In case you haven’t heard, IllumiNations is ending later this year, and Disney announced last year that as soon as this show finishes up its run, Epcot will debut a limited-time nighttime spectacular, called “Epcot Forever,” which will feature classic park themes. This new show is meant to showcase the best of Epcot while celebrating its unique history, all with classic music and advanced pyrotechnics. And earlier this week, Disney shared some new details about this upcoming show!
Epcot Forever will officially begin on October 1, 2019
Image: Disney
Though it was previously announced that IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth was set to end its 20-year run this fall, we now know that this iconic Disney nighttime spectacular will officially close on September 30 2019. And then directly after the end of this show, Epcot Forever will debut on October 1st, 2019, which seems to suggest that this new show is very far along in development.
Epcot’s musical legacy will be the main focus of this new show
Image: Disney
Music has always been a big component of the Epcot experience, and this new show aims to showcase the long musical history of this park by incorporating some of the most iconic themes and songs from Epcot’s past and present, including the park entrance theme, Living with the Land, Celebrate the Future, One Little Spark, Making Memories, Kitchen Karbaret and Soarin’.
In order to give this new show a cohesive sound, Disney has brought in conductor and composer Don Harper, who has worked on numerous film scores (National Treasure, Armageddon, Twister, among others) as well as the music for Fantasmic! at Tokyo DisneySea and Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and will be lending a hand to ensure this new show sounds great.
Alan Bruun, show director for Disney Parks Live Entertainment made the following statement about why this celebration of Epcot music in particular was so important:
Epcot Forever is a celebration of what Epcot has been and what Epcot is going to become. Music is the star of the show, and we use songs going back to the very beginnings of Epcot to music in the park today – from attractions, spectaculars and other shows – and put them into a fireworks spectacular on the lagoon every night. Guests are going to hear music they know and love but in a whole new way.
This new show will use kites and jet-skis to achieve some fun special effects
Of course, in addition to the music, Epcot Forever will also feature some amazing pyrotechnics, which will light up the night sky with vivid color. However, in an effort to plus up this new show a little bit Disney has announced that they will be flying glowing kites with jet-skis to create a fun, whimsical effect that hasn’t been used in a Disney parks nighttime spectacular before. You can learn more about the special effects that will be used in this upcoming show in the video above, which features a lot of new information about Epcot Forever
You’ll only have a year to catch this new show until it closes to make way for a permanent IP-driven show
Image: Disney
Though this new show sounds pretty amazing, guests who want to check out Epcot Forever will only have a limited amount of time to do so as this upcoming nighttime spectacular will only be running for about a year until sometime in 2020, after which Epcot Forever will then close to make way for the debut of the next Epcot nighttime spectacular (which is themed to the magic of Disney movie music) and will be the new, permanent nighttime spectacular for this park. Though no opening date for this upcoming show has been provided, considering construction will be ongoing while Epcot Forever is being performed, we’d guess Disney is trying to roll out this new, permanent show as quickly as possible.
Though it is bittersweet to see the end of IllumiNations after two decades of this nighttime spectacular, we’re excited for the debut of Epcot Forever later this year. And though it’s only sticking around for a limited time, this new show sounds like it will certainly provide guests (especially longtime Epcot fans) with a truly memorable experience.
