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WizKidRyan
11-09-2001, 08:43 PM
So I just got back from the Luminaria preview. While I thought it was pretty to look at, it just didnt "do" anything for me like Fantasmic and Believe! do...
What I really didn't like was how long it just sat there with you watching the video screens.
So, will I watch it again? Probably not. I think I'll just stick with Believe! and use that Luminaria time to go on other rides around DCA since everyone will be sucked away watching it :)

The floating "candles" were vey cool though :)

splbound
11-09-2001, 09:18 PM
Hmmm. Just got back from the park. Enjoyed the show, it had some new and interesting pyro....loved the candles at the end, along with screaming and sun wheel lighting up at the end...was it dazzling?
No.

I think as it plays they will tighten up the middle section.

the sad part...is that it doesn't have the Disney holiday feel. It is a fireworks show....unless your kid drew one of the pics on the screens, you wont care to look. the the BIG problem that they are going to have is the SMOKE! We were in he area where they do the trick bicycle shows, and all of us in that area were gagging on the smoke. As I sit here and write this I smell like I've just come in from lighting off a 4th of July assortment.....

I felt bad as we walked out....I think they truly made an attempt at "Holiday-ing" DCA, but it just doesn't work. Not even in the same category as big brother across the way.

Prediction: It is going to be a long and disappointing Holiday season for DCA.

WizKidRyan
11-09-2001, 09:29 PM
Originally posted by splbound
I felt bad as we walked out....I think they truly made an attempt at "Holiday-ing" DCA, but it just doesn't work. Not even in the same category as big brother across the way.

Exactly. It's pretty and such, but it doesn't have that Disney magic that makes Believe or Fantasmic so special.

As for teh smoke, I was on the Screamin side right in front of the caramel apple place (can't think of the name off the top of my head). No smoke there, but I could watch it blowing over to the other side...
I'm curious how the lagoon filtration systems are going to handle the water...I could also see the "snow" from the fireworks landing in the lagoon.


It'll be interesting watching how this goes.

Ralph Wiggum
11-09-2001, 09:43 PM
Lame-inaria!!!!

There were some cool new fireworks stuff but all in all the show was very mellow and slow. No magic. This coming from me who is generally very optimistic about things.

The only really good part was the candles in the water. The candles on Screamin and on the Sunwheel didnt look real and they flickered together in sections.

All in all I would say don't go out of your way to see it.

I give it a C+

zapppop
11-09-2001, 09:57 PM
What's wrong with LuminAria:

The Monitors were not big enough for some people to see the images being projected.
The fireworks are shot off too low to the ground, creating huge clouds of smoke and giving off a very foul odor.
The music completely misses the mark.
There's no flow; no direction the show seems to be going in.
LuminAria gives no new perspectives to the Christmas season.There's nothing here that we haven't seen before.


In conclusion, LuminAria sucks but so does DCA so at least it'll fit right in ;)

Thomas
11-09-2001, 10:44 PM
I purposely avoided the show so I could enjoy the short lines at DL and I didn't have to use FP today.

Can someone please explain why they need to shut down Paradise Pier for this show???????

Nigel2
11-09-2001, 10:57 PM
They thought it would distract from the show since the noise level and so forth, plus they probably use those CMs for crowd control, kind of like how they shut down storybook land for parades.

KarenW2
11-09-2001, 11:41 PM
We drove all the way up to see the show tonite, as I wrote on the other thread, and like I said there, I'll stick with Disneyland for a much better show. Some of the pyros were nice, but I wasn't real excited about it or emotionally touched, like I can get at Disneyland. But maybe that's because we didn't have a good view of the whole thing. I think if we go again, we'll get there earlier in the day & camp out along the lagoon, so we can actually see what's really going on at water level & see what's on the monitor screens.

GoldenEars
11-10-2001, 12:19 AM
I went to see the new show (Luminaira) at DCA on Friday night, and there's no question about it...the show sucked big time!! The story line was very weak, the show itself was boring, the smoke was out of control, the viewing area a complete mess, and the lagoon looks like a war zone now! It was a complete bomb in my opinion! When I was leaving the area, some guest control cast members were shouting out, *did you enjoy the show?* And everyone that answered said, *NO!* How very sad, huh???

There was absolutely NO magic to the show and it certainly did not have that holiday feel to it! And what a horrible site to see the lagoon now during the day, it's so ugly!! I feel the Disney people put this show together way too fast! Just like everything else they do now-a-days! Infact, when the show ended, my friend asked me what rating I would give it. I quickly said a *2* and that it sucked. Well, apparently, a *big wig* was standing near me (which I didn't know) and heard me. I jokingly said, *I'm sorry, I hope you don't work for the show.* He said, *not yet*, and walked away looking disappointed by what I said.

It's sad to say but, I think DCA is just going to eat this up and realize they (once again) screwed up. I'll stick with *Believe* and *Fantasmic*...

merlinjones
11-10-2001, 05:56 AM
(Nelson voice) Ha-ha.

Maleficent0
11-10-2001, 07:18 AM
I echo the sentiments of the posters above, however, I do want to point out one thing.

They threw this whole thing together in about 2 months. For that, I give the Imagineering crew a huge and sincere congratulations. They did an amazing job with seriously limited time and I'm sure a seriously limited budget.

Does that change the fact that I think the show was ho-hum? No. I do think that we did get the best show possible out of the time that was alotted for planning and implementation, and the fact the lagoon is so small that bigger pyrotechnics couldn't be used.

What's interesting though, is that some of the people above have been DCA's harshish critics, and reading your posts, its clear that most everyone *really* wants them to fix the park and we're all giving them the benefit of the doubt, even when its undeserved.

As I walked out, I overheard this exchange...

CM: "Did you like it?"

Guest: "Yeah, it was pretty cool."

CM: "Exciting?"

Guest: "I wouldn't go that far."

zapppop
11-10-2001, 09:38 AM
True, with the budget and time frame they had to work with, it was a good job.

Still, LuminAria will only hurt DCA more; now there's another bad show in that park. Hopefully, if they do decide to bring it back next year, they'll give it a major overhaul.

JRob2k1
11-10-2001, 11:24 AM
So do those ugly barges stay on Paradise Bay all day??

-JRob

WizKidRyan
11-10-2001, 11:43 AM
The ones of the presents, no :)
The rest, yes :(

LIMANDL4EVA
11-10-2001, 09:32 PM
how was the music fromo the show?

give a rating for synchronization to the pyro 1-10

give a rating for the music composition 1-10

http://www.disneylandport.com

zapppop
11-10-2001, 10:04 PM
Pyro - 4

Didn't blend well and both the fireworks and audio lacked direction

Music - 4

Ya know, The funny thing about the music is that the audio sample on the official DCA website sounds better than the mix that was used Friday night. I guess the sample is from a demo.

tinkfreak
11-11-2001, 10:01 AM
Oh dear God was that show bad. I'm usually a sucker for pyro-shows and Disney shows in general but wow, what a bomb. I understand that Imagineering was strapped for time and cash, but aren't those the reasons that DCA isn't living up to expectations?

Pyro - 3

Music - Mmm...maybe a 5? It wasn't that bad

I was at Saturday night's show near the Treasures in Paradise shop, and we lost sound for nearly the last half of the show so I couldn't really say. I know, I know, it was still part of test and adjust but still...

The show had no feeling to it, no storyline. The screens were kind of blury and hard to see. The same 15 or so cards were shown over and over. The un-informed CM standing behind my group heard us commenting about the smoke and said "The smoke is part of the effect, they use it later in the show". Where?

It was bad all around....

Gemini Cricket
11-11-2001, 10:19 AM
I'm sad to hear that Luminaria is so bad. I was hoping it would revive the park in some way.

I have a sinking feeling if Luminaria doesn't work that they're going to move Fantasmic to DCA with less to it (like the Columbia and Mark Twain...).

Ralph Wiggum
11-11-2001, 12:32 PM
Originally posted by tinkfreak
The un-informed CM standing behind my group heard us commenting about the smoke and said "The smoke is part of the effect, they use it later in the show". Where?

Well in a way i think the CM was right. They have alot of light(mainly blue) shinning straight up that only can be seen through the smoke and it looks really cool. They still have too much of it though and its attacking the audience.

Cadaverous Pallor
11-11-2001, 12:46 PM
Ok, we watched it from the Screamin' side, so the smoke didn't blow our way. We got front row seats since we wanted to get the full experience.

After mentioning those qualifiers, I have to say that we enjoyed the show! We like pyro, and we really liked the fact that it was so near us, straight into the water. I loved the sparkly 3-d look, right up close. The pictures the kids drew were adorable. The music was fine, too.

My only problems with the show: The part where you're watching kids jump around on the screens was lame, and there wasn't enough color to the fireworks. Other than that, it was entertaining.

Does a fireworks show have to make you cry in order for it to be fun??? I understand that Fantasmic and Believe have raised the bar, but that doesn't mean that a perfectly nice show with "big booms" (like the mom behind us explained to her kids) is a bad thing.

Oh, and both Ghoulish Delight and I agree, we have no idea what you guys are talking about when you mention "candles", either floating on the river or on Screamin' or the Sun Wheel....did we miss this? Or did they just not do it that night? Anyone else see it on Sat night?

Maleficent0
11-11-2001, 04:33 PM
Wow, they must be having problems.

The candles were the best part of the entire show! They've placed at least a couple hundred "candles" that are submurged until toward the end of the show. The whole lagoon just lights up, and it was a really pretty effect.

Trust me, if you're asking what they were, then they were absolutely not working for the show you saw. There's no mistaking them. :P

I have to agree with Ralph Wiggum, they do have a lot of lights shining straight up that wouldn't be visible at all without the smoke. It's not a great effect, but I'm sure they were pretty much trying to do *everything* possible with low level pyrotechics.

tabacco
11-11-2001, 06:33 PM
I was wondering about the possibility of some sort of blower system to try and at least guide the smoke upward. It wouldn't take too much... just enough of an updraft to angle the smoke over the audience's heads a bit. Perhaps duct in air from behind Screamin', under the pier, and into vents around the lagoon edge. It wouldn't have to be too high of pressure, I don't think (I'm no engineer :)), to 'encourage' the smoke to rise.

LIMANDL4EVA
11-11-2001, 07:30 PM
hey thats a good idea, they could put fabns in the barges pointing upward, i think that the show will evolve this holiday season, and hopefully it will be more colorful and a lot better

LIMANDL4EVA
11-11-2001, 07:50 PM
how does the pyro go off from the barges if there is a cover on top of the PRESENT BArges? wouldnt the cover of the barges get in the way, or do they take the top of before the show? and how was the Luminaria tree?? was it big, did it have fibber optics or what?

Alex S.
11-11-2001, 09:15 PM
At the Saturday night show, the tree went out early and the candles never came on (though they did rise out of the water).

Really, it did nothing for me. The narration at the beginning made me thing we were going to see Believe (same voice, I believe). 98% of the pyro is simply a variation on white sparklers, though the spinning discs were cool. For several minutes you are sitting there watching monitors of kids' drawings and then film of disturbingly perfect children smiling and prancing.

There was no holiday feeling to it, remove a couple snippets of music and the gift wrapping from the barges and they could do this show in June.

The amount of smoke was significant but it didn't waft our way so I don't know how disturbing that was.

All that said, not only was this show put out on short notice, but it is suffering from significant failures that will probably shake out quickly. I wouldn't want to give a final review until it had run for a week or two. Unfortunately they are advertising it now, so people deserve to know how it is now.