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Good evening Micechat, I have been lurking this site for a while now and decided to join, I work in Disneys pyro department and I'd like to share with you all how we bring you our show and some of the procedures along with the show. I have seen many threads and questions reguarding our show so here is some cool tidbits and info you'll find enjoyable....
While I cant say the name of the company we get our pyro from, I can say that the 25 foot truck we get backing up daily is full of pyro boxes for us to sort out and load, unloading from truck takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on what show we're loading for. Pyros are ordered on a daily basis. All our shows are governd by the ATF. Loading a show can take 6-8 hours, we start loading at 11 am or sometimes noon, getting pyro loaded is first priority, the senior techs on the crew while we load check to make sure our system is running smoothly without any issues, also they make sure each timer is set appropriately. anytime after 8 PM is considered showtime, this is when the crew gets in their dedicated positions, the backstage crew goes for cover in covered areas or as we call them, pyro bunkers, to protect us from fallout, he senior techs test wind direction and wind speed leading up to showtime, one our many test stations is atop of Matterhorn mountain, we also release big white balloons to determine which way the wind takes it. Wind direction and speed are key to our firework show, state regulation says any wind speed at more than 30 miles and hour and we must cancel the show but Disney has it set at a wind speed of 20 miles and hour due to the distance of mortar to audience, speaking of mortar to audience ever wonder why certain areas of the park are blocked off? Thats because we must have a clerance space of 100 feet from mortar to audience. Disney also has the ability to aim the mortar tubes according to what the wind is doing, if the wind is breezing east and it may be and issue, they can mechanically aim the tubes west. Our fallout radius varrys from show to show, sometimes its a radius of 600 feet and sometimes we narrow it down to 300 feet, like I said, it all depends on what the wind is doing. During the show everyone is in contact with one another, the backstage crew is responsible for getting fallout info to show control, it can be exciting to listen to cannons going off for 15 minutes but it can also be very dangerous, training for pyro department is a long and tiring process, I have witnessed people being burnt from fallout, its a very demanding job. Anything else your interested in knowing, please ask and I will do my best to answer, I cant answer it all but some I can
While I cant say the name of the company we get our pyro from, I can say that the 25 foot truck we get backing up daily is full of pyro boxes for us to sort out and load, unloading from truck takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on what show we're loading for. Pyros are ordered on a daily basis. All our shows are governd by the ATF. Loading a show can take 6-8 hours, we start loading at 11 am or sometimes noon, getting pyro loaded is first priority, the senior techs on the crew while we load check to make sure our system is running smoothly without any issues, also they make sure each timer is set appropriately. anytime after 8 PM is considered showtime, this is when the crew gets in their dedicated positions, the backstage crew goes for cover in covered areas or as we call them, pyro bunkers, to protect us from fallout, he senior techs test wind direction and wind speed leading up to showtime, one our many test stations is atop of Matterhorn mountain, we also release big white balloons to determine which way the wind takes it. Wind direction and speed are key to our firework show, state regulation says any wind speed at more than 30 miles and hour and we must cancel the show but Disney has it set at a wind speed of 20 miles and hour due to the distance of mortar to audience, speaking of mortar to audience ever wonder why certain areas of the park are blocked off? Thats because we must have a clerance space of 100 feet from mortar to audience. Disney also has the ability to aim the mortar tubes according to what the wind is doing, if the wind is breezing east and it may be and issue, they can mechanically aim the tubes west. Our fallout radius varrys from show to show, sometimes its a radius of 600 feet and sometimes we narrow it down to 300 feet, like I said, it all depends on what the wind is doing. During the show everyone is in contact with one another, the backstage crew is responsible for getting fallout info to show control, it can be exciting to listen to cannons going off for 15 minutes but it can also be very dangerous, training for pyro department is a long and tiring process, I have witnessed people being burnt from fallout, its a very demanding job. Anything else your interested in knowing, please ask and I will do my best to answer, I cant answer it all but some I can
I'm wondering if they really have to explode all of the fireworks after hours if the show doesn't go off the previous night due to high winds etc. I'm also hoping that they can tweak the three shells that make up the Mickey face so that a much larger shell makes up the face and two smaller ones make up the ears. I've heard the timing on Mickey is extremely tricky and I've seen all sorts of variations on it. I think Mickey really looked a bit more like Mickey a couple of years ago, but for the last few months, his ears and face look to be about the same size, or his ears don't quite meet the head before everything fades. I still have no idea how you folks manage to put together such and AMAZING show every night and get the timing down so that it matches the music. I know it's done with the computer, but I'm still astounded at how accurate these bursts can be. Keep up the good work and please pass along the many thanks and compliments to your co-workers! 
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