MSEP Returns

In a flurry of late-night posts to the Disney Parks Blog, it was announced that WDW will end their run of the Main Street Electrical Parade, and it will return to DL for a limited-time encore early next year. Given recent rumors and the timing of the posts, I can only assume that the announcement was rushed in order to do some sort of damage control
Main Street Electrical Parade to Move from Florida to California - LaughingPlace.com

Disney also announced that Paint the Night would return for "select nights" this holiday season at DL, but nightly performances will stop at the end of the 60th, right after Labor Day. They confirmed in the responses to comments that there is no intent at this time to move the parade to WDW

It's a not-so-well-kept secret that PTN is having maintenance issues after 15 months of nightly performances, and could use some time off to fix things; traditionally DLR ran MSEP seasonally to help with this. I just think it's interesting that DLR seems to think that a 44 year old parade that's been running nightly for 6 years will allow them more reliability. MK parks a tractor in the hub each night, since there's a reasonable chance that one of the floats will need a tow mid-performance. I just don't see how DLR thinks this is a good idea

Additionally, I watched MSEP in January after seeing PTN last September. To say that MSEP looked like an embarrassing relic was an understatement. I know that DLR loves to market nostalgia, and the soCal fanbase tends to eat it up, but I don't see how this will lead to anything but disappointing reviews. MSEP has been running since the Nixon administration, and simply needs to be put out of its misery at this point

And to make things more interesting, this now leaves WDW without a nighttime parade; perhaps they'll get their own version of PTN (or something else) in the next year or two?

 

Why can't MSEP die? What is there even an nighttime parade right now?

 

Right? Agreed.

Like the Country Bears - let them hibernate in peace.

 

it seems as of late that all 23 floats have been seen on the route on a regular basis. that leads ne to believe the upkeep isn't that bad.

 

I'm not much of a parade guy, and never cared too much about the MSEP, even back in the day. (I know, I know - I'm a baaaaad Disney fan).

I did kind of enjoy Paint the Night, though. Technically, it was impressive.

I think MSEP after PTN is going to be kind of like going on Mission to Mars in 1987, right after you went on Star Tours. I actually did that during that brief period when they overlapped, and of course ST seemed like Mission to Mars 5.0, and MTM seemed like "wow, this is pretty out of date now..."

 

The theme for the family fun 5K at the upcoming Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend next month is Country Bears. Because apparently that makes sense to somebody who is completely out of touch with what runners like/are aware of

That sounds promising. I can understand why nightly performances present some additional wear-and-tear issues, especially with such an old parade, but I also have to believe that nightly performances mean that it's constantly getting small-scale maintenance to keep it running. It may not be perfect, but it's probably better than a parade that sits unused for half the year

 

I saw MSEP ad MK last year. Judging by the crowds it's not just the Anaheim crowd that loves it.

I haven't seem PTN in person, only on youtube. While the floats were quite stunning, the soundtrack didn't do anything for me. I guess I'm just too old.

 

According to Don Dorsey whaile the parade will run at Disneyland, when the announcements play in the soundtrack you're going to think you're at DCA

 

I must confess that the logic of swapping out Paint the Night for MSEP puzzles me?
Are they doing this to save money?
Does another park need a new parade (I'm thinking Hong Kong) to boost attendance?

 

I'm not sure I understand it either. If I'm not mistaken, MSEP has a larger cast and far more floats (each with a driver) than PTN, so I doubt it's a cost-saving measure. There are wide reports of PTN's maintenance needs, but I'm not sure why they couldn't just have no nighttime parade while that work was done; there were nearly 20 years when DL didn't have one, and things worked just fine. I think people will be very surprised by how obsolete the 1970's parade looks after seeing the flashy new replacement

I don't know if other parks need anything, but Hong Kong has their own version of PTN which debuted about a year before DL's version. Supposedly they also have a version of MSEP (originally from WDW, and later DLP) that was sent there prior to the park's 2005 opening and never used, but that seems to have quietly disappeared through the years

 

Well at least the Pete and Elliot float will be semi-current again.

 

I don't understand - please 'splain

 

What I mean is the soundtrack with the announcements heard last at DCA will be the same ones used for the return engagement at Disneyland. in other words they won't be referring to it in the announcements as the "Main Street Electrical Parade"

 

Gotcha. Is that a bad thing?

 

not really a bad thing. in terms of the music the change was necessary because the old soundtrack had an unusual rythem (mostly 2 beat tempo with 1 bar of music with 3 beats) the name change is probably to keep people from saying "Didn't you get rid of MSEP 20 years ago?"

 

Yeah, and I have a lightbulb to prove it!!!!!

 

I just discovered the 3-beat measure earlier this week, and it blew me away! As a former marching band type, it would drive me crazy to play it or perform to it, since halfway through you end up on the wrong foot. Definitely a fun little hidden trick!

 

yeah . I didn't even pick up on it till I heard this podcast: WaltsMusic Podcast - Don Dorsey I've heard lots op people say they like the old soundtrack and wished they'd never changed it. Chances are they would change their mind if they ever had to dance to the old soundtrack

 

Was it choreographed so that half the time they were on the "wrong" foot and kept beat the whole time, or was there some sort of skip/ball change to let the dancers adjust when the music 'reset' itself? I'm not sure either one would be especially easy, since the change is during the vamp when the beat is hard to find anyway, but it would prevent having to learn two nearly-identical but different routines to get down the route

 

Personally, I'm delighted.

I saw PTN twice this summer, once from the Plaza Paviliion/Jolly Holiday dining area, and once from much closer. Overall, my reaction was on the order of "Meh." It wasn't bad, but it wasn't even in the same league with the MSEP or Spectro (and for that matter, I think I liked LM, with all its faults, better than PTN) and the soundtrack immediately reminded me of why I thought it was a monumental mistake to have TRON:Legacy scored by Daft Punk instead of Wendy Carlos.

And as to reliability of a 44-year-old parade, do I have to remind anybody here that the MSEP has probably had more technology refreshes and outright retirement/replacement of more entire multi-float units, than any other parade in Disney history?

Besides which, nearly every Saturday, I spend the day docenting in a museum filled with graphic arts equipment, a good deal of which is older than I am, and much of which is not only in working order, but still used regularly (including the Linotype machines I run). If something is built to last, and given at least minimal maintenance, it lasts.