Guest With “Too Much Time on Hands” Reveals Disney Fireworks Bombshell

Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios all provide Disney Park Guests with a magical end to a long theme park day (once Fantasmic! reopens, of course).

And one Disney Guest with a lot of time on their hands made a full analysis of the Walt Disney World Resort’s fireworks spectaculars, revealing quite a few surprises.

There have been many fireworks displays at Disney Parks, with most shows iconically happening at the Magic Kingdom Park behind Cinderella Castle. Though all called different names with different soundtracks, the nighttime spectaculars all provide Guests with photo opportunities, surprises, and lifelong memories to take home.

Twitter user Patrick (@Traincrossin) revealed his in-depth analysis of Walt Disney World’s fireworks shows in a series of tweets and Excel spreadsheets, beginning by explaining that he made a complete list of every song and soundtrack used in a Disney World fireworks or projection show:

Have you ever thought that Disney fireworks shows are sort of the same but can’t figure out why? Well I compiled every song used in a WDW fireworks/projection show and tallied up which ones were used the most! I tried to split medleys into individual songs as best I could

https://twitter.com/Traincrossin/status/1527307849172324355

Splitting medleys into individual songs as best he could, Patrick compiled a full list of all the Disney songs used in nighttime spectaculars such as Happily Ever After, Wishes, Once Upon a Time, EPCOT’s Harmonious, and the new 50th-anniversary celebration show Disney Enchantment at the Magic Kingdom Park.

The Disney fan revealed that “quite a few of the same songs carry over from an old show to its replacement.” He showcased that 6 songs from Happily Ever After are in Harmonious, 4 songs from Happily Ever After are in Enchantment, and 4 songs from Fantasy in the Sky are in Wishes.

Beloved fireworks classic Wishes and Happily Ever After share 6 songs: “Go The Distance,” “I’ve Got No Strings,” “Part of Your World,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” as well as “Friend Like Me” and “A Whole New World” from Disney’s classic animated movie Aladdin (1992).

This classic Disney song, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, is actually Disney World’s most used song in its nighttime shows. The romantic duet is featured in 6 fireworks shows at Walt Disney World, while “I’ve Got No Strings” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio (1940), Peter Pan‘s (1953) “You Can Fly” and Hercules’ (1997) “Go the Distance”  are used 4 times, and a multitude of other Disney movie songs including “Hakuna Matata” and “He’s a Pirate” are used in 3 shows.

Interestingly, the popular “Let It Go” from Frozen (2013) is only used in 2 shows, alongside The Jungle Book (1967) song “Bare Necessities,” “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana (2016), and “I See the Light” from Tangled (2010). It must be noted, however, that though Moana and Elsa seem to feature heavily in current fireworks shows, their recent movie releases mean that only a couple of fireworks shows have been launched since their Disney debut.

Patrick reveals he “skipped EPCOT Forever as that was more of a throwback show and not a standard Disney nighttime spectacular, but if it were included, then ‘A Whole New World’ would have been used in 6 shows.”

Magic Kingdom’s new Disney Enchantment features 15 songs, 7 of which have been used in previous shows – 4 of which were in Happily Ever After.

Though many of the Disney hits used in Enchantment are similar to its predecessors, the all-new firework Main Street, U.S.A. projection show has seen mixed reactions. Guests lament that it does not feel like a 50th celebration fireworks spectacular. We admit that we were expecting a celebration of Disney Park music and history, celebrating iconic attractions such as The Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spectromagic, and Illuminations.

It is fascinating that with such a broad and incredible spectrum of music, soundtracks, genres, and hits, Disney continues to choose the same few songs for its fireworks shows.

And yes, songs like “A Whole New World” and “Go the Distance” do provide an uplifting and familiar emotional pull. Still, it is always special when an underrated or lesser-known Disney song is allowed to input some magic into a new show.

Think when “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1995) sweeps the Magic Kingdom with its rousing message during Happily Ever After or when Miguel’s “The World Es Mi Familia” from Coco (2017) entertains EPCOT in Harmonious. Having different Disney songs in a fireworks show makes that show unique and memorable and further resonates with fans of that Disney movie.

Disney has such a wide portfolio of movies – why not use them more?