MSEP Returns

"Never say 'never again'."
(I thought it was a lousy movie, but it's good advice to the Disney theme park people.)

(And I think that probably anybody who's had a chance to compare the guest reactions to the MSEP -- especially the reactions of "first-timers" -- to the guest reactions to "Pain in the Night" ought to realize that the one is timeless, with plenty of room to continue evolving without losing its identity, while the other was already dated the night of its debut.)

 

You make some great points about how MSEP really set the bar for what we now think of as defining characteristics for a Disney parade. Even America on Parade, which debuted (and displaced MSEP) just a couple years after the initial version of MSEP, followed with the synchronized soundtrack

And while they never thought in 1972 that MSEP would run for decades, it was created as a land-based response to WDW's Electrical Water Pageant that could work for DL, which was originally intended to just be a part of the resort's opening festivities, but was so popular that it continues (essentially unaltered) to this day. There's just something about twinkly lights that seems to always work!

Although all of the CircleVisions have been removed from the castle parks, it's worth noting that the format is still going strong in Epcot. I think the most surprising announcement from this year's D23 expo is that they're going to upgrade and replace the film in China with seamless 360 projection. Of course, the content of that film hasn't been announced (and the timing in relation to the upcoming live action Mulan has me worried), but at least it sounds like they're going to keep it for the foreseeable future

 

Hmm. Upcoming live action Mulan. Haven't even gotten around to seeing the animated one yet.

Has anybody else here been to the Field Museum, in Chicago? Dunno if it's still there, but for decades, they had an exhibit of some very old theatrical costumes from an opera on that same story.

But I digress.

"Twinkly lights" don't always work. And the thing about the MSEP is that it evolved. To a far greater extent than any other single Disney parade (day or night), or any other single Disney theme park show. Many of the original 1972 MSEP floats were as two-dimensional as the EWP. The dragon was completely different (and even Elliott evolved from a proto-Elliott). It ended with a relatively simple "flag float": just a big U.S. flag on a staff. After AOP ended, along with all the other bicentennial festivities, it was felt that patriotic fervor had burned itself out, and so the new finale was Disney characters sculpted in neon, and accompanied by a disco (!) medley of Disney tunes. And as oxymoronic as the concept of "good disco" seems, it actually wasn't half bad. Eventually, somebody realized that disco was dead, and built the present flag float (possibly, given the length, on the chassis of the "Disney Characters in Neon" float). And gradually, the score accumulated new cues, including two fanfares.

And yet, for all that evolution, it never lost its identity. It always remained recognizable. And the score was always based on what will probably be the one piece Gershon Kingsley and Jean-Jacques Perrey will be most remembered for (and when they were both still alive, and still collaborating, they wrote a lot more good stuff, including "The Savers," which became the open and close music for the old game show, "The Joker's Wild").

It still amazes me that Disney would abandon Spectro. But then again, Disney management has (as I said) made its share of boneheaded decisions.

 

Just a little fun fact (and CA history): back in the day (60's/70's), CA public schools could never start before Sept. 10. The reason was that Sept. 9 was CA Admissions Day (the day CA was admitted to the union), and a state holiday, therefore a state holiday for all state workers, including teachers.

The thinking was that you had Labor Day in early Sept., of course, so that would have been one day off... then about a week later you'd have the Sept. 9 holiday, and that would be too much - just when you were getting started, you'd have two holidays, and the new-year lessons wouldn't gain "traction" or something.

Also, Sept. tends to be the second-hottest month after August in much of CA, and schools didn't have A/C then, so I'm sure that figured into the thinking as well. (I remember to this day that on my first day of junior high, it was 115 degrees!) Neither teachers nor students really wanted to be there in August or early September.

Anyway, back then the school year could never begin earlier than Sept. 10. I guess it's no longer that way, and I don't know if state workers even still get Sept. 9 as a holiday. But back then... my best friend's birthday also happened to be Sept. 9 and he often chose a trip to DL for his present, so many was the year we would go there on or around the 9th... plus the new TV season (on all 3 networks!) would always start that week as well... so it was a time of great excitement as well as "Ugh... back to school."

 

And The Parade (and what may be the most beautiful commercial Disney has ever done, and one of the most beautiful anybody has ever done) is back. Haven't been to DL yet, but I'm planning on getting a 2-day ticket sometime before the end of September, and using it (most likely) two consecutive Sunday evenings.

 

Still no Blue Fairy. Still not back to the Don Dorsey version. But it's still far better than "Pain in the Night" (which isn't saying much; I found watching the screen during my last colonoscopy to be more entertaining than "Pain in the Night"). And the speaking CMs are good this year, almost as good as they were in the early 1990s.

 

Second day of my 2-day non-hopping pass.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Tinkerbell float is a nice addition, but I still miss the entire circus unit, I still miss the Blue Fairy, and most especially, I still miss the Don Dorsey version of the soundtrack.

But any MSEP, even if it's but a shadow of its former glory, is far better than "pain in the night." Then again, Light Magic with all its logistical nightmares, all its failures, and all the passholder resentment about it not being The Parade, and not living up to its hype, was far better than "pain in the night."

 

I forgot about the "really stupid decisions" (like making it completely and utterly uninteresting while moving, giving it only two performance stops, and making one of them in a place guaranteed to bottleneck the whole park. Or like having a pyrotechnic Tinkerbell [that inevitably flew off, and got stomped by a CM, provoking a horrified child's cry of "Don't kill Tinkerbell!]).

 

And it seems to be returning once again, this time with updates.

I don't see any calendar yet for it. But it's the one thing that will get me back into DL this year (for the first time since that miserable virus came into our lives).

I've said this many times before, and I'll probably continue to say it, but ever since I let my pass expire, for every single thing they've done to make me want to reinstate my pass, they've done at least one thing to make me never want to set foot in the place again. (e.g., they opened Galaxy's Edge, and what I've seen of it is amazing, but they also made RotR immersive in ways that I don't particularly appreciate (the way I don't appreciate "Tough to Be a Bug," and the way I didn't appreciate the "Borg" attraction back at the "Star Trek Hilton"), and put in all sorts of stuff that actively discriminates against those of us who choose not to own smartphones.

Of course, as far as I'm concerned, the best thing they could possibly do with The Parade would be to return to the Don Dorsey version of the soundtrack.

 

That is the one thing that might get me back to Disneyland.
I still want to go with my kids so they can handle all the phone stuff and I can just tag along. I cannot believe how many things are becoming *smart* phone dependent. I really resent it. My husband could not get Covid tested without it.

 

Luddites Unite! You have nothing to lose but your upgrade treadmills!

 

My very first email address and old screen name was RAM1984.
The first is my initials as well as my astrological sign and well, I saw what was coming. Phones and TVs that watch you.

 

With my health the way it is, and people being the way they are now, and needing to use your damn phone for everything, I will likely never return to d-land.

 

Sad to say we are thinking we may need to be content with the many happy memories we have now.

 

The Parade -- only back for occasional limited engagements (and with tight control over the inevitable "tail").
CircleVision -- gone forever.
Peoplemover -- the track shredded beyond repair from Rocket Rods.
CBJ -- Only if you're willing to make the trip to Florida.
CoP -- Only if you're willing to make the trip to Florida, and long before I was old enough to understand what it was, so I never saw it here.
Skyway -- gone forever.
Keelboats -- gone forever.
HM -- Too many movie tie-ins, and a total loss of the romantic folk backstory that tied in nicely with PotC.
Coke Corner -- Johnny and Rod have, so far as I'm aware, both retired.
Maynard showing up on almost any attraction in the Park -- No more.
Cab rides on the Monorail -- Probably never again.

So much of the DL we knew and loved is already gone. Gone to Florida, or gone to Yesterland. We could be visiting the Park seven days a week, and so many attractions are now just memories.

 

I just saw the new video on The Parade. Based on what I see, about the only way it could be improved would be to go back to the Don Dorsey version of the score.