He believed theme parks could be meaningful, and wrote that when the form of the attraction fits the story being told, "guests can transcend their everyday experience." This is not abnormal, as theme parks go beyond the everyday all the time. Easily one of the quotes I use most in my work is from Imagineer John Hench, who worked on several Disney theme parks before his passing. The show's third act is even called "Meaning," the act that contains the reflective and forward-looking theme song "We Go On." This sense of meaning and symbolism of the world's history are rather grand for a fireworks show. Music producer Don Dorsey called the show the "history of History" and entertainment executive Ron Logan's libretto copy called it a "discovery of life" and the "whole history of our planet in a quarter of an hour." It explains that the final image in the show of the astronaut is the one who "sees Earth in its true context: as one place, home to all people." Well beyond the stereotypes of theme parks being solely commercial or even lesser artistic entities, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth proves that theme parks can tell great stories in aesthetic, meaningful ways that have a lasting impact on guests.Ĭlearly, the creators of the show meant for it to have a meaning that would transcend cultures and ages. The presence of the fire confirms this idea, but the story is not one seen every day in entertainment.
Mark Nichols, a show producer, said that it "speaks to the innate part of all of us that wishes to be told a story." As a storytelling researcher, I couldn't agree more.
These lofty themes make sense for a celebration of the millennium or for the Olympics, which the show resembles in some ways, even down to fireworks shooting from a cauldron and torches surrounding the lagoon. The show covers the history of earth, from the beginning to now it showcases ideas like the beauty of nature, human ingenuity and creativity, and the potential for world unity. And though each of us has our own individual stories to tell, a true adventure emerges when we bring them all together as one. An amazing story as old as time itself but still being written. The narration itself prepares the audience for the kind of show to expect: We’re gathered here tonight, around the fire - as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands of years before us - to share the light and to share a story. Most who have seen IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth would probably agree that it is a meaningful show. What I will argue in this short piece, and something I believe is applicable to any place that creates experiences for visitors, is that if you start with the intention to create meaning, you just might. A twenty-year run for a show, especially one that was made to mark a calendar event for a single year, is pretty impressive. While the parade would end two years later, I am writing this article because in one week, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is ending. My first trip to Walt Disney World was during the Millennium Celebration, and both the Tapestry of Nations parade and the nighttime spectacular, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, were incredible.
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The opportunity to do so would come a year later, as I worked at Disneyland and could get in to the parks for free and stay at hotels at a discounted rate. I immediately fell in love with Gavin Greenaway's music and thought it would be an amazing thing to visit Walt Disney World someday. I was attracted by the cover of the new album released for Epcot's Millennium Celebration and bought the CD.
In 1999, I was wandering in the Los Angeles mall that I worked in and went to a music store.
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