Fantasmic (Disneyland – 1992)
“Welcome to Fantasmic! Tonight, our friend and host Mickey Mouse uses his vivid imagination to create magical imagery for all to enjoy. Nothing is more wonderful than the imagination – for in a moment, you can experience a beautiful fantasy or an exciting adventure! But beware… nothing is more powerful than the imagination – for it can also expand your greatest fears into an overwhelming nightmare! Are the powers of Mickey’s incredible imagination strong enough and bright enough to withstand the evil forces that invade Mickey’s dream? You are about to find out...”
It all begins with a single note; a whistle on the wind, reverberating throughout Frontierland and New Orleans Square. You may not even notice it until an orchestra slowly, gradually joins, matching its pitch… That note grows louder and truer until, in a flurry of trumpets, a light erupts across the water, sending a column of white jutting into the sky. Then, it’s joined by white spotlights, rising from the ground and scanning horizontally across the waterfront. “Imagination; dream a fantastic dream!”
With another dazzle of trumpets, the column of light is extinguished with Mickey Mouse himself standing where it was. Dressed as a conductor, Mickey races toward the water, hops onto a pedestal, and begins… well… conducting. At his command, fountains leap from the water. Perfectly orchestrated to Bruce Healey’s sweeping and energetic score, the fountains rise and fall, changing colors and “dancing” (six years before Las Vegas’ Bellagio popularized the image, mind you).
Mickey’s tireless imagination sees him shoot sparks from his fingers, then with a sweep of his hand, mist curtains explode out from the water as our shows moves to water screens. Onward we trek through Sorcerer Mickey’s control of the cosmos from Fantasia, until reigning sparks from colliding stars bring us to Act I.
“See it in your mind, and you can find / in your imagination / mysteries and magic / visions fantastic / leading to strange and wondrous dreams…”
Viewed through a kaleidoscope of flowers on the water screen, a real, gigantic flower appears on stage. Its petals flutter open and closed as a massive, 12-segment snake – Kaa from The Jungle Book – appears around it, slithering across the tiered platform. In cue with the music, the snake’s eyes flicker on with piercing beams that search the crowd as it slithers… Three torch-adorned rafts of monkeys (including King Louie himself) lit in otherworldly, blacklight appear from the darkness, encircling the island.
Then, in a flash, the water screens reappear, now with a rock-influenced take on Dumbo’s “Pink Elephants on Parade.” Trippy, psychedelic images of elephants, abstract patterns, and bubbles float as blacklight creatures dance behind them on stage.
Then, the creatures turn out of sight, disappearing into the night just as Pinocchio and two other marionette appear, supported by thirty-foot high wires. A polka version of “I’ve Got No Strings” plays as the puppet’s strings flicker on and off.
But Pinocchio‘s appearance leads to our next stop in “strange and wondrous dreams”: the deep sea, where Cleo the goldfish from Pinocchio meets Jiminy Cricket inside of a floating bubble. As it begins to fill with water, schooling fish swim by the eye of Monstro the whale. As the whale breaches, it creates a whirlpool pulling Sorcerer Mickey under. A storm sees a ship riding – sails tattered – against burgeoning waves… Lightning strikes, and then…
CRACK! Firing its cannon, the Columbia has appeared from nowhere, its masts and sails aglow in the fog. But it’s not the Columbia anymore… It’s been transformed, flying the flag of Captain Hook’s Jolly Roger. As Peter Pan’s theme begins, the massive sailing ship circumnavigates the island while, on board, Peter, Hook, Wendy, and the pirate crew engage in high-wire stunt work, fighting, swinging, and sliding among the ship’s masts and nets! As Hook helplessly dangles over the waiting mouth of a following Tick Tock the Crocodile and the adventurous Fantasmic score echoes, our scene changes…
“See it in your mind and you can find / in your imagination / tales of enchantment / beauty and romance / happily ever after…”
Now, three rafts emerge from the darkness, each adorned with white light embellishments matching the couple they carry – roses for Belle and the Beast, coral for Ariel and Eric, and flowers Snow White and Prince Charming. Belle and the Beast dance together, leading to The Little Mermaid‘s raft: “What would I give if I could live out of these waters? / In your imagination… / What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand? / Dream a fantastic dream…” As the Princess’ songs interweave into Fantasmic’s, the heroines disappear once more into the darkness as the music takes on a minor key…
Snow White‘s Evil Queen appears, summoning the Magic Mirror on the mist screens. “Fame is thy beauty, majesty… But hold… Three lovelier maids I see. And here, in Mickey’s imagination, beauty and love will always survive.” Incensed, the Queen races to her cauldron, spilling fog. With the recitation of a spell, fireworks burst from the pot concealing the Queen’s transformation into the Old Hag. “Now I’ll turn that little mouse’s dream into a nightmare fantasmic! Imagine this,” she cackles as she calls upon the darkness… “Magic Mirror on the wall, all the forces of evil I call…”
The Mirror grants her “the power to control his mind” as Ursula from The Little Mermaid reprises her song as a giant Ursula animatronic circles the river. “Beluga sevruga indeed! Ursula will take matters into her own tentacles! Mickey Mouse’s mind will be mine. Then I’ll make him writhe… I’ll see him wriggle like a worm on a hook! Why not? Let’s do it!”
Ursula’s eyes transform on the water screen into those of the Chernabog, the demonic creature from Fantasia’s “Night on Bald Mountain” segment. Ghosts and skeletons sweep across the water screens, surrounding the island in a flurry of supernatural specters. But as the Chernabog’s on-screen fire is overcome with real flames from behind, the water screens dissipate to reveal Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty‘s Mistress of Evil herself. “Now you will deal with me,” she laughs, “and all the powers of my imagination!” With a wave of her wand, an explosion sends Mickey recoiling backwards, cowering.
The water screens rise again, showing Maleficent’s transformation into a dragon… but as the fountains recede, we see the Dragon itself, brought to life on the island. A massive puppet with a head on a cherry picker and two wings threaded with fiber optics, she releases a breath of fire, igniting the waters of the Rivers of America. The fire spread, bubbling and roiling with immense heat until Mickey – dressed as the “Brave Little Tailor” – steps forward. Looking the Dragon right in the eye, he holds aloft his sword and speaks for the first time: “You may think you’re so powerful,” he chuckles, “but… this is my dream.”
As sparks erupt from the tip of the sword, the Dragon is thwarted. Continuous waves of rainbow energy flow into the Dragon as the triumphant Fantasmic score returns. Maleficent screams as the water screens erupt again, showing the demise of the Old Hag, Ursula, Chernabog, and Maleficent herself. Light has triumphed over darkness.
“See it in your mind and you will find / in your imagination / dreams of make believe / how could they all come true?”
Left in the darkness of an abyss, there’s no sense of place left… Until a distant twinkling signals the arrival of Tinker Bell. With a touch of her wand, huge, swirling vortexes of Pixie Dust appear… Growing closer and closer, we can see that they’re attached to the Mark Twain as it slowly makes its way around the bend.
It’s not until the music crescendoes with that familiar score that a burst of white sparks on the ship reveal a black-and-white Mickey at its helm, dressed in his “Steamboat Willie” best. The ship circumnavigates the river as dozens and dozens of Disney characters appear on board in a happily ever after finale. But even as the ship rounds the corner, disappearing again into the darkness, our journey through Mickey’s imagination isn’t finished… Sparklers and fountains overtake the river as the music continues…
“Here in your mind, it’s magic you’ll find / When out of the night dark forces ignite / to blind you with fright’ning schemes / You use your might to brighten the light / Creating a night of wondrous dreams…”
In a true crescendo of brass instruments, golden sparks erupt from atop Tom Sawyer Island’s cabin. They create a shell, disappating to reveal Sorcerer Mickey himself. In a finale that must be seen to be believes, Mickey at last orchestrates water, light, fire, lasers, and music in a tear-jerking finale, made all the better by its final seconds. As the music puncuates, golden fire overcome Mickey again, and he disappears in a blink.
At the same moment, white sparks erupt back by the water, where Mickey appears again, just as he did to start the show. The showstopping and instantaneously reappearance is enough to cause even jaded viewers to be surprised. Gesturing around like a magician eager for applause, Mickey speaks for the final time: “Some imagination, huh?”
With another burst of sparks, he disappears, leaving only the white column of light and rotating spotlights, receding into the ground exactly opposite the show’s start. They disappear into the ground, leaving only that single, solitary note… Then, a blinding final burst of green pyrotechnics illuminates Anaheim. In a poetic rise and fall, Fantasmic has returned us to New Orleans Square, which flickers back to life as crowds cheer.
In what must be the longest play-by-play in any of Park Lore’s in-depth attraction reflections, we’ve come to the end of Fantasmic as it appeared in its first two decades. Perhaps it’s all in vain, though, since Fantasmic really must be seen to be believed.
You can watch a full-length video of the (nearly) “original” Fantasmic above, or hold out for a watch through its current form on the last page… Why “original”? Because like all great Imagineering classics, Fantasmic has seen its share of “plussings”…
Imaginative upgrades
After Fantasmic’s spectacular debut in the late spring of 1992, the show proved to be even more immensely popular than Disney had expected. The waterfront of New Orleans Square would begin to fill quickly each afternoon as guests staked out spots for hours, reportedly causing not just horrendous traffic jams in the minute park, but outright fights over real estate.
In the 1992 – 93 off-season, the New Orleans Square waterfront was removed entirely and replaced by a three-tiered garden terrace – a picturesque waterside walkway alleviating crowds by day… and by night, a fitting viewing area to accommodate up to 6,000 standing guests at a time. (Which also explains why, when the Disney-MGM Studios debuted its own version of Fantasmic in 1998, it came complete with a purpose-built arena holding 6,900 guests in stadium seating and another 3,000 standing.)
In 2007 and 2008, the show was entirely digitized with new LED lighting rigs, three digital HD projectors to replace the 70mm film projectors built into the show fifteen years earlier, and new pyrotechnics barges using Disney’s patented Air-Launch Firework system.
In 2009, however, the show received its largest upgrade to date: a brand new Dragon. Replacing the simple puppet of 1992 with a full-motion, 45-foot tall Audio Animatronic capable of breathing fire, the brand new Maleficent was an attraction in its own right, the centering presence of the resort’s Summer Nightastic promotion, and one of our 25 Best Audio-Animatronics on Earth.
(Of course, we also listed the new Dragon in our list of Audio-Animatronic malfunctions given several embarrassing accidents it’s had through the years. Nicknamed “Murphy” by fans for “Murphy’s Law” – “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong,” the dragon was long delayed, frequently absent, and occasionally subject to high profile problems. That includes a 2010 incident in which it collapsed mid-show, and [contemporarily] a 2023 incident that saw the dragon catch on fire, forcing an evacuation as it melted before guests’ eyes.
Suffice it to say that even two decades after its debut, Fantasmic was already a timeless classic. Against all odds, Barnette Ricci’s show – with its Screens, Setting, Score, and Story – had done it. Sure, some Disneyland purists consider it a blight – a bright, loud, obnoxious, and outrageous production more fit for Las Vegas than New Orleans Square. In some regards, they’re right… But somehow, this larger-than-life culmination of Disneyland entertainment did become the one-to-beat in the “nighttime spectacular” genre it helped found… and arguably, hasn’t been beaten yet…
Which is not to say that the story of Fantasmic is over. Quite the opposite, we’ve got just a little more story to tell thanks to the first (and only) complete rewrite in the show’s history…