As you may have heard, the world famous Main Street Electrical Parade is set to return to Disneyland this evening (weather permitting) for what many have predicted will be a real farewell run. To mark this event, we’ve collected eight facts about the legendary parade you may not have known:
Finding Inspiration
The Main Street Electrical Parade was inspired by Walt Disney World’s Electrical Water Pageant, which debuted in 1971 and still runs there nightly.
Disneyland Proudly Presents…
The long-time voice of Disneyland, Jack Wagner, provided the heavily-modified original voice for the opening “Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls…”
Those Electro-synth-magnetic Musical Sounds
The original music was arranged by Don Dorsey. He used 11 different synthesizers to create the soundtrack.
The Lights Aren’t the Only Technology
The Main Street Electrical Parade was the first parade to have zones so that a float entering an area would have float-specific music play on that area’s speakers.
Hiatus
Although the parade debuted in 1972, it did not perform during the summers of 1975 and 1976 due to America on Parade nor in 1983 or 1984 because of Flights of Fantasy
Encore, Encore!
The parade’s original run at Disneyland was scheduled to end on October 15th, 1996 with Cast Member and Annual Passholder encores taking place the following day. However, it was then extended to November 25th, 1996 and was for all the public. As you can see in our look at “farewell season” souvenirs, some merchandise even has the original closing date on it (see above).
A Hard Act to Follow
The replacement for Main Street Electrical Parade, Light Magic — or “Light Tragic,” as it’s come to be known — lasted less than four months
By the Numbers
According to Disney, 600,000 lights sparkle in the parade’s nighttime journey from Small World Mall in Fantasyland to Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A. But that’s not all — approximately 80 parade performers are used in the parade, the famous “To Honor America float” is a whopping 118 feet long, and the beloved Elliott float weighs 5,600 pounds!
