World of Color: Original Lineup



Its no secret that World of Color was designed to be flexible. With such a flexible system, scenes can be either modified or switched out for newer scenes. Steve Davison envisioned the show to be like a living "Fantasia" in which each change would bring in something new to the show. No show in Disney Parks history had the ability. Even Davison himself didn't think of changing the show material in the other shows he did in the past. Back in 2009, Steve Davison presented twice, one at California Adventure and one at the inaugural D23 Expo in Anaheim, the intended lineup for the first version of World of Color. But when the show opened in 2010, much of the material had been switched around. Many fans thought that Bob Iger, the CEO of the company was responsible for the changes but thats only half true. Steve Davison and his team also had a hand in changing the show in places they deemed to not have worked as they hoped. For example, Chernabog was originally supposed to be shown one a huge metallic tower equipped with flamethrowers and a mist screen and several water spouts but was cut due to an creative decision on the basis that it didn't look good. While the scene stayed, the tower was eliminated from use. Just like any concept, show or attraction, things can change.

This blog post is to show what the lineup of the show was supposed to be. Afterwards, I will show what was changed.

Introduction:

The fountains come alive in a new rendition of the "Wonderful World of Color" Theme. During the intro, Tinkerbell comes on the screen with the Walt Disney Quote "Every Child is Blessed with a vivid imagination". As she tries to make the D in "Disney" disappear, it instead comes to life, turning into the shows main character "Little Squirt" and he heads off to parts unknown.

Colors of Earth:

As the "Wonderful World of Color" theme ends, the Spring Sprite from "Firebird" in Fantasia 2000 appears and introduces the audience into a forest where Pocahontas sings "Just around the Riverbend" and the fountains then afterwards creates "Colors of the Wind". One of the leafs lands on the bay to reveal Hemlich from Bugs Life when a rainstorm starts and we see the Old Mill. We then hear Alice as she falls into Wonderland. Little Squirt runs around Wonderland and then falls into an ocean as he escapes Wonderland.

Colors of the Sea:

We then hear the sound of Ariel's singing as she dreams to be "Part of Our World" when Sebastian tries to convince Ariel that life is better "Under the Sea". Little Squirt is also supposed to dance in a Conga line with the fish. Then we head to the EAC with Crush from Finding Nemo and then encounter Dory and Marlin with the whale who joins the other whales from "Pines of Rome" from Fantasia 2000. The goddess then shoots an arrow into Space.

Colors of the Sky:

As we head up to space, we see Wall-E and Eve dancing among the stars and the fountains portray themselves as flying comets and shooting stars and then Wall-E goes across the bay with an extinguisher as the puffs turn into the familiar background clouds of Andy's room as Woody and Buzz argue if Buzz can fly. Buzz then flies off to space adventures unknown as we all fall back down to earth but not before seeing Carl's house from UP. We then see Aladdin and Jasmine flying to a "Whole New World" and Hercules "Go the Distance" towards the moon.

Color of Fears:

The moon then turns crimson red as the show turns dark as Dr. Faciliers voodoo spirit friends appear as Frollo from Hunchback appears then the Firebird from Fantasia. After the firebird, the bay is engulfed in flames as Chernabog appears to deliver a "Night on Bald Mountain" then deliver one last blast of "Hellfire"on the bay. As the flames subside, Scar appears and then disappears in a veil of mist as the Wildebeest stampede races towards the audience then Scar sends Mufasa to his death

Fears to Tears:

The bay is then all dark as Simba's voice is heard across the bay calling for his dad. The fountains slowly appear as "So Close" from Enchanted plays and various Disney Clips showing some touching moments appears. Then at the end of the song, Belle appears with the Beast and proclaims her love and the transformation starts as the bay then shows various Disney Princesses finding their happy ending as it bay transforms into a million points of light.

Kaleidoscope of Color:

The Finale displays all of the adventures that we just went through in the "World of Color" as the fountains explode in color and deliver one last blast of color, water and lights as the show ends. The fountains then do a "curtain call" as Little Squirt is the last to take a bow.


So what did changed before June 11, 2010? Heres the breakdown:

1. Introduction
  • Little Squirt does not make an appearance here and therefore doesn't appear until the very end of the show.
  • The Walt quote "Every Child is blessed with a vivid imagination" is moved to the start and just appears. Nothing else happens in that appearance. 
  • The theme ends with the appearance of Ariel looking at the sky.
2. Colors of the Sea
  • Moved to the beginning after the introduction scene as Ariel sings "Part of Your World". Originally the song didn't have Ariel singing and the instrumental was created by Abbey Road Studios. Its the movie soundtrack version.
  • Under the Sea is also changed to include Sebastian singing and the visuals is includes Ariel. Sebastian is also shown in his movie form as opposed to the paper art form. 
3. Colors of the Sky
  • UP includes music from the movie. Originally didn't have music
  • "A Whole New World" is now completely from the movie. The original orchestra version is scrapped and "Go the Distance" is also replaced by "Friend Like Me" also from Aladdin. 
4. Colors of the Earth
  • The only part that didn't change a lot according to the creative team. Only thing they had to do was to move it around the show to be the middle part.
  • Alice in Wonderland is removed completely save for Chesire Cat who is moved to the finale as a cameo. 
  • Pirates of the Caribbean is added to be the transition to "Color of Fears"
  • In 2012, Brave was added in to be shown in between Friend Like me and Spring Sprite.
5. Color of Fears 
  • The voodoo demons from Princess and the Frog are removed and the original intro to the scene is scrapped for time. Dr. Facilier still remained in this scene but in a cameo. 
  • Firebird was originally removed but was inserted back in. Appeared after Pirates
  • Chernabogs entrance scene is removed in light of the tower being removed from the show.
  • After 2011, the scene was vastly overhauled to have just Pirates and Lion King.
6. Fears to Tears
  • "So Close" changed into the movie soundtrack version, eliminating the orchestra and the duet created for the show.
  • "Ever Ever After" from Enchanted was in the show but was removed.
7. Finale
  • Finale was changed several times to make it work. Fire was eventually added to be part of the final blast to end the show.
  • Cheshire Cat moved to the finale. 

Known Encores and Pre-Shows and Special Events
  • A "TRON-Core" was shown from Fall 2010-Spring 2011to promote TRON: Legacy
  • Prep and Landing Preshow for the holidays that lasted 2 seasons that was the precursor to a full Holiday show that opened in 2013: World of Color Winter Dreams
  • 4th of July Pre-show that is shown yearly since 2011 from Jul 1st-Jul 4th includes fireworks from pyro barges placed in the water.
  • New Years Eve Countdown since 2010 also includes more fireworks aside from the ones placed on the water. The countdown featured modern songs from artists like Katy Perry. 
  • Blizzard Holiday Party tag in 2011 was played after World of Color played for the Blizzard employees. Nothing special aside from playing clips from StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Created to signal the beginning of the holiday party.
  • World Premiere Pre-show was made just for the World Premiere of the show on June 10th, 2010 which included clips from the "Wonderful World of Color" TV show that ended in fireworks.
  • Grad Nite shows designed to be presented to graduating students to end their special Grad Nite parties at California Adventure after Grad Nite festivities moved to California Adventure. 

And now for the first time, World of Color will experience a 3 month refurbishment that will repair much of the platform after 5 years of consecutive use without a long refurbishment (aside from 2 week long refurbs in January or 8 days spreaded over 2 weeks) and also install new effects and potentially new scenes as part of the 60th Anniversary of Disneyland. 



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