The Dancing Waters

Even as Disney's California Adventure debuts its new World of Color water extravaganza this Summer, a much older water and light show across the street is about to disappear forever. The Dancing Waters show has been a fixture at the Disneyland Hotel since May of 1970, but it can actually be traced back over half a century and across the Atlantic to Germany.

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After 20 years of experimentation and research by inventor Otto Przystawik, the Dancing Waters debuted at the West Berlin Industrial Exhibition in the summer of 1952. Some accounts say that parts of the mechanism were built as early as 1948. The Los Angeles Times described the show as being "Composed of several thousand feet of steel pipe, 19 electric motors, 4,000 jets, 60,000 watts of power and 38 tons of water. ...Two New York showmen who saw it promptly booked the thing for Radio City Music Hall... Contracts have been signed for shows in Atlantic City, Toronto and Dallas, following one in London at Coronation time."
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Conflicting sources indicate that either Harold Steinman or Hans Hasslach was the original operator of the show in Berlin. But it was clearly Hasslach who traveled with the show for many years afterward. The show had to be "played" almost like a pipe organ. The movements of the fountains lagged behind the signals sent by the operator by a few seconds, so Hasslach had to stay a little ahead of the music and lights at all times.

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After being viewed by some 1,500,000 people at Radio City Music Hall, the show traveled to the Los Angeles Home Show at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in June 1954. It was such a hit that the program was brought back year after year.

Between home shows, the Dancing Waters traveled from event to event. It was a highlight of the 1954 L.A. County Fair. In early 1955, it traveled to Las Vegas to mark the opening of the Royal Nevada Hotel. The hotel began calling itself "The Home of the Dancing Waters," but it didn't last. By 1956, it was making the circuit of small-time events like Neptune Days in Redondo Beach and the Community Fair in Ontario, California.

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In 1957, a special holiday version of the show played throughout December at Pershing Square in Los Angeles. The Downtown Business Men's Association sponsored the event and offered savings bonds as prizes for the best photos of the fountains.

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The Dancing Waters made their way to the Southern California Exposition at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego in 1958, and celebrated the 4th of July at Newport Dunes in 1959.
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A few years later, the show ended up back in New York. Freedomland, a Disneyland knock-off, advertised the "world-famous Dancing Waters" in 1962. That year, the L.A. Home Show had to settle for a smaller "replica of the famous fountain of dancing waters."

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But the Dancing Waters show really hit the big time in 1964, when it was displayed throughout the run of the New York World's Fair. It was located in the "Lake Amusement Area," inside an inflatable "bubble" building.

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Almost immediately after the fair, the show returned to Southern California, where it had a one-week stay in Century City, celebrating the opening of the Century Square Shopping Center. "The New Wonder of the Entertainment World!" read the ads. "Waters that actually dance! Combining color, music effects and visual beauty you've never seen before!...The wonder of the New York World's Fair..."

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By 1966, the Dancing Waters show was back at the Los Angeles Home Show, where it would return each year until it was installed at the Disneyland Hotel. Oddly enough, in 1967 the show was right across the street from its eventual permanent home when it was part of the dedication ceremonies for the Anaheim Convention Center.

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In 1969, as the Disneyland Hotel was preparing a permanent place for the show, the Dancing Waters made a final visit to Las Vegas, for a special event at the Circus Circus hotel and casino.

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In May 1970, the Dancing Waters debuted in its new crescent-shaped amphitheater at the Disneyland Hotel. According to Disneyland Hotel expert Don Ballard, "Mike Berkus (one of only nine people in the U.S. trained to play this show) was the Hotel's first director of the Dancing Waters.... While the program was changed frequently over the years, one selection was retained from the original presentation, 'The German Waltz.'"

The photo above comes from Davelandweb.com, and shows the Dancing Waters as they appeared in 1988.

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In 1992, a few years after Disney purchased the Disneyland Hotel, the show was altered by a company called "Waltzing Waters" to become the Fantasy Waters Show. The new program included not only colored lights, water and music, but also fiberoptic displays, light panels, and other elements. The musical score took on a Disney theme.

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The Fantasy Waters Show ended a couple years ago, and now even the fountain's pool and backdrop are about to disappear as part of a big makeover of the hotel. I only hope the mechanism somehow survives and reappears elsewhere to continue the story of the Dancing Waters.

The photo above shows the Dancing Waters area as it appeared last weekend.