Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season
| Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season | |
|---|---|
 Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season logo | |
| Status | Seasonal |
| Opening date | Original MTA: 29 November 2013 Final MTA: 26 November 2014 Original MRT: 11 December 2016 |
| Closing date | Original MTA: 4 January 2014 Final MTA: 1 January 2015 Original MRT: 23 December 2016 |
| Theme | Christmas |
| Designers | Soleurs Second Star Creative Entertainment |
| Duration | 14 minutes, 30 seconds |
| Sponsor | Eastern Airways |
Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season, also known by its shorter name Holiday Wishes, is a fireworks show that was presented at the Lillian Disney Amphitheatre in Konawa during the holiday season. Holiday Wishes is a musical symphony of Christmas music accompanied by choreographed fireworks. The show was sponsored by Eastern Airways. It is part of the A Christmas Fantasy trilogy of fireworks shows.
Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season first premiered on the MTA server on November 29, 2013, and was showing on the MRT Server from December 11, 2016, to December 23, 2016.
Background
In 2005, Disney premiered Happy HalloWishes: A Grim Grinning Ghosts Spooktacular in the Sky for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Both shows were met with resounding success, and continued to be played seasonally.
Holiday Wishes continues to be played every year since 2005 for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, and is played during the week of and following Christmas during regular hours. In 2008, the show was shortened, cutting some sequences from Acts I and III. These sequences are still included on the MTA and MRT versions.
History
Holiday Wishes was Soleurs' second fireworks show, following Wishes. Holiday Wishes was the last show to originally be performed at the original Walt Disney Amphitheatre on the MTA server, and the first show to be performed at Spirit Amphitheatre before and after its renovation. It is the show with the most revisions, having been revised four times since its conception. The first edition ran from November to December 2013, the second ran in December 2013, the third ran from November to December 2014, and the fourth and last edition ran in December 2016.
Plot summary
The show opens with the lights going down as bells begin to jingle, before Spirit of the Season begins to open the show.
Jiminy Cricket enters following Spirit of the Season, opening the show by stating "Did ya hear it? Can ya feel it? I'd say there's something magical in the air, wouldn't you? Why, it's the spirit of the season, and it seems to be everywhere! Cause, ya know, Christmas is all around us!"
Christmas All Around Us begins to play, introducing us to the holiday season as low-level fireworks begin to fire.
Following this, Jiminy re-enters to talk about wishes during the holiday season. Fanfare versions of various Christmas tunes play as Tinker Bell flies around the amphitheatre. Following the flight, the fireworks begin to fire again as orchestras play classic Christmas tunes, closing out the act.
Act II opens with Jiminy re-entering to talk about how there really is no place like home during the holidays, leading into a chorus of "I'll Be Home for Christmas". The orchestra kicks in, playing home-themed carols such as "No Place Like Home (For the Holidays)", closing out the act.
Act III opens with a reprise of "Christmas All Around Us" from the first act before Jiminy Cricket re-enters to talk about Santa before the orchestra plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and other Santa-related carols such as "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and "Up on the Housetop" before the music drops off with a thud.
The choir re-enters with the opening to the "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" before singing "O Christmas Tree" as dispensers shoot off fireworks from all sides. The music fades to the fixing of a music box playing carols.
The music box is fixed and the "Nutcracker March" begins to play as other silliness occurs before segueing into the "Nutcracker Russian Dance" to close out the act.
In Act IV, Jiminy enters and tells the audience how Christmas really is all around us, and how the spirit of the season never has to end as long as you keep a holiday wish in your heart. A reprise of Spirit of the Season occurs before a quick throwback to Wishes is shown. The choir and orchestra then tune in to one last reprise of "Christmas All Around Us" before Jiminy wishes the audience a happy holiday, and the show concludes.
The post-show music is a performance of "Christmas All Around Us" by Kellie Coffey.
Soundtrack
This listing is incomplete due to no official list of songs used in the show.
- Spirit of the Season (Alan Silvestri)
- Carol of the Bells (Mykola Leontovych)
- Joy to the World (Isaac Watts)
- Christmas All Around Us (Steve Skonja)
- Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)
- Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont)
- Home for the Holidays (Perry Como)
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town (John Frederick Coots/Haven Gillespie)
- Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Emily Huntington Miller)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks)
- Up on the Housetop (Benjamin Hanby)
- O Tannenbaum (Ernst Anschutz)
- March of the Nutcracker (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
- Russian Dance (Tchaikovsky)
- Wishes (Greg Smith)