In 1996, Disney's MGM Studios (now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios) was going through a rough time and attendance numbers were down. The nighttime show Sorcery in the Sky was really starting to both show its age and loose its luster among fans. Following its success in California, Disney had been wanting to bring Fantasmic! to Florida, but river system of The Magic Kingdom was simply not the right size to recreate what had been done in Disneyland. Rather than redo a portion of that park, the plan was hatched to help MGM Studios by bringing in Fantasmic! The problem was the park had literally nowhere to put the show, but what it did have was land. Disney constructed a brand new 10,000 seat theater specifically for Fantasmic! within MGM Studios. The theater is complete with a massive mountain like stage, restrooms, food, beverages, and bleacher seating. The show would open in 1998 and has been running there ever since. Disney would not be bringing Fantasmic! over as a clone, no, the Florida team put together a similar, yet quite different show. Let's look at that plot. If you don't want to, skip ahead to the My Thoughts section.
The scene is set with the same welcome message that plays in Disneyland. In fact the first section of the show where Mickey is conducting and the scenes from the Sorcerer's apprentice are all the same as Disneyland. Once that magical explosion happens though the show deviates. We still see a bunch of flowers blooming on water screens, but we also see a massive flower blooming on stage. As we enter into the jungle a much more upbeat jungle beat begins to play and animal puppets appear all over the mountain. Occasionally you can hear a bit of I Just Can't Wait to be King (from the Lion King) breaking through the beat. Again two barges cross the river, but rather than King Louie one barge has three dancing monkeys and Rafiki (from the Lion King) occupies the other with a cauldron. Eventually I just Cant Wait to be King does break through and it leads us into a cascade of scenes from various Disney movies from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through Frozen. Along the way is an impressive mashup of various songs from a variety of movies. The cascade comes to a close with the same Monstro scene as in the original Disneyland version as well. Once again we see Prince Eric's ship (from The Little Mermaid) struggling to stay afloat and some of the final moments of The Sorcerer's Apprentice scene from Fantasia.
Suddenly a massive cannon goes off and the lights come back on to reveal Governor Ratcliffe (from Pocahontas) and a group of Englishmen digging for gold in the New World. The lights dim shortly after he claims the land in the name of the king and we see three canoes cross the river as a part of Steady as the Beating Drum (from Pocahontas) plays. Once the canoes clear the lights come back up as the colonists mine for gold. The music shifts to Mine, Mine, Mine (also from Pocahontas). Eventually the water screens allude to an impending conflict between the two parties. The natives on stage dance around a fire while the colonists prepare for battle. The music shifts to a more ominous mash up of both Steady as the Beating Drum, Mine, Mine, Mine and Savages (yes from Pocahontas again). Eventually a battle breaks out and continues on until John Smith and Pocahontas themselves show up to end the conflict... If you can't guess what movie they're from I got nothing for ya. Anyway once they both are on stage the fight ends with Grandmother Willow explaining to us (Mickey as well) that all around us there are spirits and she also exclaims "What a dream!" As she finishes speaking a beautiful combo of Listen With Your Heart and Colors of the Wind plays.
The music transitions back to the main Imagination theme, and the water screens show several princess dancing with their respective princes. This continues until the same mash up of Beauty and the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), Part of Your World (from The Little Mermaid), and Someday My Prince Will Come (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) that plays in Disneyland begins. Just like in California, the three floats featuring Belle and Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), Ariel and Eric (from The Little Mermaid), and Snow White and The Prince (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) cross the river. As they leave the river the music turns ominous and once again we see the Evil Queen (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) summoning forth the magic mirror. Just like in Disneyland, the mirror informs here that beauty and love will always survive in Mickey's imagination so she transforms into the Old Hag (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and summons forth the forces of evil. Ursula (from The Little Mermaid) appears and states that shes so excited, the mirror then morphs into Cruella De Vil (from 101 Dalmatians) who agrees to participate in the plan. The character in the mirror again morphs to reveal Scar (from The Lion King) who also agrees to join in on the plan. Again the image shifts and Claude Frollo (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame) appears and seemingly mocks Mickey by calling him a coward. The image shifts one last time and Jafar (from Aladdin) appears and sends Mickey into the Cave of Wonders (also from Aladdin).
We see a more classic looking Mickey on a perilous carpet ride through the dangerous Cave of Wonders. He manages to escape, but runs right into Jafar whom transforms into a monstrous snake. On stage a much more sinister looking snake than Kaa from Disneyland's show appears and stalks Mickey. Eventually Mickey finds a magic lamps, and rubs it. This only makes things worse for our hero as he transforms Jafar into a powerful genie whom declares that Mickey's mind is his and summons Hades (from Hercules). In typical Hades fashion he keeps his cool, but tells Mickey that he has one more thing for him. The music shifts and A Night on Bald Mountain (from Fantasia) begins to play as Hades's face morphs into Chernabog's (from Fantasia). Chernabog summons the spirits of the dead to further destroy Mickey's dream until both Mickey and Maleficent appear on stage. This portion of the show is pretty much identical to the Disneyland version with the only difference being all of the listed villains laugh at him as opposed to just the Old Hag, Ursula, and Chernabog. Mickey defeats the villains in the same way as he does in the original show (by pulling the sword from the stone and blasting the villains with its magic). They are all defeated and the show moves onto it's final scene.
As the lights come back up the Steamboat Willie River Boat is scene making its way onto the river. There's a flash of light and suddenly Mickey as Steamboat Willie is driving the boat and a plethora of Disney heroes and friends appear to celebrate Mickey's imagination, dream, whatever you want to call it. Once the boat passes Mickey appears on to of the mountain stage and sets off a bunch of fireworks, water effects, lasers, and more before vanishing into the night.
My Thoughts
I have quite a few thoughts on this version of the show as it is the only one that I have seen live and it in reality is pretty different. I still think the show is incredible overall and though a bit more dated now compared to Disneylands version, it still packs the house at Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM studios). That being said many fans of the Disneyland show look at this version as the lesser and in a couple areas I can see their arguments and in a few I cant.
One of the biggest changes from Disneyland to Disney World was the exclusion of the Peter Pan segment in favor of a Pocahontas segment. Peter Pan is a vastly more popular movie than Pocahontas is, but this was done for a reason. The Native American history of Florida is one that is actually quite rich. The choice was made to put in a Pocahontas segment over the Peter Pan segment as an acknowledgment to that history. How do I know? I asked a cast member about it while taking a tour of course. I will also argue that the segment itself is very well done, yes it's longer, but the build up to the battle and the battle itself are incredibly well done. The music I think is actually better than that of the Peter Pan segment as well with so many songs from the movie mashing up and creating this tension and then peace shortly thereafter. I understand the appeal of Peter Pan, but I cant deny that this segment of the show in Florida was just super well done.
I made note that I felt like the slowest part in the Disneyland show was the early flower blooming scene. Honestly I think the flower blooming on stage adds a decent amount to that scene as the actors make the flower move and bloom along with the music. The other slowish part of Disneyland's show right after the Peter Pan segment is also changed to show additional princesses dancing with their princes. Again, it just adds a little extra to that portion of the show compared to just colored water streams being used. Originally I had wished that Disney World had at least one different princess/prince combo on the barges, but now I'm fine with it... Stay tuned to eventually know why...
So where do I have an issue with this show? I mean so far I've pretty much said that almost everything I prefer right, well there is one big section that I think brings the show down a tad and it may be surprising. Right after the cool African Savannah/jungle scene I Just Can't Wait to be King explodes into a lengthy medley of different Disney songs and various scenes float up in a cascade of bubbles. I understand this is Mickey's imagination, but visiting Dumbo's Pink Elephants on Parade and Pinocchio's I've Got No Strings on Me scenes I think fit the story better. Yes it is great to see pretty much every Disney animated classic get its moment on the screens, but I feel like that's all it was done for and didn't really progress the plot at all. Don't get me wrong it is a lot of fun to see all of those characters, but considering all the cool new additions that were made already, this scene just seems a little excessive to me.
What I do not think is excessive is the villains segment. I know a lot of people say that the villain segment goes on for too long and there was no reason to have so many, etc etc etc. Well stop for a moment and hear (read?) me out here. The Old Hag calls upon ALL the forces of evil. While it's nice that Ursula gets to sing a little and do her thing in Disneylands version, I argue that the challenge that Mickey must face is majorly escalated every time another villain appears. No , they don't all do things in the show, but the fact that we are supposed to believe and imagine (heh heh) that Mickey has to defeat all of those villains makes it a huge task for our hero. In addition, I think the Jafar sequence is pretty thrilling. It's cool to see and older style Mickey in the segment and the fact that they incorporated not only the Cave of Wonders, but both additional forms of Jafar was pretty awesome. The first time I saw the snake appear on stage I literally said out loud "whaaaaaaaaat". When Hades is summoned it not only made me think how many more things is Mickey going to have to overcome, but when he said one more thing I said out loud "oh?".
Keep in mind this is the first time I had seen the show I'm talking about, but when Hades shifts to Chernabog I nearly lost it and said "Noooooooo way!". Fun fact. Fantasia is one of my favorite Disney movies, so to see A Night on Bald Mountain featured here both blew me away and confused me because man is that scene dark. I know I said it was dark last time, but it really does not get much darker than the devil playing with the dead. This leads into the one issue I have and a big part of why I say this show is a little dated. Hollywood Studios still has the original dragon which equates to a cherry picker truck arm outfitted with a Maleficent dragon head, and massive streamers. Compared to Disneyland's massive animatronic, the dragon looks ancient and certainly from the 90's if not earlier.
I also love that the Steamboat Willie Riverboat is the boat they chose to use at the end of the show. I totally understand them using the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland especially considering where the show takes place, but to have the boat that really gave Mickey Mouse his start be featured in Fantasmic! is really just awesome. Yeah, it's not as big or beautiful as the other boat, but man is it packed full of nostalgia and good feelings.
So closing thoughts. I feel like I prefer this version of the show slightly over the original Disneyland version. My reasoning for that is the extended villain segment and the Pocahontas segments I really can connect with and enjoy more than Ursula and Peter Pan. I also really like all the little added visuals like the blooming flower and dancing princesses during the show's slower moments. Yes the bubble cascade I agree is too long and seems out of place, but it's all about imagination and if that's what Mickey was thinking about then so be it, it doesn't ruin the show and the music is a lot of fun. My biggest complaint continues to be that the have yet to update the dragon. I'm not sure if it's due to stage size with the mountain or what, but I'm not even looking at a full sized dragon like Disneyland has. Honestly I'd be okay with something else... That... already exists... Elsewhere... Anyway... Fantasmic! at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a fantastic show and continues to be my favorite of any of the Disney nighttime shows currently performing at Walt Disney World. As I did in the last blog I will leave you with a video of Fantasmic! from Disney's Hollywood Studios so you can watch and form your own opinions. Stay tuned for part 3 of this blog coming real soon!
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