Fantasmic! A Journey Through The Magic of Imagination Part 3

    There are many people who say things always seem to come in threes. Good things or bad things, the number three for some reason seems to appear in a lot of places and at a lot of times in people's lives. This is not a philosophy blog on that. No, this blog is about another version of Fantasmic! that takes place at a third Disney Park. So once again, welcome back to Fantasmic! What wondrous spoilers and information will be encountered this time? You are about to find out, unless of course you know the plot and history of this third show in which case feel free to jump to the My Thoughts section of the blog. As always, spoilers ahead!

    Tokyo Disney Sea is currently (for now) the home of a third version of Fantasmic!. The show debuted in April of 2011, and is set to close on March 26th, 2020. The show's stage area is vastly different than either of its North American counterparts. Rather than have a central stage that many of the actors perform on, Tokyo Sea's "stage" consists of a large hat shaped tower that has the ability to lower and raise. The rest of the set consists of multiple barges that are used throughout the show. Unlike Hollywood Studios, the Disney Tokyo Sea version of Fantasmic! differs greatly from the Disneyland version and is basically a completely different show based around the same theme of dreams and imagination.

    The show takes place during a dream that Mickey Mouse is having. The show begins as Mickey appears on top of the hat stage and conducts the images on the tower as well as the water fountains to a brand new theme called Imagination. Eventually the music crescendos and the traditional Fantasmic! theme plays as Mickey is seen on the tower screens conducting more water effects similar to how he does in the early portion of the North American shows. We get thrown into a Sorcerer's Apprentice scene from Fantasia as the brooms carrying buckets of water walk around the tower on various levels. Eventually the brooms through their water and plunge Mickey into the sea.

    As Mickey descends he hears Ariel (from The Little Mermaid) singing and swimming on the tower. The water screens show a few characters from Finding Nemo swimming as well. The dancing fish from Fantasia also makes an appearance here as a Part of Your World (from The Little Mermaid) plays. Finally, Jiminy Cricket (from Pinocchio) is seen nabbing his hat out a bubble and swimming away. Mickey is left in total darkness, but suddenly jungle noises begin to be heard and three barges featuring Baloo and King Louie (from The Jungle Book), Pumbaa and Simba (from The Lion King), and Kaa (from the Jungle Book) make their way through the harbor. At the same time Tarzan and Jane (from Tarzan) are seen swinging on the screens of the tower. As the floats parade across the harbor, a medley of I Just Can't Wait To Be King (from The Lion King), The Bare Necessities (from The Jungle Book), I Wanna Be Like You (from The Jungle Book), and Hakunah Matata (from The Lion King) plays building up to The Circle of Life (from The Lion King).

    The  celebration continues as The Circle of Life plays. The floats continue to circle, though Kaa exits. On the tower we see all kinds of animals as they make their way towards Pride Rock. As Rafiki (from The Lion King) goes to hold up the future king Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) appears and hijacks the dream with a rock version of Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (from Lilo and Stitch). As Stitch rocks out on top of the tower and conducts the various water jets, Angel (from Leroy and Stitch) drives a speedboat through the harbor firing off lasers. Eventually Stitch giggles and leaves and the new Imagination theme returns. This eventually changes into When You Wish Upon A Star (from Pinocchio) as four inflatable globes enter the harbor. After a short time Genie (from Aladdin) appears on screen (and in on all the globes) and sings Friend Like Me (from Aladdin). Aladdin and Jasmine (also from Aladdin) are then seen flying on the magic carpet as a instrumental version of A Whole New World (more Aladdin) plays. On the harbor we begin to see rows of candle holders appear as the music slowly becomes that of Cinderella (from Cinderella) and Cinderella herself (yes from Cinderella) appears on top of the tower.

    For a brief second the show goes silent and then a music box version of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from Cinderella) begins to play. With Cinderella on top of the tower, the globes show Prince Philip waking Princess Aurora (both from Sleeping Beauty) as well as Belle and Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) beginning to dance. By now the music has shifted into Someday My Prince Will Come (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and Cinderella has descended back into the tower. The tower itself and the globes continue to show a montage of Disney princesses dance as the music remains princess themed and concludes with Once Upon A Dream (from Sleeping Beauty). The clock strikes midnight and a slightly more ominous A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes and possibly Reflection from Mulan for a brief moment plays before Mickey runs into the magic mirror (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) floating on a barge.

    Mickey asks the mirror who the most powerful sorcerer is. Rather than give a straight answer, the mirror lures Mickey in and eventually traps him inside. The Old Hag (from Snow White and Seven Dwarfs) is waiting there for him. She says a bunch of stuff in Japanese and the mirror adds in some dialogue as well before Ursula (from The Little Mermaid) appears. She proceeds to sing Poor Unfortunate Souls (from The Little Mermaid) and laugh at Mickey. The Old Hag reappears to taunt Mickey again and then summons Chernabog (from Fantasia) as A Night on Bald Mountain (from Fantasia) starts to play. Once Chernabog appears the music briefly changes to Hellfire (from Hunchback of Notre Dam) as flames shoot out from the barge. A Night on Bald Mountain resumes as the spirits of the dead are shown on the mirror. All the while flames continue to shoot from pretty much every barge and the tower itself. Each time they do the choir from Hellfire can be heard. Even Mount Prometheus (the volcano at Disney Tokyo Sea that houses Journey to the Center of the Earth) gets in on the flame spewing fun. Eventually Hellfire takes over musically and the villains all enjoy a laugh at Mickey's expense.

    Mickey reappears on top of the tower and Maleficent appears on the mirror screen. She attacks Mickey with a blast of magic and proceeds to transform into a dragon. The dragon Maleficent rises from the barge and puts its head right through the mirror and sets the harbor ablaze. Mickey fires off a magic shot from a magic wand at the dragon, instantly defeating it and the other villains just like in the North American versions, although there is no dramatic pulling the sword from the stone here. The music and sound effects also sound like they're the same from Disneyland and Disney World in these few moments. With Maleficent and the other villains defeated, Mickey regains control of his dream and the barges cross the harbor again with a wide variety of Disney heroes and friends on them. The show concludes with Mickey directing a whole bunch of fireworks, and water effects until he vanishes into the tower in a flash.

*** PLOT ENDS HERE***

My Thoughts 

    To me the Disney Tokyo Sea version of Fantasmic! I think is the most interesting. I don't think it is better than either Disneyland's or Hollywood Studios's versions, but there is a lot of interesting things at work here. The lack of a true stage limits all of the actors and dancers to barges with the exception of whoever is on the tower. Despite that lack of stage space there is a ton of charm from different characters and dancers that are off screens. The tower itself is also an interesting concept to me as it does raise and lower multiple times through the show and it's a clever way for the audience to be able to see everything even if not directly in front. The barges are super multipurpose. It's incredible how much they were able to do with these things during this show. From the jungle scene, to the inflatable globes, to spewing fire, and so much more. Again, it's a super interesting way of doing things without a true stage to work with.

    Beyond those interesting things, I feel that the way Tokyo Sea works the dragon segment would be a perfect way to update the one at Hollywood Studios. The first time I saw that thing come out of the mirror I was like "it's a hybrid of Disneyland's updated dragon and Hollywood Studios's head and neck only design. They probably wouldn't be able to use water for the wings like they do at Tokyo Sea due to the stage getting soaked, but it's Disney. I'm sure they could figure something out. I also really like how, though brief, they get Mount Prometheus in on the show. It's easily visible in the distance and to see both Chernabog and Maleficent causing it to spew fire is pretty awesome.

    I like the plot. Granted I cannot understand anything that is being said, from what I can see it's pretty solid. There's no big live action scene like the North American shows and those are pretty big spectacles in their respective parks. The princess segment would be my favorite is we got to see other princesses on the barges as opposed to just clips from their movies. I love the music in that section and the music box kicking it off is one of the most beautiful things in any Disney show. My biggest plot gripe is that while they made the magic mirror a bigger part in the show, even trapping Mickey at one point, the challenge does not add up to the challenge he faced in Hollywood Studios. I also don't like that we don't get to see the Evil Queen (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). By the time we see her she's already transformed into the Old Hag. Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity was honestly having Ursula over Jafar (from Aladdin). Mickey gets trapped in the mirror trying to learn and see who the most powerful sorcerer is. Jafar would have made perfect sense in this segment with that fact alone being the reason Mickey was tempted by the mirror. I mean think about it for a second. Once Jafar gets the lamp in Aladdin, his second wish is to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world. I'm not saying reuse anything from Hollywood Studios here, but a face-off between Mickey as the sorcerer's apprentice and Jafar would have me all kinds of hyped. 

    Musically I like a lot of the show. I'm honestly not as big a fan of the new theme for the show compared to the North American versions. It's cool that they added in lyrics and what not, but overall I don't think that is something Fantasmic! needs. I think it works for exit music, but within the show where the focus is on the music itself and various imagery, it just seems excessive. I love the fact that they put Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride in the show in a rock style. It fits the song so well and it was great to see Stitch and Angel in a show like this. There are also some cool mashups and remixes along the way such as the A Night On Bald Mountain and Hellfire mashup. The two songs actually work pretty well together in the way they were used in this show and it's really something I'd like to hear more of.

      Sadly, Fantasmic! at Tokyo Disney Sea is set to close later this year. Over the years several effects such as the Floatsam and Jetsam jet skis during Ursulas segment and flying spirits during Chernabog's were removed. The show itself is still certainly worth seeing as it is very different than the two North American versions. For many of us though, the only way we will be able to see it is through the magic of the internet. So, I leave you all with an older video of Fantasmic! at Disney Tokyo Sea that way you can see all the effects that were in the show when it debuted. We are nearing the end of this Fantasmic! marathon as we have one more show to take a look at and you should be expecting that show real soon!