Disney’s 10 Best Nighttime Spectaculars

If there's one thing Disney always does right, it's its nighttime spectacular.

Every night, Disney parks across the world use fireworks, projections, and lights to bring stories to life at the end of the day. While these productions vary from park to park, they're all stocked with classic characters, iconic songs, and a heartwarming message.

Today, we're sweeping through the biggest nighttime spectaculars that take place at Disney parks in North America. This means all the beautiful end-of-day shows that take place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, are fair game. We will also be shouting it out to the seasonal spectaculars that take place during select times of the year.

Here are the most magical nighttime shows to take place at Disney Parks. Get ready to watch the sky come alive!

10 Epcot Forever

Disney's newest nighttime show debuted at Epcot on October 1, 2019. Entitled Epcot Forever, this new 11-minute spectacular features fireworks, lasers, and choreographed kites. Backed to classic orchestral Epcot tunes, the show pays tribute to the parks' imaginative history.

All the festivities take place over the World Showcase Lagoon, located near the center of the park. This allows almost everyone, no matter where they are standing, to get a glimpse of the dazzling sky display.

9 Happily Ever After

Meanwhile at the Magic Kingdom, Disney pays tribute to the heroism and heart of its many animated films through its Happily Ever spectacular. This is done through fireworks, lights, lasers, and other dazzling effects including special projection technology that colors Cinderella Castle. This allows the park icon to be themed to various movies throughout the performance.

Contemporary versions of Disney hits backdrop the show, allowing all the nostalgia to flood back as the sky twinkles with magic.

8 “Believe…In Holiday Magic” Fireworks Spectacular

When Christmas rolls around, so do the holiday firework shows.

Disneyland will be showing its special “Believe…In Holiday Magic” Fireworks Spectacular from November 8, 2019 to January 6, 2020. This event has Sleeping Beauty's Castle becoming illuminated with 80,000 twinkling icicle lights while the sky above it sparkles to life.

The festivities are elevated to a whole new level with a sprinkling of snow, traditional holiday hits, and the classic "Remember the Magic" Disney song.

7 Disney’s Not So Spooky Spectacular

Before Disney parks will be decking the halls, they'll be haunting the night.

The specially ticketed Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has its own new 12-minute firework show. It stars Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas as the host and features various villains, ghosts, tricks, and treats that light up the castle. Meanwhile, dazzling fireworks illuminate the sky.

This special spooky nighttime performance will continue through November 1 of this year, and due to the positive feedback, it's likely to return the next.

6 Fantasmic!

Disneyland Park, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and even Tokyo DisneySea have their own versions of this special nighttime stage show. Though the exact scenes vary park to park, each rendition of Fantasmic! follows a similar storyline in which Mickey must battle the villains in his imagination.

The show is loaded with classic Disney characters and an orchestral soundtrack. It features water projections, a giant live cast, fireworks, fire, and even a 45-foot Maleficent in her dragon form.

The magnificence of it all makes the show something you won't want to miss.

5 Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show

Disneyland isn't the only park that likes to spread Christmas cheer. Back at the Magic Kingdom, the sky lights up with Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Show every holiday season. This year, the show can be viewed on select nights throughout the specially-ticketed Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party from November 8 through December 22.

This firework show mixes bursts of red and green with traditional carols like "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." It can be viewed from most locations throughout the park, meaning that even if you're busy sailing down the giant drop at the end of Splash Mountain, you'll get a great view.

4 Rivers of Light: We Are One

Animal Kingdom's nighttime show doesn't contain fireworks, as that might scare the wildlife. However, it's still incredibly gorgeous and worth checking out.

Taking place on the water, Rivers of Light combines live actors, water effects, projections, and floating flowers into one wild spectacular. It sends a nod to Disney's animated animals (specifically the stars of The Lion King) and features an equally adventurous musical score.

The show runs for around 17 minutes and usually takes place twice a night.

3 Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular

If Star Wars is your style, you'll definitely want to check out this iconic firework show that takes place almost every single night at Hollywood Studios after Fantasmic! comes to a close.

In addition to filling the sky with fireworks and flooding the streets with the films' epic orchestral soundtrack, A Galactic Spectacular projects the movies' most iconic scenes onto the Chinese Theater. It's breathtakingly beautiful and jam-packed with excitement.

2 World Of Color

Disney California Adventure has its own musical nighttime show featuring 1,200 water fountains. Each of these fountains syncs up to the music, and in combination with lights, fire, lasers, fog, and projections, this show highlights Disney's most popular films.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Finding Nemo, Lilo & Stitch, A Bug's Life, Pirates of the Caribbean, Wall-E, The Little Mermaid and more all make appearances during this orchestral 27-minute long show.

1 World Of Color (Seasonal Overlays)

The beautiful set that displays World of Color during most nights acts as a stage for many other productions throughout the year.

During the Halloween season, World of Color: Villainous takes over and tells the story of a young girl's encounter with Disney's famous villains. This Christmas, World of Color - Season of Light will be returning to the spotlight, as guests are looped into a magical holiday tale filled with Disney's animated characters and festive songs.

Additional special performances of World of Color take place throughout the year.

NEXT: 10 Best Ways To Travel Around Disney World