Walt Disney World’s fiftieth anniversary is upon us as magical changes continue to happen at the most magical place on Earth. For the past four years, Happily Ever After (HEA) has been the night-ending spectacle for Magic Kingdom-goers to enjoy before their Disney day officially ends. It was the first show of its kind using more than just fireworks and narration, Happily Ever After was a story backed by Disney music, old and new characters describing their own happily ever afters, and an original song specifically for the show.
It was a spectacle with no other words to describe it except magical and inspiring. Now though, with Disney’s fiftieth anniversary, they’ve begun a new fireworks show and made the announcement that Happily Ever After will not be returning, which has not been sitting well with fans.
Depending on who you talk to, there were many different takes on it. Some thought it just wasn’t as good as HEA, but they could learn to love it.
On ThemeParkInsider, Keith Richardson wrote, “Enchantment is a great show, just not as fantastic as Happily Ever After…. Though the projections and the lasers are very much improved with Enchantment. It’s definitely a must do at the end of the day at The Magic Kingdom.”
Others thoroughly enjoyed it, one reddit user even said it couldn’t be compared to HEA because of how different they were:
In a reply to this comment, we got a rather aggressive opinion on the opposite side about how bad it was:
And it seems the overall consensus seems to be bashing the new show, Enchantment, pretty hard…
Some younger fans were simply upset not to hear Jordan Fisher’s silky smooth voice every night anymore, and rightfully so as killed the vocals on Happily Ever After with Angie K. There were so many tweets and complaints about no Jordan Fisher, that there had to be a showcase of some of the best ones:
If nothing else, fans have definitely been vocal with their responses to Enchantment and how much they love or (mostly) hate the new show. There’s been many reasons given as to why fans don’t like it, but the top two are that it is a less-than version of HEA and/or that it’s missing a key storytelling element that HEA and its predecessor, Wishes, had that made them so special.
You can watch the new Fireworks Show, Enchantment, here to form your own opinion before the social media warriors get you with theirs. Let’s hear it though! Do you prefer HEA or Enchantment, or do you just want Wishes back?