The (truly) special effects

Image: DisneyThis exhibition has several high points. Perhaps the best of them is the arrival of a snake. At Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, this slithering horror is Kaa from The Jungle Book. At Hollywood Studios, it’s a perverted form of Jafar from Aladdin. No matter the identity, the snake is an Imagineering marvel. It’s as long as 120 feet, and it comes in 18 sections! It’s also 16-feet tall, making it visible from anywhere in the amphitheater. The snake has to be this noticeable; otherwise, viewers won’t understand the danger that Team Mickey faces.

That’s not the only terrifying villain, either. An audio-animatronic of Maleficent is a true showstopper. It’s the dragon form seen in Sleeping Beauty, and it too is monstrous in size. It’s 45-feet tall! At Disneyland, park officials even drained Rivers of America to make this dragon more of a highlight. Alas, that plan backfired when Maleficent collapsed on itself during a show. Yet again, a single error led to headlines.

Image: DisneyThe dancing lights are the other spectacular part of Fantasmic!. Disney has historically used a water screen to project effects, a trend they may move away from in future years thanks to new technology. Until then, Disney projects images to accentuate the action on the stage. They also have dancing lights that playfully sprinkle water into the air. In recent years, Disney has digitally mapped every inch of the stage so that the dancing lights respond to the correct triggers, guaranteeing synchronicity throughout the performance.

The amount of water required for this performance is staggering. Disney shoots 2,400 gallons of water into the air per minute during the show. That’s more than 50,000 gallons of water used in Fantasmic! The belief is that Disney spends $60,000 per night creating the exhibition. Over the course of 25 years, that’s more than half a billion dollars spent in bringing Fantasmic! to life. Is it worth that much money? You bet! This show is one of the greatest things at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. You owe it to yourself to watch a performance the next time you’re at one of the parks that exhibits Fantasmic!