Appearances

Upcoming

Where to catch Don next.

Oct 2, 2026
Wayback WED · Walt Disney World

“All-American Entertainment,” a celebration of America on Parade, the Electrical Water Pageant and the Main Street Electrical Parade

Live panel with Don Dorsey, Eric Jacobson and Steve Taylor, 5:15 PM at Disney's Contemporary Resort Convention Center. Part of Wayback WED, WDWNT's two-day gathering of former Imagineers and Disney entertainment veterans.

Back to top
Previously · Video

Interviews, panels & TV.

2025
2025 D23 Gold Theater

"Magic After Dark," encore virtual presentation

D23's official monthly virtual series revisited the 2024 panel with new-show previews. First aired May 29, 2025; encored May 31.

2024
2024 D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event

"Magic After Dark: The Story of Disney's Nighttime Spectaculars"

Live panel in Anaheim with Don Dorsey, Steven Davison and Jennifer Magill, hosted by Graham Allan with a Jim Cummings introduction: the original Reflections of Earth narrator introducing the show's creator.

Back to top
Previously · Audio

Podcasts & recorded interviews.

2020
Progress City Radio Hour, Episode 11

"Town Hall: Don Dorsey"

Career-spanning interview: America on Parade through Reflections of Earth, plus MSEP, the Electrical Water Pageant, Carnival de Lumière, the original IllumiNations, and the solo albums.

2018
Disney Parks Podcast, Show #425

An Interview with Don Dorsey

"Associated with literally hundreds of Disney's entertainment events." Reflections of Earth is discussed as a $22M millennium spectacle.

2009
Mouse Clubhouse (Scott Wolf)

Career interview, and a follow-up on Reflections of Earth

Two-part sit-down with full transcriptions and archival photos: the styrofoam Earth model, the Abbey Road session with Gavin Greenaway, the Jack Wagner and Bob Jani mentorship, air-launch technology, and the Mickey-ears shells behind the millennium show.

Tomorrow Society Podcast, Episode 191

Don Dorsey

Part of the show's Imagineer / industry-professional interview index.

Back to top
Previously · Press

National, trade & fan coverage.

2018
Forbes, Christian Sylt

The Secrets Behind the Sparkle of Disney's Parades

May 28, 2018, on the parade-control systems Don designed, from Mickey Track through DECS.

2018
Forbes, Christian Sylt

How Disney Used a MIDI Keyboard to Ignite the New Millennium

June 17, 2018, on the MIDI-programmed flame barge behind Reflections of Earth's opening.

2024–25
MouseInfo · Laughing Place · Fantasy Land News · WDW News Today

D23 "Magic After Dark" panel recaps

Detailed recaps of the 2024 panel and its 2025 Gold Theater encore, including the story of Sorcery in the Sky as the first Disney pyro choreographed to music.

2022
WDW News Today

Interview with Don Dorsey and a Complete History of the Main Street Electrical Parade

Published for the parade's 50th anniversary, June 17, 2022.

Electronic Sound (UK)

"Buried Treasure," a feature on Bachbusters

Decades after release, still finding new listeners.

1987
Bezark: event production portfolio

Golden Gate Bridge 50th Anniversary

Independent third-party confirmation that the bridge's 50th-anniversary fireworks, light and sound show was created in partnership with Don and Pyro Spectaculars, for the celebration where 300,000 people walked the span.

Back to top
Archives & reference

Where the record already lives.

Ongoing
Orlando Memory (Orange County Library System)

Dorsey Productions, Inc. collection

A genuine archival collection: the Reflections of Earth 10-year reunion (Sept. 30, 2009), the final-performance team gathering (Sept. 30, 2019, with 38 team members and signed "Promise" sheet music), commemorative coin scans, and fireworks manufacturing photos.

Reference
D23.com: official A-to-Z entry

Disney's own reference on Don Dorsey

Part-time synthesist/arranger on America on Parade (1975); arranged and performed the updated MSEP music (1977); guided development of the park's parade-control audio computer system (1980); created and directed WDW nighttime spectaculars from 1983; designed Fantasmic!'s sound effects.

Reference
Intercot: IllumiNations Fact Sheet

The concept, in twenty minutes on a plane

Nineteen torches for nineteen centuries; the globe as the world's first spherical 15,000-LED video screen; the center torch rising 38 feet.

Community
WDWMagic forums

"What ever happened to Don Dorsey?"

A 2021 thread showing organic fan demand ("the best of the best… the only man alive that could fix Harmonious"), and a source for his Universal Beijing parade work.

More is out there. Coverage from the eighties and nineties, Radio City, the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime, and a stack of newspaper pieces, still sits behind archive paywalls. It will be added here as it is dug out.

Back to top