Wishes Fireworks Magic Kingdom

Story | Interesting Facts | Photo Gallery

WISHES, the NEW fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom, debuted to the public October 9, 2003, replacing the long running Fantasy in the Sky fireworks which premiered in 1976.

THE STORY: Narrated by Jiminy Cricket, "Wishes" tells of making wishes come true, using classic Disney songs and character voices accompanied by meticulously choreographed fireworks.

According to Disney, "Wishes" was created in honor of the launch of Magical Gatherings, the new program designed for friends and extended family traveling together to Walt Disney World. The show is designed to bring guests together at night for a heart-tugging spectacle that will create lasting memories.

INTERESTING FACTS

The show runs approximately 12 minutes, about five minutes longer than "Fantasy in the Sky," the previous fireworks show at Magic Kingdom.

There are 557 fireworks firing cues, and 655 individual pieces of pyrotechnics.

"Wishes" features the voices of:

* Jiminy Cricket, the Blue Fairy and Pinocchio (from 1940's "Pinocchio")
* Snow White and the Evil Queen (from 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs")
* Cinderella (from 1950's "Cinderella")
* Peter Pan (from 1953's "Peter Pan")
* Ariel (from 1989's "The Little Mermaid")
* Aladdin and Genie (from 1992's "Aladdin")
* Tinker Bell (also from "Peter Pan"), flies from atop Cinderella Castle during a key moment in the show.

Steven Davison, the creator/show director, is creative director with Walt Disney Creative Entertainment. He also developed the "Believe... There's Magic in the Stars" fireworks spectacular at Disneyland.

Fireworks designer is Eric Tucker, an award-winning pyrotechnics designer who previously designed the fireworks for "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth" at Epcot.

Music director is Steve Skorija, music director for Walt Disney Entertainment.

The composer/arranger is Gregory Smith, who previously worked on such Walt Disney World productions as "IllumiNations 25" and "Splashtacular" at Epcot, and the "Mickey Mania" parade at Magic Kingdom.

In addition to Gregory Smith's original theme, which is based on the children's nursery rhyme "Starlight, Star Bright," the score for "Wishes" contains portions of 12 songs from 10 classic Disney animated features:

* "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937)
* "Pinocchio" (1940)
* "Fantasia" (1940)
* "Cinderella" (1950)
* "Peter Pan" (1953)
* "Sleeping Beauty" (1959)
* "The Little Mermaid" (1989)
* "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
* "Aladdin" (1992)
* "Hercules" (1997)

"Wishes" features pyrotechnic effects never seen before in a Disney theme park, including several developed especially for the show:

* The show's "wishing star" crests approximately 100 feet above the castle's bright spires.
* The Blue Fairy is represented with a spectacular star-shaped shell that "paints" each wish high in the sky with enchanted starlight.

*Debuted October 9, 2003.

GUEST COMMENTS:

Deb Wills viewed Wishes on October 8, 2003, as part of the WDW Fall Press Event- Wishes is a Winner! Wishes is an impressive synchronized show with fireworks that you won't see anywhere else! Tinker Bell is covered with incredible lights and almost looked like a SpectroMagic float flying through the air -- at one point, the castle even turns into a Sorcerer Mickey Hat! It's a show on the caliber of IllumiNations to conclude your day at the Magic Kingdom. Dame Julie Andrews (yes, THE Julie Andrews!) introduced the show tonight, which contains this magical quote from Jiminy Cricket: A wish is a powerful thing, especially when it comes from the heart.

*****

Mary Jo Salerno -- Just got back from five days at WDW and am still awestruck over the Wishes fireworks display. We saw it twice and I wish we could have seen it every night. We like it even better than Illuminations. We waited one hour in the cold even though we had just seen it the night before. I recommend that everyone should make an effort to see this display!

*****

Christine - Wishes is amazing! I taped the fireworks display and it still brings me to tears of joy even watching it on my television at home! The sights, sounds and sheer enormity of this fireworks display is amazing! They have the biggest firework I have ever seen close to the end of the display, it is amazing! The narration and music create an amazing combination that will leave tears in your eyes! It was so wonderful!!

*****

Sharon Klein from Ohio writes: My family and I just returned from a Magical 10-day trip to Disney. For the last 5 days of our trip we stayed in a dormer room at the Grand Floridian facing Cinderella's Castle. Four out of the five nights we were there we got to sit on our balcony and watch as they tested the new "Wishes" fireworks display set to start October 8th at the Magic Kingdom.

This new fireworks show is, in one word, amazing!!!! We couldn't quite hear the narration that went with the show from our balcony, but from what we could make out Jiminy Cricket was talking and it sounded like other characters joined in from time to time as well. There were several different segments of the show. One segment was definitely a "romantic love" section as there were red fireworks in the shapes of hearts and they were accompanied by romantic music. There is also a "villains" section where the music turns more ominous and fireworks in the shape of frowning faces appear. The finale is fantastic, with fireworks literally lighting up the sky as Jiminy Cricket plays "When You Wish Upon A Star".

The main things I like about this fireworks show versus "Fantasy In The Sky" are: this show is longer; the fireworks go off all around the castle, not just in one particular spot; the fireworks themselves technically are MUCH better; and it is more of a "show" with an actual storyline you can follow.

Being able to sit on our balcony and watch these fireworks going off every night was truly one of the many Magical Moments we experienced during our Disney stay.