Disney Theme Parks/Awesome

• I have nothing against Kingdom Hearts II, but for my money, Mickey Mouse's Crowning Moment of Awesome is the climax of the Fantasmic! show at Disneyland, in which he defeats dragon-form Maleficent by imagining himself doing so (since the plot takes place in a dream sequence of his). The show as a whole, featuring pyrotechnics, stunts, and movie clips projected onto giant water fans, is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the Disney Imagineers.
• On that note, "Illuminations" is inarguably the CMOA for the Disney fireworks coordinators and practical effects crew. Dude. Inferno barge.
  • Don't forget the barge that floats unnoticed during the first "act" in a hidden part of the lake, then drifts serenely to the center. It carries a globe that is actually a spherical LCD screen and it shows an array of gorgeous images before splitting to reveal a twenty-first torch, representing the new century.
  • On top of all this, the musical score is amazing. It's the first CD this editor was ever compelled to purchase in any theme park.
• Jim Henson's Muppet-Vision 3-D was one of his last projects before his death in 1990, and it redefined 3-D theme park entertainment with its innovative integration of film, Audio-Animatronics, a live actor, and in-theatre effects like water and bubbles. Between all this and a fantastic, funny script (for both preshow and main event) that serves as almost a greatest-schticks reel of The Muppet Show, it's still highly entertaining.
  • If you're dissatisfied with current 3D movies in theaters not living up to their potential, check this one out. It does everything current movies claim to do, did it better, and did it a decade earlier.
• Tokyo Disney Sea as a whole is widely considered to be one.
• Let us not forget the awesomeness that was the Lion King Parade. This troper saw it when she was twelve, and when it was over she turned to see tears rolling down her mother's cheeks. I'm not sure what did it: the music, the dancing, the puppets, the costumes, the live doves, giving out musical instruments to the audience, or the perfect harmonising of all these elements together.
• The World of Color...That is all.
• If it's physically possible for a theme park queue to have one of these, then walking through Andy's toybox with the giant talking Mr Potato Head at Toy Story Midway Mania would probably qualify.
• Mickey Mouse has the scene in Fantasmic! in which he slays Maleficent's dragon form, simultaneously defeating Chernabog, Ursula, and Queen Grimhilde as well.

Mickey: You think you're so powerful? Well, this is my dream!

• Crowning Music of Awesome: Disney has had and continues to have some incredible musical talent on board. The Haunted Mansion, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, Fantasmic...the list just goes on
• The newest show at Magic Kingdom: "The Magic, the Memories, and You". The entire show involves projecting images on the castle to various classic tunes (standouts include several arrangements of Small World and our favorite Pirates theme). The images are just pictures taken of guests during the day, and put to different Disney backgrounds. Near the end of the show, mosaics start appearing, culminating in Walt himself, followed by a series of fireworks that are perfectly synchronized to the images on the castle. Add to that some truly touching moments (recently, the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp and the thousands of lanterns from Tangled, the former of which drew "aww" from the crowd, and the latter cheers and applause), and it's one of the most amazing shows they've put on. It really has to be seen to be believed.
  • Try watching the show at Disneyland, where the images are projected over the face of it's a small world.