Wondrous Journeys

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Wondrous Journeys
It's A Small World Rivers of America
Status	Removed
Soft opening date	January 26, 2023 (2023-01-26)[1]
Opening date	January 27, 2023 (2023-01-27)[1](original) March 22, 2024 (2024-03-22) (updated)
Closing date	August 31, 2023 (2023-08-31)[2](original) April 14, 2024 (2024-04-14) (updated)
Replaced	Disneyland Forever (2022) Mickey's Mix Magic (2023; 2024)
Replaced by	Mickey's Mix Magic (2024) Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular (2024) (Pixar Fest only)
Ride statistics
Attraction type	Multimedia and pyrotechnic show
Designer	Disney Live Entertainment Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music	It's Wondrous Various Disney Soundtracks
Duration	13:50 minutes
Wheelchair accessible

Wondrous Journeys was a projection mapping and fireworks show at Disneyland that debuted on January 27, 2023. It premiered alongside World of Color: One as part of the Disney 100 Years of Wonder celebration to commemorate the centennial of The Walt Disney Company. The show contains a large assortment of songs and characters from the entirety of the Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film canon.

History

The show was announced on September 11, 2022 during the D23 Expo.^[3] It was developed by Disney Live Entertainment and Walt Disney Animation Studios as part of a collaboration.^[4] The show's original run started on January 27, 2023^[1] and ended on August 31, 2023.^[2] On December 21, 2023, Disneyland announced that the show will return on March 22, 2024, until April 14, 2024.^[5]

Technical details

The show features special projection effects showcasing the tribute to Disney animation consisting of blank pieces of paper, pencil sketches, and transitions from black and white to finalized colors as well as featuring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Bambi, Ariel, Mirabel, and Winnie the Pooh.

The show has four viewing areas within the park:

Wondrous Journeys is a multimedia show that was created to celebrate 100 years of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the entire company as a whole. It features a montage of all 61 films released by the studio during the 100 years of the studios existence, paying tribute to Disney as well as moments featuring characters from films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, Frozen, Encanto, Wish, and many other films.^[8]

Opening

The list below shows complete scenes during the show. Due to differences in projection size, certain scenes are absent from the castle side and the Fantasmic! stage side.

Introduction

At the start of the show, an introduction welcomes guests with the following words:

For over a hundred years, Walt Disney Animation Studios has invited audiences to believe in things never thought possible. And so tonight, we once again invite you to wish upon stars, to step into the unknown, and to join us on this: our wondrous journey.

Shortly afterwards, the music begins with Plio's opening narration from Dinosaur before the show theme It's Wondrous begins:

Some things start out big, and some things start out small, but sometimes the smallest thing can make the biggest changes of all.

During the introduction, the projection on the Fantasmic! stage shows lights with the same colors as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, while other buildings just show blue searchlight-like lights.

After that, the original theme song of the show It's Wondrous plays, and features the line drawing and footage from the following shorts and films:

• Steamboat Willie (Mickey's footage origin)/Orphan's Benefit (Donald's footage origin)/The Whoopee Party (Goofy's footage origin)
• Line drawing from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with following support line drawing contents:
  • Pinocchio/Lady and the Tramp
  • Encanto/The Princess and the Frog
  • Tarzan/Peter Pan
• Line drawing and concept art from Bambi
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia
• Tarzan/
  The Fox and the Hound
• Concept arts and animation from The Sorcerer's Apprentice/Aladdin/The Little Mermaid
• Concept arts and animation from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs/Frozen/Cinderella

Act 1

After the introduction that contains the original theme song of the show, a transition occurs featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra's silhouette in Fantasia 2000. In this part, the instrumental version of When You Wish Upon a Star plays, then the first lyric of I'm Wishing sung by Snow White combined with the melody from I Wonder from Sleeping Beauty. After that, the reprise of When You Wish Upon A Star plays for the castle side, for it features a flyover of Blue Fairy that is accompanied by shooting stars of fireworks, while for the other buildings, it shows the films instead below:

• Tangled
• Lilo & Stitch
• The Princess and the Frog
• Aladdin
• Chicken Little
• Peter Pan
• Cinderella
• Wish

Songs of Hope and Yearning

This is a segment that featuring the concept art and the characters sung from three films from Disney Renaissance era as well as Moana from the Disney Revival era.

• Go the Distance (Hercules)
• Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
• How Far I'll Go (Moana)
• Out There (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

In the Out There segment, all characters from four films sing together at the finale.

Act 2

This act begins with Tiana's father James telling her about her dream and the hard work. "Now you remember, that old star can only take you part of the way. You got to help it out with some hard work of your own." Upon the conclusion of the quote, the song Almost There plays with initially slowing-mode to depict the scenes of Tiana from The Princess and The Frog, Pocahontas from Pocahontas, as well as Simba and Mufasa from The Lion King. With the song becoming more upbeat, the scenes transition from The Lion King into featuring characters from many films from different locations:

• Alice in Wonderland
• The Black Cauldron
• Lilo & Stitch
• Oliver & Company
• The Aristocats
• Brother Bear

It then switches into a footage featuring The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and therefore it transitions into a scene where Peter Pan is flying with his friends combined with the a snippet of You Can Fly taking the journey to depict the footage of ships from the following films:

• Lilo & Stitch
• Meet the Robinsons
• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Moana
• Treasure Planet
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Main Street only)
• Whales from Pines of Rome from Fantasia 2000

For another part, For the First Time in Forever plays, and it features some scenes from the following films in different buildings:

• Raya and the Last Dragon
• Encanto
• Mexico from The Three Caballeros
• The Pastoral Symphony
  from Fantasia
• Bumble from Melody Time
• Robin Hood
• Pedro from Saludos Amigos
• Big Hero 6
• Tangled
• Tarzan
• Aladdin
• Frozen II
• The Rescuers Down Under
• The Rescuers
• The Sword in the Stone
• Dumbo
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia

Act 3

This act begins with a transition featuring Treasure Planet and Long John Silver's narration – "You got the makings of greatness in you, but you got to take the helm and chart your own course. Stick to it, no matter the squalls!" It then transitions to a scene of the Golden Bridge from Big Hero 6, the castle side features a flyover of Baymax, while other buildings and Rivers of America use projection animation of Baymax and Hiro Hamada. After that, the song Immortals plays featuring dialogues from Disney characters from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Big Hero 6. From these scenes, it combines with I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan and features movie's characters from the different buildings. In the climax, Casa Madrigal from Encanto collapses, with all related buildings except the tavern at the Fantasmic! stage area collapsing in the same way while Baymax breaks a hole in Krei's teleportation portal space.

• Transition featuring Treasure Planet
• Immortals (Big Hero 6)
  • During the scene of The Golden Bridge from Big Hero 6, the castle side features a flyover of
    Hiro
    instead.
  • Opening speech includes:
    • Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    • Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph
    • Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon
  • Big Hero 6/Aladdin/Encanto/Wreck-It Ralph
  • Mulan/Hercules/Tangled/Raya and the Last Dragon
• Immortals (Big Hero 6)/I'll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan)
  • Mulan/Hercules/Moana
  • Raya and the Last Dragon/Robin Hood/Aladdin
  • The Rescuers Down Under/Treasure Planet (Main Street projection) or Zootopia (elsewhere)/Frozen II
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Silly Symphony
• Casa Madrigal's collapse from Encanto, with all related buildings except the tavern at the Fantasmic! stage (Sleeping Beauty Castle, all shop buildings at Main Street, U.S.A. and the It's a Small World building) collapsing in the same way while Baymax breaks a hole in Krei's teleportation portal space.
• Immortals (Big Hero 6, instrumental)/Mufasa Dies (The Lion King)
  • Zootopia
  • Frozen II
  • Cinderella
  • Mulan
  • The Lion King
  • Bambi
  • Pocahontas
  • Tarzan
  • Moana
• I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)
  (Moana)
• Dos Oruguitas (Encanto, instrumental)
  • Mulan
  • Frozen II
• Dos Oruguitas (Encanto, refrain part); all related buildings transform into Casa Madrigal with the following contents appearing as Casa Madrigal's glowing door style:
  • The Madrigal family from Encanto
  • Pumbaa
    from The Lion King
  • The Sultan
    from Aladdin
  • Belle and Beast from Beauty and the Beast
  • Louis
    from The Princess and the Frog
  • Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, King Louie, and Rama from The Jungle Book
  • Phillip, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather
    from Sleeping Beauty
  • Moana and Maui from Moana
  • Anna, Elsa, Sven, Kristoff, and Olaf from Frozen
  • King Triton
    from The Little Mermaid
  • Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto

Finale

• It's Wondrous (reprise)
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Tangled/Encanto/The Sword in the Stone
  • Aladdin/Zootopia/The Little Mermaid
  • Dumbo/Tarzan/Raya and the Last Dragon
  • Frozen/Beauty and the Beast/The Black Cauldron
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia/Pocahontas/Cinderella
  • Treasure Planet/Atlantis: The Lost Empire/Symphony No. 5 from Fantasia 2000
  • Peter Pan/The Rescuers Down Under/Bambi
  • Moana/The Lion King/Brother Bear
• The show concludes with the following dialogue (with "When You Wish Upon A Star" as background music):
  • Narrator: "And so we come to the end of this chapter."
  • Winnie the Pooh: "Oh no, please! Can't we go back to page one and do it all over again?"
  • Narrator: "But Pooh, it is just another turn of the page, and I for one think what comes next will be wondrous..."
• Conclusion (final tones of It's Wondrous)
  • The Firebird Suite from Fantasia 2000
  • Big Hero 6/Home on the Range/One Hundred and One Dalmatians/Winnie the Pooh/Ralph Breaks the Internet
  • The Princess and the Frog/The Jungle Book/The Emperor's New Groove/Meet the Robinsons/Pinocchio
  • Bolt/Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs/Hercules/Strange World/Dinosaur
• It's Wondrous (Lawrence Version) (Exit Music)

Soundtrack

Wondrous Journeys contains a total of 18 songs.^[9] "It's Wondrous", an original song created by Duddy Brown and Alex Geringas, is used as the theme song for the show.^[9] The other 17 songs are from various Walt Disney Animation Studios films.

See also

• Disney Enchantment
• Happily Ever After
• Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular

References

Attribution:

• This article incorporates material derived from the "Wondrous Journeys" article on the Disney wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (March 19, 2023).