Nighttime spectaculars return to the Disneyland Resort on April 22nd. As part of a media preview, we were invited to see the first public showing of the 50th-anniversary edition of the Main Street Electrical Parade ahead of its official return this Friday. Updates to the parade include a 50th banner on the drum that kicks things off and an all-new finale inspired by it’s a small world and some timeless animated classics. Enjoy this video of the parade’s grand return, along with some fun facts about the show’s history.
Fun Facts About the Main Street Electrical Parade:
- The song featured in the parade is called “Baroque Hoedown,” which was written and first recorded in 1967 by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley.
- Disneyland’s “spectacular festival pageant” premiered on June 17th, 1972.
- The Main Street Electrical Parade was designed by Robert Jani, who was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2005 during Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary celebration.
- When the parade debuted, it contained just 12 floats, growing over time to include 22 floats in the current version.
- As colorful as the parade is, there are actually only six different colors of lights used: amber, blue, green, chartreuse, red, and pink.
- The Cinderella Clocktower float is the tallest in the parade, clocking in at 23 feet in height.
- The iconic Elliott float was added in 1977 to promote the film Pete’s Dragon, which opened that same year.
- The current version of the parade includes characters from the following 18 films, all of which are streaming on Disney+.
- The new finale replaces the original patriotic ending, titled “To Honor America." Amongst diehard fans, the float was referred to as the “bacon strip” due to its long, wavy red and white stripes resembling the crispy meat. The new finale reuses the float's structure, replacing red and white with a full spectrum of colors.
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