Holiday Illuminations, or: How to Make My Wife Cry

Those of us that have visited Epcot have probably had the opportunity to see Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. Illuminations has been the running show to close Epcot each night since the Millennium Celebration began in 1999. There’s clearly a reason that this show has been ongoing and hasn’t changed much in the last nine years: it works and it’s amazing.

When the holidays roll around, Disney chose to stick with an already great show and, instead of altering Illuminations, simply adding an ending befitting the season. If you’ve never had the chance to see Holiday Illuminations, I can’t begin to recommend it enough. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, the ending includes a brief wish of peace and goodwill that is then repeated in the native language of each country represented in the World Showcase Pavilion. Set to “Let There Be Peace on Earth” the montage culminates in a fireworks display so intense and so amazing that you’ll feel it throughout your entire body.

Click below to start brief slide show of Holiday Illuminations pictures.



Walt Disney World Holiday Illuminations

If you are at all emotional, this one will grab you and break you in the most wonderful of ways. If you aren’t emotional, then you’ll still cry. Believe me when I tell you that I’ve watched the biggest and baddest of men reduced to crying like a little kid with a skinned knee. There is just no escaping the emotion that Holiday Illuminations evokes and I can’t imagine why you would want to. It is a wonderful, moving five minutes that will give you a holiday memory that you won’t soon forget.

Click below for a video of the Holiday Illuminations Ending