One year and a day ago, Fantasmic! came to a slightly premature end at Tokyo DisneySea as a result of the Tokyo Disney Resort’s extended COVID-19 closure. Originally, the barges were removed from the backstage docks in April, with no word on their future. Now it seems we may have an idea of where their future lies—at Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris.
According to Twitter user RichyDisney, the four core barges that surrounded the Sorcerer Hat in Fantasmic! have been sold to Disneyland Paris for use in a future nighttime lagoon show at Walt Disney Studios Park.
As noted, the planned show at Walt Disney Studios Park is not Fantasmic!, but an entirely separate show using the same core barges. The barges housed characters and dancers sailing around the lagoon, as well as four inflatable “snowglobe” projection screens. The centerpiece Sorcerer’s Hat and the barge hosting the Magic Mirror and Maleficent’s dragon head were reportedly not part of this purchase.
According to RichyDisney’s sources, the plan is for a World of Color-esque fountain setup with the four snowglobe barges travelling around the fountains. Incidentally, World of Color was long-rumored to be a replacement for BraviSEAmo!, the show preceding Fantasmic! at Tokyo DisneySea, before the show’s 2011 debut.
The Oriental Land Company selling off old entertainment assets is nothing new, most notably selling Disney’s Fantillusion! to Disneyland Paris in 2001, and selling multiple parade floats (or whole parades) to Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland over the past decades.
Walt Disney Studios Park is undergoing a massive transformation right now, with new areas based on The Avengers and Frozen on their way, centered on a large lagoon where this new show will be held. Other additions include the upcoming re-theme of the Studio Tram Tour to Cars and upgrades to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in 2019.
Meanwhile, Tokyo DisneySea is currently in the final stages of preparation for its new nighttime show Believe… Sea of Dreams. No premiere date has been set, but projection mapping testing, barge testing, and extensive construction work has carried out in the pit beneath Mediterranean Harbor in preparation for the show’s debut later this year. You can watch a full video of Fantasmic‘s final performance above.
Are you excited for the new nighttime entertainment at both Walt Disney Studios Park and Tokyo DisneySea? Let us know in the comments below!
It would be great if this is true, would help encourage people to stay longer at Paris. Although I think this will be a LONG time in the future. Don’t think construction on most of this has really even started yet, and with coronavirus I wonder if budget cutbacks will slow it down even further.