The replacements

Image: Disney

Disneyland became the first North American Disney park to move away from Fantasy in the Sky. Believe... There's Magic in the Stars debuted in February of 2000, although it proved to be a bridge show rather than a long-term solution. It ended less than four years later in November of 2004. The point was always to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Disneyland before the company moved to a more permanent exhibition.

Amusingly, Disney changed their mind on this subject by offering another temporary event, Imagine... A Fantasy in the Sky. It was only operational for a few months, so even many diehard Disneyland fans missed it. The end goal was always to craft an “E Ticket in the Sky”, and that ultimately became Remember... Dreams Come True. It ran for almost a decade before ceding way to Disneyland Forever, the current fireworks show, and one whose name indicates that it should be around for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney World stuck with the classic fireworks version until 2003. The replacement is one that younger Disney fans consider synonymous with Disney after dark. That’s Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams, which is in year 13. In a future article, I’ll discuss the history and behind the scenes details of Wishes and Fantasmic! in greater detail. What’s important for now is that the introduction of Wishes solidified the Disney nighttime fireworks exhibition for another generation of fans. They even deduced a way to improve one of the issues that had proven problematic going all the way back to 1958.

In 2004, Disney inventors patented a system that simultaneously addressed two different problems with nightly fireworks. Their “air launch pyrotechnics system” became the first environmentally friendly system popularized at a major theme park. It reduced noise and air pollution, filtering smoke in a manner Mickey Aronson wouldn’t have dreamt was possible back when he was shooting fireworks from the ground, worrying that his boss would kill the entire show due to concerns about the smoke. Disney was so proud of their development that they opened the patent so that other developers could reduce their environmental footprints while performing such nightly exhibitions. It took from 1956 until 2004, almost half a century, to solve the problem but like so many other seemingly impossible situations, Disney eventually found a way.

Disney’s greatest hits

Image: Disney

With Fantasy in the Sky an accepted part of Disney folklore, fans lamented its absence. What they’d taken for granted for most of the 20th century suddenly went missing. Fans predictably clamored for its return. Always in search of ways to place additional onus on theme park tourists to visit, Disney gave the people what they wished for. It occasionally returns for command performances, generally on major holidays such as Independence Day and New Year’s Eve, classic American dates for fireworks.

Partially as a tribute to the park’s history, Disneyland’s build-up to its 60th anniversary celebration also included a few months of Fantasy in the Sky. Magic Kingdom even added a new flare to their performances. The presented a 360-degree angle perspective when they present it for the major holidays.  Even in retirement, Fantasy in the Sky keeps getting better.

This obsession with improvement is what has led Disney to invent all the memorable shows in their current nighttime lineup. If something becomes popular, they update their story to include it. This is precisely what transpired with Disneyland Paris. Their nightly production of Disney Dreams! opened in 2012. When Frozen fever overwhelmed both sides of the Atlantic, the park added an entirely new scene in 2015. Meanwhile, they can also stick with something popular long after they say they’re getting rid of it. That’s what has happened at Tokyo Disneyland. The park celebrated its 30th anniversary by adding a fireworks display called Happiness On High in 2013. Not only did it not close as planned in 2014 but park execs are now indicating this exhibition will continue through the 35th anniversary in 2018. So, you have plenty of time to watch it if so inclined.

Image: Disney

As for the immediate future, all eyes are on Disney's Animal Kingdom, where Rivers of Light will become the quietest Disney presentation to date. It’ll focus on dazzling colors rather than loud noises so as to avoid spooking the animals who reside onsite.

When you think of an evening at a Disney theme park, watching the fireworks is one of the most unforgettable events. None of that is possible without the fascinating journey that started in an empty parking lot just outside of Disneyland. Walt Disney took a chance on a single man with a modest resume and grand ambitions. Then, he added a man who looked like a moose, some programmable fireworks displays, and some classic Disney harmonies. Since then, an amateurish exhibition evolved into Fantasy in the Sky, a timeless classic that the company still proudly delivers to its fans on special occasions today. All the amazing nightly celebrations that have come since then share the same origin of bottle rockets in a parking lot. Truly, Disney can turn even the most humble of ideas into a timeless classic.