Fantasmic! takes another step towards its long-awaited return to Walt Disney World

Jul 20, 2022 in "Fantasmic!"

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Posted: Wednesday July 20, 2022 7:19am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World's Fantasmic! is taking another step towards its return this week as crews run through firework tests at the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater.

Fantasmic! overview

After numerous delays, Disney is still to announce an opening date for Fantasmic!, but the company says the show will return this year. We expect to see the show make a fall 2022 debut, giving Disney a much-needed marketing opportunity for the latter months of the year.

The refreshed Fantasmic! will feature a new show sequence featuring Disney characters – Mulan, Elsa, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Moana – in heroic moments, as well as new technical enhancements. The new scene will replace the existing Pocahontas segment.

Aerial view of Fantasmic at the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater

Work has been underway on refurbishing almost all areas of the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, which includes new lighting systems, new fountains, and a rebuild of Steamboat Mickey.

Fantasmic! overview

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gerarar18 days ago

Yesterday (11/3) marked 2 years since Fantasmic! returned to Hollywood Studios with a refreshed action segment, updated lighting, lasers, projections, pyro, fountains, etc. And funny enough, last night had the best kind of F! fail – Sorcerer Mickey was missing on top the mountain in the finale! Also as a bonus, just a few nights before (11/1), the second show at 9:30pm had double pyro since the pyro from the first show was pulled due to high winds during the performance.

Squishy27 days ago

No spinners in the finale, did they end up getting pulled after one of them exploded?

gerarar27 days ago

Good to see Belle on the steamboat in the finale! Usually if something happens to a CM earlier in the show (mostly Aladdin if he misses his jump), they are pulled from the finale.

TheCoasterNerd27 days ago

Another angle of the crash

gerarar27 days ago

Kinda cool F! fail happened tonight (10/24 8pm). It rarely happens (and captured on video), but the barges bumped each other head-on during the princess segment. When this happens, the CMs stop their dance choreography and revert to their still-pose when the Evil Queen shows up later. Uncut video from their story which shows more of the initial crash and dance reset.

ToTBellHopJul 19, 2024

“Are the powers of Mountain’s incredible imagination strong enough and bright enough to withstand the evil forces that invade Mountain’s dream? You are about to find out. For we now invite you to join Mountain and experience Fantasmount! A journey beyond your wildest imagination.”

gerararJul 19, 2024

A fun F! fail occurred during tonight's (7/18) 10:30pm show. Sorcerer Mickey was missing atop the mountain during the finale as the lift probably malfunctioned live during the show. The supposed B-mode in this situation would be Sorcerer Mickey at the bottom of the stage doing the choreography dance (no Tuxedo Mickey in this case). It's very rare to see this kind of tech fail happen, and especially captured on video! As a side note, the finale pyro, mainly the barge comets and mimes, haven't been working for the past couple weeks. They are supposedly being refurbished currently. Livestream (timestamp embedded):

Disney MadduxMar 21, 2024

Well... I saw the second-to-last Fantasmic right before covid shut everything down. After waiting for 3 years (no longer a passholder), I was finally going to see Fantasmic again at the end of a long-planned Hollywood Studios day with friends (that was also supposed to happen before covid). Got the dining package, and... Show cancelled because of a storm. Now today, after a fun day mostly at Epcot for a friend's birthday, we decided to end it by headed to DHS and seeing Fantasmic, as they had never seen it before. Got front row seats, and all I can say is: Just as, if not more beautiful than the day I last saw it. Absolutely loved the new scenes, the fountains actually being used well now throughout the entire show, and that new lighting??? Phenomenal. Well worth the wait.

SquishyMar 06, 2024

The DCA frozen show was using blacktrax I think.

gerararMar 06, 2024

I'm pretty sure they use the manual spots that are on those scissor lifts in the back and on top of the control booth, which are used during the intro, princess medley, Aladdin, etc. For Moana, I believe they use a combo of manual spots and lights on the overhead rigs that are time coded. Can see in this screenshot that one manual spot operated by a tech in the back stays on Moana through her run across the stage and until the "I Am Moana" lyric. Blacktrax would be interesting and nice, but they don't even use those in the stage shows at DL and WDW afaik.

SquishyMar 06, 2024

I believe they're using blacktrax to track the performer, not manual tracking.

DCBakerFeb 23, 2024

Beginning March 10, Fantasmic! moves to an 8:30pm showtime through April 23. For the week of March 10 (except March 13 due to an After Hours event), the second showing of Fantasmic! is scheduled for 10pm.

RhinocerousJan 31, 2024

I have no knowledge of how the Fantasmic lights are set up. In modern theatrical lighting design, follow spots will typically be tied into specific light cues, the same as any other lighting instrument. The Fantasmic lights may very well be synchronized to the musical score, which would result in the light “timing off” when the cue changed.

gerararJan 30, 2024

Moana dropped the Heart of Te Fiti during her segment. Thought this was a pretty cool fail as the manual followspot stayed on her as she backtracked to pick up the prop. Interesting thing to note are the followspots are on a timer, rather than controlled by the tech operating it, since it turned off before the CM could finish their run across the stage. The static lights still ran as normal even though no one was there on cue.