Starlight Spectacular (Canada's Wonderland)

Starlight Spectacular
Canada's Wonderland Area International Street Status Begins June 21, 2014 Soft opening date 2011: No soft opening 2012: June 22, 2012[1] Opening date 2011: June 25, 2011 2012: June 23, 2012[2] 2013: June 22, 2013[3] Closing date 2011: September 3, 2011 2012: September 3, 2011 2013: August 31, 2013[3]
General statistics
Attraction type	Light, water, and sound show
Manufacturer	Christie (company)
Designer	Tantrum Design
Model	S+20K 3-chip DLP (projectors)[4]
Theme	2011: 30th Birthday of Canada's Wonderland 2012/2013: Illumination of Water
Duration	2011: 10:30 minutes (excluding post-show) 2012: 11:12 minutes (excluding post-show)

Starlight Spectacular is a nightly light and sound show that takes place on Canada's Wonderland's International Street at approximately 10:00 pm EST.^[5] For the 2011 season, the shows began on June 25, 2011 and ended on September 3, 2011. For the 2012 season, the show will begin on June 23, 2012 and end sometime in the Fall of the same year.^[2][5] The show was introduced to the park for the 2011 season as well to celebrate Canada's Wonderland's 30th birthday (30th operating season).^[5] Canada's Wonderland stated that the total cost for the show was approximately 1 million dollars with 16 million different colours and 300,000 LED lights.^[5] With the show taking place at the front of the park (International Street), the highlight of the show took place on Wonder Mountain with many different 3D images and many colours.^[5] Because the show was created to celebrate Canada's' Wonderland 30th birthday, the show ended on September 3, 2011 which was close to the end of the season. On March 19, 2012, Canada's Wonderland announced exclusively to CW Mania (a fan site for Canada's Wonderland) that the show will return for the 2012 season while on April 13, 2011, Canada's Wonderland announced to the public that the show would return in 2012. The show was created and designed by Tantrum Design for both seasons.^[2][6][7]

Synopsis

The show has continued ever since its debut in 2011, but with several changes made each year. The technology is also used during the Halloween Haunt season with unscheduled effects projected on the mountain.

2011 Regular Season

The show began by a single maple leaf flying around Wonder Mountain. Then, along with the single leaf, many more leaves began to fly around the mountain eventually disappearing at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain would then go completely dark and shortly after snow would begin to fall freezing around the mountain causing it to look frozen. Then, the mountain slowly began to transition into the "spring" season where the snow began to disappear, plants began to grow and finally a rainbow formed around the mountain. Butterflies began to fly around the mountain completing the "spring" scene for the show. The music than became more intense and the "spring" scene disappeared leaving what looked like a dark mountain. Fake lightning than began to flash and parts of the mountain began "exploding" poring out lava. A fake lightning bolt would than strike a part of the mountain leaving a big hole in the mountain. Two yellow eyes came out of the mountain and a dinosaur like creature stepped out screaming and eventually blowing fire around the mountain. The scene ended when the blowing fire covered up the entire mountain. Next, three white lights would begin to fly around the mountain eventually covering the mountain in a dark blue colour. Almost immediately after the blue colour appeared, a white box appearrd in the centre of the mountain. The box than split into three different boxes each with a their own colour (blue, green and red). The green box than began to spill out smaller green cubes. Shortly after, the blue box would begin to spill out smaller blue cubes followed by the red box. The boxes then disintegrated into medium sized white cubes which would fall over the edge of Wonder Mountain. Once all the cubes finished falling over the edge, the entire mountain became covered in red squares, then turning into green squares and finally blue squares. The blue squares began to move "in and out" and do the "wave". The blue squares would than disappear followed by the mountain being flooded by white squares. A few seconds later, all the squares would crumble down to the bottom of the mountain. Then the mountain began to look like it was moving up and down, left and right and tilting (the mountain itself was actually not moving). Then, once again a number of cubes appeared, moving in all directions. Then, three "strings" which have the colours blue, green and red began flying around the mountain. The mountain would than "collapse" leading on to the next scene. At the beginning of the next scene, the mountain was completely "invisible" and one by one parts of the top portion of mountain began to appear and begin "moving" and make the sound as if the mountain was a giant machine. Then at the bottom half of Wonder Mountain, moving gears began to appear showing that the mountain was in fact a machine. A white light began moving around the gears. The top of the mountain suddenly began to move faster and faster with the gears become bigger. The white light than left the mountain and spilt up into two different lights one that was green and once that was aqua blue. (From this point on, the show was now focused around Canada's Wonderland's 30th Birthday) The two lights formed a red light which then (all three lights) turned into "strings". Smaller lights and more "strings" began to appear. Then more small lights (of all colours) appeared and began to fall down the mountain. The music would get some what more intense and more lights would appear. The fountains and trees in front of Wonder Mountain would then begin to "dance" to the music right until the show ended. Blue lights than appeared on the two largest waterfalls on the mountain. The blue lights changed colours and jellyfish like images began to appear beside the waterfalls. Than, the mountain immediately changed scenes and the mountain began flashing colours all over the mountain. Rainbow designs flashed around the mountain and "strings" re-appeared. The mountain than created a multi-colour image where all the colours kept changing never showing the same thing. The images would go away and colours would imitate the four the waterfalls on Wonder Mountain. After, a giant disco ball appeared and simulated what a real disco ball would do. The disco ball than fell to the bottom of the mountain and a number of white circles began bouncing around the mountain. After the circles disappear, chains of multi-coloured stars began flying around the mountain. Animated fireworks would than begin to explode on the mountain. Animated balloons followed along with the fireworks. Than, the dinosaur like creature from the beginning of the show re-appeared and began to dance. The dinosaur would disappeared shortly after and soon after the words "Happy 30th Birthday Canada's Wonderland" along with more animated fireworks and balloons would appear on Wonder Mounatin. The show lasted 10 minutes and 30 seconds.^[6]

2011 Halloween Haunt

Throughout the entire night, a spotlight moved around the mountain. After a certain amount of time, a quick flash went off and worm-like creatures began to crawl around the mountain. After a little while, the "worms" would leave the mountain and the spotlight would re-apper. Then, the mountain would flash again and transition the scene to what looked like a dark mountain (similar to the frozen mountain scene in the original show) and continued to flash.^[8] The show also featured giant spiders, skulls, a halloween face (on the mountain) and a scene where you would see "inside" Wonder Mountain.^[9]

2012 Regular Season

Before the show, a red curtain with the Starlight Spectacular logo is displayed. When the show is ready to begin, the curtain is pulled up and away. A passenger train appears on top of the waterfall ledge as Canadian landmarks are displayed on the rest of the mountain using cutout animation. The Canadian flag and province flags are scrolled through at the peak of the mountain as the scene progresses. The train then rolls off and a spotlight turns its attention to the maple leaf, which begins the "seasons" segment as seen in 2011. In the next scene, the dragon makes an appearance this year, but comes out from behind the falls instead of above. The sound effects/music has been changed. The next two scenes (the 3D effects and furnace scenes) are visually the same but the music has been replaced. The finale segment has the same music but several changed visuals. The scene with the stars has been replaced by a roller coaster, presumably to be loosely based on Thunder Run as it heads back into the mountain when that scene is over. The dragon is no longer wearing a birthday hat and the "Happy 30th Birthday" text has been removed, but the fireworks and balloons are still present. From the dragon, it goes directly to the "Canada's Wonderland" text. Some more visuals have been added behind the "Canada's Wonderland" text as the music comes to an end.^[10]

Projection & Sound

The four projectors that are used during the Starlight Spectacular show.

The Starlight Spectacular show uses four Christe Roadster S+20K 3-chip DLP(r) with Christie Twist Pro projectors located just in front of the bridge that crosses the fountain pool.^[4] The projectors are sealed in a weather proof box with a window in front of the projector so the projections can make it to the mountain. The type of projectors used from Christie are still not known. The music and sound which is played during the show was created by Apollo Studios which is located in Montreal.^[11]

References