MSEP Returns

I think 'The Main Street Electrical Parade' is one of the most over-rated entertainments in Disney theme park history.

It was cool when I was working at WDW - but that was 30 years ago!

Sometimes, the memory of these types of things is better than the seeing it again. See also: 'The Country Bear Jamboree' 'America Sings' and 'Adventure Thru Innerspace'

 

Regarding CBJ (and CBVH): I regard CBJ as timeless, and because of its self-deprecating humor, running gags, and vaudeville look-and-feel, capable of appealing to anybody, regardless of musical tastes. By contrast, CBVH was already dated before its debut.

America Sings was no CoP. And I'll admit that the "Mighty Microscope" got kind of dated, too, even before Monsanto's primary business took a turn to the dark side, but at least it got replaced with something much better. (As to what replaced CBVH, I can only repeat what I've said before: say what you like about the DL version of "Pooh," but what it replaced was another, more malodorous, kind of, ahem, "pooh."

There was a time, in the mid-1990s, when gas was much cheaper, and I could, as a passholder, get a parking space closer to the main gate than the tram stops are now, and I couldn't afford concerts or vacations, when I would go to DL after dinner, spend a couple of hours there, stand around the Coke Corner listening to Johnny or Rod, see a MSEP or two, and ride one attraction. And do it two or three times a month. I don't see anything overrated about the MSEP, or Spectro, and I don't think Light Magic was nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. But I do find PTN to be grossly overrated, just as I found Party Gras and most other one-season-wonder parades to be grossly overrated.

 

Daft Punk was the best thing in Tron. Probably the best soundtrack of that year.

 

Interesting. I agree that the format has aged surprisingly gracefully, but I much prefer the Vacation show to the original. Yes, the pop songs did date parts of it (and I haven't watched the visuals nearly as much as I've listened to the soundtrack), but the upbeat pace is just a lot more fun. Even with WDW's current abridged original show, it just feels a little creaky for current sensibilities

I completely agree! I still contend that it was one of the all time biggest Oscar snubs when it didn't get nominated for Original Score. It fit the film so incredibly well (it was basically a 2-hour music video) and the combination of electronica-inspired arrangements with orchestral instrumentation still feels incredibly fresh and different (though there are some parallels to The Last of the Mohicans, in a weird way)

 

>Yes, the pop songs did date parts of it

Unlike the "Capitol Records' marginally popular country hits of the late 1960s" that populated the original show. ;-)

 

Jean-Jacques Perrey, one of the co-composers of Baroque Hoedown died on Friday
Electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey dies at 87

 

Very sad news!

On one of DLP souvenir DVDs there's a documentary about MSEP that features Jean-Jacques Perrey. I think it's called From one Lightbuld to Another.

 

I had a copy butr lost it and would LOVE to see it on youtube, (somebody uploaded the French version with English subtitles, but the subtiitles are INCREDIBLY hard to read.

 

Regarding the issue of music, I have always held to the belief that the music that makes up the overwhelming majority of the "classical" and "traditional jazz" repertoires is not "good because it is old," but rather, is "still heard after decades or centuries because it's good."

During the summer, thousands of people show up for the "Classical Tuesdays and Thursday" subscription concerts at Hollywood Bowl not to listen to music that is centuries old, but to listen to music that has endured for centuries. People don't line up halfway down the block to squeeze into the burned-out New Orleans art gallery we call Preservation Hall, despite the shortage of seating and the total lack of food and beverage service, because the music (and most of the musicians) are old, but because the music is timeless and enduring, and the musicians have truly monumental chops.

When we hear popular music of the 1950s and 1960s today, what we hear is not whatever happened to be in the top 40 of any given week during those decades; we hear the best of those decades, much of which didn't necessarily attract much notice at the time.

However passionate some of us might be about Daft Punk's score for T:L, only time will tell whether it will endure as long as what Wendy wrote for the original.

Personally, given a choice between chamber music and chamber pot music, I always opt for the former. And I regard the score of PTN as the latter.

 

just saw a picture of the clock tower float sitting backstage at Disneyland in a tent. Not the first time it's been stored like that (the parade began it's DCA life in tents while they built a 2nd warehouse.

 

I just had a crazy revelation: MSEP originally debuted on June 12, 1972. You know what else happened that day? The Watergate break-in.

MSEP has had a good run, but it's time for it to glow away. Forever.

 

I only have two questions- did they finally upgrade the floats to new, green technology like with Paint the Night.
And will the railroad and river reopen before June 18?

 

What "green technology"? The LED lights? Those were done for technical reasons (smaller, brighter, more programming options, etc.), nothing related to being environmentally friendly

MSEP has a handful of LED lights, mostly in the pixie dust "swirls" that were added circa 2010; most of the lights on the remaining floats are the traditional incandescent bulbs, though there are some LEDs sprinkled in sporadically. At this point, it wouldn't make any sense to update it (from a cost, technical, or environmental perspective), since it would appear it's destined for the scrap heap in a few months

 

Doesn't matter to me why they have LED lights, as long as they do. The end justifies the means.

 

Towards the end of the original DL run, white LEDs hadn't been on the market for very long (and warm white might have been either brand new or not yet available), and somebody tried them on the mouse suits in the Cinderella unit. They didn't last very long, and my understanding (purely from hearsay) is that the designer took one look, and was absolutely livid, demanding a return to incandescent.

When I saw The Parade at WDW-MK, back around the turn of the 21st century (with Spectro on hiatus), they inserted Spectro butterfly and dragonfly rollerskaters into the Alice unit; I'm not sure if they were LED or some kind of exotic Electroluminescent panels.

I miss Spectro almost as much as I miss the MSEP.

 

On the other hand, I don't think I'll miss PTN even as much as I miss Flights of Fantasy, or Light Magic.

 

What do you like about LEDs? If it's the way they look or how they can be programmed, that's fine and dandy and the end would justify the means in that case

If you like how they're environmentally friendly, I'm not sure that would be a result of installing them now. By all accounts the parade will (finally) be retired after it finishes this run in DL. Although LEDs do use less energy than traditional bulbs, I don't think that's so significant that it would outweigh now much energy and materials would be required to manufacture new bulbs and install them. The old lights are going to be trashed in a few months anyway; why add new LEDs to the trash then too? It just creates more waste than there would have been otherwise

Plus I would be surprised if LEDs are installed. Disney is marketing it as one last time to see an old classic, which kind of implies that they're taking a classic approach to the presentation. It will be interesting to see how audiences react to the creaky old parade after having the ultra-modern PTN for a couple years

 

Disney used the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade as an ad for MSEP's revival:

 

Tink's float moved to Peter Pan section, Pinocchio section reduced to Funhouse face with Pinocchio dancing in front with the PI Boys

 

It's a shame that the Pleasure Island float has been cut; I always thought it was one of the more interesting ones

I guess it makes sense to put Tink with Peter Pan. I know that the Blue Fairy opening was iconic, but the "fairy leading the way" thing always seemed forced. The pixie dust swirls never really worked for me either