Steve Davison: The master of Disney Parks entertainment.

Steve Davison, the current Vice President of Parades and Spectaculars at Walt Disney Imagineerings Creative Entertainment, is considered one of the best Imagineers in WDI's history. Known for his firework shows and parades, Steve Davison has indeed left his mark on the history of every Disney Park.

I first met him last year at California Adventure on the night of World of Color's 1 year anniversary and we saw each other again during the Annual Passholder event for Mickey's Soundsational Parade, one of his recent shows. He has created a fan page on Facebook so that his fans can ask him questions and leave comments on his shows.

 Steve Davison (far right) disscuses Soundsational during a panel for the AP Event

Me and Steve in front of the Mary Poppins float during the event

Like many Imagineers before him, he had to work his way from the bottom. Starting out as a model maker for Disneyland's Entertainment Art Department, he eventually worked his way through the Ent dept to become a show director. 

His first big hit actually wasn't a firework show, a spectacular or a parade. It was one attraction overlay, a time when an attraction is transformed into another version of the ride. Many don't know that Steve Davison actually made It's a Small World Holiday. This act is what began his rise to Disney fame. The holiday overlay remains popular today, seeing 40+ min waits during the holiday season.

In 1999, he was tasked in creating a new firework show just in time for the 45th anniversary of the park. Even though he had no prior experience, he was up to the challenge. Believe! Theres Magic in the Stars debuted in 2000 to overwhelming and unexpected high praise. What made his first firework show popular is his ability to put emotion and story to his show. The show was so popular that a holiday version was created the same year and it's holiday counterpart still runs today. 

He was tasked to do another holiday overlay. This time, for Haunted Mansion. Though there were strings to pull to get it approved which took a couple of years, Haunted Mansion Holiday opened in 2001 to rave reviews. This overlay combined the Mansions residents with the citizens of Halloween Town from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Every year, this overlay gets new updates, specifically, the gingerbread house in the ballroom. 

2 years later, Steve would get one of the best promotions ever. He was asked to join the new Walt Disney Creative Entertainment branch of Walt Disney Imagineering. This move, allowed him to expand his talents in every Disney Park. One of his first shows to be done since moving was "Wishes", the Magic Kingdom's current firework show in Florida. Like Believe, the show was also a massive hit and 2 holiday versions (Halloween and Christmas) of the show were made. 

Then in 2005, he returned to Disneyland California to create 3 new shows for Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams which ran until 2008 was an instant hit with it's grand design and show stops. Remember.....Dreams Come True also expanded on Steves ability to tell a story and also was able to put in new firework launchers around the center of the park. This firework show is extremely popular, still running for the past 7 years. He also created Block Party Bash which was based on Pixar films at Disney's California Adventure. That parade would eventually be moved to Walt Disney World and in 2008, he would help make Pixar Play Parade. It was also in 2005 that Steve would begin development on the parks new nighttime spectacular, World of Color.

Since the 50th, Steve became an interest in Disney fans as they learn that most shows in Disney Parks were made by him. His popularity would be evident when he opened World of Color.

World of Color at Disney California Adventure was a major challenge for both Steve and Creative Entertainment. In the past, fountains were used in a supporting role for shows like Fantasmic! and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. This time, they would be the main element in World of Color. Steve worked with the best to bring this show to life and is currently one of the most expensive shows ever done, costing 75 million dollars. With the need of projections to bring the show to life, he wanted different mediums. So he brought in paper artists, sand artists and more to give the show a different feel. The music was also worked on heavily, going as far as making the music at the Abbey Road Studios in London (he would return to Abbey Road to make music for Fantasmic! in Tokyo). World of Color debuted on June 11th 2010, as part of the ongoing expansion and renovation project of the park (the shows budget is actually not part of the expansion budget) to rave reviews and hailed as one of the most advanced shows ever. What made the show different was that it was designed to be changed over time. New scenes can be added and current scenes can be removed.