The Main Street Electrical Parade Fun Facts!
Tonight is the night Disney friends! The Main Street Electrical Parade kicks off 50 fabulous years when it makes its debut Disneyland Resort starting this evening! Here at MickeyBlog we thought we’d celebrate which some amazing facts about this important part of Disney history!
Celebrate Togetherness
What better way to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Parade then with a brand new Main Street Electrical Parade float! Disney Live Entertainment will be introducing a magnificent grand finale to the parade starting this evening. Featuring a new float that celebrates togetherness, the finale draws inspiration from Mary Blair’s iconic “its a small world” style. It is made up of seven-segments and is 118 feet in length.
The float features more than a dozen Walt Disney and Pixar stories including:
- Encanto
- The Jungle Book
- Raya and the Last Dragon
- Aladdin
- Coco
- Mulan
- Brave
- The Princess and the Frog.
The icing on the cake of the new grand finale is the return of the Blue Fairy character from Pinocchio along with a 19 foot tall model of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Half a Million Lights
Approximately 500,000 lights are illuminated during the parade’s journey from “it’s a small world” in Fantasyland to Town Square on Main Street U.S.A.
More Floats Than Ever Before
There are 22 floats that make up the new Main Street Electrical Parade. This is double the number of floats that were in the parade when it first debuted. There were only 12 floats back in 1972.
A Hoedown of Baroque Proportions
The famous soundtrack to Main Street Electrical Parade with created by composers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. This synthesizer piece was created back in 1967 but was adapted for the parade in 1972. Throughout the parade this song is interwoven with classic Disney themes to create the iconic parade music.
Costumes that Electrify
The performers in the parade are adorned in dazzling costumes created with special fabrics that catch the lights. In some cases they even have their own build-in lighting.
That’s a Lot of Wiring
Did you know that over five miles of electrical wiring is used in the parade!?
Many Lights But Only Six Different Colors
Did you know that only six different colors of light bulbs flash throughout the parade? These are in hues of amber, blue, green, chartreuse, red and pink. Amber is the most prominent with over 150,000 glowing amber lights used in the production.
That’s Some Dragon
At 5,600 pounds, the massive Elliott float was added in 1977 for the release of Pete’s Dragon. It measures 16 feet tall, 10 feet wide and 38 feet long.
Towering at 23 Feet
The tallest float in the Main Street Electrical Parade isn’t Elliott but the Cinderella Clock Tower which comes in at 23 feet!
Main Street Electrical Parade Goes Global
Five Disney parks have presented versions of the Main Street Electrical Parade. This includes Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, Magic Kingdom Park, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.
Honoring a Legend
In 2005, Main Street Electrical Parade creator and former director of entertainment Robert Jani was inducted as a Disney Legend!
Don’t miss the Main Street Electrical Parade now back at Disneyland theme park! Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for more Walt Disney World news and updates!
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