World of Color Happiness Review - Wandering In Disney (2025)

World of Color Happiness is California Adventure’s new nighttime spectacular that debuted for Disneyland Resort’s 70th anniversary celebration. Like previous versions of the show, this features fountains, lighting, projections, and a little bit of pyro all moving around to music and clips from Disney movies. World of Color Happiness typically shows twice each night at 9 and 10:15 in Paradise Gardens Park. For viewing tips, check out this post. While this review will talk about some details of the show, we won’t run through each scene. In that case, a (very) minor spoiler warning is in order.

The original World of Color debuted nearly 15 years ago. That show was unlike anything Disney had ever put in one of their theme parks, focusing more on fountains and water projections than pyro. It was an instant classic and one that guests still love to see (whenever it’s brought back to California Adventure) to this day.

In the 15 years since that original show, there have been several other iterations of World of Color. Some have been more successful than others but none of them have been able to manage the exquisite pacing and excitement that the first one brought. While it’s easy to be hard on those subsequent shows, I’ve softened on that stance over the years. I now feel more that the original show was a unicorn. Making a 20+ minute nighttime show featuring fountains and water projections feel cohesive is no small feat. Heck, holding anyone’s attention in a theme park for that long, no matter if it’s an attraction or show, just doesn’t happen often anymore. Suffice to say, the World of Color sequels were worse than the original.

Enter World of Color Happiness. I’m not ready to crown a new nighttime spectacular champion (or anywhere near that), but I also won’t bury the lead. This is my favorite rendition of World of Color since the original. There’s a cohesion to this 70th anniversary offering that’s been missing in other sequels. While it’s not a perfect show (more on that later), I found it to be visually stunning and exceptionally fun.

I didn’t bury the lead and I also won’t hide my bias. Many of the choices in World of Color Happiness are so far up my alley that I feel like I had a hand in making it. Of course, that’s not possible as I have nowhere near the skill for that kind of thing. But the show really corners my interests and brings them to light. That starts with the Muppets.

There’s a preshow before World of Color Happiness begins that features the Muppets. Kermit and the gang are there to give a safety spiel but, in true Muppet fashion, this descends into chaos. Sam Eagle is trying to get the job done, as is Joe the Legal Weasel. But more time is spent on whether guests should jump into the bay or not than the actual spiel. While that debate is raging, Kermit is trying to get a number of Muppets (Miss Piggy and Dr. Teeth to name a few) to sing the rules for watching the show. That also doesn’t get accomplished successfully.

Eventually, Gonzo has an Evil Knievel type of moment and Joe the Legal Weasel has to throw the safety spiel to the usual preshow voice. I loved all of this, laughing all the way through. Many guests will question the point of the whole thing, which is fair, but it fits in with the silly, jovial nature of the 70th anniversary quite well. It also felt in-step with Muppets humor. I don’t know which Imagineer(s) loves the Muppets as much as I do, but I thank them.

As if my heart wasn’t happy enough, the actual World of Color Happiness features Rainbow Connection starting (and half ending) the show. The rendition features Boyz II Men on vocals and is quite a bit slower than the rest of the show. There’s actually probably a nit to pick there, as someone who doesn’t have the emotional connection to the song that I have could find that pacing to be wonky. If I take my Kermit-green glasses off, then I think that’s a fair critique. But I had those glasses on, heard Boyz II Men sing Rainbow Connection while fountains were doing beautiful things and was nearly in tears.

Contrary to what this post (so far) might have you believe, there’s much more to World of Color Happiness than Muppets. The show is centered around the Inside Out characters, specifically Joy. She is the host of the show, more or less. As Joy and the other characters search for happiness (I refuse to write the phrase “search for happy” even if I’m buying into the excellent anniversary additions) the show delves inside of some other emotions.

It’s a plot device that works well. While cohesion is hard to pull off in nighttime spectaculars, not much glue is needed to hold them together. The audience is reminded enough of the Inside Out characters to remember the basic theme before launching into a different song-fueled vignettes.

Speaking of those songs, World of Color Happiness embraces a niche set of songs that each have devoted fans. Along with the aforementioned Rainbow Connection, there’s also a song from The Goofy Movie, Turning Red, Encanto (but not Bruno or Dos Oruguitas) and Wish. At one point, it seemed like the show was almost messing with guests as the character Fear utters the phrase “let it go” over and over again. But World of Color Happiness resists the bait, instead opting for a few bars from Into the Unknown before turning to a cool and quick villain scene soundtracked by A Night on Bald Mountain of Fantasia fame. The swerve was a pleasant surprise.

That I’ve made it this far into the post without much mention of the visuals is either bad writing or tells you how much I enjoyed the other aspects. Could be both! Where the original World of Color and Happiness share the most similarities is on the visual side of things. In that sense, this iteration is a return to form. The emphasis is on the fountains and the beautiful colors they showcase.

This makes the visual aspect of the show exceptional. Some of that may be personal preference, as water projections are impressive but don’t wow me like the fountains can. World of Color – One (the iteration before Happiness) relied heavily on guests being excited about characters projected onto the water screens. In a few spots, that worked but it felt very uneven. This show leans back into how stunning the vast array of fountains are while showcasing a few new tricks. There seemed to be more water than ever, I was certainly glad to have a poncho!

I won’t spoil much here but there’s a sequence that’s based around The Incredibles that was fantastic. It felt like an action movie, with the lights from the coaster and fountains interacting. Several other movies were seamlessly invoked during that scene. I’m already excited to see that part again.

The visual storytelling in World of Color Happiness leads us all the way back around to Rainbow Connection. Basing this show around that song works for me thanks, in large part, to all of the color used. It’s a very literal interpretation of the song, but drawing out those colorful views to go along with the song’s ideas of togetherness proves to be a good heartbeat for the show. Even if that heartbeat is quite a bit slower than the rest of what is offered.

There are a few minor issues with World of Color Happiness. Once in a while, the boisterous show hits the brakes unexpectedly. The original song by Fitz and the Tantrums is fun, and fits in with the 70th anniversary, but clashes a bit with Rainbow Connection, to the point where the only sloppy transition of the show is needed.

Those are all pretty minor complaints for a show that is joyful and sincere. After the last few iterations of World of Color, my expectations weren’t high. Thankfully, this edition blew those expectation right out of the water, maybe not as high as some of those fountains reached but enough to make me want to see the show again and again.

Have you seen World of Color Happiness? Let us know what thoughts you have, along with any questions, in the comments below.Planning a trip to Disneyland Resort? Check out ourDisneyland Trip Planning Guideto help you out. Looking for discount Disneyland tickets?Check out this site!f you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends and like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!

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