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View Full Version : The show at DL few years ago at night?



Maximus
06-04-2002, 03:19 PM
I remember a show that I saw at night in DL and it was great. I can't remember the name though. It was similar to Electrical Parade, but was done with fiber optic colored cables and tons and tons of confetti. This was about 4 years ago that I saw it, does anyone else remember this or know what I am talking about?

hbquikcomjamesl
06-04-2002, 03:46 PM
Yes. It was called Light Magic. It had potential, I'd say a lot more potential than most of the others in this forum would give it credit for, but it had too many strikes against it:

1. It was billed as a permanent replacement for the MSEP, which is a virtually impossible act to follow. Of all the parades and night-only shows that have run at Disneyland, only Fantasmic, and the full version (complete with the "carolers" unit) of Christmas Fantasy, have been good enough to compete with The Parade.

2. The closing of the MSEP, thought to be permanent at the time, created a level of guest hostility that management should have anticipated, but didn't.

3. The technologies were so immature, and the show was rushed to its debut with so little testing, and so little time to find and work out the kinks, that it was rather rare for a performance to go off without something going wrong.

4. Because of the nature of the DL parade route, the show created horrendous bottlenecks whenever it ran from Small World to Town Square, because the crowds who'd just seen it in front of SW, and wanted to go home, were blocked by the crowds watching it on Main Street. There were also bottlenecks going the other way, but they weren't nearly as bad. Pity DL's parade route isn't like WDW-MK's or DCA's, with both ends leading back to the barn.

5. In spite of the fact that Town Square and the Plaza Hub could both accommodate more guests than Main Street, LM did not have stops for either place.

Ace
06-04-2002, 04:08 PM
how do they get the floats back from Main street to the parade beginning (which is where?)?

Disney Nick
06-04-2002, 04:32 PM
Most parades can start/end at either end. When a parade starts near Small World and ends at Main Street, then the next showing of that parade starts at Main Street and ends at Small World. At least it used to be that way...

Maximus
06-04-2002, 05:14 PM
I really enjoyed that show, even though it was a little different than MSEP. It was still cool to see something at night with a lot of "eye candy" and the styles of floats were great too. So they have just scratched that whole parade huh?

Disney Nick
06-04-2002, 05:17 PM
yup... it got scratched pretty quickly too. Didn't even make it a year.

Iceman
06-04-2002, 05:21 PM
Wow, hbquikcomjamesl, that's the best, most fair description of Light Magic I've ever seen! Kudos to you!

MouseWife
06-04-2002, 06:54 PM
hbquikcomjamesl~

Yes, I have to agree. A very good review of its reasons for demise.

A big fact was that it was touted to replace the Electric Parade.
A Step-Parent, so to speak. Not good so soon after the 'passing' of the MSEP.

The crowd control is what totally got me. When I went, my son was separated from me {he is now 8 I forget what he was then}a woman with a newborn was separated from her group and sobbing. People got mean and nasty {punches almost flew}when they had to be patient and orderly. And it wasn't even an emergency situation. That was enough for me.

corrinhorn
06-05-2002, 03:55 PM
The Greatest thing for me about it was the Jokes that cast members used to make...I was 14 at the time, so it wasn't the MSEP and that made it worthless for an APer like me... we used to go around asking cast members what they thought of the parade...they would usually decline to comment or say that it was having trouble adjusting to the park...stuff like that...The best though was when we asked a Fantasmic CM what he thought of it, and he asked us if we wanted a private showing. we said yes, and he pulled out his Guest Control flashlight and began to dance the light on the ground...he said something to the effect of, "it doesn't get much better than that!" I laughed hystericallY.

My other favorite was the Jungle Cruise CM's jokes/spoof...

"Thanks for riding folks. Now remember as you leave tonight, enjoy Disneyland's newest parade, Brake light Magic . That's right folks, 10,000 cars and only 2 exits. The best part? You get to be a part of the Magic! That's right Drive your own float and pick your own music! Lots of colorful lights and colorful language!"


I think I laughed the rest of the night after hearing that one...:D

RStar
06-06-2002, 09:30 AM
I went to the AP party showing of Light Magic, and remember a lot of the APers standing in line at City Hall to get their money back (I wasn't one of them- while I was a bit dissapointed, I didn't feel I cheated). A lot of them were saying "that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen!" My wife and I just looked at each other and said "What was that?" But then I went back several times and watched it, and it kinda grew on me.

I feel the main problem (and I know I'm going to sound like Al Lutz here) was the theme. They promised us "The most spectacular night time performance in history". I expected it to top Fantasmic! and insted we got a sleepy night time child's dream. A luliby to put you to sleep. No villans and heros, just a film of kids romping in feilds.

But it did have good looks, technology, and potintial. Too bad it wasen't well written. And then to have the confedence to show it to their most critical audience that night was a mistake. And I wonder why they have never had the yearly AP parties (except the DCA preview) sence then?

My favorite story from LM was when the flair-like device that was suppose to be Tinker Bell came loose from it's wire and started shooting around on the ground. CMs near by feared it would go into the guests and began chasing poor Tink down. When they finally cought up with her (she got stuck in a trolly track) they began stomping on her to put her out. Kids near by began crying "No! Don't kill Tinker Bell!":eek:

At least that's the story I was told, I don't know if it got embelished along the way;)

Lani
06-06-2002, 09:51 AM
If I recall correctly, the AP event for Light Magic was so horrible (according to management) that that is what caused the park to stop offering AP-only events. I don't know how true that is, though from what I hear people at the preview event were extremely unhappy with it.

All I remember is walking down towards the park exit on one of my trips to the park back when I lived in Hawaii, and having Al point out the fiber optic sign that said something like "Coming soon: Light Magic," and telling me it was Paul Pressler's project for replacing MSEP.

tabacco
06-06-2002, 09:58 AM
Originally posted by corrinhorn
"Thanks for riding folks. Now remember as you leave tonight, enjoy Disneyland's newest parade, Brake light Magic . That's right folks, 10,000 cars and only 2 exits. The best part? You get to be a part of the Magic! That's right Drive your own float and pick your own music! Lots of colorful lights and colorful language!"

"Thank for riding the Jungle Cruise, everyone! Don't forget, tonight in the parking lot we'll be having our car stereo buyback sale. That's right, if you brought it, we got it! We're sure to have just what you're looking for."

Ghoulish Delight
06-06-2002, 10:08 AM
Originally posted by lani

All I remember is walking down towards the park exit on one of my trips to the park back when I lived in Hawaii, and having Al point out the fiber optic sign that said something like "Coming soon: Light Magic," and telling me it was Paul Pressler's project for replacing MSEP. Ha! I remember that sign. I never saw the show, but I remember seeing that sign and thinking, "Hrmm, replace the most innovative and beloved parade ever with something else involving lights? Doomed to failure." Man was I right. It had the same fatal flaw as the Star Wars prequels. No matter how hard you try, it will never live up to the original. You simply can't live up to a legend. It was a BIG mistake to do something so blatantly similar (not necessarily in format, but in that the main selling point was colored lights!) immediately after axing MSEP.

RStar
06-06-2002, 12:38 PM
You know, I never thought of that. If they would have simply rolled out a new parade, not to REPLACE MSEP, and not have it be based on lights it may have not dissapointed as many people. And then it wouldn't have been a "doomed sequil"......

Oh well, hindsight is always 40/40 (unless your top brass, then it was still a good idea but the dumb public just didn't get it!:eek: )

Nigel2
06-06-2002, 09:17 PM
If I remember correctly I think it did 4 shows (once to main street and once back) but the biggest problem was with the bottlenecks since essentally only a small portion of the parade route was useable for the parade since you needed to be at 1 of the 2 stops so you could see the movies. Plus I think someone said that the kids in the movie had that freaky look to them like they were the nauseatingly wholesome type.

horatiodude
06-07-2002, 05:28 AM
Jim Hill is doing a series about Light Magic over at DCACentral.com

Be sure to check it out.