Current Discussion

From Crazedpyrotechnicians

On this page, we look at diffrent firework shows every week or so. You may edit this page with your comments about the show under the heading User Comments, as long as you are a club member.

Current Discussion

Today's discussion is Illuminations: Reflections Of Earth the nightly show at Epcot in Walt Disney World. Held on the World Showcase Lagoon every night at 9:00PM, Illuminations lights up the night sky with fireworks, fire, lasers and fountians. The show is divided into 3 parts:

Chaos
Order
Meaning

Also, there are extra endings that are added for the following holidays:

Fourth Of July
Holiday Season
New Years Eve

These endings add more fireworks and music to the end of the "Thousand Points Of Light".

The Sections

Chaos

The show starts off with Jim Cummings (voice of Tigger, and many other Disney characters) welcoming us to the show with a quick narration.

"Good evening and welcome. We've gathered here tonight, around the fire as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands of years before us... to share the light, and to share a story. An amazing story, as old as time itself, but still being written. And though each of us has our own individual stories to tell, a true adventure emerges... when we bring them all together as one. I hope you enjoy our story tonight. Reflections Of Earth."

After he's done, he "blows out" all the torches and lights around the lagoon. Then, a drumbeat starts. It gets faster and faster and once it hits the peak, a comet streaks across the lagoon, and explodes, symbolising the big bang.

Please note, all of these pictures in the following sections except the Fire Barge Explosion are taken in the most recent video. Which means, the big bang and the fire barge aren't working correctly or just not working at all. We hope you understand the inconvience.

Low-level bursts come in and light up the lagoon.

Bursts of white shoot off then the fire barge turns on.

After that, lights around the lagoon start flashing.

Then, the music picks up the pace agian, strong sounding music!

Chaos ends with white peonies exploding above the lagoon.

Then the music calms as we transition into Order.

Order

The Earth barge slowly moves to the center of the lagoon. Images of humans, monuments from around the world and other stuff shows as fountians dance to the music.

After all is said and done, some white fireworks shoot off.

Then, another burst of colorful fireworks explode in the air.

Then the four custom colors Disney made just for this show are brought in, and in this order.

Then, comets circle the lagoon a few times.

The circling stops and some bursts fly out in diffrent directions.

Then, the music calms down, and sort of repeats the last music. Then, four golden peonies explode, then palms, then peonies, palms, peonies and palms one last time.

Then, the music picks up, and it's a party on the lagoon! This section is so good, I have included a video segment of it along with the pictures. (See the videos part of this page)

Here is the link to the video. Illuminations Clip 1

Meaning

Everything calms down, and we focus on the Earth Barge agian. "We Go On" a song by Kellie Coffey is sung, pictures of people carrying torches and candles are on the barge.

As the song gets sung, the torches around the lagoon light up agian, the floating torch effect Disney made just for the show light up, and the Earth Barge starts opening up. If you thought the Earth Barge was useless, you were wrong!

Once it fully opens, a torch in the center starts rising, it gets lit, symbolising the new millennium (there are 19 torches around the lagoon, each symbolising 100 years, the 20th is the one in the Earth Barge). 2 bursts of white comets shoot from the middle of the torch.

As the corus and Kellie Coffey say "We Go On...", they hold that last note, and 1,000 fireworks shoot off from the lagoon, lighting the lagoon up. Another term used for this is the "Thousand Points of Light". This part deserves a few pictures from various parts.

Then a few more fireworks shoot up, and that's the end of it.

Fire Barge Burnoff

Every night when the park is closed, (or open, depending on if there are EMHs) the fire barge in the center of the lagoon releases all the extra propane in a big fireball. If the park is open, there is an announcement first so people know it's controled and intentional. This needs a few pictures.

Extra Endings

These extra endings are played for certain holidays.

4th Of July
Christmas Season
New Years Eve

These endings add-on to the show after the "Thousand Points Of Light". These are described in more detail below.

4th Of July Ending

In the most recent video I have seen of the Fourth Of July Ending, the show adds two songs. "Yankee Doodle" (without singing, of course) and "Stars and Stripes Forever".

The extra ending starts with "Yankee Doodle". Lasers dance across the lagoon to the starting drumbeat. Then, fireworks shoot off from behind American Adventure!

Then focus shifts back to the lagoon, where the music gets upbeat, and it looks like the fireworks are marching to the drumbeat!

Then after the song ends, we transition into "Stars and Stripes Forever". This part gives lots of cheers, and provides lots of good pictures too! This picture is of the flute solo, where sparklers across the lagoon start sparking.

Fireworks start going crazy as the music falls into the finalie.

Then, as the music hits it's final part, tons of fireworks shoot off and explode, creating such a smokescreen and such loud noise, that you'd think a bomb was going off! This, just like the "Thousand Points of Light", deserves a few pictures!

The music ends, and the huge smoke cloud trails off.

Christmas/Holiday Season Ending

This is the Christmas ending. This part runs from about Thanksgiving untill December 30th. It adds the song "Let There Be Peace On Earth" after the "Thousand Points of Light". This, just like the 4th Of July ending, has a great finalie, but we will get to that after we go through the show itself. The show starts with sparklers around the lagoon to start the calm music.

From now on, untill some parts I can actually document, I'll just show pictures.

After this, "Peace on Earth" and "Good Will To Men" is said in various languages. When a certian countries language is spoken, that country lights up.

Then, Walter Cronkite comes in and says a nice holiday greeting.

"During this glorious time of year there is one message that rings out around the world in every language. Peace on earth. Good will to men is a wish to hold in our hearts throughout each passing year. A gift of immeasureable value. A treasure being handed down with care, from generation to generation. And so our holiday wish is that everyone, everywhere share in the spirit of the season. Peace on earth, good will to men."

Then the song continues. And here are more un-interupted pictures.

Then, once more, just like the 4th Of July Ending, tons of fireworks shoot off, creating that smokescreen.

And that's that!

New Years Eve

Thanks to Fab208 from RCTPyro, we finally have an awesome video of the New Years Eve version! And of course, credit for this video goes to LaughingPlace. Ok then, they do the show at two times! Once at 7:00 or so, and the other at 11:45 or so. Which means they re-stock the barges and everything. They bring out the WWIII barge and all the countries celebrate the New Year in the order that they celebrated them! Fireworks get shot off from behind each pavillion.

Japan

Japan gets it's turn first. Please note, I have no clue what these songs are. Also, this video was shot from the Italy Pavillion. So enjoy!

China

Next is China!

Italy

Time for Italy's turn. And since this video was taken in Italy, the fireworks are closer!

Norway

It's time for Norway to shine!

France

Onto France!

Germany

Let's see what Germany has in store for us!

Morocco

Come on Morocco, dazzle us!

United Kingdom

Let's see what our friends from over the pond have set up!

America/Mexico/Canada

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. Now it's our turn! The moment has arrived! Let us remember the New Year as we count down together to welcome 2006!"

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

"7!"

"6!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Happy New Year!" Auld Lang Syne starts playing, but it's not like you can hear it or anything.

And finally we focus our attention on the lagoon.

Then everything (except the people) calms down. And the Earth Barge displays "Happy New Year" then confetti and streamers.

And that's the end of this huge ending.

Music

The music for the shows are as follows.

We Go On (In all shows)
Yankee Doodle (Fourth Of July show)
Stars and Stripes Forever (Fourth Of July show)
Let There Be Peace On Earth (Christmas show)
Auld Lang Syne (New Years Eve show)

Show Info

Besides the stuff listed up there, there are many other facts about the show. There is alot of behind the scenes info. For instance, did you know there were 6 diffrent versions of Illuminations counting the one we are covering? Here are some more quick facts.

Four new colors were added for the show; Lagoon Blue, Mint Green, Pumpkin Orange, and Lavender.
A special system is used to launch the starting 2 fireworks (the comet and the big bang) called ALF, or Air Launched Fireworks. This, just like the Inferno Barge, is not working. However, they do launch the comet and the Big Bang diffrently, but it's not timed as good as the other system and the magic is lost.
The four fountain barges pump out 4,000 gallons of water per minute!
The Inferno Barge weighs a whopping 150,000 pounds! There are 37 places where the fire can be shot out of. 300 gallons of propane are used for the barge. And every night after the park is closed, (or not depending on when the park is closed) they release the leftover propane, resulting in a big fireball. Of course, if the park is open, they make an announcement first.
The Earth Globe weighs a massive, huge, 350,000 p-o-u-n-d-s.
15,000 LED's cover the globe.
2,800 fireworks are used every show, and remember, this show is on everyday of the week! Which means if it is a normal week, they use 19,600 fireworks! If it is a normal month of 30/31 days, they use 84,000/86,800 fireworks! And, figuring in 365 days a year, not counting the extra finalies they add for holidays, they would use 1,022,000 fireworks a year! That's not a small number!