The Return Of The Main Street Electrical Parade At Disneyland

Jan 20, 2017 was the first official public day of the return of the "beloved" Main Street Electrical Parade.

It had rained earlier in the day with a forecast of more rain on the evening side.

Luckily, the clouds separated around the Disneyland Resort so that no rain fell during either parade times of 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm.

I was hesitant on going. I thought, "First day of the return, there's gonna be a lot of people there waiting for the people".
Around 7:30 pm I had checked the Disneyland app, just to see what kind of wait times the Park was experiencing. To my surprise, there were short waits posted. Maybe the rain from earlier and the projected rain to come scared a lot of locals away.

I hurry to Disneyland to claim a spot. I knew I wanted to stand, but didn't want to be 2, 3, or 4 rows back.  When I got there, I claimed a spot near the Main Street train station steps. And only the curve was the only part occupied, with about 30 minutes before the parade started near "it's a small world".

Closer to start time, more people did start to show up. But there wasn't any pushing or shoving. People had a lot of elbow room around them.

Around 8:30 pm, there was an announcement that the Main Street Electrical Parade was having a slight delay and that they hope to get the parade going shortly. There was a sigh of relief from the crowd as many, like me, thought that the parade was going to be cancelled due to either ground still wet or technical difficulties.


While waiting, a lot of people across the way from where I was had light up accessories. Many of them were from the previous night where one could pay $95 to be one of the first to see the Main Street Electrical Parade before the general public.


The fanfare the parade starts


The lights go out
Typically people would start clapping to the tune of the theme song, but hardly anyone was clapping.
Maybe cause it was so cold that night, that people kept their hands in their pockets to keep warm.


The first float is rounding Town Square


Since there is no more Blue Fairy, the parade is being led by the Casey Jr train float.

Those who remember the parade being shown in Disney California Adventure, before being sent to Walt Disney World will remember that the parade was led by the (then) new Tinkerbell float. The float is still in the parade, a bit altered, and in a different section of the parade.



This parade still has the pixie trail lighting effect traveling along each parade float.
But, the whole premise of the pixie trail along the floats was that the "fairy's magic always lights the way". And that was why the Tinkerbell float was the leading float.
















































































Those with a keen eye will notice that the top crow's nest, there used to be another mast on top of it. Tink used to fly around there, but since she is now a live person on a float, it was not needed. But, even when the parade was at Disney California Adventure with the new Tink float, the mast was still above the crow's nest.










Tinkerbell's float is now behind Captain Hook's pirate ship.


The same music cue for the Peter Pan / Captain Hook's pirate ship also plays for Tink's float




And now















The Seven Dwarf's mine is back





Now, we may have gained a Mine, but we lost an entire circus.
No more Dumbo unit


Pinocchio and the donkeys








The only float of the Pinocchio Pleasure Island unit to survive is the one with the giant head
No more tobacco road float.
I hope it's not an anti-tobacco message

















And now to celebrate America, we present our patriotic finale






















And now my review of the Main Street Electrical Parade.

I had grown up going to Disneyland and watching The Main Street Electrical Parade.
I used to think that the parade were these giant floats rolling down the streets of Disneyland.
Not until it went to Disney California Adventure, did it show how small the floats were.

Coming back to Disneyland, I thought they might look big once again against the scale of Main Street. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

This comeback of the parade just felt tired, old, and no feelings of nostalgia took over. As each float came by, I just kept looking at in disappointment.

Once its done, it should be done!

Dismantle it, and in the words of the great Dr Henry Jones....

"That belongs in a museum"