Fireworks cancelled for winds (of lack of)

[spacemtfan]

So last night, on Friday December 14 2007, my family and I stalked out a spot in the central hub about an hour and 5 minutes ahead of time. It was really boring and really freezing. I saw a weather balloon get released before the show, and it was floating south towards the Disneyland Railroad station on Main Street USA. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

 

The fireworks "Believe...in Holiday Magic" then continued...for about 5 minutes. Then, the music stopped, the lights came back on, and the oh-so dreadful annoucement came:

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, due to winds at higher elevations, our fireworks spectacular Believe in Holiday Magic cannot continue as scheduled."

 

 

I was a little mad since I waited for over an hour just for 5 minutes of fireworks. Though I can understand why they shut it down. The smoke was drifting into the crowd, which could cause someone with asthma or something like that to go under a spasm. So it was excusable...

 

The plus side was that in an effort to relieve after-fireworks congestion on Main Street, the CM's diverted everyone backstage behind the Main Street shops. I got to see where the Jungle Cruise boats were stored.

 

My question is if Disney releases a weather balloon, where should it float towards to assure a fireworks show? What happens if they run the fireworks show even though the wind is unsuitable?

[kidaftersunset]

Though I am by far an expert on the subject; typically any time the wind causes debris to fall on possible crowds is bad.

So, south towards Main Street = Bad. East to TL = Variable depending on strength. West to AL = Variable depending on strength. North to FL = typically seems ok but is all variable on wind strength.

[gotdane]

I watched Remember a couple months ago from the B tower for Fantasmic and we could see fallout falling in the area around us.

 

Same thing happened when I was watching Believe the other night from Small World.

 

As far as wind balloons go...going east is the best. North west, west, or south isn't good.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

really I have seen those balloons go all over the place and the show still ran. there really is no way for a guest to read the balloons.

[gotdane]

^That's true, you just don't want to see a balloon fly sideways...

[Alpenguy]

A south blowing wind seems to have the smallest tolerances IMO. I've seen some pretty wild shows blowing north with Ball Rd. only like 400ft from the launchers, and cancellations with mild drift to the south, where it's ~900 feet to the nearest people. Despite often being the one to call a large area clear, I don't know anything about specific numbers or the balloon methods or whatnot. There are probably exact numbers from the fire marshal, and then a smaller envelope determined by gut experience and watching balloons and the show itself.

 

I was on Main Street that night too and was surprised it went off at all, that was very, very strong wind.

[KaliGirl]

I'm assuming that even if it is Disney, they still have to give precedence to the fire marshall. They can stop any show at any time for any reason.

 

The releasing of the balloon helps determine how the winds are at different altitudes. It could be calm down below, but not up top. So they have to take into account which direction and speed the wind is at. That determines where the debris is going to hit, and how the smoke will clear.

 

We've found that the majority of the public that watches fireworks, don't understand the consequences of falling debris. They think the closer to them the better, but that puts them in the fallout zone, and there have been several times I'm glad to have a hard hat on.

 

Each shoot is different. We had a shoot at a high school and were basically in a wind tunnel, and we were shooting from the ground and also the roof. The fire marshall let us begin the show, warning us that they might cancel it midway, but we were surprised we got to shoot all the product.

 

We had another shoot where the wind completely died down when we started shooting. That leaves a lot of smoke in the sky and makes it harder to see the fireworks.

 

It's just a crap shoot. But there's nothing more depressing that setting up for a show, just to have it cancelled, and have to pull the shells from the mortars and pack them back up with no BOOM.

[PURE]

As far as I've experienced firsthand, if there is any wind at all they basically shut the show down.

 

There's really no way to predict which way the winds will change during the show, so if it starts to pick up in any direction, they don't even start the fireworks, or cancel it in the middle.

 

Either way, it'll teach you not to wait over an hour for a stupid fireworks show! lol.