The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (123 page)

The few tables that provide
a complete view are generally already occupied by savvy seasoned Guests and their families.  But if you’re game to try it, see if you can find the perfect
Plaza Inn
viewing point.

Fireworks-viewing r
eal estate is easier to come by the further south you move on
Main Street
, because the further you are from the castle, the more distant your view will be.  It all depends on what you want to get out of the fireworks show.  If you want to see every detail, you need to find a way to join the crowds on the north end of
Main Street
, near the castle.  If you’ll be happy just to hear the music and see the fireworks, any place along
Main Street
will do.  For a “big picture” (though distant) view, stand in front of the
Disneyland Railroad Station
at the south end of
Main Street
.

You can even view the fireworks (but not hear the music) from the vast central plaza between
Disneyland
and
Disney California Adventure
.  Many groups gather there after leaving
DCA
, standing or sitting down on the pavement to watch the fireworks burst.  After the fireworks end, these Guests depart and become the first to hit
Downtown Disney
, return to their hotels, or queue for the trams that will take them back to the
Mickey & Friends Parking Garage
.

Wherever you end up watching the fireworks, you
’re likely to encounter some level of crowd.  Guests of all ages chatter, keyed up in anticipation of the fireworks.  Children laugh, play, and tease each other.  You’ll probably be jostled at least a couple of times.  Some Guests (you included) might feel tired and cranky and over stimulated after a day in the park.  You might find yourself wondering, “Is this worth it to see some fireworks?”  Believe me:  It is.  Keep your Zen calm flowing.  Once the show starts, everything around you will melt away.

Recent fireworks shows
in the last decade were built around wishes and dreams, but the presentations seemed focused on lands and attractions within the park.  Despite one show’s dialogue by the ever-gracious
Julie Andrews
(whose
Disney
history stretches back to
Mary Poppins
and continues with roles in modern
Disney
classics like the
Princess Diaries
films), the extravaganzas could feel at times more like a tribute to the park than an enchanting celebration of chasing one’s wishes and dreams.

Magical Fireworks
, however, has magic and love as its themes, and it does a fine job of rendering them in its musical notes and flashes of color.  There’s the magic of childhood, of wishes, of imagination, of a mother’s love for her little one, and of “love’s first kiss.”  It’s this disciplined thematic focus that makes
Magical Fireworks
a moving and rewarding experience, not to mention that there seem to be more fireworks, and better fireworks than ever before, and in this show, it’s not just
Tinker Bell
who flies!

Magical Fireworks
shows begin with a complex play of choreographed lights on and around
Sleeping Beauty Castle
, primarily whites, pinks, and blues.  The fireworks begin, and
Tinker Bell
appears–a real person flying between the
Matterhorn Mountain
and
Sleeping Beauty
Castle
, high above the ground, lit by a bright spotlight.  It’s impressive no matter how many times you see
Tinker Bell
fly.

The fireworks are perfectly synchronized to the
narration and musical selections, which include
magical
songs and moments from classic
Disney
films such as
Pinocchio
and
Mary Poppins
.  The fireworks reflect and mimic the words and music to which they dance.  For example, when a calliope plays phrases of
An Actor’s Life For Me
from
Pinocchio
, pink, blue, and yellow fireworks jet straight up, one at a time, pantomiming the notes sliding up and down calliope pipes.

It’s not just the
magic
of a living puppet or a flying nanny that’s honored in this show, but the
magic
of love.  The
magical
power of a mother’s love for her child is celebrated with the song
Baby Mine
from
Disney
’s
Dumbo
.  While the song plays, and we hear
Dumbo
’s mother insisting that she believes her little son can fly,
Dumbo
appears in the night sky near
Sleeping Beauty Castle
, and flies like
Tinker Bell
!

How do they do it? 
Disney magic
.  By which I mean imagination, and a lot of careful planning, technological envelope-pushing, and lots of rehearsal.  It’s a stunning moment when
Dumbo
flies, even when you know it’s coming, and between the sweet song
Baby Mine
and the sight of an elephant flying, more than one Guest will be brushing away tears.

After
Dumbo
’s flight, there’s a shift to the celebration of romantic, fairy tale love.  Guests hear a suite of love themes from the
Disney Princess
movies, including
Enchanted
,
Cinderella
,
The Little Mermaid
, and
Sleeping Beauty
.  The fireworks echo the fairy tale mood, arching across the sky above the
Castle
in graceful, comet-like arcs that seem to waltz with the music, or exploding in delicate clouds of glittering pixie dust that shimmer soundlessly as they fall.

There are fireworks that appear
to race toward us, like stars glimpsed at hyper-speed, and fireworks that flicker in subtle, faint webs, like flashes of neurons behind drowsy eyelids.  These are expressive, romantic, balletic fireworks, and the show designers and show runners are to be congratulated on the cohesive visual tone poem they’ve created.

There’s a humorous moment during the
Sleeping Beauty
segment when we hear good fairies
Flora
and
Merryweather
arguing about whether to make
Aurora
’s dress pink or blue, exactly as they argue in the film.  When
Flora
says “Make it pink,” pink fireworks burst over the castle.  When
Merryweather
says “Make it blue,” blue fireworks explode.  As the fairies argue, pink and blue fireworks burst and collide over the
Castle
turrets, and Guests’ appreciative laughter ripples through the crowd.

Magical Fireworks
concludes to the eternally lovely and inspiring strains of
When You Wish Upon A Star
from
Pinocchio
, and a cavalcade of thunderous, lightning-bright fireworks.  When silence and darkness suddenly fall, Guests draw in a deep breath … and then applaud like mad.

As is the habit with
Disneyland
crowds, once the entertainment ends, Guests immediately move on to their next destination.  The challenge after fireworks during summer or holiday season is that you are sardined into a crowd of tens of thousands, and suddenly everyone seems to be going in a different direction–though, somehow, whatever direction they’re going in seems to involve trampling directly over
you
!

Some tips for getting wherever you’
re going next after the fireworks:

Keep calm
.  If people are bumping into you or running over your foot with a stroller, it’s nothing personal (probably not, anyway); you might find yourself accidentally bumping into someone too.

Go with the flow
.  Find a group that’s flowing in the direction you want, and get behind them.  That’s how it works at
Disneyland
; a sort of primal flock mentality seems to kick in, and people flowing in the same general direction form cohesive streams.

Keep track of your group
.  Take your little ones’ hands, or, better yet, carry them or put them in a stroller.  Know where they are and keep them safe; in heavy crowds, small children can be hard to spot.  Have everyone in your group hold hands, sleeves, or hoods.  Decide on a common meeting point so you can regroup if any of you becomes separated from the others.

Follow Cast Member instructions
.  Before, during, and after events like the fireworks, Cast Members hit the streets and lanes of the park with glowing directional wands.  They rope off certain areas to guide traffic in optimal patterns, and they designate certain routes as one-way.  Particularly if you get claustrophobic or crowd-phobic, being in the middle of a mass of Guests after the fireworks can feel chaotic and unsettling, but realize that there
is
a pattern and plan in place.  If you’re anxious or if you have questions, approach a Cast Member.

A destination that you might want to avoid after the fireworks is
Frontierland
, to the west of
Main Street
.  It’s not unusual for thousands of Guests to walk directly from
Main Street
to
Frontierland
as soon as the fireworks end, so they can gather along the
Rivers of America
to view the second
Fantasmic!
show of the evening.  The wide lane passing through the
Frontierland
log fort entrance is clogged from post to post with people, strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs.  Cast Members stand on benches waving Guests forward with their glowing traffic control wands.  The stream of people is almost impenetrable for anyone trying to pass through the gate from
Frontierland
to
Main Street
.

A destination that you’ll have to avoid after the fireworks is
Sleeping Beauty Castle
, since that remains cordoned off for some time, as do the attractions immediately north of it (
Alice in Wonderland
,
King Arthur’s Carrousel
,
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
,
Peter Pan’s Flight
,
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
, and
Snow White’s Scary Adventures
).  If you want to visit the castle or those
Fantasyland
adventures, you’ll need to enter
Fantasyland
via
Tomorrowland
or
Matterhorn Way
, and join a queue of Guests waiting for those attractions to reopen.

Why the long wait?  Safety personnel are checking the area immediately surrounding the castle and southern
Fantasyland
for any smoldering sparks or embers from the fireworks.  It’s always “safety first” at
Disneyland
.

Southern
Main Street
, down to
Town Square
, is crowded too, as many guests make the fireworks their last event of the day, and exit the park after the fireworks conclude.  Of course, as Guests move down
Main Street
, they often veer into the shops to browse and purchase last-minute souvenirs and snacks.  That’s why one of the worst times you could pick for
Main Street
shopping or dining is immediately after the fireworks!  Lines at
Refreshment Corner
, the
Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor
, and
Candy Palace
are incredibly long, and even huge shops like the
Emporium
are jammed with Guests.

Three
destinations you might
want
to visit after the fireworks are the
Plaza Inn
, right at the northeast corner of
Main Street
,
Tomorrowland
attractions, and the
Tomorrowland Terrace
.

The
Plaza Inn
is usually lightly trafficked at night and serves up delicious pasta, chicken, and beef meals, along with salads, beverages, and desserts, in a sumptuous Victorian environment.  There’s an outside patio as well if you like dining
al fresco
at night.  A good place to dine and to chat with family after the fireworks.

Tomorrowland
is popular and crowded at most times, but after the fireworks, there’s usually less of a crowd heading into
Tomorrowland
than into
Frontierland
, so it should be a marginally less mobbed journey.