Disney Enchantment

[Nick]

I mean, reactions on here were incredibly positive for HEA immediately. I wouldn't really compare the two to try to raise your hopes for this aging well

Happily Ever After

Main Street is jam packed right now. I wouldn't be surprised if these crowds come close to something like July 4th crowds on Main Street. EDIT: Screw it, this is like NYE. It has to be a fire hazard on Main Street at this point. And people still keep coming in.

forums.insideuniversal.net

It doesn't hold a candle to HEA or Wishes.

I was hoping for a nice follow up to HEA and I just feel like this isn't even necessarily that. Like, it hits the same beats, but pretty much everything about it is of lesser quality by a significant amount. It's a passable show for the GP, but disappointing to people who know what they should expect I feel.

Selfishly, I sort of hope the GSAT's for this show are noticeably lower than both HEA and Wishes.

 

[SkiBum]

It doesn't hold a candle to HEA or Wishes.

I was hoping for a nice follow up to HEA and I just feel like this isn't even necessarily that. Like, it hits the same beats, but pretty much everything about it is of lesser quality by a significant amount. It's a passable show for the GP, but disappointing to people who know what they should expect I feel.

Selfishly, I sort of hope the GSAT's for this show are noticeably lower than both HEA and Wishes.

I loved Wishes and was hesitant about HEA. Then, I loved HEA but still missed Wishes. Nothing about this show is an improvement. Wishes had a magical feel and HEA had the great projections in sync with the music.

 

[Nick]

I loved Wishes and was hesitant about HEA. Then, I loved HEA but still missed Wishes. Nothing about this show is an improvement. Wishes had a magical feel and HEA had the great projections in sync with the music.

With Wishes though, I think while people were hesitant about HEA, Wishes had run it's course. It had been around for 14 years by the final night. HEA was around for 4.5 years and it was on hiatus due to COVID for 15 months within those 4.5 years, only to close 3 months after coming back.

 

[darkridelover]

It was fine for me, but the whole "Magic is inside you" at the end seemed very out of nowhere. Like, what was the story? I didn't get it. Also, why these songs for the 50th. Where were the classics, for the 50th?

Also, Disney fireworks shows have turned into a game of madlibs where the same words are always used. Magic, wish, star, love, happiness, fly to the sky (so tinkerbell knows her cue) dreams, gather together, tomorrow etc. It's a little predictable.

 

[GAcoaster]

So 0 for 3 on the new shows that rolled out.

Once again putting the "DIS" in disappointing...

 

[Nick]

The villain segment of this show is especially weak compared to Wishes and HEA. Like, really bad.

 

[Tobias]

So after seeing a video of Harmonious, time to see how Enchantment is. *One DIS video later*

...

.....

I think Angela Bassett did a fine job with narrating, granted it's a role which I haven't encountered any bad ones, but she worked nicely for me. An unlike Harmonious, this one has a original song to try tying things together. Credit where credit is due on that.

Now that the good stuff is out of the way....

GURLLLL

There was something I kept repeated as I was watching the show, and that was "For the love of god, FOCUS." . I know I said Harmonious was chaotic and disorganized at points, but this is chaotic x10 as I had a lot of trouble making out what was on the projections due to a lot of the images being lost in a sea of garish colors and designs. I never had this issue with HEA, you can easily make out what was going on in the castle. But with Enchantment, I dang near gave up trying to figure out what was being shown. It doesn't help that due to the lack of pyro, one's focus has to go to the castle and those issues are all the more glaring.

Speaking of images, it felt like there was no rhyme or reason for what was being shown. That was painfully apparent in the "Villains" segment where it felt like it was showing more of the heroes in danger than the actual. villains. themselves. All of it to a murky cloud, the castle doesn't even get destroyed which is a very striking visual.

As for the audio, I wasn't really feeling a lot of arrangements. A lot of it came off really mellow, which doesn't feel right for a MK nighttime show, let alone a 50th Anniversary show. There was also a strange amount of reliance on Moana songs, like they're trying to make this the next Frozen by their own will.

When it came to the pyro, it felt lacking compared to HEA. There was a smidge of getting playful with syncing with Elsa in one bit, but that was about it. There was no surprisingly fun moments like pyro getting shot off from the front of the castle. Overall it felt like there was just less than HEA.

An that sums up the whole show, for as chaotic the projections, arrangements etc. are, it's just less. It's trying to be HEA and to an extent, Wishes...but it's neither. It's not even close to them.

That pretty much sums up my...wait, I'm not finished. *Set's drink down a la' Asia O'Hara*.
The tinkerbell flyover. That is a guaranteed crowd-gasping moment in Wishes and Happily Ever After. You just can't miss with that, and yet...THEY MISSED. It comes off so randomly there's no impact. Just a "Oh, there she is..." How do you screw up a moment like that?! Admittedly the answer is painfully clear, when you make a surefire moment miss like that, the show itself is a whiff.

An calling a MK firework show a Whiff is something I'm just not used to. I liked Wishes, but when it had to go I felt it was time for something new. Happily Ever After was a fantastic replacement, so for that to only last 3-4 years before announced as Permanently Replaced and replaced with *this*...while Harmonious left me disappointed in a "well that's a shame" kind of way...Enchanted left me bitter as F. This is not the kind of nighttime show you put out for your 50th. HEA with a 50th tag would've fit the bill far more.

I've seen some folks saying elsewhere that people are going to miss this show whenever it ends just like when Happily Ever After ended and Wishes beforehand. To that I say a show has to be good in order for that to happen. Enchantment simply isn't.

 

[HandsomePete]

Also, Disney fireworks shows have turned into a game of madlibs where the same words are always used. Magic, wish, star, love, happiness, fly to the sky (so tinkerbell knows her cue) dreams, gather together, tomorrow etc. It's a little predictable.

Just the fireworks?

 

[SkiBum]

Just the fireworks?

That's a lot of dreams and Disney is so good at crushing them.

 

[Nick]

I watched some stuff from people who saw it last night. It looked a lot better. Still lacks heart and the build of HEA, but I also think Disney filmed it weirdly and it’ll be much better in person.

 

[OrlLover]

I guess the GP hated it.

 

[Nick]

I guess the GP hated it.

I mean, it was fake. Even says so in the tweet. I don't even think that the "GP" has really gotten to see the show seeing as last night was pretty much only extreme Disney fans.

 

[OrlLover]

I mean, it was fake. Even says so in the tweet. I don't even think that the "GP" has really gotten to see the show seeing as last night was pretty much only extreme Disney fans.

My attempt at being facetious fell flat. I wasn’t going to post it at first but decided to anyway.

 

[Mad Dog]

FWIW...Certainly not a scientific poll, but it seems fairly representative of what we've been hearing from the fan community on various Disney sites and IU.
Of course, the GP may well have different thoughts.....Anyway, Theme Park Insider Editor Robert Niles wrote an article on the Enchantment show,
and he included POV's of both Enchantment and HEA.
*Survey Question: Which is better: Disney Enchantment or Happily Ever After? (518 votes as of 1:30 PM today)
...*Happily Ever After.............................................................67%
...*It doesn't matter to me....................................................16%
...*One is no better than the other........................................12%
...*Disney Enchantment........................................................5%

 

[Allison]

One thing I never expected was coming away from the new shows for the 50th disappointed in each and every one.

Nothing against the content at all, love Angela Bassett as the narrator, but, the projections are just not good looking to me and it feels like they were trying to do HEA 2 when they really should’ve just updated HEA to add the new 50th song and called it a night.

This show was unnecessary.

 

[Nick]

One thing I never expected was coming away from the new shows for the 50th disappointed in each and every one.

Nothing against the content at all, love Angela Bassett as the narrator, but, the projections are just not good looking to me and it feels like they were trying to do HEA 2 when they really should’ve just updated HEA to add the new 50th song and called it a night.

This show was unnecessary.

Sadly these shows aren’t far off from where my expectations were.

I was never expecting Kite Tails to be good nor was I expecting much from Harmonious, sadly. I was very nervous about Enchantment, but had some cautious optimism as I remembered how HEA won people over after replacing Wishes. Once I heard the new song for the show, my expectations went down, but I still had hope it would be a good show. It’s MK after all.

Enchantment was by far the biggest let down. I’m going to see Enchantment on Tuesday, so I’ll have thoughts from seeing it in person, but I don’t expect my thoughts will change too much.

 

[Nick]

So, I just saw this in person and I sort of wish I never watched the stream because wow does this show not film well. Or at least Disney royally screwed up.

I… actually enjoyed it? Is it as good as HEA? Absolutely not. But it’s serviceable and the GP (and I’d say many fans, too) will really enjoy this. The response was very good during my showing.

I watched from mid-way down Main Street so I could see the projections. I thought that the projections were sort of dim (the ones in DL Forever were clearer if I remember), but they definitely added a nice element. Into The Unknown was definitely the best segment and the lasers are very effective.

Ultimately, it’s inoffensive, it’s just not up to the standard of the show before it.

 

[BlueHorizon]

Same thing for me, I avoided watching any videos of the show prior to visiting but had heard the heaping of negative feedback about it. I did genuinely enjoy the show in person though. It doesn't hit the emotional highs of HEA but it's still enjoyable to watch. As I thought more about it the one thing that drives me absolutely crazy, and probably brings down my feelings on the show, is the omission of Mickey/Walt/any mention of MK or 50 years. HUGE missed opportunity in my opinion.

 

[Eckert]

I… actually enjoyed it? Is it as good as HEA? Absolutely not. But it’s serviceable and the GP (and I’d say many fans, too) will really enjoy this.

See, here's my problem: why replace HEA if this isn't a noticeable improvement over the previous show? HEA wasn't dated by any means.

I know we have very little say in how Disney decides to spend their multi-million dollar budget...and no amount of whining on social media is gonna dissuade GP from seeing fireworks.

 

[tielo]

I'll put my Imagineering hat on as the song "the magic is in you" is fine but it's a testament it isn't in Disney Imagineering anymore.
The 50 years WDW show in Magic Kingdom should be in 3 parts.
1 How it started:
We hear Walt's voice as he pitches WDW on the tv special. During that we see the castle being sketched in black and white. We see a steel frame getting in place and Mickey building the castle brick by brick but soon we have many Mickey's building it to completion. During that sequence we start to see small, white fireworks that slowly get more. When the castle is finished it's in full color and the sky is lit with a lot of colorful fireworks.
2 The attractions:
We get the voice of Marry Blair and see It's a Small World as it would look as it was build as a castle. Sections of the castle open up to see the dolls from the ride and we hear the music. Fireworks matching the music and the tone of the attraction will be complimenting the visuals.
The same goes for Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan (look Tinker Bell!), and on and on (at least one segment from each land of the park and one former Imagineer as a voice).
3 The Future
We want to thank you for your support and keep Disney in your harts for over 50 years and we will go for at least another 50 years! Who knows what the future will bring? We hear say that Walt said the park is never going to stop changing, that it never will be finished and we will keep that promise.
We get a Princes and the Frog Splash Mountain sequence and a Tron sequence (cool).
Then we go back to the castle, sparkling with a ton of firework and the end song based on the dedication text for Magic Kingdom.

Now start crying and buy the bloody t-shirt.