WDW Fireworks

There are three big fireworks/evening shows at Disney World:

• Wishes at the Magic Kingdom
• IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot
• Fantasmic! at Hollywood Studios

Since we had a longer trip this year, we decided that we'd like to see each show twice, and that's just what we did! After seeing them all again, I had to agree with Mark that Fantasmic! is the best, followed by Wishes, especially now that they've added Celebrate the Magic before and after. I still enjoy Illuminations, too, of course!

It's really hard to get quality photos of fireworks, but our new camera does have a setting designed for it, which at least allowed me to snap a few that weren't totally blurry! 

Here are some shots from IllumiNations. In this show, they set up barges all around the World Showcase Lagoon, including a lighted globe that spins and opens up during the show. There are fireworks, water effects, and lasers, all set to music. 

Technically, Wishes and Celebrate the Magic are two separate shows, but they happen close together, with Cinderella Castle as the focal point. We'd seen Wishes before, but this year our goal was to watch from in front of the castle. One of our longest waits for anything was on our first night there, when we staked out a place to watch the evening parade and fireworks. It turns out that this was a great place to watch the new Celebrate the Magic show. It's a bit hard to describe, but basically, they use the castle like a canvas and project different scenes and effects on it. There's music, too, and a few fireworks. It was one of my favorite things from this trip. The Wishes fireworks show has a little bit of a story line, narrated by Jiminy Cricket. The fireworks can be seen from lots of places in the park, as well as some of the nearby hotels. I think watching the fireworks from the flagpole on Main Street was really great. The pictures below show some of the fireworks from Wishes, but I was so mesmerized by Celebrate the Magic that I didn't take any photos. Here's Disney's description and a decent YouTube video.

Fantasmic!, though, is in a category of its own! It's really much more than fireworks; there are water effects, characters, boats, fire, and music, all telling an epic good vs. evil story. Of course, Mickey wins! Again, here's Disney's description and a YouTube video.

Overall, these evening events are some of the best highlights from the trip.