World of Color

Written By: Mr. DAPs on June 15, 2010 One Comment

Balloon Announcing World of Color Premiere

Thursday marked the world premiere to the newest nighttime spectacular that Disney has to offer, World of Color. Seeing that DAPs Magic is recognized as a member of the press, I had the honor of being invited to help document and share with the world the happenings at Disney California Adventure on the evening of June 10, 2010. It was a wonderful evening and quite the adventure. The night began with me showing up at that big gate in Downtown Disney that is found between La Brea Bakery and the World of Disney. After signing in and getting my bag checked, I was ushered to the media center with my friend and photographer Frank Anzalone. This was in the back of Disney California Adventure by Mulholland Madness. There we had access to food, drinks, press materials, and a quite place to sit. With so much to see though, we quickly moved on to find our places along the blue carpet so we could get good pictures of the celebrities coming down the carpet. As we were representing different website, Frank and I were separated at this point. I was also assigned a different media, host who I must admit was, awesome!

Jodi Benson at the World of Color Premiere

The wait for the blue carpet festivities lasted about an hour. I chatted and made friends with my new host Tanzi and some of the other online media members around me. The celebrities were supposed to come up the carpet at around 6:00 PM. If this started on time, I’m not really sure. I do know that the giant puppets did come out at around 6:00 to entertain the crowd. The genie was especially fun as he gave high fives to guests who had won tickets to the event through the Disney Parks Blog and Twitter. Finally some celebrities started making their way up to our end of the Blue Carpet. Some of the highlights for me personally included Richard Sherman, Jodi Benson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Wayne Brady, and John Stamos. Some Disney execs also made their way up the carpet but really didn’t spend that much time in our area as they were headed towards the mom bloggers to our left. The whole process lasted a little over an hour.

Towards the end of this time I started looking around and decided that if I were to get a good place to film the presentation and the premiere showing of World of Color. I asked Tanzi if she had any clue where I would be for this and she said that I’d be on the risers. Thinking that surely it couldn’t be the big riser in the middle of Paradise Park that was perfectly situated for filming and taking photos I jokingly asked, “Is that good?” She laughed. It turns out that I indeed was on the main risers and had an ideal place to shoot the evening with both the video and still cameras. By this time, Tanzi had also brought me a couple of drinks and the World of Color popcorn which was…interesting. I made my way to my spot on the riser and was pleased to see that Frank was just a couple of spots down from me. We chatted a bit with each other and others around us as we waited for things to get going. At one point, to the amazement (and I think jealousy of some of the others around me), Tanzi returned with more snacks and another drink for me! Bless you Tanzi!

The real event got going at 8:45 and began with Mickey Mouse walking in and talking with many of the celebrities. He made a funny

Mickey Mouse Makes Magic at World Premiere of World of Color

little joke to Richard Sherman about loving his songs but not being able to pronounce “supercalifragilisticexpealadocious.” So instead Mickey settled with singing, “it’s a small world after all.” He also said hi to Terri Hatcher, Rico and another person I couldn’t see before making his way on the stage. I should mention at this point that this indeed was the talking Mickey Mouse that showed up online last month. It was VERY cool to see and very natural. It seemed like a lot of people just accepted that Mickey was talking and that was natural so why wouldn’t he talk? Upon arriving on the stage Mickey found a wand laying around and began playing with the fountains, using the wand to make them dance. After playing for a few minutes, he was joined by Tom Staggs who talked about the show. At one point it looked like Mickey Mouse tried to interject before he was done. It was rather humorous. Next came Bob Iger to the stage. He chatted with Mickey and then also shared about World of Color. Upon finishing his formal prepared remarks, he asked Mickey for the magic wand so that he could get the night going. Not surprisingly, he couldn’t quite get it to work. Mickey tried to help but it just wasn’t happening (there was also a few laughs here). So… Iger turned the wand over to Maestro Mickey Mouse who got a little pre-show going that ended with fireworks over Paradise Bay!

World of Color - The Little Mermaid - Under the Sea

Following the fireworks, the world premiere of World of Color began! I had seen it earlier in the week at a preview so knew what to expect. However, I must admit that this second viewing of World of Color impressed me much more than the first. I’m not entirely sure why. After I saw it the first time, I stood there and thought… “hrm….” and wasn’t really sure if I liked it or not. There isn’t really a story to it but it is absolutely beautiful. The second time I watched World of Color I found it moving and completely enjoyed it. Watching it again on youtube since then, I’ve always enjoyed it a LOT. I haven’t figured out why this is but if this has happened for anyone else, let me know!

Mickey Mouse at World Premiere of World of Color

Following the show, Frank and I took some pictures of the bay and the colorful fountains. These remained lit for the rest of the evening. Frank got some BEAUTIFUL pictures (he is a MUCH better photographer than me) of Mickey Mouse and Mickey’s Fun Wheel. They were absolutely stunning! Once we had our fill of picture taking, we made our way to Paradise Pier for the after party. There we found a live band, lots of colorful lights (big surprise there right?), live artists (one painted a giant Vinylmation Mickey Mouse and another a giant picture of Mickey Mouse), and I shouldn’t forget to mention all the food and drink! The attractions and games were also open and there definitely wasn’t a line for any of them. It made for a wonderful and fun ending to the night. Disney really pulled out all the stops and showed that that they really know how to create a magical night!

World of Color really is a lot of fun. It is a beautiful show and it seems to me that each time I watch it, I enjoy it more. This is a show you definitely need to check out. I’d also check it out soon so you can experience the crowd reaction to different elements of the show. It really adds to your whole World of Color adventure! I’m so honored that I got to be a part of this piece of Disney history.

I’ve also shared my youtube video here for your enjoyment. If you haven’t seen the show yet, just watch the first two segments of Mickey Mouse and the pre-show and then come back and watch the rest after you have seen the show! Hope you have a colorful experience watching Disney California Adventure’s World of Color!

One Response to “World of Color”

DAPs Magic's Geeks Corner mrdaps.com ~ geeks corner » Blog Archive » What’s Your Holiday? – Ideas for the Procrastinator for February 14th! on: 25 February 2011 at 12:05 pm

[...] the other side of the resort, stop by and see if there are picnic packages still available for World of Color in Disney California Adventure. If that’s not your thing, attempt to get a fastpass for the last [...]