Believe in Holiday Magic is the Disneyland Christmas Fireworks show that ran nightly during our trip to Disneyland.
This is a beautiful fireworks display. Actually Disneyland doesn't have a show that is not beautiful.
What is amazing about this show is that it follows the music so well. It is somber during the Silent Night segment, fanciful during the March of the Toys and stunning during the Nutcracker Suite. As this music reached its crescendo so did the display of fireworks. Enough so that people would clap after this segment and some are shocked that it was not the finale. Yes, Disney has done something special with the music for this show and it completely matches what you see at the same time.
This trip we saw the fireworks from two different places, yet I have experience viewing from a third place.
Since each fireworks display is always set to frame Sleeping Beauty Castle, if you can be in Main Street and see the Castle, you are in a prime spot. The problem is that it takes a lot of patience and a lot of waiting to get one of these great locations. Here you will see the parts of the show that happen from the castle and in front of the castle. They all blend together with those that come from various locations in Toontown and create a breathtaking display of Disney Magic.
Failing the ability to wait for a long period of time you can sit comfortably at the Plaza Inn for a pretty good spot to see the show. As long as you can see Sleeping Beauty Castle from your seat you are in a good spot. If you can't see it, you will still have a great location but you won't see any of the effects that appear in front of the castle. To get the best seating locations here you will want to be there about one hour before fireworks. The beauty of this location is you can combine waiting with dinner so it doesn't seem like such a long wait.
You can also hang around on Main Street where everyone is sitting. 30 - 40 minutes before the fireworks are due to start they make everyone stand up. At this time you can slide right in and suddenly you have a spot within full view of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Finally, if you want to see the fireworks where the booms of the guns are louder than the music from the show, view the fireworks from between the Small World Toy Shop and the Princess Fantasy Fair. This is a great location to watch from that doesn't require any form of long wait. You can show up at the last minute and stand to watch the show, or you get there early an find a seat near the Toy Shop. This area does not have speakers and it does not have snow. For that you will have to be on the Parade Route in Small World Mall. No worries though because you can hear the music amid the cannon like explosions as fireworks are launched into the sky. This location has one drawback though that the other locations don't seem to have so much of an issue with.
Because you are outside a perennial children's favorite you will encounter a lot of small children watching the fireworks display. Most young children will have one of two reactions: They will either scream with each boom because they are scared, or they will say WOW with each beautiful launch. Alex doesn't like screaming because he has very sensitive ears. He doesn't want to watch fireworks from this spot again because of the noise level from the small children. I like it because you CAN hear the booms.
Another issue from this spot is that you miss anything that happen behind you from Sleeping Beauty Castle. 95% of the show will be in front of you though so if you don't mind missing a small amount of the show, don't want to wait in a spot for over an hour or more and can deal with all of the children this is a great spot. In fact, this is a place you can watch from with no waiting at all, so if you make a rather last minute decision that you want to see the fireworks then this is a good spot to watch Believe in Holiday Magic from this location.
If you are preparing to watch Remember...Dreams Come True or Halloween Screams this is not a good location because both of those shows will have a lot happening behind you that is an integral part of those two shows.
For those of you going to Disneyland in mid November through January 8th this happens to be a perfect spot to see the show. And I highly recommend that you see the show because it is absolutely stunning.
If you have a lot of time to wait before the show though, I do recommend you see it from Main Street as close to the hub as you can get for the most perfect viewing location.
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Website: Believe in Holiday Magic Review with viewing locations, December, 2011