Credit: DisneyDisney has finally explained why one resort has axed two nighttime spectaculars, including its fireworks.
When guests visit a Disney theme park, the default way to end the day is with a traditional fireworks display. A lot has changed about Disney’s fireworks since the 1950s, but pyrotechnics are still a quintessential part of the Disney package – from Disneyland Park all the way to Shanghai Disneyland.
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At Magic Kingdom Park, for example, guests can enjoy Happily Ever After, a fireworks show so popular that fans essentially willed it back into existence after Walt Disney World Resort previously ended the show in favor of Disney Enchantment. Fireworks play a huge part in the show, but its advanced projection mapping technology is equally responsible for its success.
Recently, Disney has also started branching out into drone technology. Disney World debuted its first nightly drone show, Disney Dreams That Soar, at Disney Springs earlier this summer. This sees 800 drones take to the night sky above Lake Buena Vista, forming “towering elements that are 400-feet tall and creating images of some of your favorite Disney characters from Toy Story, Coco, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Up, the Star Wars.”
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Meanwhile, Disneyland Paris has hosted two regular drone shows – Avengers: Power the Night and Disney Electrical Sky Parade – in recent years. The latter has proven extremely popular with park guests, many of whom were left “weeping” due to the show’s callbacks to the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade.
Currently scheduled to run until January 6, 2025, Disney Electrical Sky Parade plays nightly before the Disneyland Paris fireworks show, Disney Illuminations – with the exception of one day.
As we previously reported, Disneyland Paris has axed both shows on October 1, 2024. The resort had not confirmed why this was the case, but we now know why the shows will not go ahead this fall.
Today, Disneyland Paris announced that it will host its first-ever fashion show with Coperni as a part of Paris Fashion Week.
The French fashion house’s cofounder, Arnaud Vaillant, issued a statement to WWD, claiming that it was “a childhood dream come true” and that the duo “grew up in the south of France and when you’re little, your first visit to Paris is not to see the Eiffel Tower, it’s to go to Disneyland.”
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Coperni’s show – which will be invitation-only, meaning, no, this isn’t open to guests – will take place in the park’s Fantasyland area at around 10 p.m. on October 1 (hence why guests won’t get to enjoy the fireworks that night; Fantasyland is typically the fallout zone for the fireworks).
The brand is known for its unique, edgy choices, famously making headlines in 2022 for its spray-on dress modeled by Bella Hadid. This time around, its inspiration will be Disney Princesses. “Of course, we’ll be giving it the Coperni touch so we’ll be approaching it in a cool, contemporary, innovative and tech-savvy way, but we always like to evolve the style of the Coperni woman,” Vaillant explained.
Vaillant and his co-founder, Sébastien Meyer, plan to host a cocktail party on the same day at the newly renovated Disneyland Hotel (which coincidentally also has a luxurious Disney Princess theme). The show’s after-party will be held at Discoveryland, home to some of the park’s most iconic attractions, such as Space Mountain, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, and Autopia.
Disneyland Paris may have never hosted a fashion show before, but Disney has a long history with fashion houses themselves. It’s previously collaborated on collections for the likes of Balmain, Givenchy, and Gucci, while the French theme park itself has also served as the backdrop for a Vogue Arabia cover.
It’s also not the only park to have canceled its fireworks lately. Tokyo Disney Resort has axed its own fireworks but on a more long-term basis. Sky Full of Colors – which is visible from both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea – is currently on hiatus until September, as is typically the case at the Japanese theme park every summer.
Disneyland Paris also drastically slashed the length of its fireworks show earlier this year, having replaced its old show, Disney Dreams!, with Disney Illuminations in May.
Would you prefer to watch Disney fireworks or a Disney fashion show?