“Each of us has a dream…All we have to do is look inside our hearts and unlock the magic.”
WOW! Were you there? Did you see it?
Happily Ever After at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
We’re talking about Happily Ever After, which debuted last night. The brand new night time show at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom combines fireworks, lighting effects, lasers, castle projections, and music into one truly spectacular show.
Truth be told, we are a little sad to say goodbye to its predecessor, Wishes. I mean, we all practically grew up with it, right? But this show is fantastic, and you’ve gotta see it!
Not at Magic Kingdom? Well, you’re in luck. We’re bringing you the highlights and our secrets for seeing the show in our latest DFB Video!!
We were there early in the evening as the park began to fill up.
The Crowds Gather Early
It was an absolutely gorgeous night at Magic Kingdom!
It’s a Gorgeous Magic Kingdom Night!
Branding for Happily Ever After is already in place around the park. Framed posters greeted guests at the train station. (Oh, and just to clarify, it’s sponsored by Pandora the jewelry company, not Pandora the Animal Kingdom land. ;-D)
Happily Ever After Poster
The Fireworks Dessert Party at Tomorrowland Terrace is still in full swing, just with a different title.
New Sign for Happily Ever After Fireworks Dessert Party
And while we saw a disturbing lack of Happily Ever After cupcakes ;-), there was some cool merch available already, like ball caps and t-shirts.
Happily Ever After Hat
Happily Ever After Shirts
But of course, you’re here to see the show. It’s just about go time!
It’s Almost Tiiiiiiiime!!!
If you’re showing up expecting just fireworks, you’re in for a huge surprise. Happily Ever After combines tons of different elements to create a show unlike anything else.
Lasers, Lights, and Castle
Disney also had brand new renderings completed of some of its most beloved characters, so there’s truly so much new to discover in this show.
We loved seeing such a rich history of characters! Classics like The Lion King and Aladdin make appearances, in addition to dozens of others. But the projections that transformed the castle stole the show.
Happily Ever After
And of course there was some Frozen action.
Happily Ever After
A favorite were the tumbling castle of blocks that the crew from Toy Story put together. But equally stunning were scenes from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Brave, Tangled (lanterns!!), and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Castle Projections — Happily Ever After
In total, there are scenes and music from more than 25 Disney films in the 18-minute show.
Castle Projection — Happily Ever After
And here’s some great news — TINK still flies across the sky! Yay!! Because seriously, you need a little pixie dust if you’re gonna have your own happily ever after.
The Big Bang! Happily Ever After
There’s been a ton of anticipation around this show, so what do you think? Don’t forget to take a look at our video with our secrets for getting the best experience at the show!
But what do you think? Is Happily Ever After a fitting Disney Kiss Good night? Leave a comment and tell us how you feel about the new show!
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We leave for Disney tomorrow and looking forward to check it out 🙂
my family and I will be there for Mickey’s Christmas ( our first Disney trip ) and the castle looks beautiful! I cannot wait to see it in person. Everyone is so excited!
Were there any montages from Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, or Pinocchio?
I have to admit – between this new show and the early word on Pandora, my faith in Disney is being restored. They’re responding to Harry Potter world in nice fashion – my hopes for Star Wars Land are rising.
Is there still a viewing area reserved for wheelchairs/ECVs? If so, where?
I’m disappointed that you’ll have to sit in front of castle in order to see the full show, I liked sitting in frontier land avoiding large crowds. But the show looks amazing!
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m hoping to get dessert party tickets next week but if not, I may just suck it up and plant myself in the hub for hours.
Hey! I did it for Return of the Jedi back in 1983 so why not?
We usually don’t stay in the parks long enough for the fireworks, but this looks like a must do!
Watched the debut online and was highly impressed. I can not wait to be able to experience this in person. A fireworks show is ok to me, but I can get tired of that. When you include it into a show with special effects and lasers, that is something I would want to see over and over again.
Wow! Amazing! My head is spinning with all of the new things going on at the world. It’s a little overwhelming……
Saw that months ago, it’s not bad. They demo’d it at a dvc event.
Just curious if you have the ‘tips and secrets’ in text somewhere. I don’t want to watch the show on video before we go. I want to see it in person for the next time. Thanks for your help!! ❤
Well, after viewing it on my computer, next trip is Sep then Jan, I wasn’t totally impressed. I was with the quality/quantity of the projections, but the music/singing was about 3 levels below the rest of the show quality wise. It did seem to move quicker than Wishes did with continual fireworks coinciding with the lasers and projections, so in that respect it was “busier”. The addition of more scenes via projection were a welcome addition although they left out some classics, say…… MICKEY! So to me its seemed to be a major jump forward into projection/lasers via technology while trying to include more movie scenes, but what it gained in that aspect it lost with in my opinion, a poor soundtrack and the ability to view it from more locales.
Under the first picture it says….Happily Ever After at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom….instead of Magic Kingdom….oooops
Please do a review of the dessert party.
Curious if what the view of Happily Ever After is like from the Dessert Party areas (Garden or Tomorrowland Terrace)
We went 7/13 and it was fantastic. What a technological feat. I didn’t know where to look – there were amazing images and sounds going on everywhere. It was truly entrancing and I have to admit I was again so encouraged by Disney brand encouraging kids to find out what’s in their hearts (and what their interests are) and find their dreams and take steps to make it a reality. Such a great philosophy!!