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I've seen the show probably more than anyone else out there reading this, unless there are some longstanding performers in today's reading audience. Those who read Cast Place may recall that I preferred to work as the Closing Working Lead at Cafe Orleans and French Market from 1987 to 1996, which means I saw Fantasmic from its inception through 1996 for almost every showing, except for two days a week during Summer and Christmas break, during required days off. Everything else I saw.

Assuming two shows a night, that's 376 shows a year that I saw or heard Fantasmic in the background — since there's no escaping the show in New Orleans Square — so that by the time I quit in 1996 I had experienced the show over 1500 times. That doesn't include those times when the show played three times a night, nor of the intervening six years, during which I saw the show several dozen (hundred?) times more. When I lived out of state, I sometimes put on the Fantasmic CD right at 9 and 10:30 — to do otherwise would leave a big empty spot in my schedule. It's part of me!

The recent return of Fantasmic this summer after a long hiatus at Disneyland prompted this piece, and I will argue for its supremacy in the theme park world using several criteria. But since no argument is complete if it's fully one-sided, let's look at the negatives first:

Disneyland's Fantasmic occurring on the Rivers of America shatters nighttime tranquility. In bygone years, one could take a quiet moonlit cruise on the Mark Twain. That's not possible when the show is running (and using the Twain). I think the show is better than quiet tranquility, though.

The storyline is hard to understand ("What? There's a plot?"). This is also undeniably true. For the uninitiated, the ostensible storyline is that Mickey Mouse explores his vivid imagination, and the audience witnesses several scenes from Disney movies shown via film or enacted on stage (or on barges or ships), which demonstrate Mickey's imagination running wild and jumping from one memory to another. Without warning, those evil Disney villains take over his imagination — but never fear, Mickey triumphs in the end.

Is it any wonder that the show was originally slated to be called Imagination? Listen to the theme song's lyrics — recorded before the show's name changed — and you detect the same emphasis on the word "imagination" as well. None of this translates well to the first-time or even occasional viewer; it just looks like a bunch of Disney scenes slapped together without rhyme or reason. My answer is: So what? Pirates of the Caribbean, arguably the greatest attraction, suffers from the same lack of clear storyline. People know enough when watching Fantasmic to perceive when the evil forces gain the upper hand, and it's abundantly clear when Mickey wins in the end. Emotion, at the end of the day, is all that counts.

It's an expensive show that might drain other potential alternatives out of the budget. True. At its outset, each show cost $15,000, so I imagine the shows now cost $20,000 or more to produce 22 minutes of magic. The high cost reflects not only the significant amount of pyrotechnics, but also the large cast of performers and even the veritable army of crowd control needed. Which brings me to...

The show is always overcrowded. Who wants to fight their way through possibly dangerous crowds like that? It's undeniable that some folks camp out hours early to stake a prime spot, but good seats can usually be had without wait times in the triple digits. And they do have crowd control down to a science; it's not unsafe at all. The best advice is to see the second (or third, if there is one) show of the night; it's always far less crowded.

Most of these objections are easily overcome by the show's merits. Those who have seen the show can sense the truth of this, but putting our arguments into words proves more elusive. How does one classify the emotional responses engendered by the show?

Fantasmic, already a show about magic, is all the more magical because it hides from view during the day. At Walt Disney World, an entire stadium was constructed to hold Fantasmic. While this improves sightlines for the audience, it removes the intimacy and "magic" that exists on the Disneyland stage, where innocuous streets become an amphitheater, an unused island becomes a stage, and a once-busy waterway becomes a parade route. Even the light towers essential the the show's performance retract underground during the day; there is simply no trace of what will happen later that night throughout the venue. You can even play checkers on the stage while the island is open during the daytime.

Fantasmic brilliantly combines Disneyland-only sets with Disney movies in unparalleled synergy. The Mark Twain, a steam-powered paddlewheel envisioned by Walt himself to recall the glory days of the Mississippi River, becomes the steamboat representing Steamboat Willie (the first Mickey Mouse cartoon ever aired) during Fantasmic. A masterstroke! One wonders how Walt missed this one himself.

Similarly, the Columbia, a representation of the first American ship to sail around the globe and an evocation of the pioneering American spirit, morphs during Fantasmic into Captain Hook's pirate ship and becomes the set for one of the show's most exciting and crowd-pleasing sequences: a battle between Hook and Peter Pan amid several impressive stunts. The Orlando version lacks both of these: a specially designed and much smaller Steamboat Willie is somehow less magical, and the pirate ship is replaced in Orlando with a rather long canoeing and rock-climbing sequence from Pocahontas.

Fantasmic's music is gorgeous, uplifting, inspirational - it's simply perfect. No matter which emotion is called for by the actions onstage, the music provides pitch-perfect accompaniment. Sure, much of it is recycled from the movies being portrayed, but it had to be re-arranged. Not every Disney variety show is a smash success (such as the sometimes negative responses to the more recent shows in the Fantasyland Theatre). What really shines, though, is the theme music that frames the entire show and recurs frequently. Somehow, the composers managed to harness the majesty and pacing of the all-encompassing grandeur of Epcot's music and translate that into excitement, joy, dread, exuberation, and triumph all at once. Get the music if you don't have it already - you won't be disappointed.

Fantasmic's display of technology is a case study in how to integrate new technologies in the manipulation of emotion. One of the frequent mutterings about the revised Mr. Lincoln attraction is that the aural tricks and 3-D sound are given too much weight, as if the storyline exists as an excuse for the technology to be demonstrated. Not so with Fantasmic. This show marked the first use of animation projected on water screens in America (the technique was originally developed in France by an outside company) to tell the story. Very strong fountains, shooting dozens of feet into the air, give credence to Mickey's magical powers.

Fog gives villains the appropriate setting in which to be evil. Blindingly bright pyrotechnics illustrate the powers arrayed against our hero. A very large dragon comes to life on stage as the ultimate villain. Most memorably, low-level pyrotechnics and lasers in four different colors light up the evening sky to demonstrate Mickey's superiority. Even more impressive than the application of technology, though, is the mere presence of it.

Read the above again. Can you think of other places in Disneyland with fountains 40 feet high? Mist screens? Lasers on this scale and this level of visibility? Fantasmic is magical, ultimately, because it is so unique.

Fantasmic's pacing and length are perfect. At 22 minutes, it manages to find just the right balance between too long and too short. More subtly, the emotions of the show build upon each other to an inexorable climax. Unlike the ebb and flow of a variety show such as Animazement — where the showstopper "Be Our Guest" climaxed with confetti, only to be followed by a more sedate "Under the Sea" number — Fantasmic starts slowly and builds emotion and tension consistently. The first few minutes, taken up by the introduction of waterscreen technology, actually spends time showing plants flowering. The only weakness I perceive in the show is the too-long Chernabog sequence (how many screaming ghost horseback riders do we need?), which is not necessary for any technical reasons (such as preparing the dragon on the stage). Maybe this is just me: I've seen the show an awful lot.

Fantasmic succeeds so wildly and with such finality for one simple reason: Mickey Mouse triumphs and we love it. Think about it: It's fashionable to consider Mickey somewhat passé, as if he were our grandparents' hero but somehow not good enough for us beyond childhood. Yet the entire show is structured just like an old-fashioned Mickey Mouse short, where he endures tribulations but emerges at the end as the stalwart hero of good judgment and stellar moral character. Mickey succeeds because he is good, and his goodness reaches out to the moral education in each of us.

It's that finale of the show I want you to consider as the final arbiter in determining Fantasmic's worth. Imagine Mickey magically appearing atop the cider mill, heralded by triumphant horns, wildly cheering crowds, and inexplicably victorious lasers (how special effects manage to convey emotion is beyond me, but it happens). Having vanquished his enemies, Mickey generates an impressive pyrotechnic celebration as the music crescendos impossibly higher, until finally, with one last blinding flash of fireworks, he vanishes from sight while the audience roars its approval. I dare you to watch this display and listen to the enthusiastic hooting of a crowd swept away without losing your breath or shedding a tear. If you did neither, you'd best check your pulse. You must be dead.

Welcome back, Fantasmic!
 
Kevin Yee can be emailed at kevinyee@mouseplanet.com

A very kind Imagineer filled me in on one of the original plans for the river show, before it became Fantasmic as we all know now.

Bruce Healey (one of the key creative forces behind the Electrical Parade) had first suggested a much more specifically themed show - tied into both the Haunted Mansion and the Rivers of America.

The concept was that the forces of evil would emanate from the Mansion itself, spread across the river, and then they would be beaten back inside by the forces of good. It wasn't clear if the good guys were themed specifically to Frontierland - but just the concept of a show tied in so closely to its surroundings was interesting to say the least.

Eventually the show was developed and morphed from this original concept by the Disneyland Entertainment department to what we see today (minus the Ursula inflatable which finally gave up the ghost a few years back).

Fantasmic! reflects a different era and approach in creating entertainment for Disneyland that has sadly gone by the wayside since Paul Pressler took over operation of the theme park division. One need only see how the show was so carelessly and poorly restaged for the Orlando Studios park to understand just what a profound (and truly disheartening) change this has been.

- Al Lutz

Download MPEGs from Fantasmic! by clicking on the photos or links below!

Here are two brief clips from the finale of the show. The Mark Twain swoops by [top - 120 kb], and then Mickey lights the fireworks [bottom - 120 kb].