"We've gathered here tonight around the fire, as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousand of years before us: to share the light and to share a story. An amazing story, as old as time itself, but still being written. And though each of us has our own individual story to tell, a true adventure emerges when we bring them all together as one.
I hope you enjoy our story tonight: Reflections of Earth."
That's what's said by an aged narrator (who I think might be God or Father Time or a friendlier version of Uatu the Watcher) at the beginning of the best fireworks show I've ever seen, EPCOT Center's Illuminations: Reflections of Earth.
I seriously love fireworks, they're like great big booming cannonball fights where, instead of people dying, the sky turns pretty, and seriously, I get so psyched over fireworks displays you'd think I'm John Lithgow. But Reflections of Earth is the only one that can make me cry.
- This show is just the perfect way to end a day at EPCOT Center. All day long you've experienced ideas of today giving birth to tomorrow (the over-arching theme of Future World, the front half of the park) and the ideas of global brotherhood (as shown in the World Showcase), and now you see these themes explode! As fireworks! In improv terms, it's the ultimate third beat!
- Surrounding the World Showcase Lagoon are all these giant torches, and when the narrator finishes his opening monologue, he blows them out, and whoosh, they're extinguished! I love that part.
- Not that I plan to do this, but leaving a theme park during a fireworks show is an amazing experience. Imagine walking through a sea of people, all of them facing one direction, all looking to the sky with a look of awe and wonder on their faces, as multi-colored lights and shadows dance across the populace. And you're the only person doing something different. Absolutely amazing. Incidentally, that's what inspired me to write my infamous (and unpublishable) role-playing game, Press Ne Presents: Chaos in Disney!, as a chemical fallout from the fireworks turned everyone into a mind-controlled horde.
- The music, and I know I sound like a sap saying this, but it's really, really beautiful. At the end, this woman sings, "We go on to the joy and through the tears, we go on to discover new frontiers [like space!]."
- I guess there's something I like about shared experiences with huge groups of people. I find it very satisfying to be there with all these families from across the world, people of all ages, watching these fireworks together. Once the show is done, people are back to their own individual vacations, but for these 30 minutes (I think it's that long), we're all united. And there are always those people who decide to go on rides during Illuminations, because the lines are much shorter, but what I love is that when they exit the ride, they look over to the lagoon, and there's always a look of longing and some regret at what they missed.
- Afterwards, while all those suckers exit through the front of the park, I'll be one of the few who take the secret back route near France. Enjoy the long lines, suckers! Sarah and I will be taking an empty bus to Downtown Disney (unless we're really tired).
I can't believe I'll be there in less than a week! By this time next week, I'll be on that empty bus (assuming we go to EPCOT Center on the first day, and further assuming we're not really tired).
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