Best Theme Park Show You Have Seen.

[Garet]

Everland's parades always ends in a mini arena with a stage and they have a sort of show/story. This was filmed on a very quiet weekday but it's packed on weekends and I think they used to have a story behind why you had to help in the water fight. I've skipped most of the story to the moment all hell breaks loose.

Speaking of Everland and shows I miss, I miss when the park used to run jukebox fireworks in the summer. I managed to see both of these. One year the fireworks show was set to musicals:

 

And another year set to instrumentals where they decided Chariots of Fire should live up to the fire part:

 

 

That site in the last two videos also has the Boo parade Elissa was talking about but it seems to be just the parade and not the show part.

[CedarFlags]

Water World at Universal, hands down.  In only about 20 minutes, this show accomplishes so much and it's always a thrill.

Tied for 2nd place are: Mystery Lodge at KBF, and Poseidon's Fury at IOA.

[Nrthwnd]

The one that really blew me away, way back when, was the early showing of Fantasmic! at Disneyland. We saw it in 1996 after it had been running for a few years.  We didn't know what to expect of it (not much, if any, social media back then) and when the individual "Princess barges" floated by, I was tearing up. Truth!

The cover of my souvenir booklet looked like this, when I bought it, in the (then)

VILLAINS SHOP in FantasyLand. Wish I`d bought more stuff there, back then.

[Airtime&Gravity]

Of the ones I remember, I have to agree with those that have said Waterworld at Universal.  All I knew going in was that it was highly regarded (and based a film typically considered a major flop), but it was a highly entertaining show.  At Disney California Adventure, I was also surprised with the Frozen at the Hyperion show.  It's an hour long show and was a nice break from the crowds when all the other e-tickets had 1-2 hour waits.

While not a show in the traditional sense, the craftsman village at Silver Dollar City was also nice.

I'm typically not a theme park show fan. Part of that is because I usually have limited time at a park, and the other reason is because Great America isn't exactly known for its show offerings.

 

[coasterbill]

A few years later I still feel uniquely unqualified to answer this because I just don’t watch a ton of theme park shows unless I’m at a park that’s known for having really good shows. It’s also kind of complicated because there are so many different kinds of shows and they’re hard to compare. Example: I love Happily Ever After and Sea Lion High but those are just entirely different things. How do you compare those to eachother?

Usually the only theme park shows that I go out of my way to see are nighttime spectacular type shows and animal shows. I actually think that Happily Ever After is the best thing at Magic Kingdom period and I feel the same way about Illuminations at Disneyland Paris.

Aside from that, the SeaWorld animal shows are all good. The Busch pet shows were great but... you know. Lol

As for shows that I really like that are totally out of our element, Academy of Villains was great and that should come back, Moteurs… Action at DLP was cool, Dollywood’s Christmas shows can be really solid and that Bourne Stuntacular show was crazy cool (though it’s more of a showcase of awesome tech than anything else). There are probably more but those are what comes to mind first.

[Hilltopper39]

The old Believe show at SeaWorld is still one of my favorites, for an animal show it was just so much fun. The music, choreography, trainers still swimming with the whales, it was so good. Blue Horizons was also really good.

Other than those there was a solid 10 or so year stretch when the Bill and Ted Show at Horror Nights was the coolest thing ever, it was so funny and risque and fun that there was kind of nothing else like it and probably never will be again considering how quickly people get offended and "cancel" things these days. 

[coasterbill]

You know what? You just reminded me: Honorable mention to Shamu’s Christmas Miracles for best theme park show of all time.

It was simultaneously the greatest and dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in a theme park and I loved every second of it.

[ElvisLuv]

Oh geez, I've been to Puy du Fou so I'll go with the Efteling's Ravelejn done in partnership with Puy du Fou, lol. 

 

We liked many mention though.

Waterworld

Lights, camera.....

Festival of the Lion King

[KBrylczyk]

Quote

I am not sure where to put this, but I have an idea an wonder if anyone has ever seen this before...

With more and more parks canceling and/or revamping their shows it made me wonder: "What if a park put a show into a parade format?" 

The idea is simple in nature but probably complex in nature. What if the parade told a story, had some rising action and climactic event, and then a happily ever after moment. 

 

Have any parks done this before, or has anyone seen a parade that actually had a story line other than just a theme (Christmas, magic, Halloween...)? Do you think this would work?

I thought this could be a great way to allow a lot of people to view a show while offering an outdoor socially distanced experience. 

Thoughts?

 

The High School Musical Parade and show at Hollywood Studios would park directly in front of The Great Movie Ride.  Parade down the main street, park, few songs, parade out.

[dankeykang]

I'm not exactly qualified to answer this either, but I think Kings Island deserves a mention for the social distance themed entertainment they were doing this summer.  Seems a decent way to make light of a tough situation.  Although maybe other parks were doing something similar and I just didn't notice...

 

[tinaalsgirl]

My friends and I really enjoyed the Rocklusions show at SFGA last year. The magic was definitely aimed at a younger audience than us, but we really loved the music portions and the costumes and sets were really cool!

[PKIDelirium]

KI Haunt's Dead Awakening (2007 and 2008) and Hot Blooded (2009 until a couple years ago, with one off-year) were both fantastic.

[jedimaster1227]

Festival of the Lion King at Hong Kong Disneyland is my favorite show with performers. World of Color is my favorite fountain based show and Remember, Dreams Come True is my favorite fireworks show.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Second that, with the Festival Of The Lion King, at HKDL!

Part of the Finale. TPR 2012 China/Hong Kong Tour.

 

[caleb.stone]

Katonga, Busch Gardens Tampa. Absolutely amazing show! 

[Garet]

I think some still run but didn't Blackpool Pleasure Beach used to have 3 different arenas running full on 90 minute-2-hour shows that had quiet expensive tickets but you could get a cheap seat for free with your wristband? I think there was an acrobatic show set to music, an ice skating show and a magician show.

[KBrylczyk]

I was thinking back to my Halloween-less Halloween this year and how much it sucked, but it reminded me of the brilliance of The Hanging at Knott's and Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Spectacular when Universal still gave a shit.  Unfortunately Bill & Ted are, AFAIK, dead and gone in the parks and The Hanging has fallen off a cliff, quality-wise, for 2018 and 2019.  Damn shame.