Main Street Electrical Parade
The Main Street Electrical Parade is a classic pageant of illuminated floats that goes all the way back to 1972, when it first debuted at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. With 23 floats, more than half a million tiny colorful lights, 80 performers, synthesizer music based on “Baroque Hoedown,” intertwined with Disney theme songs.
Brought back during the Magic Kingdom's Summer Nightastic!, which began June 6, 2010, the parade was expected to continue on only for the duration of the summer event. Due to popular demand, the parade is now expected to continue on indefinitely. Walt Disney World Resort will be bringing back the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade for the first time since 2001. A nostalgia trip for many, this “crown jewel of summer” kicks off the season with lighting effects, floats and a host of new characters.
Leading the parade is none other than Tinker Bell, waving her magic wand from the basket of a dazzling balloon float. The Tinker Bell float alone generates more than “25,000 points of light.”
Pinocchio and the boys from the classic film’s Pleasure Island sequence join the parade in Magic Kingdom this year, and Snow White appears with the Seven Dwarfs on a Diamond Mine float glittering with colorful gems.
MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE HISTORY
- Summer Nightastic!” 2010 marks the return of the original Disneyland “Main
Street Electrical Parade” to Walt Disney World Resort. Previously the parade had
a limited engagement in Florida from 1999 through 2001.
- The original “Main Street Electrical Parade” premiered at Disneyland on June
17, 1972.
- The parade was presented at Disneyland nearly every summer until it was
“retired” in 1996.
- A version of the “Main Street Electrical Parade” was created for Magic Kingdom
at Walt Disney World Resort in 1977.
- The Magic Kingdom version was presented until 1991 when it was replaced by
“SpectroMagic” (“Main Street Electrical Parade” was refurbished for the opening
of Disneyland Resort Paris).
- The original Disneyland “Main Street Electrical Parade” was brought out of
retirement and extensively refurbished for a limited engagement at Walt Disney
World Magic Kingdom from 1999 into 2001.
- Following the conclusion of the parade’s limited engagement at Walt Disney
World Resort, it premiered at Disney California Adventure in July 2001 as
"Disney’s Electrical Parade."
- The parade has been performed more than 5,000 times at Disneyland Resort.
- The original “Main Street Electrical Parade” floats were “flatter” and less
three-dimensional than the current floats. While new floats have been added
through the years, some have been retired: “it’s a small world” float, Briny
Deep float, and special anniversary floats for Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary
(1980) and Mickey Mouse’s 60th Birthday (1988).
- One of the original floats, the Title Drum Unit near the beginning of the
parade, was created using an actual bass drum, one of the world’s largest in
1972. This drum had been used in Disneyland parades in the 1960s, when Mickey
Mouse used to beat it using large drumsticks.
- A third version of the parade has been presented at Tokyo Disney Resort
(premiering 1985).
