Originally Posted By nemopoppins I saw a post that mentioned the Eureka Parade in another topic and I didn't want to go off topic there. But I just saw a (old) preview of the Eureka Parade today too and it looked really good and it got me wondering about it. Can anyone who has seen it tell me how it was? And what happened to it?
Originally Posted By DlandDug It was a rather beautiful, highly kinetic parade with a distinctive California vibe. I especially liked the marching Chinese take-out container and chop sticks. What happened to it? I cannot be sure why it was canceled so quickly.
Originally Posted By lesmisfan It was a really good parade, probably one of the best disney parades but since there were no characters it wasn't all that popular with the family crowd, but that is my guess. They canceled it so quickly because, from what i was told by someone in the entertainment department was that there were so many injuries to the performers who had those puppets and other things on the backs, that it got so bad they felt that had to cancel the parade. And they did tear down all the floats and also recycled some of them as well i think they said for block party and maybe the new parade. but they also used some of the part for the old POTS. but what entertainment told me was that block party has more of an injury list than eureka did so that is kind of a shame.
Originally Posted By cheesybaby I enjoyed Eureka and found it to be great as one of the more grown-up Epcot-style aspects of opening day DCA. Aspects like this and the full-on original Mondavi-sponsored winery and the character-free Wolfgang Puck experience were in my opinion the aspects of "hip and edgy" that they actually got right. Of course, attendance was low and so they jettisoned these and other things (particularly the great food variety) in what I feel was a loss of nerve. Anyway, Eureka was great and it's a shame it's gone. It was a nice parade plus it did much more to unify the park and communicate the theme than just about anything that remains in DCA today.
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL ^^^Good post cheesybaby! It really is sad that TDA couldn't tell what was good about the "Hip and Edgy" thing and what was poop. The loss of good entertainment like Eureka and the great opening year food offerings was the only thing that they SHOULD have kept. And I too loved the chinese take out going after the shrimp girl, that was cute. And really miss the seared scallop salad at Mondavi.
Originally Posted By bean i have seen complete videos of Eureka on you tube. It was a wonderful parade with a great soundtrack. Due to low crowds and the large cast in the parade it was placed on a season schedule and then eventually canceled altogether. The floats were literally destroyed and the chasis re-used for the new parades. It was bad planning in part of a few key people. The parade, in my opinion could have easily added characters to make it more appealing to families with children. How dificult would it have been to add Mulan to the asian section. How about the three caballeros to the latin section and even Goofy, Donald, Max and other characters in the beach section. So many other characters could have been added with their apropriate costumes thruout the parade. yet they opted to go with no parade for a long time until something new was designed and built
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Count me in as one who liked the parade. It wasn't that hip and edgy, just contemporary...and no characters. I enjoyed the soundtrack a lot, and I liked the whole vibe of the parade. I also agree that it captured what DCA should have been about perfectly. Oh well...
Originally Posted By nemopoppins Thanks everyone. I'm going to see if I can find the youtube videos even though I'm sure it won't do it justice. It sounds like I missed a good thing--a great parade that you didn't have to sit on the ground doing nothing for an hour to see.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< What happened to it? I cannot be sure why it was canceled so quickly. >>> What would happen if you put on a parade and nobody came?
Originally Posted By SuperDry Things are a lot different now in that the shock of the opening year is now passed. Remember that they went from predictions of DL having to be used as overflow from disappointed guests being turned away from an at-capacity DCA to having many of the flagship sponsors pull out only months after opening due to lack of business. This must have been an incredibly disorienting time for TDA, with drastic measures being made to cut costs when the revenue didn't show up. Today, the reality of what the situation is at DCA is no longer a surprise. TDA knew what the situation was when they planned BPB and decided to fund it in that context. So the two are very different situations.
Originally Posted By jonvn It was an absolutely excellent parade. The best Disney parade I ever saw was Tapestry of Nations in Epcot. The second best, and it was a close second was the Eureka Parade. When DCA first opened it had so many cool things....
Originally Posted By nemopoppins I used to watch the soaps when I was in school and when I was home with the babies (I just put them on on every TV in the house and went about my baby tending and housework, but I caught most of the shows while I did that). I really regret that I never went to the Soap Opera Bistro and then it was too late. Now I'm sad I missed the parade. It was gone before I went to DCA, I think.
