[Question] The future of Fireworks?

[AtomicBear]

Hey all,

I think it's really cool that they have tried some new effects for the firework shows lately. We have more characters flying, video projections and lighting effects and now they added video projections on the Fantasmic area of the Rivers of America and have had them on IASW for a couple years now.

What do you guys thing they will do with these new concepts and what will the fireworks shows of the future look like? Do you think they will ever have a show planned from the start with more viewing locations in mind beyond the Castle and IASW?

I can imagine the 45th anniversary fireworks to have special custom material for each location and heck, maybe even do more elaborate effects on the Matterhorn.

[caligirl09]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I do think that the fireworks at disney has made a turn for the better.

For the nearby future however, one thing popped into my mind. Maybe this is kind of obvious , but I think that the "orb" they used in the halloween show, will be used in the christmas show.I thought it would be used n the christmas show as a snowglobe type thing maybe. Just an idea, nothing big.

[FI183]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I do think that the fireworks at disney has made a turn for the better.

For the nearby future however, one thing popped into my mind. Maybe this is kind of obvious , but I think that the "orb" they used in the halloween show, will be used in the christmas show.I thought it would be used n the christmas show as a snowglobe type thing maybe. Just an idea, nothing big.

I do hope they used the orb, but they should retro fit it. As it is now, the support looks like Jack Skelington's clothes. Too Halloweeny for Christmas.

[MousieMagic]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

For the nearby future however, one thing popped into my mind. Maybe this is kind of obvious , but I think that the "orb" they used in the halloween show, will be used in the christmas show.I thought it would be used n the christmas show as a snowglobe type thing maybe. Just an idea, nothing big.

An excellent idea, really. I hope that they do put more effort into the animation of it though. The animation that they have for the orb looks like it was pieced together quickly. Many of the scenes are also just a 2D black/white animation so the jump to a snow globe would be giant one. You would need to be able to portray depth as well as being able to get the perspective to look correct.

I do hope they used the orb, but they should retro fit it. As it is now, the support looks like Jack Skelington's clothes. Too Halloweeny for Christmas.

Maybe it's supposed to look Halloweeny for Halloween. I'm not sure if the tower collapses but if it does, maybe a candy cane or wrapping paper?

[MousieMagic]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

Errr . . . well back onto the main topic of the actual fireworks, I think Disney is somewhat swerving off track with what it's done with its recent shows. Their Halloween show is a mash up of remixed Disney songs. Their celebration fireworks were not my favorite either.

To me, a Disney fireworks show should be able to convey emotions through every part of the show, it should be able to tell a story. I know I'm going to a usual pick but Remember Dreams Come True does this through and through. It evokes memories of everything that has happened to make it great. It has a story told through the various sound clips of the attractions of taking you through the park and the magic that you felt or still do feel when you experience the attractions.

So to actually answer the OP's question, I think the "What's next?" for fireworks should be story telling. That doesn't mean rehash a Disney movie, if you use a couple characters fine, but make it have it's own story. I also believe that they will be moving and repaving and making space/room for more guest space. As it is, many nights are jam packed and even those not viewing the fireworks have a hard time getting through. We are already seeing evidence of Disney taking action on this by Paradise Pier's tiered extended viewing area for the lagoon's new show.

[JerrodDRagon]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I'm hoping they use the World of Color area for fireworks too.

[Eternal Disney]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

How about water streams shooting up from the moat? Shooting straigt up or over the bridge during segments with no fireworks?

[WesternRiverExplorer]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

An excellent idea, really. I hope that they do put more effort into the animation of it though. The animation that they have for the orb looks like it was pieced together quickly. Many of the scenes are also just a 2D black/white animation so the jump to a snow globe would be giant one. You would need to be able to portray depth as well as being able to get the perspective to look correct.

Completely agree, someone needs to take away their flash animation programs and give them good old pencil and paper. No more crappy animation shortcuts!

Errr . . . well back onto the main topic of the actual fireworks, I think Disney is somewhat swerving off track with what it's done with its recent shows. Their Halloween show is a mash up of remixed Disney songs. Their celebration fireworks were not my favorite either.

To me, a Disney fireworks show should be able to convey emotions through every part of the show, it should be able to tell a story.

Well, you have to realize that the entire soundtrack is an edited version of HalloWishes from WDW. That show actually did have a story, of a sort. It was basically a big Halloween party that all the Villains get invited to. Some of that (the extra Villains and the doorbell sound effects) was removed. I don't hate the Hallowishes music, but I think the response it gets from Disneylanders vs WDW fans shows that what works on one coast, doesn't necessarily work on both. To Mark Hammond's (the composer) defense, I believe it was one of his first projects for Disney, and his work since has dramatically improved (Jubilation for TDR is magnificent, and WoC could potentially be a tour de force).

As for Magical, I really liked its music. Some were complaining that they didn't just use the original tracks from the movies, but can you imagine how bad that would sound all stitched together? Not just terrible, but boring. What's so wrong with hearing new interpretations of classics, rather than the same recordings over and over?

I also believe that they will be moving and repaving and making space/room for more guest space. As it is, many nights are jam packed and even those not viewing the fireworks have a hard time getting through. We are already seeing evidence of Disney taking action on this by Paradise Pier's tiered extended viewing area for the lagoon's new show.

Huh? If you're suggesting they pave over the hub, that will never happen. There is really no space to create more viewing space for guests. Rather, what has to happen is that crowds need to be more evenly divided between DCA and DL. DCA needs to do everything in its power to keep guests from racing across the Esplanade to see the fireworks, by providing amazing night entertainment that can't be passed up. WoC is the first big step, but there needs to be more. And things have to be scheduled concurrently between the parks, force guests to choose what they most want to see.

I'm hoping they use the World of Color area for fireworks too.

Not gonna happen, except maybe (MAYBE!) New Years. Even then, I'm thinking no. DCA has proven that pyro is a no go due to its design. Unless you're saying use the viewing area for DL fireworks viewing, but I don't think it'd be a good view at all. And it would be random to have the music pumped in.

[vfire]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

Errr . . . well back onto the main topic of the actual fireworks, I think Disney is somewhat swerving off track with what it's done with its recent shows. Their Halloween show is a mash up of remixed Disney songs. Their celebration fireworks were not my favorite either.

To me, a Disney fireworks show should be able to convey emotions through every part of the show, it should be able to tell a story. I know I'm going to a usual pick but Remember Dreams Come True does this through and through. It evokes memories of everything that has happened to make it great. It has a story told through the various sound clips of the attractions of taking you through the park and the magic that you felt or still do feel when you experience the attractions.

So to actually answer the OP's question, I think the "What's next?" for fireworks should be story telling. That doesn't mean rehash a Disney movie, if you use a couple characters fine, but make it have it's own story. I also believe that they will be moving and repaving and making space/room for more guest space. As it is, many nights are jam packed and even those not viewing the fireworks have a hard time getting through. We are already seeing evidence of Disney taking action on this by Paradise Pier's tiered extended viewing area for the lagoon's new show.

What he/she said, someone gets it exactly. Thanks for saving me the time from having to type the same response.

[vfire]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

As for Magical, I really liked its music. Some were complaining that they didn't just use the original tracks from the movies, but can you imagine how bad that would sound all stitched together? Not just terrible, but boring. What's so wrong with hearing new interpretations of classics, rather than the same recordings over and over?

The music for Magical was one of the many reasons why the show was underwhelming at best and a failure at worst. The original recordings are what make the connection to our nostalgic feelings for Disney, and modernized remixes takes us away from them. The reinterpretation of Baby Mine was awful, and points to the problem of having one singer trying to catch the range of such a disparate array of song styles. It just can't be done well. Magical even rerecorded original dialogue like Gepetto's, who was almost unrecognizable until the end of his spiel. RDCT is the go-to template for remixing classic music and tunes so they flow fluidly while staying true to the original.

[Bob Weaver]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHN8rcD0cAA"]YouTube - 2007-2008 Taipei 101 Firework | ??101?????[/ame]

[brenden]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I'm really pleased with the new additions (spotlights, ROA viewing, etc.) and I hope they incorporate these elements into shows in the future. I also like how they've taken the time to update the viewing experience by ISAW for each show...hopefully they add more elements around ROA to keep guests over there after the first F! showing.

Although, I hope they don't start stringing things up on the wire every chance they get. I didn't find the addition of Dumbo that interesting, but Zero works out well.

[WestsideCM99]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

HD Projected images seem to be the hot thing these days. Perhaps they will incorporate this kind of technology to enhance the castle and the main street buildings for future fireworks shows:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owlzVqoriyo]YouTube - APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment[/ame]

[brenden]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

HD Projected images seem to be the hot thing these days. Perhaps they will incorporate this kind of technology to enhance the castle and the main street buildings for future fireworks shows:

YouTube - APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment

Since they've already done this with IASW, I could see this happening in the future. Although I think the castle lighting is beautiful as is.

[Broadway Guru]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I know this was a much longer post, but this is the one part that stuck out at me.

Do you think they will ever have a show planned from the start with more viewing locations in mind beyond the Castle and IASW?

They used to. It was called "Fantasy in the Sky" and it ran for 40 years. I'm not going to quibble about its removal; it needed to go, but what else needs to go are these shows that only look good from one or two specific locations. When it was time for FitS (Oh, great, another punny acronym! :geek all you had to do was find the nearest bench or just pause and look up, no matter where you were in DL!

These location-specific shows are what create most of the crowding on Main Street, as well as the dreaded Hub traffic (which I've discovered the CM's call "the Circle of Death"). And let's not forget having to funnel all those hordes of people backstage afterwards--very bad show! Fantasmic had its own crowd control problems, but one could deal w/ it by avoiding that one area. Now, together w/ the fireworks, it creates a 1-2 punch that makes most of the Park unnavigable for several hours each night.

I'd rather have a simple fireworks show that permits traffic to flow freely than another of Mr. Davidson's spectaculars making the Park resemble Shinjuku Station.

[AaronInCal]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

While the current fireworks shows are best viewed from Main St and cause huge crowd problems, I think Disney has realized that these shows are also really bringing in the people, too. So it will force them to be more creative and try to make the show a more complete experience throughout the park. Using the mist screens at the Rivers of America and the projections on Small World is a start. Hopefully they continue to expand on this.

[hurricanefreak]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I belive that some pyro and light effects should be added to the Rivers of America. There is one big problem with the new effects and the start of the show for Halloween Screams at the Rivers of America the lights remain on for a while when the show starts. people tend to leave and casing even more congestion occuring at Main Street. After that happens at keast 1/5 of the people get stuck and casues the worst type of congestion I have seen at the park during non holidays or peek peroids.

[AtomicBear]

Re: The future of Fireworks?

I belive that some pyro and light effects should be added to the Rivers of America. There is one big problem with the new effects and the start of the show for Halloween Screams at the Rivers of America the lights remain on for a while when the show starts. people tend to leave and casing even more congestion occuring at Main Street. After that happens at keast 1/5 of the people get stuck and casues the worst type of congestion I have seen at the park during non holidays or peek peroids.

Sounds good. I wonder if the busy Christmas Time will also use the Rivers of America location as well.