Main Street Electrical Parade Returning to Disneyland
Confirming a week of speculation, Disney announced that Main Street Electrical Parade will return to Disneyland after ending its run in Walt Disney World on October 9. The run in Disneyland is described as “a limited-time encore engagement.”
No timeframe is given for Main Street Electrical Parade’s return to Disneyland, which could be as early as October (although unlikely given the time it will take to ship the parade and make necessary repairs) or as late as early 2017. The Parks Blog has posted a virtually-identical follow-up with the added detail that MSEP will debut at Disneyland “next year” and Paint the Night will run select dates the remainder of the year.
Nowhere in the announcement are any details concerning what will happen with Paint the Night, which debuted only last year as part of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration.
My Reaction
There was a lot of speculation about this and there still is. The announcement only covers Main Street Electrical Parade returning to Disneyland, creating two potential scenarios: 1) Main Street Electrical Parade is an interim replacement while Paint the Night is refurbished, and will be retired after that; or, 2) Disney is playing a classic game of “Parade Swap” with Main Street Electrical Parade and Paint the Night.
Let’s start with the first scenario. This is my preferred scenario, and I hope what proves to be true. This is definitely plausible, as we’ve heard rumors that Paint the Night needs a refurbishment after months without any downtime. Sending Main Street Electrical Parade to Disneyland for a limited run would make fans happy (see below) and Magic Kingdom doesn’t really need it during Halloween and Christmas Party season, so that’s a win-win.
However, this leaves the question of what Magic Kingdom will do in terms of a night parade. There have been no rumors that a night parade is being built for Florida, and it’s not just a matter of buying a golf cart and covering it in Christmas lights. Night parades take a decent amount of time and money to design and build.
There’s the possibility something is being constructed in a shroud of secrecy (ha!), or they will start building a parade quickly (haha!) for a Spring 2017 (or sooner) debut, but that doesn’t seem so likely. There’s also the possibility that Magic Kingdom goes without a night parade until next summer.
Then, there’s the second scenario: Paint the Night and Main Street Electrical Parade swapping coasts. Until today, I filed this under “wishful thinking.”
Main Street Electrical Parade returned to Walt Disney World during 2010’s Summer Nightastic, in what was to be a limited engagement for the summer. (Sound familiar?) After the initial excitement over seeing Main Street Electrical Parade “one last time” wore off, most Disney fans longed for a return of SpectroMagic (myself included). Beyond that, I don’t really think the circa-1970s Main Street Electrical Parade has really played well with the tourist demographic at Walt Disney World that lacks an emotional attachment to it.
Conversely, in California, many diehard fans pined for a return of Main Street Electrical Parade (it’s starting to sound like we fans just want what we can’t have!) since the dismal Light Tragic was salt in the wound following the farewell season of Main Street Electrical Parade.
For me, the differing opinions of Main Street Electrical Parade are easy to reconcile: it’s all about nostalgia. SpectroMagic ran from 1991 until 2010 (with a gap during the Millennium Celebration) in Magic Kingdom, which time frame can be described as some of the most formidable years for Walt Disney World fandom.
By contrast, Main Street Electrical Parade ran at Disneyland from 1972 until 1996, and in DCA from 2001 until 2010. It’s thus no surprise that so many Disneyland fans have strong nostalgia for this parade. Plus, as with all-things nostalgia, the parade has probably aged better in many memories than it has in reality.
From that perspective, this move makes some sense as a temporary measure. While Paint the Night certainly has not faded in popularity at Disneyland, the initial surge of local excitement over it has subsided. When Main Street Electrical Parade returns, the local audience will go nuts, and the park will likewise see a decent bump thanks to the parade.
So, win-win, right? Well, not exactly. Yes, Disneyland will receive a nice, short-term bump and Walt Disney World’s largely tourist demographic will enjoy the more modern-era style of Paint the Night. However, the bump at Disneyland will be short-lived, and this still doesn’t solve the problem of Main Street Electrical Parade’s age.
Not so long ago, I was told that Main Street Electrical Parade likely would never return to Disneyland, because it “couldn’t survive shipment.” That could’ve been exaggeration, but it might also be the best case scenario here: the floats are so badly damaged in transit that a new parade is built from the ground up.
Even with fervent Disneyland fans turning out for a few months, Main Street Electrical Parade just doesn’t have the power to draw guests like Paint the Night. After its initial spike, Disneyland management will be left with the decision of letting it hobble along, or creating another park. (Given that dilemma, I’m surprised they would even agree to letting Florida take Paint the Night–a parade paid for out of California’s entertainment budget. That is, unless they had no choice.)
Moreover, as the most popular park in the Disney empire, Magic Kingdom is due for an original, one-of-a-kind light parade that features next generation technology. Not something developed for Hong Kong, and handed down to it from Disneyland.
In an ideal world, I would love to see the first scenario play out. After Main Street Electrical Parade goes dark, Magic Kingdom would develop and debut a brand new parade with the grandeur of Dreamlights at Tokyo Disneyland, and cues borrowed from SpectroMagic (namely, the music and SpectroMickey). As fun of a parade as Paint the Night is, it didn’t feel right for Disneyland in terms of tone, and won’t fill the void left by SpectroMagic in Magic Kingdom. (It was perfect for the upstart Hong Kong Disneyland.)
I guess we shall see what happens, but I’m not holding my breath. I know a lot of Disney fans are ardently in favor of Main Street Electrical Parade returning to Disneyland permanently, but I think its age is really showing. Another farewell run is fine, and gives fans a chance to say final goodbyes, but the parade has not stood the test of time in terms of technology, and is due to be retired.
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Your Thoughts…
What would you like to see happen with these parades? Do you hope Paint the Night comes to Walt Disney World, or would you like Magic Kingdom to get its own, new parade? Excited for Main Street Electrical Parade to return to Disneyland? We love hearing from readers, so please share your thoughts or questions you have in the comments!
I have gone to WDW as a child and have taken my children on several occasions. Each time we go, I feel the need to see the MSEP at least once. And each time we do, I’m ready to go 5 minutes after it starts. I just can’t stand the music! It just seems to go on and on.
However, I went to Disneyland for the first time this summer. I loved the PTN parade! The floats were great, but the music was much better. It was much more upbeat. In fact, I downloaded the entire parade song and listen to it in the car with my children. Someone is always commenting about what float would be going by as we listen.
I’m not sure how I feel about this news. Because we got an annual pass, we’ll be back to Disneyland a few more times. We definitely want to see PTN….not MSEP. But we live in Arkansas, and WDW is much closer. So hopefully Magic Kingdom will get PTN, or something even better!
MSEP is a favorite of mine. I have vivid memories of it as a child and I was so happy that my child got to experience it. I really hate that my younger one won’t get to see it as a child. Yes it’s a little cheesy and definitely dated, but thats what I love about Disney. I think nostalgia is important. Its what people come back for. So, I do hope that MSEP is not gone forever. Yes the newer Disney characters are what my children recognize the most but the older ones (like in MSEP) is what makes Disney…well…Disney. So whatever they are doing I hope the nostalgia will not be lost.
Tom: is your perception that the US parks are becoming less and less of their former selves (in terms of offering state of the art entertainment), whilst the Asian parks are taking leaps and bounds? Disney Resorts in Asia appear to be taking the mantle of what Disneyland and Walt Disney World used to represent in quality. The US parks are taking guests for granted.
We hit all Disney parks around the world within a month in 2014 and by the time we got to Florida, it just looked and felt so so tired. Paris was in better shape.
That was my perception for a while, and I suppose still continues to some extent. However, right now there is an unprecedented level of spending in the US parks that hasn’t been seen in decades (or really, ever, aside from new park openings). We will start seeing the fruits of that next year, and it should be really impressive.
With that said, I remain frustrated at a lot of the cost-cutting measures to make the bottom line look healthier that–in my opinion–go against the “Disney Difference” that was established decades ago. Big budget attractions matter, but so too do the little details.
So if PTN does go to WDW, when do you think it starts? We have done DL several times this past year and have had our full of PTN. We are going to WDW in March 2017 and we’re looking forward to something different. If PTN and MSEP end up being swapped, it won’t be too much of a bummer for us, as we’ll probably just skip PTN and can make a short trip to DL to see MSEP if we really want to. What I am more concerned with is crowds. We are going to WDW first week of March, and if PTN comes by then I am sure MK will be insane. I only hope that everyone comes for the parade and that waits for rides around the parade time are light because of it.
Thanks for making some sense of this news, Tom. I agree that Disneyland is the best place for MSEP, and that it is showing its age. Maybe a good solution is to dust it off for a few months every 5 years or so as long as people remember it with that childhood nostalgia.
Also agree that while Paint The Night is great fun, it’s not quite what it should be. For me, the issue is the music: it’s fun and keeps your feet tapping, but its simplistic dance style just doesn’t hold up to Disney’s legacy of great music. This is the empire that gave us the Sherman Brothers, and many others, and I can’t imagine Walt hearing the Paint The Night theme and saying, “That’ll work.”
Ideally I feel like a situation like this would make almost *too* much sense:
1. DEP will go back to DLR for its farewell run….
2. Paint to come to WDW during this time….
3. And then once WDW is done building their ~super secret~ new nighttime parade that they arent telling anyone about, paint goes back to DLR and DEP is scrapped.
So I switched my plans around and reserved the Main Street electrical parade dining package for November 19th. And now the parade won’t be there. What does that mean for my reservation? Should I cancel it? Will something show in its place?
As a WDW fan from the Spectro era, I am not ashamed to say that I am ready for MSEP to go. For me, it is less cohesive than Spectro and has a lot of moments that don’t scream Disney to me (I.e. american flag at the end with the bald eagle). Will I hopefully go to see the last showing of the parade yes. I do hope that WDW gets a new nighttime parade as MSEP is REALLY showing its age. I can’t image disney running FOF during the night, but if they decide to build a new parade for WDW, I just hope Jiminy turns off the lights for the start of the parade 😉
Opinions on parades aside, I’m somewhat concerned that they haven’t announced any plans for WDW. I’m helping my sister plan her family’s first trip for Feb and my own family’s after Thanksgiving 2017. I really hope we aren’t left waiting with no nighttime parade while they build a new one from scratch. (The fan in me craves this option as I would love to see something designed specifically for WDW with new tech)
In the event that Paint the Night does not go to Florida, I’d bet Festival of Fantasy will run at night while a new parade is built.
For me, this is the best-case scenario. I’m really ready for WDW to get a new night parade, and willing to go a couple of trips without a proper one, if the results will be worth the wait.
Ah, the viewpoint of one who knows that there will be many more trips for him in the future.
We might make it to WDW every five years or so, which at our ages means that we have more trips behind us than in front of us. We just take the changes as they come and enjoy whatever is there. Sometime we end up visiting what can only be described as Disney’s Construction Wall Adventure, and don’t know if if or when we will see what is being built. We loved Paint the Night this past spring at DL, and if it comes to Magic Kingdom, we might get to see it again. Or not. If there is no parade when we visit again, we will spend the time doing something else that is great.
I am excited about the future coming to WDW for a night parade. But nothing is lined up yet. Is anything coming. They are currently only doing one run of the parade down from two. Will it turn into a no parade park at night?
MSEP is my favorite. I will miss it at the park. I find my self mumming the music throughout the day some days. I hope it does well in transit or maybe they will do a update to the parade to keep it alive for future generations.
I’m in the group of WDW fans that has a lot of nostalgia for MSEP and not for Specro, which I hardly remember. It how being the parade of my daughter’s youth, it adds to that.
That said, I wouldn’t mind a new parade at all. .
I really hope that it’s just temporary and that Paint the Night is back soon, but I just don’t know anymore. I know that not everyone loves PTN, but I don’t know how Disneyland can go from PTN to MSEP with a straight face. I guess there’s precedent with the fireworks now, but…
I get that Paint the Night needs refurbishment, but it’s unlikely that there going to run it nightly outside of high season once the 60th is over. Could they not refurbish it before Christmas?
I suppose I would be ok with it if MSEP ran between Christmas and Summer, but knowing how Disneyland has historically run night parades, I don’t think that’s likely.
I am planning to go to DL in July of next year and really really hope that MSEP isn’t there to meet me when I get there. It needs to die. It needed to die years ago.
Since Main Street Electrical Parade won’t start its run until sometime in 2017, I’m betting it will be the parade come July. Unfortunately.
I grew up with MSEP but am seemingly an anomaly in that I have no nostalgia for it at all, and in fact I remember watching it as a CHILD and finding the music grating. No comment on the parade floats which I did enjoy as a child, but if that music goes away for good I won’t shed a tear.
I am all in favor of cloning Dreamlights for Magic Kingdom (or Disneyland for that matter). It preserves the spirit and music of MSEP while updating and enriching the technology, score, etc. to create something that feels “classic” and new all at once. The “It’s a Small World” finale (big and full music along with the spectacle of all the floats changing color) in Dreamlights is so perfect for any Magic Kingdom park that I am truly surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.
If something like Dreamlights is built for Magic Kingdom, it won’t be a clone. Dreamlights has a ton of floats, which means a ton of performers, which means a ton of entertainment wages.
They’d build something in the spirit of Dreamlights, at least 25% shorter.
Paint the Night would be a Monster Hit and make a huge splash at Disney’s most important property, Walt Disney World.
I’m confident that’s where it’s moving.
This is crazy news to me. My entire party was extremely sad we would be missing paint the night this year. It would’ve been the first time for three of our six member group seeing it. We are going to be there thanksgiving week. Tom, what do you think the chances of them are running it that week? Pretty high right? My mindset is biggest crowds = more demand, but would be very interested in your opinion. This news is crazy
I’d be shocked if Paint the Night isn’t running for Thanksgiving.
Of course, if you told me all of this would happen two weeks ago, I would’ve been shocked by that, too.
Up and running by thanksgiving in World….or Land?
Do you think there is any possibility of WDW showing the Halloween and Christmas parades on non-party nights from mid October through December? I would be shocked if there was no night parade every night for several months…unless this would just force more people to spend $$ and buy party tickets.
I would say virtually no chance at all. Disney wants people buying those party tickets, not giving them reasons *not* to purchase the party tickets.
Hey Tom!
I grew up in Orlando and spent most of my childhood in the theme parks. Unfortunately I missed the retirement of SpectroMagic and never got to see it one last time before they got rid of it. I have the fondest memories of waiting for that parade to start and finally hearing Jiminy Cricket’s voice introducing the parade and just feeling like the parade was pure magic. As an adult I finally got a Disney Pass three years ago and dragged my husband (not a Disney fan) to see the Main Street Electrical Parade thinking it would be on par with the parade of my childhood and was kind of crushed by how dated and non-magical it felt. In comparison to Spectro it looks like something some kids threw together for a Mardi Gras parade. Unlike most of Disney’s parades over the years it lacks cohesiveness and innovation. I hate to say I’m glad they are pulling it from
Magic Kingdom because I know that there are some fans that feel as nostalgic for that parade as I feel for Spectro but I’m also really hoping for a brand new night time parade that brings the Spirit of Spectro and Fantasmic into Magic Kingdom for a whole new generation to fall in love with. I think with the amazing daytime parade which pushes the limits of innovation and the
Imagination (just like Walt always did) Main Street Electrical is just disappointing.
Thanks for keeping all us Disney fans updated! I love your blog and your amazing Photography!
I love MSEP but I don’t think I’ve actually sat and watched it since my first time at WDW a couple years ago. Normally it’s just something I see or listen to while navigating down main street heading somewhere else. I agree most of its appeal is nostalgic – even for someone who never went to WDW or DL as a kid, it was one of the things I knew was there and wanted to see some day.
The funny thing about nostalgia is that it varies from year to year. 😉
My first visit to WDW was during the initial MSEP era 77-91 and there are some serious happy family memories tied to that. I don’t want to be that fan that holds on to a tired and tattered attraction just because a voice is telling me to rip up my corn field and make a baseball diamond so I’ll watch it one last time when I’m there next and hope for better things to come.
Disappointed to see the Main Street Elec Parade leave the Magic Kingdom with no replacement. Just saw it two weekends ago, and while it’s certainly not on the same level as Paint the Night, there are still a lot of people who crowd in to see it. When we return to WDW in December, it’ll be a shame that there’s nothing already set to replace it. My young son in particular will miss it. If Disney plans to replace it with something else, it is strange that they would leave a large block of time (months, seasons?) where visitors are left to remember its absence, rather than having the replacement ready to go seamlessly after they retire the Elec Parade.