Summer Nightastic Overview

WDWNT Author on February 11, 2010

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Feb. 10, 2010) – The “Main Street Electrical Parade” lights up the streets of Magic Kingdom and headlines a season of after-dark excitement coming to Walt Disney World Resort.

“After the sun goes down, our Walt Disney World parks will light up the night with ‘Summer Nightastic!’, ” announced Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World Resort, at a media event Wednesday.

Disney magic will shine and shimmer in a whole new light. Here’s a look around:

  • With floats and characters appearing for the first time at Walt Disney World Resort, Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” returns with its joyous sights and sounds. Direct from Disneyland and marking its first engagement in Florida since 2001, the cherished parade will be led by Tinker Bell waving from the basket of a magical balloon aboard a new float. Pinocchio and Snow White join the parade this summer, aboard bright new floats. Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” is set for its summer-long nighttime premiere in early June at Magic Kingdom.
  • The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror welcomes “drop-ins” this summer with even more pulse-racing surprises. New lighting effects and the addition of a new drop sequence, created especially for “Summer Nightastic!”, will bring unexpected frights to guests who step into that infamous service elevator. If they dare.
  • What could be more summery than fireworks on a star-studded night? Magic Kingdom will treat guests to a special summer fireworks spectacular. The night sky will explode in vivid colors and brilliant visual effects as whimsical music fills the air.
  • Other fun! The return of the Sounds Like Summer concert series to Epcot and extended evening hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom several times a week add up to summer fun as only Disney can do – at all four Walt Disney World theme parks.

Official Announcement of “Summer Nightastic” from Disney

WDWNT Author on February 10, 2010

From the Disney Parks Blog:

Big news today…we’re thrilled to announce that one of the most beloved attractions in Disney history, the Main Street Electrical Parade, is returning to Magic Kingdom Park this summer – and it’ll be better than ever. The classic parade will feature new LED lights and new audio technology when it begins its limited engagement at Walt Disney World in early June 2010.

Main Street Electrical Parade
Tinker Bell will lead the parade waving from the basket of a magical balloon aboard a new float. The parade’s return is part of Summer Nightastic! — an amazing lineup of new and enhanced entertainment planned this summer at Walt Disney World theme parks. For example, there will be new lighting effects and a new addition to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Also, Magic Kingdom will treat guests to a special summer fireworks spectacular.

Main Street Electrical Parade

There’s plenty more planned and we’ll have more details in upcoming weeks but we wanted to tell you what we knew first on The Disney Parks Blog. Check back here for more.

“What’s New, What’s Next for WDW” Live Updates

WDWNT Author on February 10, 2010

In response to an overwhelming response from our followers, we are providing a number of ways to keep in touch with live updates from tonight’s announcements from the “What’s New, What’s Next for Walt Disney World” press conference from 5:30 PM through 6:45 PM ET. You can either follow the updates on Twitter by following us @wdwnt, by the special live interactive chat on WDWNTunes, or by refreshing this post that will be updated with information as it is provided. The updates will begin below shortly, we hope you enjoy our live coverage.

6:42 PM ET – Fireworks show at Magic Kingdom will be never seen before, not Magic, Music, and Mayhem.

6:29 PM ET – Summer Nightastic will also include extended hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom seven days a week, Main Street Electrical Parade will be the version of the parade that performed at Disney’s California Adventure in 2009

6:20 PM ET – Presentation ended, more details coming from post conference events, so stay tuned

6:10 PM ET – Tower of Terror additions may be temporary for Summer Nightastic or permanent, not sure

6:07 PM ET – Wide World of Sports talk – http://twitpic.com/12h4e8

6:06 PM ET – Disney Cruise Line stuff, not our bag 😉

6:00 PM ET – Parks Blog has info already on June 2010 MSEP return: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/02/main-street-electrical-parade-returns-to-walt-disney-world-resort-this-summer/

5:59 PM ET – Now on to Fantasyland Forest: http://twitpic.com/12h2tq

5:58 PM ET – Electrical Parade will have new floats that debuted at Disneyland in 2009 for WDW 2010 return

5:57 PM ET – Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios to get new drop sequences and effects, Magic Music and Mayhem fireworks coming to Magic Kingdom

5:56 PM ET – MSEP officially returns for Summer Nightastic: http://twitpic.com/12h25z

5:55 PM ET – Main Street Electrical Parade to return to Magic Kingdom

5:54 PM ET – Talking about recent changes

5:50 PM ET – Talking about Give a Day, Get a Disney Day

5:48 PM ET – Crofton Begins Presentation: http://twitpic.com/12h0kz

5:46 PM ET – Still waiting: http://twitpic.com/12gznv

5:37 PM ET – Another look at the stage: http://twitpic.com/12gy1i

5:35 PM ET -Meg Crofton and Al Weiss have arrived and taken a seat.

5:26 PM ET – Banks Lee has a front row seat: http://twitpic.com/12gvnp, http://twitpic.com/12gvmx

5:04 PM ET – Matt Paul intimidated by Channel 6’s equipment 🙂

4:54 PM ET – Another pic from inside the grill: http://twitpic.com/12goob

4:50 PM ET – Blurry picture of new ESPN Grill at Wide World of Sports: http://twitpic.com/12gocx

4:45 PM ET – WDWNT is checked in: http://twitpic.com/12gndc

4:40 PM ET – The event is being held at the new ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, which will be dedicated as such later this month: http://twitpic.com/12ghsy, http://twitpic.com/12gigp

Some Modern Pixie Dust Brings A Classic Up To Date

WDWNT Author on June 11, 2009

Disney has released a short video and fact sheet about the return of Disney’s Electrical Parade tomorrow night as part of the already flailing Summer Nightastic promotion. The updates to the parade were much needed and the parade appears sparkling and new thanks to LED light technology and a recreated soundtrack:

Tinker Bell leads the procession on an all-new float and her trail of pixie dust enchants all the parade floats with new beauty along the way. The popular pixie waves from the basket of a balloon floating gracefully above a magical garden shimmering with fairy light.

In addition, enhanced versions of two classic favorites will return to the lineup after a 13-year hiatus – the shimmering diamond mine of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the Pleasure Island haunts of Pinocchio.

WHAT: The parade twinkles with approximately half a million lights.  Of those, nearly 10,000 are new “pixie dust” lights spread over the 17 floats. The new LED lights use one-quarter of the power of incandescent lights. The “Tinker Bell” float alone has more than 25,000 points of light and 75 percent are powered by an LED source.

WHEN: Nightly at 8:45 p.m., beginning Friday, June 12, and continuing through Sunday, Aug. 23, at Disney’s California Adventure.

LIGHTS ON DEMAND: A new control system makes it possible, for the first time, for each light to be programmed individually. One example is the new Tinker Bell float, which has 160 dimmers, by far the most of any parade float, to control the lighting. Programming for this parade took approximately two months.

AN EVEN BETTER HOEDOWN: The unforgettable musical theme of the “Electrical Parade,” which has inspired several generations of Disneyland Resort guests to clap along, was adapted from a synthesizer piece known as “Baroque Hoedown,” written in 1967 by Gershon Kingsley and Jean-Jaques Perrey. Disney themes are superimposed over the original piece. For Summer Nightastic!, the distinctive “electro-sytho-magnetic” “Baroque Hoedown” has new audio technology that gives it a richer, fuller sound.

FUN FACTS

  • More than 80 performers appear in each presentation of “Disney’s Electrical Parade.”
  • There are 11,000 lights on the dancers’ costumes alone. Thanks to the energy-efficient LED lights, some of the dancers’ costumes now carry only one battery pack instead of two.
  • All the floats are battery-powered. More than 500 batteries supply power for lighting, propulsion, audio and special effects.
  • Approximately five miles of wire is used throughout the floats.
  • The tallest float in the parade is the Cinderella clock tower, at 18.5 feet tall.
  • The “Fireworks Finale” float, the longest in the parade, has seven cars that span 118 feet.

HISTORY

  • Summer Nightastic! 2009 will mark the 30th summer of the “Electrical Parade” performances at Disneyland Resort.
  • The original “Main Street Electrical Parade” premiered at Disneyland on June 17, 1972.
  • The parade has been performed more than 5,000 times at Disneyland Resort.
  • It has been presented nearly every summer, with the following exceptions: a 1975-76 hiatus for the Bicentennial “America on Parade”; the 1983-84 break for “Flights of Fantasy” parade; and the “Electrical Parade” retirement from Disneyland following the summer of 1996. Renamed “Disney’s Electrical Parade,” it premiered at Disney’s California Adventure in July 2001.
  • The original “Main Street Electrical Parade” floats were “flatter” and less three-dimensional than the current floats. New floats have been added through the years and some – “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) – have been retired.
  • 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.
  • Versions of the parade have been presented at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida (premiering 1977), Tokyo Disneyland (premiering 1985) and Disneyland Paris (premiering 1992).

MiceAge DLR Rumor Update

WDWNT Author on April 9, 2008

The plans for the DCA renovations always keep changing, & the latest changes were reported today in Al Lutz’s latest column on MiceAge. We’ll also take a look at some other new stuff supposedly coming to Disneyland, & the resort as a whole:

  • The Walt Disney Story show that was supposed to of gone into the new Walt Disney Plaza has been dropped from the plans. Team Disney Anaheim’s idea behind this is that DCA already has too many shows, & too little good rides. So the last thing DCA needs is another new show! But the extravagant Carthay Circle Theater will still be built, but will only be a facade.
  • With the Walt Disney Story not happening, this now may have Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln being re-installed into the Opera House on Main Street.
  • When Sunshine Plaza is under refurbishment, the temporary entrance may now be the big gate right by Soarin’ Over California, instead of the Millionaire building. You can see exactly where this is by viewing this picture.
  • A water play area themed to King Triton is now planned to be put right next to the new Little Mermaid attraction.
  • The Ariels Grotto restaurant may be re-themed a general Princess restaurant, Princess Palace. The more modern sections of the current exterior of the restaurant would be made more “Princessy”.
  • Originally, the renovation plans for the Disneyland Hotel was to of had each building extensively refurbished, one at a time. Well now, TDA & WDI are looking to completely rip down the current Disneyland Hotel, & re-build it all from scratch!
  • This summer, a Indiana Jones stunt show should take place in Adventureland. We’re not sure if it will last past the summer though.
  • No new attractions are currently planned for the resort in 2009, except for the new It’s a Small World. So Disneyland Park will have a major entertainment themed ad campaign, which will include the proposed new Wonder day-time parade, a new ending to Remember… Dreams Come True, new effects added to Fantasmic, & get this… the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade!

For complete details on all of the things mentioned above & more, check out this MiceAge article!