Originally Posted By Terminus I've seen it three or four times at DCA in the past couple years... I have some christmas lights in an Electrical Parade box/setting though. I still am a little disappoined by the lies, if you couldn't tell.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 My guess is they'll run the current one in WDW, find it's popular there and just keep it there with the current floats. WDW visitors don't tend to be as ultra-demanding as the SoCal crowd. Then at some point (2015 for the 60th?) they'll finally make some new floats for the newer features and bring it back to Main Street "by popular demand." They could claim (with some justification) that it's a new parade, albeit with the same name, and it would no doubt be hugely popular. For some reason, neither version of the EP really "did it" for me, but obviously a lot of people love it.
Originally Posted By dl1956 iirc, in days of yore, the MSEP ran twice nightly in the summer, sandwiching the fireworks which were low key compared to today's major events and were basically the same viewed thru out the park. Now, the crowds gather in the Hub and Main Street early on to get the best viewing spots for the fireworks, creating traffic flow, crowd control and trash problems, both before and after the fireworks. Any thoughts on how best to integrate a night time parade onto Main Street under these conditions? Does MK in WDW face a similar situation for their night time entertainment, and if so, how do they deal with it?
Originally Posted By mousermerf WDW has fireworks at MK petty much every night. That along with higher pyro, and more viewing area makes it not nearly as crowded or congested. WDW took out their trees, removed the curb, and created as much space as possible. The castle is taller, the pyro is higher in the air.. etc.. and then all the auxillary viewing locations within the park and outside of it (Contemporary observation decks, Polynesian, etc..) and you have lots more people seeing the show but with far less congestion. Not to mention, they don't let you block the street or camp out because they have a night parade still.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Not to mention, they don't let you block the street or camp out because they have a night parade still." Well that's the solution right there.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Plus they don't have to contend with FANTASMIC at the Magic Kingdom in Florida and that makes another big difference.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt There was a time when DL had MSEP, fireworks, AND Fantasmic. I've never gotten used to DL without a nighttime light parade.
Originally Posted By gadzuux 'dl1956' makes a good point above - when could they run a nighttime lighted parade any more? The fireworks show is 'de rigeur' during the summer months, and 9:25 is a sensible time to run it. There's still a bit of daylight remaining at 9pm in the summer, and crowds are collecting up and down main street and in the hub. The fireworks show itself is about fifteen minutes long, and the area needs another twenty minutes or so to clear itself out - leaving behind mountains of litter and abandoned strollers. I suppose they 'could' run something at 10:30 - awfully late for a parade that would only run once a day. And it would gum up the only exit the park has for people wanting to leave.
Originally Posted By dl1956 Yeah, creating these high caliber fireworks shows kinda brings to mind, "No good deed goes unpunished."
Originally Posted By FerretAfros It's dark enough at 9:00 in the summer to run the first Fantasmic!. I don't see why they couldn't also run a parade at the same time. Yah, it might be a headache having two big productions going on at the same time, but it would also help spread the crowds out a little. The fireworks could start as soon as the parade makes it backstage at the end of the route, which would likely be around 9:45-10:00, unless there are long showstops. They might need to push the first F! back a little so it ends at approximately the same time, but that would be easy enough to do. They could then run the parade again about 45 minutes after the fireworks end, which would allow time for crowds to clear the area and new people could get in for the next viewing. A performance of Fantasmic! could also run at the same time, further spreading out the crowds. Does anybody know how the schedule worked in the 90's when they had the Pocahontas and Hunchback shows running, a daytime parade, MSEP, F! and fireworks? I don't ever remember the crowds being too awful in any one place, so they must have a way they could make it work today too.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "It's dark enough at 9:00 in the summer to run the first Fantasmic!. I don't see why they couldn't also run a parade at the same time." As I recall, the Electrical Parade arrived on Main Street from Small World at about 9:00pm. Fantasy in The Sky Fireworks were at 9:30, so yes, it's dark enough at 9:00pm.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "They could then run the parade again about 45 minutes after the fireworks end, which would allow time for crowds to clear the area and new people could get in for the next viewing." I think that the second run of MSEP was at 11:00pm.
Originally Posted By dl1956 I think the problem would center around the fact that most guests currently mass to view the fireworks from the Hub-Main Street area (hence DL management's attempts to draw fireworks viewers to the Fantasmic and IASW areas). There could be a potential clash of people who tend to follow the parade's end and those further ahead along the route who all want the best spots. And the fireworks can't be delayed too much due to the locals complaining about the late noise.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros They could always go back to an older style of fireworks show that isn't as linear in its story, and can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the park. Fantasy in the Sky could be seen from anywhere, with pretty much the same experience. It would most likely be a downgrade in the overall experience, as the technical elements would be harder to produce for areas around the park, but I think it might be worth it to get a nighttime parade running again too. As to the locals, they all moved in knowing that they were near Disneyland. Yes, it would be annoying to have fireworks going off over your house at 10 each night instead of 9:25, but they moved in after DL was there. When DL opened, it was in the middle of a bunch of orange groves. Since fireworks have always been a fairly regular thing at DL starting in the very beginning (they were featured in the opening of the Disneyland TV show before the park was even built), it really shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Yah, it sucks, but they should have known better.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt One thing to consider though, is that back then Main Street was packed all the way to Town Square for the 9pm MSEP show. In the summer the crowds were so thick that it was literally impossible to move from Town Square up to the Hub before the show started, thus traffic was distributed much more evenly for the fireworks program that it is today. I think that if Disney were to bring back a nightly light parade (which I wish they would do) there would have to be some compromise with the scale of the fireworks show. They probably would have to tone it down a bit or start launching pyro from various spots around the park rather than just centering the show around Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "They could always go back to an older style of fireworks show that isn't as linear in its story, and can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the park." Great minds think alike, eh?
Originally Posted By mousermerf They could just not allow people to congregate until just prior to the fireworks.. that's an option too.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Or build the eastern shortcut between the Hub and Town Square ala DLP as Al is reporting in his column today...
