Larger Than Life Memories Make Castle Display

During a recent trip to Walt Disney World Resort , I was thrilled to witness a new nightly show, “The Magic, The Memories and You!” A 10-minute program of special effects and magic are projected onto Cinderella’s Castle showing up to 500 images of guests that visited Magic Kingdom theme park (map) that very  day.

Even though I had attended a session that explained how the show comes to life, as the images were projected among the spires and turrets and walls of the castle, I found myself asking, how did they do that?

It was explained, that throughout the day, within the park, Disney photographers will snap photos of park guests.  Guests are handed a PhotoPass that they can purchase photos of their experiences while still at Disney World, or order copies for up to 30 days after they return home. At the end of the day the images are worked into the show featuring  beloved Disney themes and animated sequences that play right into the architecture of the building.

Producers weave music, story, photography, animation and video that has been submitted by guests online, as part of the Let the Memories Begin campaign.  As the sun goes down, 16 state of the art cameras are used to project the images from different angles in the park onto the castle.   It is almost ironic that one of the most photographed icons becomes itself, the canvas.

With other special effects, the castle appears to have vines growing up its sides, changes colors,  shimmers and even looks as if it has been set ablaze.  The end of the display features animated and real fireworks.  While a total of 500 guest images are used during the program, in total more than 5,000 images are used throughout the show.

While I loved all of the special effects and animation that takes place on the castle, I felt that some of the photographs of the guests were a bit difficult to discern.  However, how exciting would it be to see yourself projected in a Disney production.  So if you would like to see your image projected larger than life, don’t brush passed the PhotoPass Photographer.  Stop, smile and say “Cheese”!

Photo Selection: WDW News

While the author was given complimentary admission to the theme park for the purpose of a review, the opinions expressed are strictly those of the author.