Disney confirms opening date for the return of 'Happily Ever After' at Walt Disney World

Gallery / 4 Photos
Happily Ever After preview

Posted: Tuesday January 10, 2023 9:04am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has today confirmed that the fan-favorite nighttime spectacular "Happily Ever After" returns to Magic Kingdom on April 3 2023.

Happily Ever After preview

The updated show will feature all-new projections down Main Street, U.S.A., using the new projectors installed for the 50th anniversary.

The 50th anniversary show, "Disney Enchantment" will be offered through April 2 2023.

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gerarar5 days ago

From @disneyparks official

jrhwdw5 days ago

Disone29 days ago

100% true but to great effect.

gerarar29 days ago

It wasn't really HEA tho. I believe this was their NYE fireworks which they actually played Wishes. The OP just overplayed the video with HEA's music.

jrhwdw29 days ago

Why can't MK do THAT?!?!?! No Excuse that MK can't figure out how to do the old 180!! We all know DLP doesn't have the best Fireworks Conditions but the nights High Pyro is allowed. DLP Knows How!!!!!! This is right up there with Wishes NYE during the 30th! Was it the whole HEA I wonder????

TTA9429 days ago

Wow.

peter11435Feb 02, 2025

They’ve run MSEP and SpectroMagic at park closing countless times. Operationally night parades should always run Main Street to Frontierland.

DisoneFeb 02, 2025

Oh they've definitely been times where they had a second parade at 11:00 but also closed at 11:00. And no it's a disaster when you run that parade from frontierland to main Street. Massive bottleneck of crowds to get onto the ferry boats and monorails. There's nothing left open in the park so everyone literally follows the parade which blocks the exit of the park so there's no one leaving until the parade finally ends on main Street and then it's just a sea of humanity. Very poor crowd management. They absolutely should run it in the other direction so when the parade ends on Town square the Town square people start to leave while it continues on then it ends on main Street proper and they start to leave and then it ends on the hub and then the hub crowds start to leave and then it ends in Liberty square and they start to leave and so on instead of everybody being behind the parade and leaving all at once.

DisoneFeb 02, 2025

There might not be time even with midnight closings, and they rarely do that anymore. Even though the parades themselves are not 45 minutes long from a single vantage point.... They typically are from step off in frontierland to the final bow taken by the firehouse on main Street USA. Example... When FoF starts in Frontierland, it's typically ending between 3:30 and 3:45 at the other end.. Now let's say due to the new starlight parade they do go back to midnight closings during the summer. That will mean the first parade will be at 9:00 the fireworks will be at 10:00, And The encore performance of starlight will be at 11:00. During the summer the 9:00 p.m. showing would be mostly dark but there's some sun light on the horizon.

TTA94Feb 01, 2025

From what I remember the last parade was at 11 and they closed at 12. I don’t remember them ever closing the same time as the last parade. Off topic from this thread but I’m thinking if they do plan to close at 11 then more than likely Starlight will be running from Frontierland to Main Street. At least the 11pm performance.

mattpetoFeb 01, 2025

I could see Wishes returning with projections at some point.

ToTBellHopFeb 01, 2025

11 pm

jrhwdwFeb 01, 2025

July 3-4th, Dec 30-31st are still Projection Free.

Sir_CliffFeb 01, 2025

I kind of feel the ship has sailed on projections-free fireworks shows at MK. In Paris they sometimes still do them for special occasions like Bastille Day and they work great, but I get the impression they're moving more in the direction of doing things like extending the projections to Main Street USA rather than going back to a Wishes-style show with minimal or no projects. I know there are plenty of people who prefer fireworks shows without projections, but I suspect most guests who were familiar with HEA, waited for the fireworks show, and found there were suddenly just lights and fireworks they would think it was a downgrade and Disney cutting costs. HEA was and maybe still is the offering at MK with highest guest satisfaction scores, so I don't think Disney feels they need to go back to what preceded it.