Main Street Electrical Parade is Returning…Again
After a few days of speculation with Main Street Electrical parade floats spotted cruising down the freeway (well, not literally–they were on trucks), Disney announced that Main Street Electrical Parade will return to Disneyland for a limited time encore run.
Main Street Electrical Parade will roll down Disneyland’s parade path nightly from August 2 through September 30, 2019. This comes after the parade made a its last farewell run less than two years ago. The last homecoming was a big, popular event for the parade that has called California home for the better part of four decades, beginning in 1972.
In this post, we’ll offer some speculation as to why Main Street Electrical Parade is returning, what this could mean for summer attendance at Disneyland, why this parade is returning instead of Paint the Night, and how Main Street Electrical Parade’s encore might be motivated by unexpectedly low attendance numbers in the month since the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge…
What I won’t do is editorialize extensively as to my feelings about Main Street Electrical Parade (which I’ve shared at length several times, most recently here). Suffice to say, I am not a fan; this parade should’ve been permanently retired decades ago. There is something to be said for seeing its quaint floats roll down the similarly charming Disneyland parade route, but that could also be accomplished with a new parade that’s actually a spiritual successor.
At this point, it’s no secret that summer attendance at Disneyland is not meeting Disney’s expectations. To the credit of Disneyland Resort’s management, they did an exemplary job ensuring that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was not overrun with crowds, creating a chaotic situation outside and inside the park. That’s what we feared, and were shocked and elated that our post-Galaxy’s Edge visits were the best experiences we’ve had at Disneyland since the 60th Anniversary.
Arguably, Disney did too good of a job. The reservations-only period followed by the boarding pass protocol was hammered home for months. Likewise, blogs like this one (we accept our share of culpability in creating fear and blowing the crowd predictions) and breathless speculation on social media of the ‘crowdpocalypse’ played a role in scaring guests away. We cover all of this and much more in our Why Are Star Wars Land Crowds So Low? post.
Disneyland has already taken measures to bump up crowd levels. First, they unblocked Cast Members for the summer. Next, Disney introduced the “Bring a Friend” special through August 30, allowing Annual Passholders to purchase a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket for $99. (This deal is also valid for themselves on blockout dates.) Now, they’re bringing back Main Street Electrical Parade. All of this has been done in the span of the last week. At the end, we’ll circle back to assess whether this will work in elevating crowd levels…
As for why Main Street Electrical Parade is returning instead of the newer Paint the Night, there are a few possible options. A big one is that there’s still a tremendous amount of nostalgia for Main Street Electrical Parade among Southern California residents. That’s the target audience with this last minute announcement.
This is both anecdotal and speculative, but I’d theorize that Paint the Night is more popular with tourists whereas Main Street Electrical Parade tugs at the heartstrings of locals. Don’t get me wrong, both parades are popular with both demographics, but I’d hazard a guess that Main Street Electrical Parade is the sentimental favorite of more locals. That’s the audience Disneyland is trying to attract with this last-minute announcement, not tourists who mostly cannot change their plans on such short notice.
Additionally, and this is something we covered in a recent Disney California Adventure update when we questioned whether Paint the Night might return to that park for the summer to draw crowds away from Disneyland (ha!), but Paint the Night is a costly and challenging parade to run.
Float and costume maintenance contribute, plus the physical toll Paint the Night takes on performers. Of course, Main Street Electrical Parade has some of these same issues (although, apparently not to the same degree). Accordingly, we’re guessing that this decision is all about tempting the nostalgia of locals to lure them to Disneyland.
The question that remains is whether this will all work in increasing the crowds at Disneyland. I’m not convinced. For one, the parade doesn’t return until August, which leaves July as another month that’s likely to feature low crowds. In late August, the Annual Pass blockouts start to lift. (For many of those APs, late August/early September will be their first chance to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The return of Main Street Electrical Parade could actually compound heavy crowds at that time.)
I do think crowds will gradually increase as word gets out that Disneyland is unexpectedly dead right now. Even today, you can still find talk on social media about fears of huge crowds and people avoiding Disneyland due to Star Wars Land. (On our own Facebook page, this has been the case.)
However, I don’t think the “Bring a Friend” deal or Main Street Electrical Parade’s return will be the driving force. This is now Main Street Electrical Parade’s 274th farewell run (slight exaggeration) and it’s been less than 2 years since Californians last said goodbye to the parade.
Diehard fans will be excited to see it yet again, but that demo probably already has Annual Passes with dates that aren’t blocked out during its return. I don’t think this is enough to move the needle with other locals. If they wouldn’t buy single day tickets for the billion-dollar, envelope-pushing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, I don’t see a circa-1970s parade being what changes their minds.
Likewise, I don’t see the “Bring a Friend” ticket deal being a huge driver of attendance. It’d be a great idea…if the bulk of APs weren’t blocked out right now. This one doesn’t work because it would require most Annual Passholders to purchase tickets for themselves at the $99 price point. How many people will buy a ticket when they can just wait another month and a half to go “for free”?
Again, summer travelers have already locked-in their vacation plans one way or another, so there’s no getting the ones who were erroneously scared away. Doing something to mobilize the huge population of locals in Los Angeles and Orange Counties is the remaining option. I don’t think these plans will have minor impacts, but not dramatic ones.
If Disneyland wants to do something dramatic, the only real options are lifting the blockout on Deluxe Annual Passholders or offering a summer SoCal resident special for 3-day tickets, like those frequently sold in the off-season. Those moves would undoubtedly have an impact, albeit perhaps too big of one.
Finally, I don’t think any of this is a ‘sky is falling’ scenario. In the long-term, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will do exactly for Disneyland what Disney intended. If anything, the long term is benefitting from so many glowing reviews and social media posts from guests who experienced the land far below capacity. (Unfortunately, Disney is fixated on short term, quarterly numbers–which is why this is all a “bad” thing from their perspective.)
In our above-referenced post about low attendance at Disneyland, many readers speculated that fans are fed up with price increases and finally saying ‘enough is enough.’ I think that might be true to a degree, but that strikes me more as the ‘wish fulfillment’ analysis, and probably not accurate as the main explanation. More likely is that fears of high crowds drove away summer tourists and more aggressive than normal blockouts are preventing APs from making up the difference.
Although, I guess we’ll see come August 19 when the Deluxe Annual Passholder blockout lifts, and again on September 3 when the SoCal Select AP blockout lifts. Obviously, I’ve been wrong before on how Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would impact Disneyland crowds. I’ll go ‘on the record’ and say that I cannot foresee Disneyland’s attendance woes continuing to the start of the Halloween and Christmas seasons.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts
Are you excited for the return of Main Street Electrical Parade or is yet another farewell run too much? Are you a MSEP fan, or do you wish Paint the Night were returning instead? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment on crowds? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
How can we miss it if it never goes away?
If they think this’ll bring in the crowds I don’t think it will work. I was at DLR yesterday after purchasing Flex Passes for myself and my son. I was shocked. 50 minutes posted for Smuggler’s Run, but it was actually 25 minutes! Most rides were walk ons. Radiator Springs Racers was 30-45 minutes all day. It was crazy, I’ve never seen the parks here that quiet in the summer before, ever!
Now I love MSEP but I feel like it’s time to retire it or do something like I’ve seen in Tokyo which looks AMAZING. Imagine if they did something similar in Anaheim! I’d be so excited.
Please tell us in the title DL or WDW. Thanks.
Theres an audience for any madness Disney pull. this time it happens to be me – after saying no more Disney trips until 2021 we have just booked flights from London to LA in September to see it one last (maybe?) time, and hopefully Disneyland Forever (although I can’t find the end date for that for love nor money!)
I am super excited for the MSEP to return! I haven’t seen it since 1996! I’m pretty sure I was there during one of the returns at California Adventure, but didn’t get to see it for one reason or another. I can’t remember, but I do know that I still have the music stuck in my head from all those years ago!
I was planning to runaway to Disney for a day next week, but I’m glad my mom talked me out of being so impulsive, since now I can go for this! She even wanted to go to see it again, but she’s not down for my fly there in the morning, fly back the very next morning, no sleep plan. But I’m doing it! Probably on the 4th or 11th.
Watching Disney these days — and the fan community circus — almost makes me sorry I retired to other realms. Almost.
Tom, if you ask the right people, you’ll find out the laughable return yet again of this incredibly tired 1972-era parade is not a result of the panic at TDA (and there is plenty, ask people about the cutbacks in attraction capacity and staffing happening parkwide now).
No, the MSEP was planned to come back (albeit at a late time in typical kneejerk fashion) as a result of the arrogance of Disney to give fans something else to do when Batuu filled to capacity every day. Yes, they were bringing it back because there were fears of too many people jamming the place (in kneejerk fashion) and now it appears to be coming back to get people to actually come in and see Star Wars Land (in kneejerk appearance).
As to not bringing back Paint the Night, they feel MSEP will draw in more of the older crowd who have more of an attachment to the relic. Paint the Night plays almost nightly in Hong Kong under much worse weather conditions. There’s no good excuse for not running it in Anaheim.
The idea was that bringing it back would help ease complaints as APs become unblocked and also be seen as a ‘gesture of love’ (actually used by a Disney hack) to all the fans coming in mid-month for D23.
And while you don’t feel Disney’s pricing has reached the point where people are just saying no (both in Anaheim and Orlando) that’s not what Disney’s own consultants are telling them. But they are also being told that many people are not loving Batuu, including long time Star Wars fans.
P.S. Any official Disney Tourist Blog comments or opinion on the insanity between your friends at the Disney Parks Blog and your pal Tom Amity Corless? Or are you just going to ignore the situation as every other blogger has?
Whats happening? Couldnt find anything with a quick google.
Ask the Blog’s owner. I am just some crazy anonymous online hack. You’d think that Tom might have an opinion about the incredibly childish and unprofessional antics displayed this week by both Tom Corless and his friends at the DPB, in this case, Thomas Smith. And what it truly means when a company like Disney lashes out at individuals in child-like, spiteful ways …
Funny how the entire community of bloggers is keeping quiet … no one worried about access and money there at all.
This guy calling someone childish is rich. We get it, you hate all the thing Disney is doing these days, you hate Disney bloggers, and come across as generally unpleasant online. Stop wasting your tiem reading and posting on Disney blogs and just go away.
First, I read about the Country Bear Jamboree rumor on WDWNT app and was so glad that the Disney Company got their nose bent over it! It was a rumor, which many have come true, even if this one did not. If the company doesn’t like it, boo freaking hoo. They need to stay professional and start listening to fans! Loyal fans, not drive by people who stay off property one time and think they’ve been there, done that. Get this Disney Company, lower your prices, bring in an actual good fall dining program or Pin code, and you’ll have more people than you know what to do with. Crowds will be a problem at WDW when SWGE opens because of locals. It costs less to live in Florida than California and they can show up. Also, it’s pretty cheap by comparison to fly to WDW than DL, so if DIS was smart, they would team up with an air carrier and get people their cheaper. And I think the MSEP is awesome, and was sad when it left WDW, so I’m happy that people at DL can enjoy it again.
this blog did have an opinion on the county bear rumor- he said it was highly credible. there was an entire post about it. i didn’t see anything on the tiki room here.
i know people have mixed feelings about the other blog in question, but when i read here that this blog supported the rumor as being true, i leaned toward that being the case. honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if disney put the rumors out there on purpose, and then backpedaled at the blowback they received.
Laura, I was asking Tom (as he well knows) about the unprofessional behavior by both Tom Corless of WDWNT and Thomas Smith of the Disney Parks Blog. He has opted not to respond because it’s not in his business interests to do so.
FWIW, I went through similar BS from Disney when I broke the news on WDWMAGIC.com that Disney was replacing the ToT with a Guardians of the Galaxy overlay. They didn’t put out a blog post calling me unscrupulous, but they did use harsh terms to describe me in phone calls and emails and they said it was not true. And they were lying all the time. I had freaking blueprints and a video showing Michael Colglazier (DLR’s President of the Moment) and Celebrity Imagineer Joe Rohde riding Tower with Jackson 5 music blaring.
The reason Disney attacked Tom (Corless, not Bricker … why would they ever do that?) was because he has been putting out lots of legit breaking news that Disney doesn’t want released. Disney doesn’t attack insignificant people because what is the point?
I almost came out of retirement to support Corless, but then the petulant manchild came out. He put out a whiny post taking credit for breaking about three dozen Disney items, many that others (like myself and Martin Smith) actually had first.
I can tell you that all of the big rumors that Corless has put out since spring have a strong basis in truth. The fact Disney isn’t doing them right now or has changed course entirely doesn’t change that fact.
I am just tired of Disney and this sickening online circus that has been building and growing since before the turn of the century. Tom (Bricker) can’t be tired of it, good, bad and ugly. It’s what allows him to travel the globe and not work in a law office in the Heartland. I get why that’s what he’d rather do.
Can someone explain why they are retiring soundsational 2 weeks before msep begins? Are they just not gonna have a parade at all for 2 weeks….that would be horrible to go to Disneyland and not see a parade….I’m taking my niece for the first time and the news of getting rid of soundsational early doesnt make sense. I just saw that they were cancelling soundsational yesterday and was quite upset.
We were at Disney World in early June with our teenage granddaughters. We would have loved to see the old electrical light parade as we were trying to recapture the magic of an earlier trip with them when they were younger. Like Kevin, any night time parade would have been better than nothing!
Like most of you, MSEP brings back nostalgic childhood memories of past visits. The pictures shown here, although spectacular and better than any of my past ones, still do not reflect the light display of MSEP and let’s not forget the music synced for it as well. Its my 2nd favorite all-time to SpectroMagic……
To answer your hypothesis, NO I would not buy a ticket just to see MSEP, then again I’m an annual passholder so wouldn’t need to.
Hoping crowds are down in WDW in the coming weeks/months, but I’m sure we won’t get that lucky.
Maybe they could rebrand it as a parade for the very little ones. I would love for MSEP to return…to WDW! I love the soundtrack, and think it’s artistic genius, and I prefer it to any pop-influenced soundtrack any day. My toddler also loves it, and I would absolutely pay money to see his reaction to seeing it in person. I get the “outdated” comments, and it’s true in terms of technology, but I find the overall look of the parade very friendly and fun, and definitely child-like. Its simplicity is part of its attractiveness in my opinion.
As low as the crowds are now; low attendance due to huge crowds, SWGE hype & people waiting for ROTR, plus AP’s being blocked for summer, I’m curious on what you believe will be the impact on crowds with the Deluxe AP’s block being lifted on Aug.19th? I walk with braces & crutches as well as use an ECV scooter in the Parks, around the resort as well as Anaheim’s main resort area… My family will be attending D23 from 8/23-25 at the Convention Center, with the desire/intent to go to both Parks Via the AP “Bring a Friend” promotion. Is that a bad idea ( in your eyes?) i know it will be crowded, but are we talking insanely crowded, exponently speakng?
while spectromagic will simply never be topped for me, paint the night was absolutely fantastic. i loved it and was so glad we got to see it 3 years ago. they need to get whatever they need to get in order and move it to florida, especially if california doesn’t want it. castle projections simply will not replace a night parade, but it’s probably cheaper. i’ve heard “oh the bridge won’t support the weight” and “the floats are too long” and then the comments about it being too strenuous (but isn’t that their job? that i simply don’t get as being a reason to not perform it). msep is fine, but it’s not the end all for me like it seems to be for a lot of people and i agree it’s age shows.
i’ll throw out there again, i really hope the crowds get scared away in florida too.
Is Hong Kong Disneyland still running their version of Paint the Night? I’ve heard about the issues with Disneyland (CA) PTN, specifically how tough it is on the performers, but I haven’t heard if Hong Kong had similar issues. I know there are some minor differences between the two parades.
I love Tokyo’s approach. Dreamlights carries the nostalgia of the original with a fresh soundtrack and stunning new floats.
I can understand the nostalgia for MSEP, and bringing it back for 5 / 10 year anniversaries, but it’s becoming a bit of a joke.
The bigger problem I have (without seeing it recently in person) is that it looks incredibly outdated, especially when compared to the futuristic lighting / design of PtN in the social media era.
I think the ideal would be to get a fusion of the two: MSEP-esque design and simplistic choreography, but with PtN style lighting and accents that look sharp for circa-2020+ audiences.
Good news for Disneyland. MSEP’s music maybe dated but its still a solid parade. SpectroMagic is the best parade but since its not coming back, I wish MSEP would move to WDW (unless they have a similar SpectroMagic-type parade in the works). I am not a fan of PTN because I dont like the music (too Pop like and I dont like Owl City) and the floats are too Pixar heavy. Plus PTN doesn’t have enough of the Disney movies from Walt’s era.
As a former AP I definitely wasn’t interested in buying tickets during blockout because I could just wait until blockout ended and go for “free.” SoCal residents know Disneyland and their offerings aren’t going anywhere.
I wish they would bring paint the night parade back for July.
Also,they will be shutting down Mickey’s Soundsational Parade on July 17th. Do they not want to deal with a day and night parade? Although the article I saw says a new daytime parade will be called “Magic Happens”. Whenever that is, who knows.
“Magic Happens” is just a rumor at this point. A pretty credible rumor, but rumor nonetheless.
I love MSEP as it was a big part of my childhood (and now my child’s childhood!), and I’d take the view that any night parade is better than no night parade, so if I were a local I’d view this as a positive. I’d still rather see a newer parade like Paint the Night or somethign even newer (I’ve never seen ti so I can’t offer a comparison). As for PtN being more difficult to run, doesn’t the company love putting the quote “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” on their construction walls?
“I love MSEP as it was a big part of my childhood (and now my child’s childhood!), and I’d take the view that any night parade is better than no night parade, so if I were a local I’d view this as a positive.”
All definitely true. The question, though, is whether you’d buy a ticket just to see MSEP again?
No, I would not. Perhaps if was in 5-10 years when the memory is more distant I would.