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Looks Like Fantasmic! Is Ready to Dazzle Walt Disney World Once Again

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It’s the big question on everyone’s lips at Walt Disney World – when is Fantasmic! returning?

The popular nighttime spectacular Fantasmic! will return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios with new sequences, pyrotechnics, and Disney magic after a long closure during the pandemic.

Fantasmic! is one of Disney’s most beloved shows, featuring characters like Mickey Mouse, Ariel, Maleficent, Tinker Bell, and more. Disney Guests everywhere are missing the magical brilliance that is Fantasmic!, but it looks like we now have some promising news.

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Credit: Disney Tips

We know that when Disney finally announces the return date of Fantasmic!, Disney fans are going to be celebrating across the world. We can expect that day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios to be packed, the first showing of Fantasmic! to be full hours before the performance, and the crowds’ cheers to be heard from miles around.

Back in November 2021, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Josh D’Amaro revealed that Fantasmic! will be returning to both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland in Anaheim in 2022.

Now, we have a promising update on the Fantasmic! lagoon that surely signals that an updated timeline is approaching.

The Fantasmic! lagoon has been drained for over a year, with the nighttime spectacular undergoing some major refurbishments during its pandemic closure.

While the moat surrounding the stage area was drained, Walt Disney World maintenance teams updated the rigging and technology. It is yet to be known if the show’s famous pyrotechnics and projectors have been majorly altered.

@bioreconstruct recently shared aerial photos of the Fantasmic! area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and we are so excited to see that the moat has been refilled!

Aerial photos of Fantasmic. Seems like refurbishment is complete

The photos show that the huge lagoon surrounding the staged area of the theater is filled, and you can even see the Steamboat Willie boat located behind the stage.

With the moat refilled, we at Disney Tips are expecting a potential Spring reopening of the beloved show. 

Fantasmic! opened in Walt Disney World back in 1998, after originating at Disneyland in 1992 with its water and fireworks dazzling Guests in front of the Rivers of America.

The nighttime show was also previously at Tokyo DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort. It features fireworks, characters, live actors, water effects, pyrotechnics, decorated boat floats, and mist screen projections.

Fantasmic! takes Guests on a journey through Mickey Mouse’s imagination that culminates in a battle against the Disney Villains. The Florida version of the show takes place at the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, a purpose-built seat riverside amphitheater located off of Sunset Boulevard, between The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Theater of the Stars, where the Beauty and the Beast stage show takes place.

The amphitheater has 6,900 seats, with room for an additional 3,000 people standing. The famous moat around the island itself can hold over 1,900,000 U.S. gallons (7,200,000 litres) of water!

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Credit: Disney

Instead of the Mark Twain Riverboat featured in the Disneyland version, the characters appear on board the Steamboat Willie during the finale. The music and characters and magic at the end of Fantasmic! never fail to make us at Disney Tips tear up.

 

This year when the show returns to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, new characters will be joining Mickey in his imagination. The show will see characters and scenes from Disney’s Moana (2016), Frozen (2013), and Aladdin (1992).

D’Amaro also announced that more entertainment would return to the Disney Parks this year, including World of Color at Disney’s California Adventure as well as Fantasmic!, following the debut of Disney Enchantment at Magic Kingdom and Harmonious at EPCOT.

We will, of course, keep you updated as soon as we get that eagerly-awaited return date of Fantasmic!

About Melissa Cannioto

Melissa is an author, adventurer, and chatterbox, who has worked at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Adventures by Disney! A British native, she has traveled the world seeking new experiences, and now resides in Florida with her husband, an Air Force pilot. Find her children's book at @bear.hug.book