Such fun times! As a “friend” of the design team, I’ve been from the bottom of the puppet pit on the island to the top of the Matterhorn for different projects. So many wonderful memories on the many variations of Fantasmic!
I was 100% going to suggest eating dinner at MillView Lane while they are rigging the Columbia after it docks! We were there this weekend and had such a blast watching the crew and listening to them prep for the show. Then, we watched the engineers in their boats along the river. The little one with me actually called out and waved to one of them and said, "Whatcha doin' Mister?" He was so sweet. He stopped what he was doing, drove his boat over (a modern one) and said, "Shhhh, don't tell Mickey or his little friends here (pointing to all of the ducks that had started roosting) but I'm just taking a break and fishing before the show tonight. He thinks I'm fixing the lights, but I'm just looking for dinner." I got a feeling that that wasn't a regular thing and that man probably didn't get approached very often. I don't think he's really meant to be seen. But it was a real kick to see that was we waited for the show that night. Our little one is on the spectrum and we needed that quiet and distraction. Too bad it was later totally ruined by a couple of insanely loud chatter boxes going on an on about nonsense. One of them even said she was 'Queen of Disney" or something. She was not a cast member, but she had on some ridiculous outfit and she and her buddies were yammering for a good 30 minutes. She seemed super entitled and annoying. The lady at the table next to us even said she was about to go up to them and ask them to keep it down or go elsewhere, but they thankfully left. It's such a lovely quiet spot that people overlook. There aren't many of those places left in the park.
Thank you for taking the time to detail and film all the elements of this show! It is one of my favorites and I definitely appreciate all of the technology and team members that make it happen. 😊
This video is incredible for Fantasmic and show equipment nerds. Amazing work covering all the details. The setup work and manpower for this show is just unreal.
I’ve been trying to figure out for years where the barges are stored after the Galaxy’s Edge renovation, this video is the first time I’ve found the answer! Thanks for all of the amazing trivia and behind the scenes detail!
Extremely well done video! I am a disney parks show fan as well as in the entertainment technology industry doing lighting, audio, and video. I did want to point out some other cool things about Fantasmic. The black push boat is acctually the specific width neeeded to fill the distance between the island and the Columbia for the black stairs seen earlier in the video to get cast and crew off of the Columbia. If you stand at the fence line infront of the Davey Crocket Canoos you can actually talk with cast and crew during the show. The 3 black dance boats were replaced during the transition from Fantasmic 1.0 to 2.0 . The old set was sent to Animal Kingdom for The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic. Just before the crew goes below deck you can yell "Have a good pass" and they will yell back thankyou and once the first pass of the show has been done the top of King Louie's throne comes off and becomes Ariels rock. Prince Eric has to carry her to the boat as well as carry her to the front of the Mark Twain once on the other side. Also during the transition from the monkeys to the princesses the corner torches will be changed to match each princess so next time you see the dance boats take a look. One last fun thing to do is there is a small path from Davey Crockets Canoos to the birth of the Columbia and as soon as you see the pirate flag on the Columbia start to move forward you can run that path and see the entire crowd watching Fantasmic and when the canon fires you see the whole crowd jump. The way I can describe it is if you ever saw someone throw a bowling ball backwards in Wii Sports and you see all of the caracters jump, it is just like that. I would like to chime in on the possible reason why Murphy is not out as well as Alladin and Jasmine's carpet and Malifecent's Cauldron are not coming out is most likely due to budget reasons I believe it took a lot more crew to put the cauldron on the lift as well as run the magic carpet and to run Murphy. This is my guess. Anyways thank you again for this video it was wonderful!
The amount that Disney puts into their shows is absolutely jaw dropping…. It is amazing how much work has to be done to entertain guests. Thank you for this amazing video
Maybe Aladdin and Jasmine should be given a boat like all the other couples in that sequence if the magic carpet isn't coming back anytime soon. I was wondering where it was, but it makes sense that it may have been damaged beyond repair when the dragon burned. I wonder if the Tick Tock crocodile float still exists? Because currently he's just a projection during the Peter Pan sequence. Very cool video though, I was hoping someone would making a video discussing Fantasmic behind-the-scenes!
Apparently, the building that houses all of the Fantasmic hardware doesn’t have room for the crocodile anymore… with this in mind, I don’t think it could house another barge for Aladdin/Jasmine.
The fact that the Aladdin segment doesn't have a barge is probably better because it points to the original effect returning rather than being replaced by the barge. Also I believe the Tick Tock croc animatronic was a jet ski shell (though I could be wrong) and they probably don't like doing those anymore. Also the croc animatronic was massive and doesn't fit beneath the bridge to the storage bay anymore.
this was amazing!! as a former cast member of fantastic in Hollywood Studios, you were spot on. People have no idea how much work and how many cast members make these shows happen. :)
The Technical Crew is underappreciated, but I think they are very dedicated team and very talented and do just as much, if not more, work than the cast at set-up, rehearsals, and strikes. I wish in theatrical shows, the crew got more appreciation by the audience.
Noone talks about if you hang out at hungry bear patios between 6:30-7:30 you’ll see all the costume carts and performers going to the island. Performers are in all black some carry wig buckets, dressers are in blue and you’ll see the stunt team as well for Peter Pan
I am curious how they get performers onto the Twain. Like if they have a switch track to bring it very close to the eastern dock, or use a platform to bridge the gap. Some other details I've noticed: the props and equipment used on the Twain are probably hidden in various compartments on the Twain during the day. So you might be just 10 feet away from Steamboat Mickey's helm (and maybe the head or entire costume) during the day and never know it. Also, that small hill between the Island and Big Thunder perfectly obscures the view of the Mark Twain from Big Thunder Trail as they prep it for Fantasmic. That seems very intentional of Disney Imagineering.
this is an incredibly neat deep dive on fantasmic but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed they bring some version of Murphy back. Maleficient getting extremely tall is just weird.
i am a technaicl theatre studnet and i now need to go see all of this in person thank you for doign this. i have always wondered how they hide things for these shows
Fun fact... my husband is also OBSESSED with the lighting and wants to start an instagram page with just lighting and audio and tech info from disney parks
I always wanted a detailed Island like that. I know you could go on the stage area before a time, because there is a video on RU-vid. Maybe you can colaborate with that RU-vidr. Awesome Video, thumbs up
They are a mix of Clay Paky Alpha Washes, and Alpha Profiles. Acclaim Lighting DynaDrums, ColorKinetics ColorBlasts, and a bunch of other random fixtures.
Some info gather from the internet Towers next to the stage(each) 2x Robe BMFL Washbeam 12x Robe MMX Washbeam(w/ in Air kit) Stage Centre(on trolley) 5x Clay Paky Scenius profile Stage front 1x Clay Paky spheriscan Tower on the auditorium(each) 2x Elation Proteus Brutus(Original Robe BMFL Washbeam, it should be updated recently) A bunch of Robe BMFL Blade Acclaim DyanDrums Robe Colourstrobe Somesay there are Clay Paky SuperSharpy at the back of the stage but no photo evidence can be found. Power is the key for shows have such huge stage:)
I’m disappointed you didn’t mention the lighting towers located on Tom Sawyer island, such as the two large crates on either side of the stage. Honestly Fantasmic at Disneyland is way better than the Fantasmic at Disneyworld because of the technical aspects you’ve demonstrated. I love dual purpose design.
Well the show is just as good but yes the actual prep work that Disneyland has to do is so cool. It’s nice Disney world doesn’t have to do this every single day and their stage is just always ready to go with minor set up
· Shared with Public hi ho hi ho hope this works, hey Genie your the big Gen, do you know, do you have, any spar flying carpets just lying around your place your not using ? remember you, did say you the big Gen, you could get me, anything, I needed, just not love, and them other things, giggles. Hey sir you got a dragon locked away, in a dusty cave somewhere you're not in need of "OH MY", I know, that Mickey here at Disneyland Park, "Yes I am, sure Mickey could use one of them, if you got one. Rubs The Magic Lamp thinking we need some help here. Genie.
Yes it’s a lift. That platform covers the opening in the roof that it rises out of. Also the large box with the handles in the video contains moving lights not pyro.
