Summertime At Disneyland! - 1986

Just a quick post today. This Disneyland advertisement is from the Los Angeles Times and is dated July 20, 1986....25 years ago!



I'm a little confused by the text at the bottom, stating that Magic Journeys was still playing. I know that Captain EO premiered at Disneyland in September of 1986. According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong!), Magic Journeys closed in January of 1986. This makes sense because time would have been needed to build the new Magic Eye theater for Captain EO (Magic Journeys was only shown outdoors on the Space Stage after dark). Does anyone know if Magic Journeys was actually still playing at Disneyland in the Summer of 1986? Could it have been moved to a different location? Videopolis, perhaps? This was a time when I was not going to the park very often, so I don't have any old Disneyland guides to go by.

Lost Electrical Parade - Part 2

In my last post, we took a look at the retired "A Bug's Life" unit from Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade. Today, we will look at two more floats that were also replaced in 2007. In the photos above and below, we have Cinderella riding in her pumpkin coach. The legs of the horses all moved in a slow galloping motion. This really was a beautiful float.


The next three photos show the Fairy Godmother's float. The lights on this float were constantly changing and the Fairy Godmother was always moving. For me, it was a very difficult float to photograph. I never did get a really good picture of it....hence the blurriness of all three photos.

You can see in the photo above, that this float actually preceded Cinderella's coach in the parade.

Neither Cinderella, or the Fairy Godmother were eliminated from the parade. Their individual floats were retired, but a new float was designed for the two of them to share. That new float can be seen by clicking here .

Lost Electrical Parade - Part 1

Sometime after posting about Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade back in September of last year, I realized that I had left out one float. That float (seen above) is from the "Toy Story" unit of the parade and follows the Buzz Lightyear float.

In that same set of posts, I had mentioned that since Tokyo brought back their Electrical Parade in 2001, they had already made some changes to it. One of those changes took place in 2007, when the current Monsters Inc. , Nemo and Crush floats took the place of the former "A Bugs Life" unit. Here for the first time at Meet the World, are those floats from the "A Bugs Life" unit.

Below, are Francis the Ladybug, and Tuck and Roll. Note the praying mantis (Manny?) driving the circus wagon and the moth/butterfly on the back (Gypsy?) There was also a parade performer in a walking stick costume following behind the wagon, but he never photographed very well....at least not with my camera.

Next, we have Flick and Princess Atta.



I truly miss these floats, but at least they were replaced with something equally as good. I wish that would happen more often in Anaheim when something gets replaced. Light Magic was NOT an equal trade for the Electrical Parade. Pooh is not as good as Country Bear Jamboree. The New Tomorrowland of 1998 was.....well that was just wrong all the way around. Oh, but I digress. It would have been nice though, if Anaheim could have inherited these retired floats for their Electrical Parade, seeing as how it hasn't had a new float added in decades.

My next post will have more floats from Tokyo's Electrical Parade that have already been retired and replaced.

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor.....

Before we take a look at the very last float in Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights, let's take one more look at the "Small World" unit of the parade. The music for this unit is of course the Sherman Brothers classic and as the song is just about to finish, the colored lights on all four Small World floats start to fade and are partially replaced by white twinkling lights. Then, on the very last note of the song, all the lights go entirely white for just about four seconds before immediately reverting back to color. From what I remember, the finale of Spectro Magic at Walt Disney World does something similar, but I seem to recall that parade's lights turning white and staying that way for a little while before changing back. Tokyo's effect takes place VERY quickly.

The photo below shows the lights in transition.....


And now, all white twinkling lights.....

The parade is sponsored by Unisys and they get their very own float at the end of the parade.

Following the sponsor's float, we have the obligatory rope carriers. In Tokyo however, the rope has been replaced with three separate bars that are carried by performers wearing light-up flower costumes.

Tokyo's new version of the Electrical Parade is a wonderful reworking of a long time beloved Disney classic. As metioned in an earlier post, some floats have already been retired and replaced in the six years since the parade was brought back. The parade runs nightly, year round and there is even a special Christmas version that was introduced two years ago. Perhaps in a future post, we will revisit the parade and take a look back at some of the floats that are no longer around. I hope everyone has enjoyed seeing Tokyo Disneyland's version of the Electrical Parade!

There Is Just One Moon and One Golden Sun......

The Small World unit of Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights is made up of 4 large floats. The first float is the "Showboat", with Daisy, Donald and the Three Little Pigs riding on the top deck.

The second float is the "Airship", with Chip and Dale.

The next float is the "Moon" float, with Mary Poppins, Bert, Pinocchio, Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket.

And last, we have the "Sun" float, with Lilo, Stitch, Roger Rabbit and Pluto.

This is the last unit of the parade however, the sponsor of the parade actually gets it's very own float in the Tokyo version of the Electrical Parade and that float follows the Small World unit. Tomorrow, we will look at that float and the illumintated performers that carry the rope at the end of the parade, as well as take a look at a neat little effect that takes place during the parade for one brief "blink and you've missed it" moment. Then we will move on to other subjects and even other parks. We still have a whole second Disney park in Tokyo to look at....."Tokyo DisneySea!"

Cinderella!

This is the Cinderella unit of Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights. The first float has some major fiber optic effects going on. As the Fairy Godmother casts her spell, the lights swirl around on the float and Cinderella's dress changes color (three different colors altogether). The photos don't really do this float justice....or any of the floats in the parade for that matter.

The prince makes an appearance with the glass slipper.

The "ball" float has some nice fiber optic effects as well. The dancers' dresses change colors at the same time as Cinderella's. The ladies are also on turntables and they rotate continuously. I wonder if they are dizzy by the end of the parade route?

The parade is almost over! Only one more unit left, but it's a pretty large one. Stay tuned!

Elliott, Pete and Swan Lake

Pete's Dragon is one of two floats that have changed very little from the original version of the Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade.

The shot above was taken just as Pete is making Elliott "disappear."

The other float/unit that has changed very little since the original parade is the "Swan Lake" unit pictured below. I don't know the backstory for this unit, but Tokyo Disneyland has always had these Swans in their Electrical Parade. The music that plays at this point in the parade is from "Swan Lake".

Due to many requests......okay, one request....the parade posts will continue until we get to the end.

Beauty and the Beast

Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights continues with the Beauty & the Beast unit. Lumiere is audio-animatronic. His body bends, he waves his arms around, and his mouth moves as he sings "Be Our Guest." Many of the lights in this parade, including the ones on this float, are flashing, twinkling, or "traveling."

Is anyone bored yet? I was going to only spotlight parts of this parade, but then somehow decided to show at least one shot of every float. Maybe it's taking too long to show the entire parade. It is a very long parade. The parade even has groups of performers that walk along in front of or behind many of the units (like the bees from the Winnie the Pooh unit), but they don't always photograph very well, so I'm not posting those pics. The Beauty and the Beast Unit has some performers dressed as "dinner plates" and others dressed in French maid-type costumes pushing light-up "dessert carts". Other units that have performers are the Alice unit which has dancing light-up "flowers" and "butterflies" and the Casey Jr. Circus Train float which has marching light-up "toy soldiers."

Want to see the rest of this parade or has everyone had enough of it for a while?

Buzz, Nemo and Crush!

Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dreamlights continue's.........

Mike, Sully, Boo and Pooh!

These are the next units in Tokyo Disneyland's fabulous "Electrical Parade Dreamlights". Mike and Sully's eyes roll around and I believe that they are "projected" just like Buzz Lightyear's face on the Buzz Lightyear attractions.

Boo is wearing her monster disguise and is strapped onto Sully's back.

The pooh unit is followed by a team of "honeybees" on rollerskates.

Snow White and Peter Pan

These are the floats that follow the Alice In Wonderland unit in Tokyo Disneyland's "Electrical Parade Dreamlights." Enjoy!

"We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, in a mine the whole day through...."

"Blast that Peter Pan.....feeding me hand to that crocodile!"

The Golden Afternoon

This is the second unit in Tokyo Disneyland's "Electrical Parade Dreamlights". Alice's mushroom float from the original parade has been replaced by a giant Chesire Cat. His head and tail rotate from side to side, his stripes blink in varying patterns and his head and body "disappear" leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth lit up. Why don't any of the other Disney parks have this???? I'm just asking........

"How very curious!" "Why today is MY un-birthday....and yours, and yours!"

"Why there's Mr. Snail...and there's a ladybug! Hello Mr. Snail! Hello ladybug!"

A Whole New Electrical Parade!

Tokyo Disneyland's original Electrical Parade ran from 1985 through 1995. It was replaced that same year with a new "light" parade called "Fantillusion", which ran until 2001. Less than one month after the final performance of "Fantillusion", Tokyo Disneyland debuted a new version of the Electrical Parade called, "Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights". This new version was bigger and better with more lights than ever before.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe....specifically Anaheim, we were told in 1996 to come see the Main St. Electrical Parade one last time before it GOES AWAY FOREVER! It was still very popular and park guests were still staking out their seats along the curb hours before the sun even went down. The whole thing was obviously a marketing ploy to get people to come to the park, purchase the "farewell" merchandise, and to buy the light bulbs. Let's face it, many of us were suckers and we fell for it. Well, just like certain performers that say it is their "farewell concert tour", Disney had lied to us. They brought the parade back five years later, but not back to Disneyland where it belonged. They put it in the failing California Adventure in a desperate attempt to try to get people into that park. The parade was also shorter now since a couple of the original floats did not return.

Since Tokyo Disneyland brought back their Electrical Parade seven years ago, they have already updated it by adding new floats in addition to creating a Christmas version of the parade for the holiday season. By the way, Anaheim's newest float is Elliot from "Pete's Dragon" which was added in 1977 when the movie premiered, but hey, I guess it's still better than what replaced the parade back in the summer of 1997......Light TRAGIC!

The front legs of these horses move up and down in a "trotting" motion. Did I mention that the parade is bigger and better than before?

Oh, and the parade's theme song, "Baroque Hoedown" was brought back as well. :-)

Stay tuned as the parade continues. Next time we'll take a look at the "Alice In Wonderland" unit of the parade and see what Alice is sitting on top of now!