Disneyland has pulled back the curtain and offered a rare glimpse behind the scenes at how technicians at the Anaheim theme park get the fireworks, animation projections and flamethrowers to sync up with the music soundtrack during a nighttime spectacular.
A new “Secrets Revealed” video posted by the official Disney Parks YouTube channel shows footage of the “Wondrous Journeys” control room and how Disneyland technicians prepare for the fireworks show.
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The new “Wondrous Journeys” offers glimpses of all 62 Disney animated films as part of the Disney100 platinum celebration. The nighttime spectacular that debuted in January typically plays with fireworks on weekends and with only projections on weeknights.
The behind-the-scenes tour led by Disney Live Entertainment Principal Media Designer KC Wilkerson starts in a backstage control room where a bank of 24 video screens lining an entire wall show every possible angle of “Wondrous Journeys.”
During a typical show, three to four technicians work at desktop stations in the control room to monitor lighting, audio, video and other special effects in real time as the show is occurring.
“It allows us to make sure that everything is timed perfectly,” Wilkerson said on the video.
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Disneyland uses an alignment grid projected on the Main Street USA facades to make sure the projectors hidden in second story windows are perfectly aligned with the buildings where the animated projections appear during the show.
Larger projectors “hidden in plain sight” in the It’s a Small World plaza rise up from green boxes and stone enclosures to project imagery on the water ride facade that serves as a 200-foot-long screen during “Wondrous Journeys.”
The tour continues on the…
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