Surprise in the Skies

Walt Dated World | home

Magical World of Barbie | Splashtacular | Surprise in the Skies | Tapestry of Nations / Tapestry of Dreams | World Showcase Parade

Surprise in the Skies

Walt Disney World celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 1991. Epcot had a special show to commemorate the occasion starting in October 1, 1991. Six boats entered World Showcase Lagoon and circled around in a "Carousel of Color". Hang gliders with streamers then lifted up 400 feet into the sky. As they drifted back down, eight paraplanes appeared overhead. The pilots were Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pooh and Tigger.

The next part of the show included performers on Jet skis who manipulated kites, including six "Aqua Kites" that trailed dozens of other kites to form a mile long kite line. The music heard during this part of the show can still be heard at Epcot during the Fountain show near Innoventions.

During the final act of the show, giant jack-in-the-boxes in front of the World Showcase pavilions opened to reveal 45-foot high balloons of Mickey, Pooh, Robin Hood, Pluto, Minnie, Daisy, Pinocchio, Chip, Dale, Tigger, Donald and Goofy. Fireworks then ended the show.

HydraLing sent in the following information about this show: "The 'fireworks' that ended Surprise in the Skies were actually designed to have colored smoke instead of the usual "light" effects. The colored smoke showed up during the day, whereas the traditional fireworks were not visible. I've been told that the Jack-in-the-box inflatables were actually rehabbed elements for a Tokyo Disneyland Parade."

(Thanks to TDLFAN at LaughingPlace.com for sharing memories about this show.)

Back to Shows

This is an unofficial fan site that is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or Disney theme parks. All copyrights acknowledged. Please respect the work I put into compiling both existing and my own information on this site by not linking to any text or pictures without crediting that they were located on this site.

See ya real soon!