In 1923, Walt Disney stepped off the train in Los Angeles, launching the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio on Hyperion Ave. And here in 2023, Disney officially launched its celebration of the moment – Disney100. A cross-company campaign, the “100 Years of Wonder” banner flies high over Disney’s studios, subsidiaries, and theme parks this year. As you’d expect from Disney’s strategy of annual promotional campaigns, Disney100 is marked by an incredibly robust merchandising roll-out that’s seen platinum iridescence and royal purple garb spread across the company’s assets.
Monthly releases correspond to the company’s “Decades” beginning with the 1920s. Likewise, a new “Eras” collection features call-backs to the studio’s early days, with must-have merch for Disney history fans. And Disneyland (centerpiece of the celebration) is decked out in limited-time decorations with must-try snacks, souvenirs, and clothing selling out gift shops. (In other words, yes, Disney has successfully masked the fact that it’s cutting 7,000 jobs despite record profits, and that it has zero domestic theme park projects on the horizon post-2024.)
Disney100 has seen a new nighttime show launch at both of Disneyland’s parks. At Disney California Adventure, World of Color has again been co-opted, this time as WORLD OF COLOR – ONE. Predictably packed with references to the last decade of Disney and Pixar animation, the show is… fine. Swapping the classic “World of Color” anthem for a custom song called “Start a Wave,” One is built on the theme that one person – like you! – can “be the one” whose actions ripple outward, changing our world. Conveniently, that basically serves as a framing device for… well… every Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars heroes out there, who all show up in a smorgasbord clip show that feels more cross-promotional than emotional.
World of Color – One isn’t a bad show, and there’s no doubt that pieces of it should be folded back into the original World of Color (which, by nature of debuting in 2010, excludes every film from The Princess and the Frog onward.) But it’s not a show that gives us hope for Disney Parks nighttime spectaculars to come. If anything, it feels a whole lot like the last decade of after dark entertainment, which – frankly – isn’t exactly a great thing…
After Dark Decline
Looking back from 2023, it’s easy to see that for the last decade, Disney seems to have had as many nighttime spectacular misses as they’ve had hits…
One isn’t the first show to overtake World of Color’s inherently-adaptable fountain array. And thankfully, it’s not the worst, either. 2013’s WORLD OF COLOR: WINTER DREAMS was a holiday overlay that was almost legendarily bad… and apparently, a hint of what was to come. After all, in 2015, as part of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary “Diamond Celebration,” the original show became WORLD OF COLOR: CELEBRATE! THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WALT DISNEY. Awkwardly re-using World of Color’s inherently-abstract, artistic format for an almost unwatchably bad “documentary” style program starring Neil Patrick Harris, the cringey show played for only a year… but it felt like a very long year.
On paper, it made sense to use the basic premise of World of Color at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, swapping “animation” for “nature” and integrating live actors as storytellers, puppeteers, and acrobats. But apparently, Disney Parks leadership saw a draft of the show shortly before its planned debut in April 2016 and were incredibly disappointed, mandating that its launch be delayed and the show re-thought. It was nearly a full year – February 2017 – before RIVERS OF LIGHT made its debut as a late addition to the after-dark programming package that had rolled out around the opening of Pandora: The World of Avatar.
Rivers of Light never quite found its footing, and certainly failed to capture the audience that its 5,000-seat custom-built amphitheater was constructed for… So you can’t blame the Entertainment team for rewriting the show just two years into its run as RIVERS OF LIGHT: WE ARE ONE, shoe-horning in Disney characters and songs. Unfortunately, that show, too, met lukewarm reception. When the Disney Parks closed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, it gave executives the excuse they needed to announce that Rivers of Light was permanently retired, representing a massive financial write-off.
Most recently, Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary – already lackluster by most fans’ standards – came pre-packaged with two new shows. At Magic Kingdom DISNEY ENCHANTMENT faced an uphill battle by following the beloved fan-favorite Happily Ever After, and spectacularly failed to recapture the magic. (It took a full year of guest complaints before Disney awkwardly inserted a “prologue” to the show acknowledging Disney World, its anniversary, and Walt Disney himself.) At EPCOT, HARMONIOUS broke with tradition by turning World Showcase Lagoon into a singalong celebration of Disney Animation that kinda-sorta represent other countries (if you pretend Aladdin somehow represents the Middle East and The Lion King counts as celebrating all of Africa).
Those shows also suffered from being a little too harmonious… As we explored in our review of both, they fell into the all-too-common 2010s and 2020s Disney Parks issue of sharing many of the same modern and contemporary movie selections, even repeating songs and key scenes. It can feel as if the two teams working on the shows forgot to compare notes at all, creating two shows that are definitely different, but feel a little too “samesies” for our taste. We clearly aren’t alone given that both shows will end this spring, representing multi-million-dollar write-offs for what were surely meant to be decade-long investments.
And then comes WORLD OF COLOR – ONE, serving as a fairly generic clip show using many of those same songs and movies, now mixing in moments of Star Wars and Avengers and sort of blatantly demonstrating the era of Disney-Parks-as-brand-loyalty-centers rather than as creative, meaningful places worth celebrating in their own right…
Altogether, you can see why Disney Parks fans had to wonder – had Disney lost its touch? Was Disney even capable of crafting a clever, unique, and timeless nighttime spectacular anymore? Or were fans doomed to endure years of “copy-paste” after-dark shows drawing the same sing-along moments from the same roster of 1990s Renaissance and 2010s Rebirth era films? When would Disney Parks find its next long-lasting, emotional, enduring show that could stand among Fantasmic, World of Color, Remember… Dreams Come True, Happily Ever After, or Illuminations? We may have our answer…
The embodiment of the “100 Years of Wonder” celebration at Disneyland comes in the form of another nighttime spectacular – this one, a fireworks show. Disneyland has a pretty strong history when it comes to fireworks shows (most notably, the Julie Andrews-narrated REMEMBER… DREAMS COME TRUE for the 50th, which served as a “Grand Circle Tour” of the park’s lands and rides.) And despite the odds, it seems that Disneyland has managed an impossible feat for the Disney100 celebration: creating a new classic. And pretty unanimously, that’s what WONDROUS JOURNEYS is.
Actually, it was back at the 2022 D23 Expo that we first got our first listen to the show’s custom-made theme song, “Wondrous.” Somewhat folksy, jangling, and reflective, the lyrics sings of simple beginnings; “how it grows from just a spark”; “a gentle stream of energy” between two people; “from jumping, to falling, to learning to fly.” There’s no doubt that it’s an ear worm… but would it matter if the show itself amounted to yet another random assortment of clips from Moana, Encanto, The Princess and the Frog, and Frozen projected on a castle?
The good news is… it isn’t. There are a few things that make “Wondrous Journeys” stand among the best (and most timeless) of Disney Parks nighttime spectaculars… Here are a few of our thoughts.
1. The right spirit
As we saw on the last page, a few too many of Disney’s last decade of nighttime spectaculars have felt like “copy-paste” situations; like the same movies, the same songs, and the same moments – primarily from the last ten years of Disney Animation – have been on display.
Wondrous Journeys tries something new. The show is not built around a ham-fisted frame story or loose theme (like “Enchantment,” “Harmonious,” or “World of Color – One”) that’s basically a flimsy, thin excuse for mashing together clips from across the Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Star Wars catalogues accompanied by sing-along segments and plopped-in promotional pieces for whatever’s new on Disney+.
Instead, Wondrous Journeys is a celebration of every single film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (and select shorts) from the 1920s to today. From Snow White to Strange World, this show actually features animation from every single feature film Disney Animation has produced – yes, even the stinkers! All 61 are included, spread across the show’s four projected viewing areas (Main Street, Sleeping Beauty Castle, “it’s a small world,” and the Rivers of America).
Finally breaking out of the “ad-in-disguise” shell that has haunted Disney’s recent spade of nighttime spectaculars, this is a show that features an entire segment anchored by Treasure Planet… Think about that! Wondrous Journeys doesn’t seem at all focused on what’s hot on Disney+, instead beginning early animation of Mickey Mouse, advancing through the Fab Five, and then Walt’s early Princesses, fluttering by as pencil drawings on paper. This is the way Disneyland should feature the worlds of Disney Animation – as a loving, historic, and reverent tribute.
2. The right music and visuals
Bookended by the song “Wondrous,” the show then begins a wonderful journey through animation. It starts with Mickey and friends in their earliest forms, then leads into Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella to the tune of “When You Wish Upon a Star.” In this segment (and the rest of the show), clips from the films themselves aren’t alone; they’re joined by early concept art and pencil sketches,
? Just to live one day ?
? There must be more ?
? I will find my way ?
? Where I long to be ?? Out there ?#WondrousJourneys pic.twitter.com/rwiuUrwnk7
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) January 30, 2023
Then, it segues into an unbelievable quartet that surely stands among the best musical mash-ups in Disney history, mixing (new, re-recorded) audio from Hercules, Beauty and the Beast, Moana, and Hunchback of Notre Dame (above). An embodiment of the “I Want” song made famous in Disney Animation of the ’90s, the segment signals the first steps of a journey.
Next, the Princess and the Frogs‘ “Almost There” (again, re-recorded) becomes a slow-building anthem to recall the journeys themselves. An instrumental montage then segues into an action-packed crescendo to the tune of Fall Out Boy’s “Immortals” (from Big Hero 6) as Baymax flys over the castle, coinciding with heroic moments (from Raya and the Last Dragon, Mulan, Wreck-It Ralph, The Rescuers, and more).
A final show section focuses on moments of doubt (from The Lion King, Moana, Encanto, and beyond) before returning to the song “Wondrous” to wrap it up. Be sure to take a moment to watch “Wondrous Journeys” above!
3. The right time and place
At Walt Disney World, both Disney Enchantment and Harmonious were (rightly) criticized for missing the moment. Both purported to be anchor experiences of the resort’s 50th Anniversary… then both roundly refused to even acknowledge Walt Disney World, its history, or its founder. Instead, they were both cut-from-the-same-cloth sing-alongs of Disney Animation films from the last decade, held up as leading examples of how Disney World’s anniversary forgot to celebrate Disney World.
Disneyland has always leaned into its history and into nostalgia in a way that Disney World rarely does – one of many reasons we suggest that even Disney World loyalists should give the California resort a try… It’s actually somewhat unusual for Disneyland to have a show that so heavily emphasizes the studio’s output…
But Disney100 is the time to do it. Seriously, Wondrous Journeys serves as a perfect overlap of Disneyland and the corporate-baked Disney100… a tribute to the studio through the lens of the parks. It doesn’t feel like promotion, but a retrospective. Wondrous Journeys isn’t a clip show meant to highlight blockbuster Disney films; it’s a tribute to the history of animation. It’s as heartfelt, appropriate, reflective, and joyous celebration of Disney properties that designers could’ve concocted for Disney100 – a promotion that otherwise might’ve given us yet another sing-along.
It’s wondrous
Altogether, “Wondrous Journeys” feels like the best possible, realistic product of today’s Disney – one focused on leveraging its character catalogue, songs, and brands. Mercifully, it seems like World of Color – One absorbed the corporate mandate to advertise Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Star Wars (in what we still hope is a temporary capacity), leaving “Wondrous Journeys” to feel like a more heartfelt, authentic reflection of Disney Animation.
The intentional notion of featuring every single one of Disney’s 61 animated films means that the show can still be “promotional,” but isn’t weighed down by the need to be. Instead, it feels more evergreen, remixing clips from across the studio into an opportunity to reminisce. It’s emotional, it’s well-balanced, it’s historic… and more to the point, it’s timeless. This is a show that Disneyland can feature for years. And with it, it seems that at long last, Disney’s nighttime spectacular curse has come to an end… for now.
