Disney’s long-awaited new nighttime spectacular, Believe! Sea of Dreams will take the place of the beloved Fantasmic! show, slated to debut this November.

The Walt Disney Company in conjunction with the Oriental Land Company have decided that the time is right to update their nighttime show offerings — and this time, dedicated Disney Park fans will officially say goodbye to a much-loved show, Fantasmic!.

Originally announced in 2020, Believe! Sea of Dreams will last 30 minutes and promises a gorgeous, emotional experience featuring state-of-the-art projection mapping lighting up the buildings of the Mediterranean Harbor and in-park official Disney hotel, the Hotel MiraCosta at the Tokyo Disney Resort’s one-of-a-kind theme park, Tokyo DisneySea. The new Believe! show is said to commemorate the Disney Resort’s 22nd Anniversary.

Each Tokyo DisneySea nighttime show (including their Fantasmic!) atop the water proves truly unique, as the Park’s design boasts a 360-degree spectacular viewable from any of the lands or “Ports of Call” that surround the iconic lake at the theme park’s center.

The press release for the brand new Fantasmic! replacement show goes into detail:

In “Believe! Sea of Dreams,” Disney and Pixar friends remind dreamers to keep on believing and making their wishes come true. The spectacular show takes place at Mediterranean Harbor at Tokyo DisneySea, where the waters are transformed into the Sea of Dreams—a place filled with “wishing stars” that appear whenever someone makes a heartfelt wish.

Transforming Mediterranean Harbor, the show features large boats gliding dynamically over the water’s surface, bright lasers and searchlights illuminating the night sky and, for the first time, images projected on the walls of Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta®. The performance space is further enhanced by the characters from Disney and Pixar films and the performances of dancers, allowing guests to feel as if they have stepped into the stories of beloved Disney friends.

Guests can look forward to this brand new nighttime entertainment at Tokyo DisneySea.

The Tokyo Disney Resort’s new projection-heavy Believe! Sea of Dreams has the following show outline:

Show Title: Believe! Sea of Dreams Venue: Mediterranean Harbor Duration: About 30 minutes Performances: 1 daily Participating Characters: Peter Pan, Wendy, Aladdin, Rapunzel, Miguel, Ariel, Moana, Elsa and others Capital Investment: About 9.5 billion yen

The roster of Disney characters interestingly includes Peter Pan, Tangled’s Rapunzel, and Elsa, which definitely harks to the upcoming (and ambitious!) Fantasy Springs expansion, also slated to open soon in 2023. When it arrives next year, Park Guests will enter Fantasy Springs through an enchanted waterfall grotto, that opens into a magic-filled Port where Guests can find themselves visiting Peter Pan’s Neverland, Rapunzel’s Tower and Kingdom of Corona, and Anna and Elsa’s Arendelle: World of Frozen — potentially even check-in at a luxury hotel connected directly to Fantasy Springs itself.

Fans are expectedly excited for any new updates considering the reduced entertainment in the Disney Parks over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have long-awaited the arrival of the new show at Tokyo DisneySea. The nighttime slot that originally housed the iconic Fantasmic!, which has been loved by fans since it’s 2011 debut, will now play Believe! Sea of Dreams from November 11, 2022.

Noticeably missing from Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasmic! is the Peter Pan pirate ship section before the Disney villains arrive in the original show, that can still be seen at the Disneyland Resort’s Disneyland Park. However, it should be noted that Fantasmic! at Walt Disney World Resort’s Hollywood Studios Hollywood Hills Amphitheater doesn’t feature this Peter Pan section — and similarly, the Tokyo Disney Resort misses out on Peter, Wendy and his pirate ship-climbing buddies. Instead, Tokyo DisneySea has a Lilo & Stitch (2002) segment featuring the Disney character Stitch and friends riding personal watercraft boats and dancing along to the music.

The lack of Peter Pan in DisneySea’s show is particularly noteworthy here, though.

For it is highly likely that the Tokyo Disney Resort wanted to develop a stronger Peter Pan presence in their nighttime show compared to Fantasmic!, taking the chance to also conveniently include Tangled and Frozen — all to tie the show more to the new Fantasy Springs land. Moana is a natural addition to DisneySea’s Believe!, seeing as her story takes place, well, on the sea, and Coco‘s (2017) Miguel has proven popular in the international parks.

Even at the Tokyo Disney Resort fans are obviously wary of the cost-cutting measures being taken at the Disney Parks, and we can only hope that this new nighttime show will be as good as Fantasmic! — or even better — and that Disney Imagineering and the Oriental Land Company spare no expense. This is especially since the Tokyo Disney Resort has seen the loss of FastPasses, new ticketing announcements and price hikes that have understandably upset fans, even with the concerted efforts to breathe life back into their parks through more than one attractive vacation package and even paid “FastPass” experiences.

We’re super excited to see what new energy Believe! Sea of Dreams will bring to Tokyo DisneySea the Tokyo Disney Resort — though we will definitely miss that iconic Fantasmic! opening music with Sorcerer Mickey front and center.

What do you think of this new Fantasmic replacement? Share your thoughts down below in the comments!

Unlike other entirely Walt Disney Company-owned Parks like the Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort, the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan exists as the Walt Disney Company’s first-ever international Disney Park and is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company. Located just beside the JR Maihama Station, Tokyo Disney Resort comprises two theme parks – Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, connected by the Disney Resort Line monorail. The other two Disney Parks in Asia are the Hong Kong Disney Resort and the Shanghai Disney Resort.

Tokyo DisneySea is a truly unique Disney Park themed after the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.), it boasts seven themed lands, or “Ports of Call” – the Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island. Equally unique are DisneySea’s exclusive and one-of-a-kind attractions – Soaring: Fantastic Flight, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, the S.E.A. storyline-themed old New York-style hotel Tower of Terror: Hotel Hightower, Jules Verne-inspired 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and star attraction Journey to the Center of the Earth’ located within the Park’s icon, giant volcano Mount Prometheus. Most unique of all is the on-property official Disney Hotel (that basically redefines “on-property”) – the luxurious Hotel MiraCosta, built right into the buildings of Tokyo DisneySea’s Mediterranean Harbor itself.

Averyl is a freelance writer and general nerd about entertainment, food, theatre, D&D - and of course, theme parks. Based in Singapore, she could wax poetic about the immersive genius of the Haunted Mansion, or regale you with her undying love for the campy beauty of Sindbad's Storybook Voyage - but she won't, because she has some compassion.

Inside the Magic was created in 2005. What started as a tiny central Florida based website and short weekly podcast that provided our audience the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World virtually has grown to the publishing company it is today. We focus on bringing you all things fun so you can plan your theme park vacation, enjoy Disney at home, and more.

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