Now, the cherished entertainment spectacular is being extended by popular demand, Walt Disney World announced today.

“The return of Disney’s ‘Main Street Electrical Parade’ to the Magic Kingdom has been an overwhelming success,” said Magic Kingdom Vice President Phil Holmes.  “Guests begin cheering as soon as they hear the opening fanfare and see those fantastic floats covered in lights.  The parade is a magical part of a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort, so we’re thrilled to be announcing we’re leaving the lights on.”

Fronted by a new lead float starring Tinker Bell, Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” officially bowed at Magic Kingdom June 6, 2010.

Beloved by generations, the parade anchors Disney’s multi-park “Summer Nightastic!” entertainment extravaganza of attractions and events.  Once “Summer Nightastic!” draws to a close on Aug. 14 as previously announced, Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” will continue an open-ended run.

The iconic pageant of illuminated floats dates to 1972 when it first debuted at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and became an instant hit.

Prior to its current run in Florida, the parade last performed at Walt Disney World Resort from 1999 into 2001.  This summer, Magic Kingdom guests have been treated to all-new elements that continue in the encore phase of the run:

• Tinker Bell leads the eye-filling procession, waving from the basket of a balloon floating gracefully above a magical garden shimmering in fairy light.
• Pinocchio and the boys from the classic film’s Pleasure Island sequence join the parade, and Snow White joins the Seven Dwarfs on a diamond mine float.
• There are new lighting effects, and the parade’s highly recognizable musical theme is brightened by new technology.

Beloved floats like the Honor America finale display – featuring the American flag and giant American eagle – are among parade favorites, along with popular characters such as Alice, Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

Especially Good News for Florida Residents

The extension will enable Florida Resident Seasonal and Weekday Select Passholders to experience the parade on their passes. And with the ability to sign on for a new monthly payment program, Florida Resident Passholders can enjoy the parade and so much more Disney theme park magic for as little as $16 a month, after an initial down payment. The payment program is available only online and complete information is available at www.disneyworld.com/payments.

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• Magic Kingdom – “Celebrate America Fireworks” will fill the sky at 9 p.m.  After the fireworks, guests can enjoy Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” of lights, music and magic at 10 p.m. and midnight.  Park hours are 8 a.m.-1 a.m.
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Special fireworks set to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack will be presented at 9:50 p.m., providing guests with a bonus nighttime entertainment extravaganza to complement “Fantasmic!” (which will be at 9 and 10:30 p.m.).  Park hours are 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Epcot – “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth,” which features dazzling special effects, colorful lasers, brilliant fireworks and fiery torches all choreographed to a musical score, becomes even more dynamic on July 4 as the normal show is supplemented with a patriotic finale.  The performance begins at 10 p.m.  Earlier in the day, guests will be treated to the Voices of Liberty 4th of July Concert – featuring an expanded cast of singers plus the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps and Disney characters – at 12:30, 1:45 and 3 p.m. on the America Gardens Theatre stage.  In addition, Betsy Ross will be engaging guests inside The American Adventure with storytelling, while Ben Franklin will be making appearances on the promenade near the attraction.  Park hours are 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Guests can enjoy all the regular attractions and shows from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

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Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade…

MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE HISTORY

• “Summer Nightastic!” 2010 will mark 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’s 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.
• The Drum and Train, Pumpkin Coach, Mushrooms 1,2, and 3, Staircase and the Finale floats are all original to the 1972 premiere of the Main Street Electrical Parade
• 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).

NEW FOR 2010

• Tinkerbell Float
• Pinocchio Unit
• Pixie Dust Trails throughout the parade
• LED technology on the title drum
• LED character figures in the Alice unit
• Elliot’s wings are animated
• LED fireworks on the Finale Flag Float
• Updated music throughout the parade

MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE FUN FACTS

• There are approximatly 575,000 lights in 6 different colors-amber, blue, chartreuse, green, pink and red, plus clear.
• More than 80 performers appear in each presentation of Disney’s “Main Street 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 (weighing over 27 tons) supply power for lighting, propulsion, audio and special effects. Together they could light 32 homes!
• 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.
• Elliot wasn’t the first dragon to appear in the Main Street Electrical Parade. The parade opened in 1972 with the Sleeping Beauty Dragon.
• Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) is used to provide the smoke effects for the Drum and Train, the Pirate Ship and Elliot.
• Approximately 3500 feet of green LED string is used to create the leaf fields on the new Tinkerbell float.
• There are 128 lighting dimmers on board the new Tinkerbell float.
• Just under 10,000 new pixie dust stobes have been added to the parade

Close up of the leaf field on the Tinkerbell float

SHIPPING THE PARADE

• All floats were loaded onto trucks, then crates were built around them to protect the floats during transport
• It took 26 trucks to move the parade floats across country
• The costumes were packed onto 31 pallets and loaded into 2 trucks for transport
• On average, it takes the trucks 5 days to make the cross country trip

Here is some video of the shipping process:

I hope you have enjoyed the “Summer Nightastic” Sneak Peek Series:
Part 1-Overview
Part 2-Behind the Scenes video
Sounds Like Summer-concert series at Epcot
Part 3-Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Part 4–Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular

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Today we are headed to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom for the premiere of “Summer Nightastic”. I know it is going to be crazy crowded and we aren’t planning on getting on many rides our goals for today are simple…finally get my birthday Dole Whip, see “Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade” and see the “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular”.

photo courtesy of Disney

I am so excited to be a part of tonight’s premiere and I’ll be tweeting the event live using hashtag #disneymedia so please join the fun on Twitter. I’ll have a full report for you in Wednesdays Walt Disney World Wednesday blog post.

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If you haven’t seen the other “Summer Nightastic” posts…here they are: Part 1, Part 2, and Sounds Like Summer.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is not to be left out when it comes to ramping up the fun for “Summer Nightastic”. DHS is actually hosting two “Summer Nightastic” events the Rock ‘n Glow Dance Party and some spooky, glowing upgrades to Tower of Terror.

On Hollywood Boulevard, in the shadow of the 122-foot-tall Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Hat icon, guests are invited to the Rock n’ Glow Dance Party, where a DJ and live rock band (Mulch, Sweat & Shears) keep popular tunes coming five nights a week. Times may vary but the 3-hour dance party will be held Tuesday, Thursday-Sunday from 7:30-10:30pm so stop by and have some fun when you are in the Studios.

photo courtesy of Disney

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror adds new effects – and a summer-only drop sequence – to the mix for guests daring to step into the attraction’s infamous service elevator for a ride into the “fifth dimension.” The exact changes have been kept under wraps, at the sneak peek all we were told was that the tower will glow and there are some new queue additions. I’ve never ridden this ride…and I don’t plan to so, if you ride it this summer please let me know what has changed and your thoughts about the “Summer Nightastic” upgrades.

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Epcot joins in on the “Summer Nightastic” fun with the “Sounds Like Summer” concert series. Blasts from the past are in store at Epcot, where the curtain rises on popular rock-band tributes June 12 at the park’s America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase. Each evening through July 31 at 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m., “Sounds Like Summer” tribute-band concerts drum up lots of nostalgia with hot tunes and cool riffs, from “Satisfaction” to “Saturday in the Park.”

"Slippery When Wet" photo courtesy of Disney

The lineup (subject to change):

• June 12-19: Stayin’ Alive – A Tribute to The Bee Gees
• June 20-26: Hotel California – A Salute to the Eagles
  June 27-July 3: Karin Lawson – A Tribute to Janet Jackson
• July 4-10: Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones Tribute Band
• July 11-17: Slippery When Wet – The Ultimate Bon Jovi Tribute
• July 18-24: 2U – A Tribute to U2 July
• 25-31: Beginnings – A Tribute to Chicago

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To read Part 1 of the Summer Nightastic Series click here.

When the “Main Street Electrical Parade” returns to Magic Kingdom for a limited engagement this summer, the cherished Disney nighttime spectacle will have a new glow. Tinker Bell will sprinkle her pixie dust to illuminate the classic parade. The parade’s highly recognizable musical theme will be brightened by new technology.

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.

The parade twinkles with approximately half a million lights. Of those, nearly 10,000 are new “pixie dust” lights spread over the 23 parade 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. 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.

The unforgettable musical theme of the “Main Street 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.

I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes video I shot at the May 26, 2010 Sneak Peek.

The parade will step off nightly beginning Sunday, June 6, and continuing through Saturday, Aug. 14, in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.

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Summer nights at Walt Disney World Resort will enchant theme park guests when glittering light magic, high adventure, dance fever, thrills and chills set the after-dark scene. From June 6 through Aug. 14, “Summer Nightastic!” lights up the entertainment experience at the Vacation Kingdom with a megawatt parade, a fireworks extravaganza, a rockin’ dance party, concerts and other surprises.

Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot all present special events designed to add summertime energy to the after-dark theme-park experience. At Magic Kingdom, thousands of tiny lights illuminate the return of the beloved “Main Street Electrical Parade,” and the elaborate new “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular” paints the night sky more brightly than ever.

“There’s a special energy in the parks at night,” says Chris Oyen, show director for the “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular.” “It’s all about the magic and the sense of adventure and mystery that nighttime possesses in the Magic Kingdom.”

Summer nights at Walt Disney World Resort will enchant theme park guests when glittering light magic, high adventure, dance fever, thrills and chills set the after-dark scene. From June 6 through Aug. 14, “Summer Nightastic!” lights up the entertainment experience at the Vacation Kingdom with a megawatt parade, a fireworks extravaganza, a rockin’ dance party, concerts and other surprises.Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot all present special events designed to add summertime energy to the after-dark theme-park experience. At Magic Kingdom, thousands of tiny lights illuminate the return of the beloved “Main Street Electrical Parade,” and the elaborate new “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular” paints the night sky more brightly than ever.“There’s a special energy in the parks at night,” says Chris Oyen, show director for the “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular.” “It’s all about the magic and the sense of adventure and mystery that nighttime possesses in the Magic Kingdom.”

I have so much to share I’m going to break it up into several posts over the next few days…leading up to June 6th-when my family and I will be at the premiere of Summer Nightastic at the Magic Kingdom!

At yesterday’s event we spent the morning in a backstage warehouse that was set up with several of the “Main Street Electrical Parade” floats. After some opening announcements we were able to visit the floats, touch the floats and even get in some of them! The Disneyphile in me was totally geeked to get to ride on the vehicle that is inside the spinning turtles, bugs and butterflies that are a part of the parade.

The “Main Street Electrical Parade”, a classic pageant of illuminated floats 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,” and Disney theme songs woven in, the parade returns to Walt Disney World Resort 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 characters new to Walt Disney World Resort. The “Main Street Electrical Parade” Is my absolute favorite of all of the Disney parades I have seen over the years and I am so excited that it is back in Florida for the summer of 2010!

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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 Tinkerbell 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 you to drop in 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.

Tomorrow, 2-11-10 I will be part of a World Record attempt at Epcot! The details are still hush hush but you can check out the Celebrate Volunteers live stream starting at 9:58am.

**updated 2-13-10**

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