One of the most difficult things during the pandemic park re-opening is the lack of entertainment offerings. Some of it is practical, for safety measures. Others seem to be offline indefinitely due to business decisions. There were massive layoffs during the park shutdown and they have not brought back many of the cast members. For this reason, I would caution against a park visit at this time until at least more of these offerings have returned. Here are some of my favorite entertainment highlights and their current or predicted status in each park.

Character Experiences

Character meet and greets as well as character dining have been suspended. This to me is one of the most heartbreaking park casualties of the pandemic. Character experiences are some my most treasured memories and I honestly can’t imagine a trip without them. From my daughter comparing her wings to Tink’s, to a restaurant wide Princess parade these are some of my most magical park moments.

What Disney has offered instead is a sort of socially distanced wave scenario from balconies as well as character cavalcades, basically a small parade where characters walk down the street. They are brief with little fanfare. Good in a pinch, but not exactly an adequate replacement.

It’s not a matter of if, but when these experiences will return. At writing, the virus has mercifully begun to wain and I am optimistic for a return of character interaction in the Spring of 2022.

Signature Shows

Each park has and end of day nighttime spectacular to cap off your visit. Each is unique from display to medium, making each one a must see.

Magic Kingdom

In Magic Kingdom there is the fireworks at the castle. On October 1, 2021 Walt Disney World premiered their new 50th Anniversary Celebration fireworks show called Disney Enchantment. Using a number of projections on the castle and surrounding spires, as well as Main Street USA buildings, the show combines music, pyrotechnics and images to dazzle crowds. Die hard Disney fans have given the new show a mixed review, with many citing that a historical celebration should give a nod to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse – neither of whom appear in the show – but I think most guests will enjoy the display. This show will presumably be in place for 18 months during the 50th Anniversary Celebration which places it all the way through 2023.

EPCOT

In EPCOT, they launched a soft opening of a new nighttime spectacular called HarmoniUS that takes place in the World Showcase Lagoon. Reception to this show has been universally warm, and having watched the live stream myself it is indeed, impressive. The show uses large floating barges with LED screens and fountains, along with pyrotechnics and music to celebrate all the cultures and continents in the World Showcase. In my humble opinion, it is a worthy replacement to the much beloved IllumiNations show.

Animal Kingdom

In Animal Kingdom, Rivers of Light is a nighttime show also on water using a series of boats, and fountains that are utilized as screens. Combining lights and music it’s truly a spectacular display that I saw myself and loved it. This show has not returned since re-opening however, and it was recently announced it is being discontinued. My best guess is there is a new show in development, unless Disney has entirely given up on their nighttime experiment at Animal Kingdom that seemed to have never really taken off. In the meantime, they are offering guests a short ten minute daytime kite based show in the same venue called Disney KiteTails for the 50th Anniversary Celebration. Unfortunately, the show is off to a rocky start with kite entanglements and wave runner accidents. Watch this space. At writing there is no evening show at Animal Kingdom.

Hollywood Studios

Which brings me to the final park, Hollywood Studios. On our last visit Hollywood Studios was offering not just one, but two separate nighttime shows. The first is Fantasmic, which was really Walt Disney World’s first attempt of combining water and storytelling. It’s a Disney classic and remained in high demand ever since its premiere in 1998. This makes it the most dated of all the nighttime shows. Since it is not expected to return until 2022 at the earliest, I think it’s safe to say it will return with some updates, if it returns at all. Seems logical after this prolonged, multi-year shutdown to re-imagine the show into something else that better reflects the direction that the park is now going, which was entirely different in 1998.

The second show was a pyrotechnic spectacular with projections on the Chinese Theater that was Star Wars themed. This was always intended to be a short lived show, but I’m glad I got to see it. The new pyrotechnic show is entitled Wonderful World of Animation which premiered in 2019 and returned in August 2021. It combines animation from both Disney and Pixar with music and pyrotechnics.

Tomorrow I will continue this discussion including parades and other shows.