The year is 2016 and Star Wars rules over the movies, parks, and pretty much everything else. Star Wars Galaxy's Edge inches ever closer to completion at both Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Then the news comes... Fantasmic! at Disneyland will close for a period of time due to the construction of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. The show as fans around the world knew it would change forever when the show re-debuted on Disneyland's 62nd birthday, July 17th, 2017. Fans eagerly awaited the show to begin and by the end, as can be expected with most Disney shows, were left either elated or disappointed. The show also features all new projections and lighting features with the water becoming so colored that it sometimes rivals that of World of Color. Fantasmic! 2.0, as I like to call it, is similar to the original version but does feature some very key changes throughout the plot.
The show begins with us entering Mickey's dream. We see him testing out the water effects as well as fireworks and projections as a new version of the classic Fantasmic! theme is played. Once he gets the hang of them he begins directing them the water screen show him conducting the water in Fantasia as he did previously, but the build up to it has a very Tokyo Disney Sea vibe to the music. As Mickey conducts the water changes colors and splashes out. The water screen drop to reveal the stage fully projected on as Mickey continues to direct the enchanted brooms from Fantasia throw buckets of water creating some awesome imagery. The music slows and the original Imagination theme (though a new version) is played as flowers bloom both on the water screens and on the stage itself.
The lighting eventually turns yellow and a single drumbeat is heard before the water screens show Mickey walking into the circle of life as Circle of Life (from the Lion King) plays. After we see some scenes from The Lion King on the screens, Kaa (from The Jungle Book) appears as he used to and wanders the stage. At the same time three floats cross the river carrying dancing monkeys and King Louie (from the Jungle Book) as a mash up/remix of Hakkunah Matata, I Wanna Be Like You plays before the pink elephants (from Dumbo) appear on the cabin and play a trumpeted version of Hakkunah Matata. At first they play along, even following Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa (all from The Lion King) across the famous downed tree from the song in the movie. The music rapidly changes though as the elephants take over and a new Pink Elephants On Parade remix plays while the elephants do whatever it is they do on the cabin and water screens. Among the chaos Mickey stumbles across a magic lamp which he of course uses.
Genie (from Aladdin) blasts out of the lamp as Mickey in his sorcerer's apprentice garb reappears on stage. Genie sings Friend Like Me and does a bunch of funny gags such as transforming halfway into Donald and then halfway into Goofy. He also pulls White Rabbit (from Alice in Wonderland) out of a hat and makes Ariel (from The Little Mermaid), Cinderella (from Cinderella), and Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) appear and dance for a moment. Genie continues his shenanigans as a mashup of Prince Ali and One Jump Ahead (both from Aladdin) play. He transforms Mickey into a playing card and then into a wooden puppet which does a similar dance to the one Pinocchio used to do in the original show. Genie puts on a wonderful finale and vanishes as Mickey dives into the sea.
Here he discovers Atlantica (from The Little Mermaid) and sees Ariel as she sings Part of Your World (from the Little Mermaid), the water screens then show a bunch of characters from Finding Nemo culminating in the ray migration from Finding Dory. Part of Your World begins to play again and the dancing fish from Fantasia... or Cleo (from Pinocchio) graces us with some... fish dance. Suddenly we hear Jiminy Cricket (from Pinocchio) calling out for Pinocchio (guess what movie) whom we see sinking to the sea floor. Rather than find Pinocchio, he finds Monstro (also from Pinocchio) who pursues and eventually swallows Mickey. Left in the dark Mickey asks what's going on before we see Prince Eric's (from The Little Mermaid) ship struggling to stay afloat in a storm. Fire crosses the water screen and Captain Barbossa (from Pirates of the Caribbean) appears and shortly thereafter The Black Pearl (from Pirates of the Caribbean).
As the ship makes its way across the river Captain Jack Sparrow struggles to rescue Elizabeth Swann and obtain his compass. As the ship crosses the pirates perform various stunts and music from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies plays. Imagination begins to play once the ship exits and Mickey paints the next scene's sky. Peter Pan, Wendy, Michael and John (all from Peter Pan) fly across the moon as Aladdin and Jasmine (from Aladdin) appear on stage on a magic carpet. The water screens show the two flying over the landscape as A Whole New World (from Aladdin) plays. The music then transitions into a medley of Beauty and the Beast (guess the movie), Part of Your World, and I See The Light (from Tangled) begins to play. Three floats cross the river with the respective couples of Belle and Beast, Ariel and Prince Eric, and Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder (from Tangled). As the last of the paper lanterns float up the cabin the music turns ominous and the magic mirror (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) appears.
Mickey appears on stage curious as to what he is seeing. The mirror speaks and tells him true magical power lies within the mirror. Ever curious, Mickey approaches only to be trapped within the mirror. There he encounters the Old Hag (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) who vows to turn Mickey's dream into a nightmare. She summons the powers of evil and Ursula (from The Little Mermaid) is first to answer the call. She sings a bit of Poor Unfortunate Souls before Chernabog (from Fantasia) appears. Mickey attempts to run from the monster, but there is no escape as the spirits of the dead and even demons of Hell keep Mickey's dream a complete nightmare. Mickey takes a desperate dive through a mirror to escape Chernabog, but runs right into Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty). Maleficent wastes no time attacking Mickey, and wrapping thorns all around the stage. She then transforms into a dragon. The villains laugh at Mickey and Maleficent sets the river aflame. Mickey musters the courage to take back over his dream using his sorcerer powers and defeats the villains.
The show concludes with the Mark Twain Riverboat carrying a bunch of Disney heroes and friends with Mickey as Steamboat Willie at the helm. Mickey sends us off with a bunch of fireworks, but not before we briefly here The Sorcerer's Apprentice one last time. The show ends there and the Imagination theme from Disney Tokyo Sea plays as the crowd disperses.
My Thoughts
Asking myself what my thoughts are on this show is tough. It's so hard for me to look at this show and try not to compare it to what came before, so I will do my best. Fantamsic! 2.0 is the most technologically up to date show and it is incredible how visually appealing it is. The stage is the same as it was, but the new projections bring it to life in the same way the projections bring Cinderella Castle to life in The Magic Kingdom. They are pretty much on the same level and several of the scenes are really made by them. One example of this is during the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene in the beginning of the show. The brooms add so much as they are seen walking along and throwing their buckets of water as opposed to just seeing Mickey direct the water. Another instance is during the Pirates of the Caribbean sequence the stage at one point tuns into a fort with cannons firing and blasting the water.
Other new additions really give life to the show as well. The water fountains now being able to change into all sorts of colors is a huge step up. Some people feel like it's a bit too much, personally I'm on the fence of too much and just the right amount. At times it does become super colorful to a point where it's almost overwhelming. Other times though, the added colors also help to bring more life to a scene such as when Ursula is talking. The rotating purple water fountains remind me of her tentacles. It's not much, but it does add some to the show. We also see a fair amount more of Mickey himself in this show. Whereas the original show featured the jungle scene where Kaa roamed the stage after the flowers bloomed, we actually see Mickey walking into the circle of life. We also see him panic in Chernabog's eyes. In addition to seeing him more, we hear him more. In the original show Mickey had a few lines and that was it. In this new version though Mickey has more lines, though many of them are just sounds of surprise. Does the additional Mickey parts add to the show? In a way yes. Visually I think it does, but the surprised Mickey sounds don't really do anything for me.
The Pirates of the Caribbean scene, as much as I love the movie series from start to finish, is just so random. Fantasmic! is a trip through Mickey Mouse's dream and somewhere in there he's crossing the line of animation and entering into the real world and ends up by The Black Pearl. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen. After all, who am I to argue what is going on in a cartoon mouse's brain. To me it's just so random due to the fact that pretty much the entirety of Fantasmic! in any park up till this point takes place with characters of Disney animated films. I don't dislike it by any means, but this is probably the hardest spot for me to not compare and wonder, why not Peter Pan?
Musically I am a mixed bag of feelings. I really like a lot of the new versions of the music they put in. The new Pink Elephants On Parade segment feels like a deranged carnival, and the main Fantasmic! theme itself sounds much bigger and bolder than previous. The Lion King/Jungle Book/ Pink Elephants segment also sounds incredible with the trumpeted Hakkunah Matata. Another interesting musical notation is that throughout the show you can hear some Disney Tokyo Sea influence. The show never breaks out into the Imagination theme from that show until the post show music plays, but you can hear different elements from the Tokyo show throughout. Musically I do not connect with the vocals as much as the previous version, especially during the princess segment. It's absolutely nothing against Heather Headley, but the singing just felt a touch slower than that of the original and for Beauty and the Beast and Part of Your World I really couldn't connect with it. That said, for I See The Light, I think it's perfect. I get they couldn't go back and forth with it, but the slowness is something I felt in all the singing in this show. It could easily just be me, but hey, that's what this blog is for right?
So overall I am very impressed with this version of Fantasmic! Disney did not play it safe in changing out several beloved scenes and incorporating various technological upgrades. Personally I think the risk paid off and what fans got was a mostly new show as opposed to just a refurbishment of the original. The original show had an incredible run, but I'm always in the boat of if evolving technology can take something and upgrade it, give it a shot. I really can't say much else in this blog about it though because I'm just going to end up comparing shows. So lets do this. One more Fantasmic! blog. Taking the four shows and doing some comparisons to find out what makes them unique and possibly which is my favorite version.Enjoy the new version of Disneyland's Fantasmic! and stay tuned for the finale of this marathon real soon!
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My Thoughts
Asking myself what my thoughts are on this show is tough. It's so hard for me to look at this show and try not to compare it to what came before, so I will do my best. Fantamsic! 2.0 is the most technologically up to date show and it is incredible how visually appealing it is. The stage is the same as it was, but the new projections bring it to life in the same way the projections bring Cinderella Castle to life in The Magic Kingdom. They are pretty much on the same level and several of the scenes are really made by them. One example of this is during the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene in the beginning of the show. The brooms add so much as they are seen walking along and throwing their buckets of water as opposed to just seeing Mickey direct the water. Another instance is during the Pirates of the Caribbean sequence the stage at one point tuns into a fort with cannons firing and blasting the water.
Other new additions really give life to the show as well. The water fountains now being able to change into all sorts of colors is a huge step up. Some people feel like it's a bit too much, personally I'm on the fence of too much and just the right amount. At times it does become super colorful to a point where it's almost overwhelming. Other times though, the added colors also help to bring more life to a scene such as when Ursula is talking. The rotating purple water fountains remind me of her tentacles. It's not much, but it does add some to the show. We also see a fair amount more of Mickey himself in this show. Whereas the original show featured the jungle scene where Kaa roamed the stage after the flowers bloomed, we actually see Mickey walking into the circle of life. We also see him panic in Chernabog's eyes. In addition to seeing him more, we hear him more. In the original show Mickey had a few lines and that was it. In this new version though Mickey has more lines, though many of them are just sounds of surprise. Does the additional Mickey parts add to the show? In a way yes. Visually I think it does, but the surprised Mickey sounds don't really do anything for me.
The Pirates of the Caribbean scene, as much as I love the movie series from start to finish, is just so random. Fantasmic! is a trip through Mickey Mouse's dream and somewhere in there he's crossing the line of animation and entering into the real world and ends up by The Black Pearl. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen. After all, who am I to argue what is going on in a cartoon mouse's brain. To me it's just so random due to the fact that pretty much the entirety of Fantasmic! in any park up till this point takes place with characters of Disney animated films. I don't dislike it by any means, but this is probably the hardest spot for me to not compare and wonder, why not Peter Pan?
Musically I am a mixed bag of feelings. I really like a lot of the new versions of the music they put in. The new Pink Elephants On Parade segment feels like a deranged carnival, and the main Fantasmic! theme itself sounds much bigger and bolder than previous. The Lion King/Jungle Book/ Pink Elephants segment also sounds incredible with the trumpeted Hakkunah Matata. Another interesting musical notation is that throughout the show you can hear some Disney Tokyo Sea influence. The show never breaks out into the Imagination theme from that show until the post show music plays, but you can hear different elements from the Tokyo show throughout. Musically I do not connect with the vocals as much as the previous version, especially during the princess segment. It's absolutely nothing against Heather Headley, but the singing just felt a touch slower than that of the original and for Beauty and the Beast and Part of Your World I really couldn't connect with it. That said, for I See The Light, I think it's perfect. I get they couldn't go back and forth with it, but the slowness is something I felt in all the singing in this show. It could easily just be me, but hey, that's what this blog is for right?
So overall I am very impressed with this version of Fantasmic! Disney did not play it safe in changing out several beloved scenes and incorporating various technological upgrades. Personally I think the risk paid off and what fans got was a mostly new show as opposed to just a refurbishment of the original. The original show had an incredible run, but I'm always in the boat of if evolving technology can take something and upgrade it, give it a shot. I really can't say much else in this blog about it though because I'm just going to end up comparing shows. So lets do this. One more Fantasmic! blog. Taking the four shows and doing some comparisons to find out what makes them unique and possibly which is my favorite version.Enjoy the new version of Disneyland's Fantasmic! and stay tuned for the finale of this marathon real soon!
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