Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular
| Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Main Street, U.S.A., Sleeping Beauty Castle, Rivers of America and It's a small world |
| Type | Fireworks and multimedia spectacular |
| Opened | April 13, 2018 |
| Designer | Disney Live Entertainment
|
| Status | Seasonal |
Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular was a fireworks and multimedia show at Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in California, created for Pixar Fest. It was the first nighttime spectacular at the park built entirely around the films of Pixar Animation Studios, telling stories of friendship through fireworks, projection mapping, lasers, searchlights and flying elements over Sleeping Beauty Castle. The show premiered on April 13, 2018, alongside the return of Paint the Night, which Pixar Fest brought to Disney California Adventure.[1][2]
History
Pixar Fest, announced at the D23 Expo in 2017, was billed as the biggest Pixar celebration yet held at a Disney park, and it took over the Disneyland Resort from April 13 to September 3, 2018, under the theme of friendship. Its two headline entertainment pieces were split between the parks: Paint the Night returned across the esplanade at Disney California Adventure, near Pixar Pier, while Disneyland Park received the new fireworks show.[3]
Together Forever ran for the duration of the 2018 festival and closed with it on September 3, 2018.[1] It then stayed away for more than five years, while other spectaculars, including Wondrous Journeys, held the park's nighttime slot. When Pixar Fest returned in 2024, so did the show: Disneyland announced in December 2023 that Together Forever would return on April 26, 2024, for the new festival, which ran until August 4, 2024, and the show continued for a short period after the festival ended, closing on August 22, 2024.[4]
Show
The show opens with the Luxo Ball and then with Buzz Lightyear himself, who flies above Sleeping Beauty Castle — about 100 feet in the air on a flight path some 350 feet long — adapting his catchphrase for the occasion: "To friendship… and beyond!"[5]
From there the show moves through Pixar friendships in projected scenes on the castle, Main Street, U.S.A., It's a small world and the Rivers of America water screens. Toy Story provides several set pieces, including the green Space Aliens gazing up at the Claw and a fiery Toy Story 3 incinerator sequence flanked by flames around the castle. Monsters, Inc., Coco — represented in 2018 by large figures from the Land of the Dead — and WALL-E, whose title characters dance through a star field, all feature, drawing in its original version on characters from all 19 Pixar films released to that point.[5]
The emotional centre is Up. After clips retelling Carl and Ellie Fredricksen's life together, Carl's house, carried by its cluster of balloons, flies over the castle — described by Disney as the largest object ever to fly in a Disneyland fireworks show.[5] A hidden Pizza Planet truck, the running gag planted in most Pixar films, is worked into the projections as an Easter egg for sharp-eyed guests.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wikipedia, "Together Forever (Disney)" — the show premiered alongside the returning Paint the Night parade on April 13, 2018, as part of Pixar Fest, using fireworks, projection mapping, pyrotechnics, lasers and searchlights.
- ↑ D23, "More Details on Pixar Fest, Coming to Disneyland Resort April 2018" — beginning April 13, 2018, Pixar Fest would feature the debut of Together Forever, with projections on Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Rivers of America, It's a small world and Main Street, U.S.A., plus a Buzz Lightyear flyover.
- ↑ Attractions Magazine, "Pixar Fest will celebrate friendship throughout Disneyland Resort in April 2018", October 2017 — Pixar Fest would begin April 13, 2018, with a new fireworks show in Disneyland Park and Paint the Night returning at Disney California Adventure.
- ↑ WDW News Today, "'Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular' Fireworks Returning to Disneyland Park in 2024" — the show would return during Pixar Fest, running April 26 through August 4, 2024, having previously debuted at Pixar Fest 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Disneyland Resort fun facts for Together Forever, April 2018 — Buzz Lightyear flies 100 feet above Sleeping Beauty Castle on a 350-foot flight path, and the show contains more than 900 separate fireworks effects.