Happily Ever After

Among the 48 projects Daren and Mousetrappe delivered to The Walt Disney Company between 2010 and 2025, Happily Ever After stands a Daren's top achievement. When Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment and Walt Disney World Entertainment were tasked with replacing the beloved fireworks spectacular Wishes, they were given a very short timeline and a huge responsibility to the Park and its guests.

Daren worked as Lead Creative Consultant to Michael Jung, Creative Executive and James Silson, Show Director tasked with crafting a 17 minute storyline and experience combining fireworks, projection, lighting, lasers, effects, and music. The team wanted to communicate personal responsibility to the guests in their role of creating their "own Happily Ever After", rather than passively "wishing" and "dreaming" about their futures. The story was built following the classic "Hero's Journey" format, and features visioning their futures, setting off on their adventures, meeting friends along the way, facing adversity, overcoming and being triumphant - ultimately unlocking the "key" to their own destinies.

Fireworks, lighting and projection mapping were precisely combined to make them feel as though they interact with each other, rather than act as separate elements. Extreme care was used in selecting songs and reframing them to best tell our story. Daren and Mousetrappe worked closely with Walt Disney Feature Animation and Pixar to create an unprecedented number of custom animated sequences.

Audience reaction from opening night on has been overwhelming. When the show was placed on hiatus in 2020 for park anniversary celebrations, guests campaigned online for its return, and projections were added to Main St. USA as well.