Walt Disney World (FL)

Summer Nightastic! Simply Fantastic!

Todd Perlmutter 11 Comments
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Today marks the beginning of Summer Nightastic! at Walt Disney World.  It’s designed to celebrate a time of the year that has always been very special at WDW: Summer.  Longer park hours are a huge draw for the parks during the Summer, but this year Disney has really amped it up (kudos Katie!).  Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, let me tell you that if you’re going to be at Walt Disney World from June 6th through August 14th of this year you are in for a treat.

Last night, at Magic Kingdom, Disney previewed two key pieces of this celebration: Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade, and the Sumer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular.  I attended this event, and let me tell you this I haven’t stopped dancing.  Baroque Hoedown is still ringing in my head, it may well be doing so all summer long.  I’m pretty sure that even riding It’s a Small World won’t change that.  As soon as the music started I tweeted my joy.  This moment was so enjoyable for me, so full of emotion.  Standing there at the Castle Hub, parked at a spot I chose more than a week ago.  With my wife, a friend from work and his family.  I’d just finished hosting a TouringPlans.com meet for the first time, and I was running on high because it went so well (thanks to everyone who came out).

The Main Street Electrical Parade now leads off with Tinker Bell in her balloon from the movie Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure.  She throws out a handful of pixie dust which flows back through parade, and as it reaches each float the lights on that float transform.  But really, from all my childhood memories the one main reason to see it is summed up in two words: Pete’s Dragon (a.k.a., Elliot). Not part of the original incarnation of the parade, Elliot has always been the part of the parade I remember best.  And the one I’ve looked forward to the most since I heard that the Main Street Electrical Parade was returning to Magic Kingdom.  The lights on the floats are great, the lights on the characters… not so much so, but, on the whole, the parade is fantastic.  And while I do like SpectroMagic, if I have to chose between its grandiose majesty, or the fun of the Main Street Electrical Parade – I’m going for the fun.

Then as if that wasn’t enough, one hour later there’s the new the new Sumer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular. A bunch of folks from the TouringPlans.com meet came back to watch with me.  This new display really is spectacular.  12 minutes of fireworks set to some of your favorite music from various Disney movies: Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and Pirates of the Caribbean to name a few.  It also pays homage to prior fireworks celebrations by pulling in bits and pieces from them.  There’s Tinker Bell flying down from Cinderella’s Castle toward Tomorrowland from Wishes, a Pirate Flag that shines onto the Castle from HalloWishes, and other things here and there. There are fireworks that shoot forth from the Castle itself designed to look and sound like cannonball explosions that were a real crowd pleaser.  To me the choreography of the fireworks to the music was astounding – there’s this one moment during the Little Mermaid portion where fireworks in the sky literally seem to sway and flow like the sea itself.

It was a fantastic night, and it’s hard to believe Disney will be repeating it every night for the next two months.  And the parade and fireworks are only two parts of the Summer Nightastic! experience.  I can’t wait to get to try out the Tower of Terror changes, the Rock ‘n’ Glow Dance Party, and a Sounds Like Summer concert.   What about you?  Are you looking forward to Summer Nightastic!?  What are you looking forward to most? Maybe you’ve already seen it?  What were your favorite moments of the celebration?

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Todd Perlmutter

Todd is a Central Florida local who just so happens to be a mega geeky Disney, tech, and gaming nerd. Lives or dies by his iPhone - it spending a significant amount of time in his hand while he's at Walt Disney World. In addition to being blogger here at TouringPlans.com he is also a developer working on the Touring Plans Engine, the Chief Technical Officer for The Disney Driven Life, and co-host of the Disney Film Project Podcast. Loves his wife (@cherylp3) and pup (@DisneyDoggie). You can reach Todd via Twitter (@tperlmutter) or Facebook (tperlmutter).

11 thoughts on “Summer Nightastic! Simply Fantastic!”

  • We aren’t arriving until Aug. 16th, so I’m so sad we’ll miss the Electrical Parade. However, I saw a video of last night’s fireworks debute. Although the affects were awesome, I am happy we will get to see Wishes when we’re there. There’s nothing like Wishes!!

    Reply

  • We aren’t arriving until Aug. 16th and am so sad to be missing the Electrical Parade. However, I saw a video of last night’s fireworks debute. I must say, although the affects were awesome, I am glad that we will get to see Wishes when we’re there. There’s nothing like Wishes!!

    Reply

    • Don’t worry, Carol, even if the “Summer Nightastic” signs come down on August 15, there’s no reason not to believe that the parade itself will not continue running.
      The official schedules will say “Spectromagic”, simply because the marketing is designed to get people to the park in the next two months. That wouldn’t work if they were announcing that the parade would continue.
      If MSEP and the new fireworks are not running during my trip in September, I said weeks ago that I would volunteer to sit through Sounds Dangerous, El Gran Fiesta, and Stich’s Great Escape during my trip. I’m quite confident that I will not have to pay that punishment!

      Reply

      • Oops, I just noticed a triple negative, when I should have used a double. Should say “there’s no reason not to believe that the parade itself will continue running”.

      • Are you speaking just about the parade, or the fireworks too? My ideal night would be MSEP and Wishes. I got engaged during Wishes in 2004, and due to paying for a wedding and then tough economic times, we haven’t been back since. I’ve been going through WDW withdrawl, and would cry if I don’t get to see wishes!!!

      • I don’t see why Wishes wouldn’t be back. Event fireworks have never taken over Wishes in the past, and I don’t see that changing. As I mentioned, event fireworks are typically about the boomage and not about the emotion like Wishes is. In the long run, as cool as boomage is, emotion is a key factor at Walt Disney World that can not be denied. Now will it be back by the time you arrive, according to the current schedule yes. I think there’d be an uproar if that was not the case.

      • I hope you are right about MSEP we are arriving Aug 23rd and I would love to see the MSEP. The last time I saw it, I was there with my parents as a child, it would be so great to watch it with my kids!

    • Yes Wishes is a very special show. The fundamental difference between this show and Wishes is that Wishes is all about emotion. The new show, while emotional, is more oriented toward the fireworks themselves. There is an amazing amount of smoke in this new show. It literally obscures the castle at one point because so many fireworks are launching from the Castle itself.

      Of the changes for Summer Nightastic! throughout the parks, the ones most likely to stay I feel are the ones to Tower of Terror. The last set of changes to this ride were supposed to be a summer only thing and they stayed around.

      I tend to agree with Nicholas, there’s a good chance that due to popularity MSEP might stick around for a bit longer. Perhaps they’ll alternate it with Spectro, not sure. We could in the fall maybe be seeing some modifications to Spectro, as they could be working on it while it’s not being used.

      Reply

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