World of Color is a nighttime show at Universal's Islands of Adventure New York in the Universal Manhattan Resort in New York City. Conceived by Vice President of Parades and Spectaculars Steve Davison, and designed by Universal Live Entertainment, the show with has 12,00 water fountains, lights, fire, lasers, pyrotechnics, water curtains, searchlights, LED screens and fog with high-definition projections on mist screens. The show is inspired by Universal'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 Adventure Lagoon spanned a period of approximately 15 months. The original version of World of Color premiered at a media-only event on Thursday June 10th, 2010 and to the public on Friday June 11th, 2010 as the Summer Nightastic! promotional campaign. The entire show cost $175 million to design, fabricate, and install.
The show transpires at the lagoon of Adventure Lagoon, while the audience watches the performance at Lagoon Park. It features Universal (not all Universal Parks), DreamWorks, Nick/Nick Jr., and more characters from the movies, But also artist's biggest songs. It opened on June 11, 2010 in Universal's Islands of Adventure New York.
Construction and development[]
The show was first announced as part of the Universal's Islands of Adventure New York expansion in the fall of 2007, originally known as Universal's Wonderful World of Color. Construction for the water show began with the draining of Adventure Lagoon on November 3, 2008. Construction on the platform began on January 2, 2009. The water was refilled in Adventure Lagoon in November 2009. Testing began during and after park hours in January 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.
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 Hamiltion arranged the music, which was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and The Nashville Choir.
The show begins with Dick Wesson's introduction to Universal's Wonderful World of Color. A quote from Universal 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 Wendy before a sunset, stretches across the mist screens. The show enters The Little Mer Wendy portion, with Wendy and Spooky singing "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea", respectively. On the last note of "Under the Sea", Crush and Squirt from Tom and Jerry: Finding Nemo are seen traveling on the East Australia Current, as the water fountains began 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 plays out. As the duo attempt to escape, the scene transitions into the "Pines of Rome" segment from Fantasia 2000. The bay gradually transforms a New York environment as Dora and Diego from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Diego Márquez head saying "Come on let's go on a wild safari! Dora Márquez says, "We can explore all kinds of animals!" Diego Márquez says, "Even fierce animals" Dora and Diego says, "Animales feroces!" appear and re-enact their "Way Out West" scene. Mice, equipped with a train tracks, sprays it thoughtout the lagoon, forming small sun as a result. The sun eventually re-create Wilbur's Barn from Charlotte's Web, with Wilbur and Templeton appearing shortly thereafter on Zuckerman's Famous Pig. Wilbur rebuffs Wilbur's ability to run, thus Templeton attempts to disprove him and Wilbur's Barn is suddenly charged into a battle between Wilbur and Dogs from Charlotte's Web 2.
As the bay clears, Carl Fredrickson's house from Tom and Jerry: Up briefly makes an appearance before the setting transitions into Casperladdin. With the night sky recreated on the bay, Casper and Wendy perform "A Whole New World" together, until the Genie abruptly appears and a take control of the show performing "Friend Like Me". Once the Genie disappears, the Spring Suite from Fantasia 2000 transforms the bay into a lush forest, where Wendy, appears singing "Just Around the Riverband". The Wendyhontas segment ends with a dramatic fountain overlay set to "Farewell" from it.
After a brief pause, Heimlich from Tom and Jerry: A Bug's Life arrives, informing the audience of an approaching thunderstorm. The storm rapidly intensities into the thunderstorm scene from The Old Mill, accompanied by an unsettling instrumental version "Little April Showers" from Casper: Bambi. As the storm dissipates, Spyro the Dragon from Spyro emerges from the shadows and "Spyro Theme" is faintly heard. Suddenly, the bay turns blood-red as fountains and flames of fire an orchestrated in tandem with "Ice Cavern". Battle scenes from the Spyro the Dragon series are projected onto the mist screens before transcending into a sequence dominated by jets of fire. Once the Spyro the Dragon act concludes, the atmosphere of the show's narrative darkens and Makunga death scene Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 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 Universal's animated films (including Madagascar Escape 2 Africa, Casper: Bambi, A Day at the Circus, Tangled, Wendy and the Casper, The Princess and the Frog and Beauty and the Ghost) are projected. The transformation scene from Beauty and the Ghost takes place, being followed by other famous moments from Wendy White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Wendy, and Wendyrella. Immediately following Wendyrella, the fountains and lighting turn white and the lagoon fade and 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 head as the bay becomes host to a kaleidoscopic montage of films, some of which were earlier components of the show (including Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mer Wendy, Tom and Jerry: Finding Nemo, An American Tail, Charlotte's Web, Casperladdin, Wendyhontas, The Old Mill, Spyro the Dragon, Balto, Madagascar, Scooby-Doo! Meet Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog). Woody Woodpecker then appears in his iconic "Sorcerer's Appearance" attire from Fantasia and the show concludes with a final series of water, fire, laser and light orchestrions.
World of Color - Season Of Light[]
Original planned version[]
Early plans also called for a small orange fountain, named Little Squirt, that was meant to embody Universal's artistic and mischievous spirit, and appear throughout the show. Instead, during the post-show, after all the other fountains turn off, the little orange fountain remains on for a couple seconds as it bows to the audience, then disappears. Occasionally, its either broken or fixed.
A video of a run-through of the show leaked onto the Internet on April 5, 2010. There has been a few changes to the show from the synopsis that has been disclosed for Universal plans in September 2009. Sequences featuring Wendy in Wonderland, the Firebird, and Dr. Facilier were missing, the Wendy hontas/Hemlich/Little April Showers segment was placed after "A Whole New World," and new Jurassic Park and Spyro the Dragon segments has been added. It was also rumored that Universal CEO Bob Iger wanted a more contemporary soundtrack and that the show was being reworked. Many of these changes were confirmed when a second video of a run-through leaked onto the Internet.
Universal launched a website for World of Color containing interactive features, pictures of on-site testing, and videos. The theme song to "World of Color" has also been posted on the Universal Studios Manhattan Website. Although Videos of testing have been leaked online, the site shows both the extensive Wendy in Wonderland and The Princess and the Frog segments of the show that were said to have been cut. The site was launched after leaked videos of testing were posted. Even more edits have been made, including extending "Part of Your World" and "A Whole New World" to include the verses, cutting "Never Say Never" in favor of "Friend Like Me," and the return of "Firebird."
Singer -songwriter Amy Grant was going to provide lead vocals for the show's rendition of "The Wonderful World of Color" but was ultimately replaced in the studio and is not heard in the final version.