Editor's Note: This article had an important editing explaining what in fact really happened, make sure to scroll down to read the editing, thanks.
I've posted last evening this picture above on the D&M Facebook page: "I've found back a very strange picture which was supposedly shot during Shanghaî Disneyland Grand Opening Celebration Gala, the evening before SDL opening day. Yes, but, have a closer look at the pic, invited guests are sit in the center and at least 50% of the seats had no one... Could the pic have been shot during rehearsals? Could be, but it doesn't have any sense in this case to have so many people watching rehearsals. No, it's most probably during the Gala evening itself. So, i've been back having a look at the video of the Gala event and you can't find a shot showing the audience... Could it mean that this Grand Opening evening was not that "Grand" in terms of participants?..."
Then, three of my readers sent me messages with explanations of what seems to have really happened on that rainy night:
One is saying: "I saw your post about the half-empty viewing area for the Grand Opening Concert. The concert was cancelled on the 15th (also the fireworks) and they used dress rehearsal footage in the broadcast. The reason was strong wind and rain".
Another reader says "The opening gala for SDL was rained out and moved indoors. All the media released of the opening show was recorded the night before at the final dress rehearsal. The extended fireworks tag on the first public night was the pyro intended for the opening gala."
And a third one is saying "This grand opening has never really happened, the cause: the rain. The video is actually a filmed rehearsal the day before. Besides this, the inauguration was sad with just speeches as the real outdoor show was canceled because of the rain."
So, it seems that wind and rain had the final word on this opening gala and what you see up there is NOT a picture of the real "outdoor" opening gala in front of Enchanted Story Book castle as this one never existed, except for the TV special, and in fact had - with the VIP guests - to be moved indoor.
Important Editing: Well, we’ve got more infos about Shanghaî Disneyland Grand Opening Gala and what happened exactly. What i told you yesterday - coming from some readers comments - was that the show was filmed a day before due to the rain. But in fact that’s not what happened as SDL Opening gala was not filmed the day before - it was all live. Only that the orchestra was in a separate and covered soundstage and the video editing did a very good job of covering it up. To make things more clear they had two plans and Plan B became Plan A. They worked for 2 years on the gala celebration to celebrate the opening of SHDL. Sylvia Hase's vision was so clear and so rich that bringing a team together to deliver was the "easy part." Though nothing was easy about this project - the result was a terrific rain plan event and the planned event result. The rain plan - so skillfully conceived by Sylvia Hase and filmed by Hamish Hamilton and his team allowed to present the 'outside' show in its entirety but without the orchestra nor would the amazing human screen...but they shot a version without the celebs or the speech and brought those to life in front of a huge LED screen inside Evergreen Playhouse nearby. Truly elegant planning executed in a matter of hours by an amazing team!
Below, if you've not watched it yet, the official video of SDL Grand Opening Gala.
Picture and Video: copyright Disney
