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View Full Version : Electrical Parade... time to go?



wonderful
12-21-2001, 10:00 AM
Now don't have a heart attack... as far as I know, DEP is around for a good month more... but here's a thought...
I was watching the parade the other day with the same "glazed over" look I've watched it with since I was a kid... I LIKE the parade, I really do, but I've seen better and I "would like" to see better and "newer" come the way of DCA...
And most folks would probably say, "yeah and put it back where it belongs, on Main Street!"... but that's not where I am going at all. I think shelfing the thing and saving it for special occasions like the 50th would be just fine... I'd hate to see boring, lame old Parade of the Stars be replaced by yet another parade that has been around for years (okay, if it got rid of Parade of the Stars, I would stand to see it back at DL)...
Back to DCA... someone posted that they thought the park is really coming into its own and I would agree... it's not perfect, but I like it. I think Eureka! is a great parade and I would love to see it with more dancers and a few characters... I also wouldn't mind a "Hollywood" type parade at night or something more "California" than DEP.
So, in closing, I think (and this is just my opinion) DEP should go the way of the Country Bear... and make way for something "newer" ... (and that gives me an idea for another post...)

adriennek
12-21-2001, 12:59 PM
well, it can't go quite yet because, believe it or not, I haven't seen it yet at DCA and I want to see it at least once before it "glows away for an undetermined amount of time until the company needs it again."

Adrienne K

mad4mky
12-21-2001, 01:11 PM
I missed seeing it when we were down at DLR a few weeks ago. As much as I wanted to see it...the rest of my family didn't.

My only reprieve is hoping to see it at DLParis in March. And if not then, I still hope it will be up and going in May when we hopefully will make it back down to DLR.
I love the parade. And maybe locals get to see it often, but us who cannot go all the time still see it as something special.

innerSpaceman
12-21-2001, 01:27 PM
I, too, believe the Electrical Parade should be banished for a good long time. Maybe 7 years or so, and then back in a sparkling new edition with a bunch of new or newly designed floats incorporating 21st century technology but keeping Baroque Hoedown as the underlying musical element. I remember the excitement in '85 when the Parade returned in an updated edition after a long hiatus. Something like that would be really good for what obviously cannot be topped as the penultimate nighttime Disneyland parade.

I wouldn't mind 3 years off if they wanted to return it to MAIN STREET for Disneyland's 50th, but it would require a return of ALL the floats plus a special 50th anniversary float.

Nigel2
12-21-2001, 09:58 PM
The only problem is that a lot of die hards would probably have a stroke if they didn't get their parade back in the exact way it left them. But yeah it would be nice to see a makeover of the parade even if it wasn't at DLR. I think it was spectro-magic I saw at the MK and some of the floats were rather impressive since they (I think) could have the floats and costumes change from white lights to colored on cue and do it smoothly.

DisneyFreak2000
12-22-2001, 06:18 PM
The Eletrical Parade lost a bit of its magic when it started playing in Disney's California Adventure. It felt like it didn't belong. Like seeing a shiny red apple in a bowl full of oranges or something. They should work hard on bringing a great night parade by summer (something like SpectroMagic) and throw it into California Adventure. THat would give the EP 2-3 years to be updated with some new lights/fiber optics and floats and open it for the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland. They should bring back the Pinnochio at Pleasure Island, the Pinnochio Underwater float and the Snow White ones, and make a Sleeping Beauty and 'Disneyland's 50th Anniversery' float. I don't think floats from newer movies (Beauty and the Beast, THe Little Mermaid) should be added, however, because I always thought of the MSEP as the parade that focuses on the older and WALT MADE movies. If we want to see a BEauty and the Beast or Hercules light parade float, they should put them in a NEW parade at DCA.

LIMANDL4EVA
12-22-2001, 08:42 PM
DEP is great and all, but we need a newer version, this one is to outdated, it just LOOKS outdated;)

Nigel2
12-22-2001, 09:34 PM
I believe the PI float has been dismantled, but I can't find any comfirmation on what (if any) float was lost.

Morrigoon
12-22-2001, 09:48 PM
I like the MSEP (okay, DEP, if you insist). It's gotten too short though. Some classics should stay; the drum, blue fairy, Pete's Dragon, Alice (wasn't part of ALice missing from the current version?), the bugs, the patriotic finale. But I think a changing out of other units would be well advised - over time. For now, they should concentrate on adding units.

Say what you will, but a Beauty and the Beast float would be fantastic in that setting. Picture a golden gazebo of lights topped by a glass-covered fibre optic red rose with Belle and Beast dancing underneath. And if you wanted to get really fancy, you could have a walking Lumiere (with his face showing, like the stage version but more cartoony - for visibility) with the lighters at the end of his candles to switch on and off. They could reuse the dinnerware costume designs, but rigged for lights. Maybe add a bug-style Chip unit that drives around like crazy.

Little Mermaid, with all its colors, could lend itself really well to the MSEP concept. They could utilize green "icicle" lights as seaweed across the top of a unit with Ariel on it. She could either be seated, or they could rig a suspension unit for power (they'd have to use some kind of rotatable contact surface) so Ariel could act as if she's "swimming" or doing flips (with a lit tail). There could be a solid part of the unit behind her with flounder, perhaps a simple 3-image "animation" in the sense that the drum's words could be called animation (no, I don't suggest projecting a film image, it would clash).

That would be a darn nice start.

Nigel2
12-22-2001, 09:51 PM
Or they could just go for the "generic" float (which could change color/pattern for design) that princesses would take turns dacning on like in other parades.

Morrigoon
12-22-2001, 10:22 PM
I'm pretty sure you meant that sarcastically, but it could work ;) Look how they do over the monkey barges as princess ones. Okay, that particular METHOD wouldn't work, but certainly there is a way to make it work. Be careful what you wish for....

Nigel2
12-22-2001, 11:08 PM
Actually no, just trying to be more realistic budget wise.

Cadaverous Pallor
12-23-2001, 12:20 PM
Originally posted by Nigel2
I believe the PI float has been dismantled, but I can't find any comfirmation on what (if any) float was lost.

From what I understand, the floats themselves get rebuilt all the time. I heard from a CM that after it "glowed away" the floats were completely dismantled since they were so old and trashed. So it's not like they can "lose" a float - they have the plans to rebuild them, and have already done so.

tjrj
12-23-2001, 12:26 PM
The DEP can go away for awhile-I agree that it shouldn't be an "everyday" parade-but rather something special. But it should be replaced by something just as special. How special is it? Well, even in it's current shortened version, the look on my son's face when he saw it a month ago, was as delighted as the film I have of me watching the same(ok, slightly different) parade when I was his age.

Nigel2
12-23-2001, 09:43 PM
Originally posted by Cadaverous Pallor


From what I understand, the floats themselves get rebuilt all the time. I heard from a CM that after it "glowed away" the floats were completely dismantled since they were so old and trashed. So it's not like they can "lose" a float - they have the plans to rebuild them, and have already done so.
No I mean the PI float has probably been recycled for parts at TDS or TDL. And I have heard that they do not know what happened to one float.

Morrigoon
12-23-2001, 10:39 PM
For most guests, ANY day at Disneyland is special. We are the lucky few who can own APs and go as often as we want (and are involved enough to know about the special occasions). For the typical, once-annually type guest, the day they visit the park IS a special day, and they deserve to see the MSEP as much as we do.

LIMANDL4EVA
12-24-2001, 07:28 PM
Originally posted by Nigel2
Or they could just go for the "generic" float (which could change color/pattern for design) that princesses would take turns dacning on like in other parades.
like in fantasmic but they would all be on the same float! INGENIUOS I TELL YOU!!

Nigel2
12-25-2001, 09:43 PM
I always wonder why they don't use Ariel in her transformed form, she wasn't as happy as a mermaid if I rember correctly? Same with the beast.

MickeyD
12-25-2001, 09:52 PM
yeah, but you always see Ariel as a mermaid and Beast as a, well, beast. that's how they're most recognizable.

Nigel2
12-25-2001, 10:12 PM
Yeah, I know but I especailly think Ariel should have at least one appearance (no matter where) where she is human, they did it for the beast in the stage shows.

bandboy1985
12-27-2001, 07:08 PM
the electrical would be the perfect cap off to the fiftieth-anniversary celebration. if key attractions will be re-dedicated, it's a nice parallel to re-dedicate a great parade, too- with a few new floats (including a 50-th anniv. float finale). i think it's a great ides to add a beauty and the beast float, and a little mermaid float, they have been the most financially successful Disney animated films that lend themselves to such a parade appearance. a nice four-year hiatus would provide adequate time for the public to remember their nostalgia wrapped up in both the parade, and the park, as it reaches this key milestone. there's tons of great ideas in this thread for some truly magical parade experiences, and all that remains to be said is that the parade needs a great corps of dancers to interact with the audience; the 50-th anniversary float could be a beautiful rendition of the castle in pink and blue lights with fog machines ringing the base and pink and blue lasers through the fog around the float; the event logo raised above the rear of the towers in white light. the dancers could be done up as a group of courtiers, with Sleeping Beauty and Philip waltzing on a low front pavilion attached to the front of the float, surrounded by pink fiber-optic roses. the three good fairies might be worked into the towers watching over them; we need to get these ideas to someone who can drop them in a suggestion box somewhere! ;)

LIMANDL4EVA
12-27-2001, 08:00 PM
you know fiber optics aree TRULY AMAZING, i know how light magic was, but thats because the fiber optics werent used the properly, if we had a parde with fiber optics, similair to DEP, but FAR AWAY as possible from LM, it would be so awesome cuz fiber optics really are cool, but we wouldnt want any mistakes created with it similair to that OTHER flop that is STILL on hiatus hint hint ;) ;)

Nigel2
12-27-2001, 10:34 PM
I don't know about lasers but fog probably would be a little tough since the floats all keep moving (Lion king used mist but they stoped the float when they did that). I don't think they have pink or blue lasers that would be portable enough either. I wonder if the return of DEP to DL is going to be like the return of ciriclevision, just another rumor.:(

bandboy1985
12-28-2001, 04:20 PM
well, hey now- if they can create new colors of laser beams, i'm sure they can create some low-intensity pink and blue lasers and direct some fog the way they want it to go, for sure! that seems like a much smaller task than organizing a pageant like fantasmic, no?

Nigel2
12-28-2001, 10:06 PM
I wasn't even considering the intensity of the lasers, but just the sheer size and amount of money and energy for suck a small effect. Plus if they blew the smoke ahead of the float it would still get blown out of the way by the float. Plus this is disney "no money for Disneyland" we are talking about here.