Last night at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, the new projection show “Once Upon A Time” made it’s debut. We headed over late in the afternoon so we could get photos of the beautiful Christmas decorations, and to see Elsa light up the Castle. The decorations were lovely, the Castle was breathtaking….. but lets talk about that new show.
If you follow my articles then you know I try my best to give my honest opinions on what I report, so I plan to do so with Once Upon A Time as well. Here we go! We waited quite a while for the show to start, and about 10 minutes prior, it started to rain. Hard. We got completely soaked, but at that point, I was determined to stay for the show, as the Cast Members said they weren’t cancelling it. As the show started, I tried to dry off my hands and phone so we could at least get video (which we did, link below). The show is narrated by Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast, as she’s telling Chip bedtime stories. That’s the theme of Once Upon A Time, bedtime stories. And not too many of them.
This show has MUCH less variety in the stories and sections than Celebrate the Magic did. The main stories featured are Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh with a nod to Pinocchio. There are also spots of fireworks during the show and at the end. The firework effects were a nice addition. The Frozen section is long, two songs to be exact. We get to see Anna and Elsa this time, as previously it was just Elsa, but Let it Go is still her song of course. Parts of Alice and Wonderland are told, Winnie the Pooh, then it wraps up with Beauty and the Beast. In the finale, we do see Cinderella, so that was nice too. Now, lets get real….
Did I like the new show? Yes. Did I think it was a great replacement for Celebrate the Magic? No. Celebrate the Magic was much more heartfelt than Once Upon A Time. Now keep in mind, I was cold and soaked, so maybe that’s a factor, but I’m going back to give it another shot. In Celebrate the Magic, so many Disney favorites were represented, like Sleeping Beauty, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tangled, Toy Story, etc. No matter what your favorite Disney movie is, you had a good chance that you’d see it briefly in Celebrate the Magic. In Once Upon A Time, the stories are limited. No Tangled, which broke my heart, as that was my favorite part. What’s even worse…. No Mickey Mouse. No Walt Disney. Every time I watched Celebrate the Magic, my heart would swell when I’d see Walt larger than life, up on Cinderella Castle. It was pure Disney magic at it’s best. Once Upon a Time doesn’t have that. I was hoping they’d at least keep Walt, if not, Mickey Mouse. Nope, neither.
I fully understand that Disney is constantly changing and growing. I also fully admit that I’m not huge on change. However, I was looking forward to Once Upon A Time, but I was hoping they’d keep some of the magical parts of Celebrate the Magic. They kept Elsa’s sequence, that’s about it. Everything is new. New is good, if you don’t compare to it’s predecessor. Once Upon A time is well done, just don’t go into it thinking it’s like Celebrate the Magic the Sequel, because it’s very different. Disney did a great job, the fireworks were a great touch, but I think my heart will always have a special spot for Celebrate the Magic. I’m going to miss those Tangled lanterns… I always teared up. I’m going to miss the Skeleton Dance during the POTC section. I’ll for sure miss Walt and Mickey. I know I’ll get used to Once Upon A Time, but I also know that I will miss Celebrate the Magic. You can watch the all new Once Upon A Time for yourself on the link below! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re there! Let us know what you think of the show! Thanks and enjoy!
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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