Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I took a look back at my favorite fireworks spectacular of all-time.
Last Friday, Pixar Fest 2024 began at the Disneyland Resort, the third iteration of the festival after debuting in 2018 and resurfacing in 2021. This version of the festival features the return of the fireworks show Together Forever along with a new fun zone called the Pixar Playtime Party in the Fantasyland Theatre as well as a new Disney California Adventure parade called Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration. Concurrently, Seasons of the Force is going on at Disneyland, so there are a ton of extra activities for guests at the parks, which makes me think back to my fond memories of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Via Pinterest
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly two decades since the start of the celebration of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, the Happiest Homecoming on Earth. Well, technically it was the celebration of 50 years of Disney Parks, with Walt Disney World somehow bamboozling everyone and receiving attractions from Disney Parks around the world. Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary was exciting, but it paled in comparison to how all out Disney went for the Happiest Homecoming on Earth.
With everything so centered on the theme parks, Disney Entertainment went all out with everything they did, but most especially today’s featured attraction, the fireworks spectacular Remember … Dreams Come True. In fact, they tried something that they had never done before, centering an entire show around the attractions in the park, namely Disneyland. To show that they meant business, they asked Mary Poppins herself to join the party, with Julie Andrews’ posh but calming nature serving as the perfect choice to lend the show a certain gravitas.
Remember … Dreams Come True opened on May 1, 2005 along with the start of the celebration and immediately became a huge hit with guests since the show celebrated so many of the attractions that they had come to know and love over the years. It just played so differently from the same old fireworks shows that we tend to see over and over again, that it couldn’t help but be a success.
Before I jump into my thoughts on the show, I wanted to take a little look at the history of the show because there is a specific version that I would like to include as today’s watchthrough. Like many fireworks shows before it, Remember had a storied history of closing and reopening with the first iteration running for just over four years before Magical: Disney’s New Nighttime Spectacular took over the night skies on June 11, 2009. But Remember wasn’t down for long, returning on January 10, 2010 to much aplomb. This time, it stuck around even longer, lasting through November 2, 2014 when Disneyland’s original fireworks show, Fantasy in the Sky, made a reappearance as the park prepared for its 60th anniversary.
For the 60th anniversary, Disneyland officially went all-in on adding projection mapping to its fireworks shows, with Disneyland Forever blowing the minds of those who saw it by completely transforming Main Street and Sleeping Beauty Castle in ways we had never seen. With that in mind, Disney saw the opportunity to plus Remember … Dreams Come True. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the plussed up version of the show that truly cemented itself in my mind.
Remember … Dreams Come True started on a high note with an intro song from the 50th anniversary that morphed into a selection from the Magic Kingdom classic Wishes, so people were already crying. From there, Julie began to talk about Walt Disney and his vision for the parks, so there was not a dry eye in the house just three minutes in.
But wait, now the Disneyland Railroad was projected onto the castle with the fitting announcement that we were beginning our “grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom.” I mean, what is a more fitting way to get started? And from there, the show continued along Main Street USA with an awesome projection mapping display of the Main Street Electrical Parade, complete with the “Baroque Hoedown” blaring over the speakers.
Via YouTube
Adventureland was next on the docket with a really cool sequence from Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, especially when it came to the gods' anger from all of our celebrating. From there, John Williams’ amazing Indiana Jones score came over the speakers with fire bursting from the castle to alert us to the fact that things were getting real.
Via Flickr
Things just kept getting better as the New Orleans Square section kicked off with the Haunted Mansion and some seriously spooky ghosts. It captured all the whimsy and creepiness of the attraction along with some dancing ghosts and who could ask for more? Well, maybe Pirates of the Caribbean could as fireworks exploded like cannons around the castle, engrossing us in the battle from the opening of the attraction, but without any semblance of the movie. Remember … Dreams Come True basically refused to even mention anything outside of the theme parks, which helped it feel so refreshing.
Frontierland was up next, and I’ll be honest, this section was a bit disappointing as it quickly played some music and flashed an image of the Mark Twain Riverboat, but that’s because things were about to get crazy. Critter Country, Fantasyland and Mickey’s Toontown were combined into one section, starting with a little look at Splash Mountain and a taste of the Laughing Place. The show then jumped right into a medley of songs and lines from Fantasyland rides, though the medley was more of a cacophony, with the noises all bleeding into each other and some crazy fireworks to boot. It was complete chaos and I completely loved it. The show then jumped back to Critter Country as the castle took on Tigger’s stripes and seemingly bounced before moving into another agent of chaos with Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin taking us for one of his patented crazy trips.
Via Flickr
After all of that madness, we needed a little bit of a break, but the show refused to let up with Tomorrowland on tap. If I sounded excited about the rest of the show, it was nothing compared to Tomorrowland, which kicked off with references to a bunch of extinct attractions like the PeopleMover, Submarine Voyage and Adventures Thru Inner Space. I mean, the Submarine Voyage even used projection mapping to include the funniest looking object in Disney Parks history, the sea serpent. It was a true dream!
But the show didn’t stop there, moving right into a truly show stopping Star Tours segment. There were TIE Fighters, lasers, you name it. It was just a nonstop onslaught on the senses that was so overwhelmingly awesome. But alas the show had to end at some point with Star Tours leading into a reprise of the WIshes song to calm us down from the thrill ride we had just experienced.
In case you can’t tell, I absolutely loved this show and its focus on the parks. Disney Parks are my favorite aspect of the Disney brand, so having an entire fireworks show themed around them with amazing projection mapping is about as up my alley as a show can possibly get. I just truly loved it so much.
Via Flickr
Remember … Dreams Come True’s third run was much shorter than the last few, ending on April 17, 2018 when the first Pixar Fest debuted the Together Forever fireworks. However, Pixar Fest was a limited time event, so Remember received one final encore from September 7, 2018 until January 17, 2019 before being replaced by Mickey’s Mix Magic (which never seems to disappear).
I have not heard any recent buzz about a return of Remember … Dreams Come True, but when it comes to Disneyland fireworks, the key is to never rule out a show’s return. I doubt we’ll see it in the next couple of years, but as it sneaks closer to the park’s 75th anniversary, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a resurgence.
For now we’ll have to do with videos, but you can look forward to my next article where I’ll take a look back at Tokyo Disneyland’s modified version since dreams do come true.
Via My E Beat
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!