World of Color


World of Color is a nighttime show at Disney California Adventure in the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Conceived by Vice President of Parades and Spectaculars Steve Davison, and designed by Disney Live Entertainment, the show has 1,200 water fountains and includes lights, fire, lasers, and fog, with high-definition projections on mist screens. The show is inspired by Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color anthology television series, as evidenced by the use of its eponymous theme song written by the Sherman Brothers.
The process of assembling, installing, and testing the show's numerous components and equipment in Paradise Bay spanned a period of approximately 15 months. The original version of World of Color premiered at a media-only event on Thursday, June 10, 2010, and to the public on Friday, June 11, 2010, as part of the Summer Nightastic! promotional campaign. The entire show cost $175 million to design, fabricate, and install.
The show transpires at the lagoon of Paradise Bay, while the audience watches the performance at Paradise Park, located in front of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure attraction, as well as on the Pixar Pier bridge. Other nearby attractions such Pixar Pal-A-Round and Incredicoaster become part of the performance as they undergo various forms of lighting and projections throughout the show. The effects utilized in World of Color are choreographed to work in synchronicity with the featured music and image projections.
On January 27, 2023, a new iteration of the show called World of Color – ONE debuted, which is part of The Walt Disney Company's centennial celebration.
On May 16, 2025, World of Color – ONE was replaced by World of Color Happiness! in honor of the 70th Anniversary of Disneyland.

Construction and development

The show was first announced as part of the Disney California Adventure Park expansion in the fall of 2007, originally known as Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Construction for the water show began with the draining of Paradise Bay on November 3, 2008. Construction on the platform began on January 5, 2009. The water was refilled in Paradise Bay in November 2009. Testing began during and after park hours in January 2010. A was posted on YouTube by a hotel guest staying at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, on April 7, 2010. The first public performance was held on June 5, 2010, for the creators of the show and guests. In the week leading up to June 11, private viewings for cast members, contest winners, and a celebrity-filled World Premiere took place.

Show elements

The show uses 1,200 fountains that can shoot water up to in the air. Each fountain is equipped with an LED ring. Other water features include 3 mist screens that combine to make a -long mist screen on which images are projected. Isopar cannons are capable of shooting flames up to in the air. MeeFog and lasers are used. Previously, projection domes emerged from the water atop telescopic masts and featured lighting effects and video projected onto the inside surface of the domes. However, these were later removed due to maintenance and reliability issues. Laser and video projections were previously projected onto the sun icon behind California Screamin's vertical loop, but since it was transformed into Incredicoaster, there no longer seems to be projections in the loop area. A 65' tall telescopic mast was installed in the bay to create Chernabog of Fantasia, but the tower was never used in the show and was eventually removed. The LED lighting strings on Pixar Pal-A-Round, as well as LED lights installed on Incredicoaster, are synchronized to the show.
Lighting towers rise from boxes in front of the viewing area. The lighting towers bordering the viewing area and the bay include speakers, bubble machines, and a handful of VariLite VL3000 Spot lighting fixtures. On either side of the bay, there are additional lighting towers with five Syncrolite SXB-7/3 fixtures. Additional Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures have since been added onto the Incredicoaster, as well as around the Mickey head on the front of the Pixar Pal-A-Round. The viewing area, known as Paradise Park, is situated along the northern shore of Paradise Bay, and can hold up to 4,000 spectators at full capacity. It is multi-tiered, similar to the viewing area for Fantasmic! at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It features trellises, flowers, and formerly - an interactive play fountain during the day. Hidden fountains located in the flower beds in the viewing area are incorporated into show. When World of Color: Celebrate! was opened, a large screen shaped like Mickey's head was added to be raised to cover the face on Pixar Pal-A-Round giving the show another projection surface. On nights where winds are too strong, the screen was not pulled up and some projections seen on the Pixar Pal-A-Round head showed up on the Incredicoaster's loop area instead. This screen no longer seems to be used as of 2022. The fountains in the flower beds in the viewing area were replaced by cannons and additional cannons were placed on the edge of the viewing area on the water. Each cannon has its own LED lighting ring, similar to the fountains. For World of Color: Winter Dreams, a series of foam machines that could create snowflake shaped foam elements were installed in fake gift boxes throughout the viewing area. The show utilizes an on-PC system to control the laser effects, 4 GrandMA2 Full size consoles, 1 GrandMA2 light console and 7 NPUs to control the rest of the show's elements.
From the show's conception, all versions have presented footage from the Walt Disney Studios library, including films from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm.

Synopsis

''World of Color''

Special animation sequences were created using paper animation by paper artist Megan Brain, who created many characters for the show. Mark Hammond and Dave Hamilton arranged the music, which was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and The Nashville Choir.
The show begins with Dick Wesson's original introduction to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. A quote from Walt Disney appears on the center mist screen; "Every child is blessed with a vivid imagination", and the theme song transforms into the reworked version for World of Color. As the introduction concludes, a projection of Ariel before a sunset, stretches across the mist screens. The show enters The Little Mermaid portion, with Ariel and Sebastian singing "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea", respectively. On the last note of "Under the Sea", Crush and Squirt from Finding Nemo are seen traveling on the East Australian Current, as the water fountains begin to portray the characteristics of rough surf. As the final breaking wave clears, the scene with Marlin and Dory encountering the blue whale from the film plays out. As the duo attempt to escape, the scene transitions into the "Pines of Rome" segment from Fantasia 2000. The bay gradually transforms into an outer space environment as Eve and WALL-E from WALL-E appear and re-enact their "Define Dancing" scene. WALL-E, equipped with a fire extinguisher, sprays it throughout the lagoon, forming small clouds as a result. The clouds eventually re-create Andy's room from Toy Story, with Woody and Buzz Lightyear appearing shortly thereafter on Andy's bed. Woody rebuffs Buzz's ability to fly, thus Buzz attempts to disprove him and Andy's room is suddenly changed into a battle between Buzz and Emperor Zurg from Toy Story 2.
As the bay clears, Carl Fredrickson's house from Up briefly makes an appearance before the setting transitions into Aladdin. With the night sky recreated on the bay, Aladdin and Jasmine perform "A Whole New World" together, until the Genie abruptly appears and takes control of the show by performing "Friend Like Me". Once the Genie disappears, the Spring Sprite from Fantasia 2000 transforms the bay into a lush forest, where Pocahontas appears, singing "Just Around the Riverbend". The Pocahontas segment ends with a dramatic fountain overlay set to "Farewell" from it.
After a brief pause, Heimlich from A Bug's Life arrives, informing the audience of an approaching thunderstorm. The storm rapidly intensifies into the thunderstorm scene from The Old Mill, accompanied by an unsettling instrumental version of "Little April Showers" from Bambi. As the storm dissipates, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean emerges from the shadows and "Yo Ho " is faintly heard. Suddenly, the bay turns blood-red as fountains and flames of fire are orchestrated in tandem with "He's a Pirate". Battle scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean series are projected onto the mist screens before transcending into a sequence dominated by jets of fire. Once the Pirates of the Caribbean act concludes, the atmosphere of the show's narrative darkens and Mufasa's death scene from The Lion King unfolds erratically on the bay.
After a brief moment of silence, the show enters its climax. "So Close" from Enchanted plays as touching scenes from Disney's animated films are projected. The transformation scene from Beauty and the Beast takes place, being followed by other famous moments from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Immediately following Cinderella, the fountains and lighting turn white and the lagoon fades into darkness. The fountains then slowly begin to regain momentum as they swirl around the lagoon, until Tinker Bell appears to enchant the bay, which suddenly blossoms into a myriad of colors. Entering the show's finale, a reprisal of "The Wonderful World of Color" is heard as the bay becomes host to a kaleidoscopic montage of films, some of which were earlier components of the show. Mickey Mouse then appears in his iconic "Sorcerer's Apprentice" attire from Fantasia and the show concludes with a final series of water, fire, laser and light orchestrations.
Notes:
  • Note 1. The Pirates of the Caribbean sequence was extended from May 20, 2011, to June 15, 2012, to promote the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
  • Note 2. The original show had a sequence composed of the "Firebird Suite", "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Hellfire". It was replaced by the extended Pirates of the Caribbean sequences and has not been restored to the show since 2011. But this has been used in "Villains Night Out!" Halloween mini-parade at Hong Kong Disneyland, as Maleficent morph into a ferocious dragon, determined to claim the castle as her own and invited more villains.
  • Note 3. Replaced Tarzan on May 20, 2011.
  • Note 4. The finale was followed by an encore promoting the release of Tron: Legacy. It ran from October 29, 2010, to March 23, 2011.