Happily Ever After fireworks show returning to Walt Disney World

Sep 11, 2022 in "Happily Ever After"

Gallery / 4 Photos
Happily Ever After preview

Posted: Sunday September 11, 2022 1:35pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Fan favorite firework show 'Happily Ever After' will return to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 2023.

Happily Ever After preview

'Disney Enchantment' is expected to come to an end alongside the conclusion of Walt Disney World's 50th celebration in March, with 'Happily Ever After' taking its place from April 2023.

Speaking at D23 Expo, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro said that an "the popular anthem 'Happily Ever After' will play again when an updated nighttime spectacular returns to light up the skies over Cinderella Castle."

Jordan Fisher and Angie Keilhauer performed "Happily Ever After" to announce its return to Magic Kingdom.

Jordan Fisher and Angie Keilhauer perform 'Happily Ever After' at D23 Expo

Fan reaction to the 50th 'Disney Enchantment' show was poor, so it comes as no surprise that it had a limited 18-month run at Magic Kingdom.

Updated 'Disney Enchantment' firework show - August 2022

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Disone3 days ago

100% true but to great effect.

gerarar3 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.

jrhwdw3 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????

TTA943 days ago

Wow.

peter1143529 days ago

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

Disone29 days ago

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.

Disone29 days ago

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.

TTA9429 days ago

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.

mattpeto29 days ago

I could see Wishes returning with projections at some point.

ToTBellHop30 days ago

11 pm

jrhwdw30 days ago

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

Sir_Cliff30 days ago

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.