’s a different amount, I could not tell. (If anything, my photos suggest there’s slightly more pyro in Happily Ever After.)
Happily Ever After is most certainly a fireworks show with projections, not a projection show with fireworks. Oh, and a fireworks show with copious amounts of spotlights.
Then there’s the music. It’s really good. The theme song (which was actually first used for Hong Kong Disneyland’s 10th Anniversary, but whatever) has an addictive sound to it, and the arrangement of music and orchestral score in the show work really well.
Next is the projections. The very existence of projections in a fireworks show seems controversial for some Disney fans. “Now you can only watch from in front of Cinderella Castle.” “Now the show isn’t as good for shorter people or kids.”
My counterpoint to these complaints is that if the music and pyro hit the mark–and I believe both do–how is it conceivably a ‘negative’ that Walt Disney World has chosen to add projections? They are icing on the cake.
To me, opposing projections without more of a basis for doing so seems like stubbornly opposing change. Yes, Happily Ever After is significantly better viewed head-on from Main Street USA. Speaking of which, we’ve updated our Best Magic Kingdom Fireworks Viewing Locations post with a new map, and thoughts on how this show differs from Wishes in terms of views.
With that said, Happily Ever After is better from Main Street and close up because that view presents something that was not in Wishes from any perspective. Happily Ever After is not suddenly worse than Wishes when viewed from the TTC, beach of the Polynesian, California Grill, or even New Fantasyland.
The pyro is the same and there are new spotlights that look exceptional from outside the park. We watched from the TTC, and were impressed by the visuals. (Albeit not the bugs…which are not a ‘feature’ unique to Happily Ever After, though.)
Getting off of that particular soapbox, the projections in Happily Ever After are very well done. I really appreciate that the projections here were quite clearly developed with Cinderella Castle in mind, and take its actual shape into account.
Sure, it’s cool to see the castle used as a giant canvas to fly over London, but I think emphasizing the castle in Magic Kingdom’s flagship fireworks show only makes sense. This approach feels less gimmicky, as if Disney is finding its footing with integrating projections into a show, rather than making that show all about the technology.
One thing that worried me about Happily Ever After as I started watching was that it didn’t have any narrative to tie the scenes together, such as Peter Pan from Disney Dreams or Mrs. Potts and Chip from Once Upon a Time. I know these “plots” are usually really flimsy and superficial, but I think they normally help give the shows flow and prevent transitions from being too jarring.
Happily Ever After is probably better off without such a narrative thread. There are so many films it races through that adding a framing device would’ve bloated the show. Instead, transitions are accomplished in the music arrangement, visuals on Cinderella Castle, and pyro.
There’s also a thematic progression to the show that makes sense–it goes from adventure to friendship to romance to overcoming adversity to attaining a ‘happily ever after.’ In a sense, this is the Disney animated film archetype, but in montage fireworks show form. There are only, maybe, a couple of instances of choppiness, and they are not at all bad.
For the most part, Happily Ever After has shockingly good flow. I’d mostly attribute this to its soundtrack, which features some excellent arrangements, and eschews some it songs (I’m looking at you “Let it Go”) for less-popular ones that make more sense in the context of the show. The whole stretch from “Friend Like Me” to “I See the Light” is powerful stuff.
Then there’s the Villains scene, during which Cinderella Castle is under siege, much like during Magic, Music & Mayhem during the Pirate & Princess Party. This Villains scene is not quite as intense as that scene, but it’s still very good.
It was at this point when I questioned whether this is the best Magic Kingdom fireworks show ever. I want to see Happily Ever After a few more times, spaced out a few months so the hype of “new” doesn’t shade my opinion, but at this point I’m leaning towards yes.
Then there’s “I Can Go the Distance.” If you’ve ever questioned how old a Disney fan you’re interacting with is, just ask their opinion on this song. If they love it, they’re probably a mid-20s Millennial. If they literally any other opinion than that, they aren’t. (That’s a pretty lame and not all that insightful test, but whatever.)
I fall into the “it’s fine” camp with that song, but I loved how it was the lead-in to the best scene of Wishes (“the fan”). Once again, “I Can Go the Distance” offers the best transition of the show, offering an excellent segue from the Villains segment to the grand finale. It’s clever, effective, and tugs at your heartstrings. At this point, I think it’s probably too early to say which parts of Happily Ever After will have long-term nostalgia power, but I’m guessing “I Can Go the Distance” will be one such part.
The finale is likewise strong (excuse my poor photo of it above–first time fail), albeit lacking a bit in the pizzazz of Wishes. Beyond that, really the only criticism I can muster of the show is that it could use more lasers. In fairness, that’s a complaint that could be levied at virtually anything–even stuff with lasers. You can always use more lasers.
The shows in Paris and Tokyo demonstrate just what some copious laser action can do to increase the wow-factor, and that would’ve been nice here. The same could be said for mist projects and fountains in the moat, but that would have the potential for operational chaos as everyone would crowd the Hub.
I’d also say that Happily Ever After makes Once Upon a Time superfluous. Walt Disney World claims that the latter was “designed” to complement Happily Ever After, but in reality, it was ported from Tokyo and condensed in the process. It’s fine on its own, but not after you’ve just watched Happily Ever After.
It does not complement Happily Ever After–it just feels like a stylistically-similar but inferior post-show. I assume it’s only still around because Magic Kingdom “needs” two pieces of nighttime entertainment, and there’s still no light parade.
Otherwise, I don’t really have any criticism of Happily Ever After. It exceeded even my most optimistic expectations. I do think some Wishes fans are likely to contend that this show does not resonate emotionally in quite the same way, and perhaps that’s true.
Personally, I found Wishes a bit overwrought, and would also argue that a lot of the emotional heft people have/had for Wishes was the result of years upon years of watching it. Give Happily Ever After a few years and I strongly suspect those emotional bonds will start forming.
Overall, Happily Ever After is the fireworks show that Magic Kingdom deserves. It takes many of the best elements of modern castle park nighttime spectaculars that debuted with Disney Dreams ~5 years ago, and integrates them into a distinctly Magic Kingdom fireworks spectacular. I think it’s better than Wishes, and also better than the nighttime spectaculars in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. I’d even (reluctantly) admit that it edges out “Remember… Dreams Come True” at Disneyland, although that show will always have my heart because I care more about the parks than the animated films. It’ll be interesting to see whether Magic Kingdom debuts a similar park-centric show for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, but if not, I think the park has an iconic show that will stand the test of time.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our take on Happily Ever After at Walt Disney World? Any particular highlights (or lowlights) of the show for you? Any recommended viewing spots? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
We saw it June 4th in sprinkling rain. It was really quite good. I was impressed. I enjoyed it a lot more than Wishes because of the projections. I found myself watching the projections much more than the fireworks. You can only ooh and ahh at so many fireworks and then they are kind of just the same over and over. The projections were a really great show. We did the dessert party with garden viewing because I hate staking out a place to watch the fireworks. It was totally worth the price to me to have a good view that wasn’t crowded and I could enjoy eating desserts instead of standing out in the rain staking out a spot.
I saw Happily Ever After on its opening night. While technologically superior to Wishes, the music was inferior. I personally like the big symphonic and complex melodies of an orchestra better than Disney Radio pop type tunes, and that is what Happily Ever After’s theme reminded me off. Now that they have this big new projection show, the don the need Once Upon a Time either. I think that the reason some are negative toward projection shows is that they correctly feel that Disney is going to over use them and will consider them a suitable replacement for the beautiful night time parades that are now just a memory. I hope I am wrong because I loved Jiminy Cricket announcing Spectro Magic, which was followed by Wishes. That was the best night time entertainment combo to ever run at the Magic Kingdom in my opinion. That said, Happily Ever After is nice and they did a good job. The fireworks are beautiful and the projection shows are cool. Less sentimental people and those new to Walt Disney World will love this new show.
I went to Disney World for the first time a year and half ago and I personally didn’t find Wishes to be that great. I thought it was over hyped. (I could be jaded because my city hosts an international fireworks competition every summer and I go to several of the evenings)on the other hand I thought Celebrate the Magic was amazing and it made me cry with happiness. So I am really excited to see this new show when I go in the fall.
I love the new show, especially the section with the Genie. I hope maybe it was a little nod to Robin Williams. I photographed from the TCC and got some great exposures. I was curios as to where you were photographing from in the images included in this post. The angle seems so high, higher than I thought that a tripod column could extend.
Yes, I would be very interested to know where these photo’s were taken from please
Maybe this will change with subsequent viewings, but my husband and I thought it much more a projection show with fireworks rather than a fireworks show. The projections were great, don’t get me wrong, but honestly, that was the problem. It was really hard not to look at the castle. I kept thinking to myself stop watching the castle, you wanted to see a fireworks show and then 20 seconds later would think it again….I’ll have to try to get a viewing in from the TTC to see if that works out better when I want to see fireworks, but it will be hard to convince hubby to try.
My wife and I watched the fireworks from the California Grill Friday night. The fireworks were impressive as ever and the vibe wasn’t dissimilar to Wishes. (Side note: We were standing in front of a blown out speaker, which was kind of a bummer.)
I would say that from the Cali Grill the projection portion of the show is just about completely lost. You definitely see the castle changing colors and things happening, but you don’t really get much out of it. Accordingly, since you can’t see the projections, I don’t think the show holds together thematically – just seems like a bunch of disparate songs strung together with no theme. Personally, I preferred the theme of Wishes, even if it was a little schmaltzy.
All tolled, from the Cali Grill, I enjoyed the fireworks; I enjoyed the music. I think it came up just a little short from a non-park viewing if you were looking for what I considered the complete package in Wishes (which gave you a cogent theme, music, and fireworks).
I LOVE “I can go the distance”… and your diagnosis is entirely correct, I am 26. So predictable!
Hi Tom,
I am currently in the midst of planning a Disney World trip for my hubby and myself in early December this year. We have visited once before (only Magic Kingdom) a few years back, and living in Australia, Disney trips are sadly not as frequent as I wish, so I am we are excited to have the opportunity again, and your blog is so incredibly useful in the planning! Thanks for all the time and effort you guys put into tit! I’ve also just started getting into photography in the past 12 months, so being able to see all your work is quite inspirational!
I know you can only speculate, but do you anticipate that they would have a holiday version of Happily Ever After (as they did with Holiday wishes?) and if so is it likely to only be shown at MVMCP? We went to the Christmas party last time and loved it, but was not planning to this year simply due to finances (our exchange rate isn’t fantastic at the moment unfortunately) as well as wanting to attend things like the Candlelight processional, and park hop on the Christmas pasty evenings to make the most of our ticket purchases.
I agree with other posters here who have suggested that Once Upon a Time should be moved to a time slot prior to Happily Ever After. Having these shows in the reverse order makes very little sense.
While I do concur that there are some wonderful obscure choices of songs for inclusion in the show, including “Out There,” the new arrangement of “Love is an Open Door,” and the Princess and the Frog opening song, I’m also a little disappointed that there are so few songs from prior to the Disney Renaissance in the show. Of the 19 songs included, only 4 come from before 1989, with only 2 including sung lyrics, and those adding up to just 14 total words. The history of the company is much bigger than that (and this is one big reasons everyone should see Once Upon a Time in concert with Happily Ever After).
We saw it for the first time Saturday night in the pouring rain. That meant low crowds, room to spread out, and no one blocking our view. It was really great! I loved wishes and was sad to see it go but this really is much better. It’s the first nighttime show I have been able to get my family to watch with me in nearly 10 years. We plan to watch it again one night this week, especially if it’s still raining 🙂
I loved this show more than any I have seen in a Disney park and think they did a great job with every aspect of it. I was afraid of it being a clip show of popular films, but was very pleased that it had heart.
So far I’ve only had a chance to see the new show via Disney’s live streaming. I’m under no illusions that’s a good way to form an impression, but it soothed my anxieties about whether there’d still be enough pyro to make it “spectacular.” Rumors ahead of time suggested it was going to mostly dispense with pyro in favor of projections, so I was worried about that.
Actually the one thing that disappointed me was that “When You Wish Upon A Star” wasn’t in the medley of tunes as the climax. Not because it was a bit of Wishes to cling to, but because it’s essetnially the theme song for the Magic Kingdom and for Disney animation– so its absence was sort of like if a Star Wars movie lacked John Williams’s well-known fanfare (I’m looking at you, Rogue One, but I digress).
Anyway, apart from that it looked pretty good on streaming; I’m looking forward to seeing it in person on my next WDW visit in January.
C’mon, Tom, tell us how you got those shots!
Ditto!
I still cant get over the removal of Celebrate The Magic, that Projection Show was the best. Here’s hoping this is more like that combined with the best parts of Wishes, because the Once Upon A Time show, sucked in comparison.
I will never get over Celebrate the Magic being gone. That will always be my favorite. That song will always be my favorite as far as nighttime spectaculars go, and Celebrate the Magic made me tear up every time. I looked forward to watching it more than the fireworks. However, You may be happy to hear that a few key moments in Celebrate the Magic have made their way into Happily Ever After. I’m sure you’ll be able to pick them out when you see Happily Ever After 🙂
I would 100% say that Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time compliment each other mostly from the fact that the two shows share very little crossover in the films presented. I was incredibly surprised after my first viewing of HEA at how the two shows never really contradicted each other. I feel like programming wise, it would make sense to move OUAT to an earlier time slot and shift HEA later, but that’s just me.
I think the misconception about the amount of pyro comes from the Disney Parks Blog livestream, where whoever was in charge made the decision to only show the projections with only a few shots of fireworks causing it to seem like there were less fireworks then there really is. From there a bunch of internet people assumed they saw all the fireworks in the show causing misinformed negativity. I watched a few other youtube videos that showed both projections and the fireworks and was surprised by how much pyro there was and it really brought everything together.
I can’t wait to see it in person. Watching the livestream, Mufasa saying “Remember who you are” brought tears to my eyes followed by “I will Go the Distance”. Also, love it anytime Hunchback gets some attention.
“Now you can only watch from in front of Cinderella Castle.” “Now the show isn’t as good for shorter people or kids.”
If your kids can’t see just put them up on your shoulders.
: )
I’m curious how you achieved an elevated look so close to the Castle and above the crowds. Is this a Fast pass viewing area and did you prompt your tripod up high on a platform?
*prop* your tripod up..
he simply climbs up on Sarah’s shoulders and then she thinks happy thoughts,..
The photos from above were probably taken at the Main St train station…I’m not sure of any other location in Magic Kingdom where you could get that perspective.
Thanks, I was thinking the train station but then it appeared closer. I assume a 70-200 was probably used and a clear line of sight, which is always challenging there ha ha.
Those weren’t taken from the Train Station because the flag pole’s not in the way. Also, a 70-200mm wouldn’t offer that perspective. My guess is he had some special access to the top of Casey’s or these are stock photos from Disney. Probably not stock photos because I don’t think Tom would try to pass those off as his own.
I shot these from an elevated riser between Casey’s Corner and the Hub with an ultra wide angle lens. You’ll probably see the other photos I shot from here soon (albeit elsewhere).
Elevated rise like one of the lamp post areas? Was it more like leaving the tripod up there and then stand below and hope cast members don’t yell at you?
Regarding the projections – I read reviews of the Star Wars show where people report that there were fewer fireworks and more projections and therefore a smaller sweet spot for the show. Since I really don’t like paying for desert parties or camping out with small kids for the show, that down played my enthusiasm. It sounds like from your review that the projections were more of an “add-on” that a substitution.
How would you compare the Star Wars show vs Happily Ever After?
The Star Wars show is definitely a projection show with some fireworks, IMO. While I agree with Tom that they are a bonus for HEA. We saw HEA the first time from in front of the Crystal Palace, where trees blocked off the bottom of the castle and it was still excellent. The same wouldn’t be true of the Star Wars show.
Sounds great. It will be a while before we can see it, but it should be running for years.
It looks like you were stationed at the train station for the photos here. I don’t see the flag pole, so you really lucked out. I look forward to taking pics from the TTC.