Saying Goodbye to Wishes at Magic Kingdom
For 14 years now, a perfect Disney day was ended with watching Wishes fireworks show. Watching that first firework soar over the castle as you heard the opening words…
When stars are born, they possess a gift or two.
One of those is, they have the power to make a wish come true.
Wishes has been a huge part of the Disney magic for many of us and the nostalgia and warm fuzzy feelings are so strong with this show. I knew it was coming, and I could even agree it was probably time. But it was still sad for me to say goodbye to this show.
The final showing was Thursday, May 11th, 2017. There was a pretty good sized crowd present at Magic Kingdom that night. I love nights like this. Because so many of the people in attendance are the die-hard fans. They’re the locals and the Cast Members who laugh, cry and obnoxiously sing all the lyrics together.
I remember holding my toddler son on his first trip to Disney. And a few nights ago our family watched Wishes together for one last time. I looked up at my son who is now a teenager and well over 6 feet tall and almost lost it. I mean ugly cry folks. I managed to regroup before the end. But wow. So many memories. And so many people I talked to say the same thing.
It’ll be bittersweet to see it go away, but I trust that Disney is doing the right thing. I know that in 14 years there have been many advancements to the technology they use to produce a show like Wishes, and changing it means they are confident it will be an upgrade.
I’ll still miss seeing that Blue Fairy in the sky each night. I can see Wishes from my house, and despite seeing it in the sky daily for the last year and a half, it still never ever gets old.
Many thanks to the Imagineers and cast who have made Wishes happen each and every night without fail for 14 years. We truly appreciate it.
The new fireworks show, Happily Ever After, begins the following night, May 12th, 2017. I can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for us!