After Harmonious launched in Epcot, I wrote a scathing review of the lackluster show. The idea that it significantly under-performed a decades-old predecessor was very disappointing. But surely the new fireworks show at Cinderella Castle, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Walt Disney World, would be better. Well, the media were invited for a special showing last night, and here are my thoughts, along with many who were there or watched the live stream:
To start, let’s identify that the new show, Disney Enchantment, is replacing Happily Ever After. HEA was a tremendous fireworks show that introduced many new concepts to the Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular. HEA had, itself, replaced Wishes, a beloved fireworks show that had been performed at Magic Kingdom for more than a decade. So one would think that Disney Enchantment would really be something special. One would be wrong.
#DisneyEnchantment is an alarmingly disrespectful downgrade from Happily Ever After. There’s no cohesion, there’s no story, there’s no sense of belonging and memory. I’m impressively disappointed. #DisneyWorld50
— Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District (@Schmoofy) October 1, 2021
Can't believe Happily Ever After died for this#DisneyWorld50 #DisneyEnchantment
— BlogMickey.com (@Blog_Mickey) October 1, 2021
Happily Ever After mixed together GO THE DISTANCE and MUFASA’S VOICE. That 30 seconds in the show was a better show than ALL of #DisneyEnchantment #DisneyWorld50
— Bretral Florida Tourism Oversight District (@Schmoofy) October 1, 2021
The Main Street projections that are new for this year are lackluster. The “celebration” of Disney World’s fifty years is nothing more than a relay of popular songs from the past fifteen years of Disney animation. There are zero callbacks to Disney World attractions. There are zero quotes from Walt Disney or Roy Disney. There is no feature of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and very little in the way of classic characters represented. I have absolutely nothing against Moana — in fact, it’s a tremendously good film — but there’s something odd when a show supposedly celebrating Disney World has a huge portion devoted to a recent film, and nothing at all devoted to Walt Disney World. Even Tinker Bell is an afterthought in this show.
If it’s your very first time to Magic Kingdom, you’ll probably enjoy Disney Enchanted. If you’ve been before, there’s a good chance you’ll be underwhelmed. And knowing what could have been is frustrating. The show could have referenced older shows, it could have projected the Main Street Electrical Parade aesthetic onto the castle and Main Street with the Baroque Hoedown. It could have begun with an opening day quote from Roy Disney. Instead, it’s a slideshow of recent Disney songs. There’s no narrative here, just like with Harmonious.
Is it as bad as Epcot’s new show? No. But yet again, something is amiss at Disney Imagineering.
Ok I was really looking forward to this thing, but this is just not good. When can we get Happily Ever After back?#DisneyEnchantment #WaltDisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/9rBp7XIAaS
— Dylan (@DudeSkipper) October 1, 2021
Y’all remember this mess? Well #Enchainment is the cake castle in the nighttime show form… #DisneyEnchantment pic.twitter.com/K48ePEunKo
— redknight58 (@the_tta) October 1, 2021
