Disney Stars, and Disney’s Electrical Parade, Rock the Parks
The OC Register’s Around Disney blog also has a report from last night’s media preview of Summer Nightastic:
Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez and Jennifer Stone were like any other kids at Disneyland Thursday night, standing in giddy excitement next to Mickey Mouse.
That is, until the “Wizards of Waverly Place” actresses were presented with magic wands by the mouse himself.
With a flick of the wrist, fireworks burst over Sleeping Beauty Castle — the quintessential kickoff to Disney’s Summer Nightastic, the summertime run of shows at the Resort that include the fireworks display, the Electrical Parade and Fantasmic!, which plays out on Disneyland’s Rivers of America.
Disney’s Electrical Parade (California Adventure)
When a sparkling mass of lights emerged onto the street of California Adventure, the crowd stood in awe.
Tinker Bell, the latest addition to the classic Disney parade, first trotted out in 1972, led the way waving her magic wand from a hot air balloon.
“It was bright, and very green,” said Grad Night guest Prince Jones, from the School of Arts and Enterprise said.
“It was pretty cool.”
“We thought it was the right place to put Tinker Bell – leading the parade,” Director of Entertainment Doug McIntyre said of the new float, which features 25,000 lights.
“She has a sort of pixie dust-effect coming from her float, and we added it to all the floats. We knew we wanted to do some enhancements to the rest of the parade, so we thought by adding Tinker Bell to the front, we could add this pixie dust swirl that goes throughout the parade.”
The Electrical Parade has been a part of Disney since its premiere in 1972. The parade has undergone numerous changes, adding new floats, more lights. It has showed up in locations around the world.
This phase of the parade combines a bit of the old with a bit of the new; for example, the diamond mine float from Snow White and the Pleasure Island scene from Pinocchio return after a long hiatus.
“They had been sitting there in a warehouse, so we had them shipped over. When they shipped that parade (back to the United States in 2001), they left that unit behind, so we called them up and had them ship it out and refurbished,” McIntyre said. “It’s the way I remember the Electrical Parade from its old days at Disneyland. It’s nice to have it back.”
Meanwhile, a new control system allows for intricate control of the lighting and 11,000 LED lights used on the dancers’ costumes make the parade more energy efficient.
Then there is the music.
“Music is a big part of any of our entertainment experiences, and we knew we wanted to update the soundtrack,” said McIntyre, a 27-year Disney veteran. “The music was written in 1967, and with the technology of synthesizers, we’ve come a long way. We wanted to maintain the classic-ness of what the guests expect using ‘Baroque Hoedown,’ which is the piece of music used. We were excited to do it with all of today’s modern technology.”
When the parade premiered on June 17, 1972, it was called The Main Street Electrical Parade, but since then it has moved to California Adventure.
“Part of the dynamic of the business here is balancing the guest flow and the experience between both parks, so it was a perfect fit to bring the parade here,” McIntyre said.
TLT Dance Club at the Tomorrowland Terrace (Disneyland)
The Tomorrowland Terrace is not the place you want when looking for a quiet dinner to wind down after a hectic day of spinning teacups and meeting giant mice. On the other hand, if you are looking for a serious energy boost, then the TLT Dance Club is the place to be.
“Hannah Montana” star Mitchel Musso opened the night on a high note while appearing with his band for a surprise performance.
For 11-year-old Elizabeth Burkemper of Missouri, standing so close to one of her favorite “Hannah Montana” stars was a dream come true.
“It was, like, the most amazing experience of my life,” she said.
The rest of the summer is filled with a lineup of appearances by popular radio stations and Top-40 bands, including KIIS-FM, Tomasina, 104.3 MYfm and Instant Replay. The club has already been compared to the now-defunct Videopolis, but this one will have a 2009 spin, such as the ability to vote on what song should be played via text message.
Fantasmic! (Disneyland)
Fantasmic! has been a staple of Disney nighttime entertainment since it began performances in May of 1992. It is set on the Rivers of America in Disneyland.
Just like the Electrical Parade, this nighttime show underwent changes in preparation for the summer, with Fantasmic! now including new digital projectors, a 12-foot-tall crocodile and giant eels slithering through the water.
Although the highlight of the show was slated to be a 40-foot-tall dragon from the movie “Sleeping Beauty,” technical difficulties forced last night’s premiere to debut sans dragon. Stay tuned to Around Disney for a peek at the dragon later this summer.
Here are a few of their photos from the media preview of Summer Nightastic:
Selena Gomez and Jennifer Stone were at Disneyland to launch Summer Nightastic
Read More about Disney Stars, and Disney’s Electrical Parade, Rock the Parks
First stop was the new TLT Dance Club in Tomorrowland. Also known at the Tomorrowland Terrace, the TLT Dance Club is packing in the crowds with the new lights, videos screens and sound system playing today’s hottest tunes. The place burst into wild screams when guest performer Mitchel Musso of Hannah Montana fame took to the stage and rocked the house with a seven song set that included his hit “The In Crowd.” Look for other surprise guests to drop in on the Dance Club all summer long.
Following the fireworks, guests hit the Rivers of America to witness the enhancements to the already spectacular Fantasmic!. Thanks to HD technology, the projections now virtually leap off the screen — and they’re not the only things leaping! A new crocodile lurches and snaps at Captain Hook as he swims behind the pirate ship looking for a snack. Plus, Ursula’s “hench-eels” Flotsam and Jetsam now menacingly sweep through the waters. All these wonderful new characters posed exciting challenges to Disneyland’s creative team. “Obviously, any time you create new show elements — and Flotsam and Jetsem and the crocodile are examples of that — you go through some teething problems in testing and adjustments,” Doug explained. “Certainly we went through those but they worked out really great.” And Doug and his team aren’t done playing yet! “We talked tonight about making a new adjustment to Flotsam and Jetsam.” Currently the two slither out together from the same side of the river. “We’re talking about doing a version where they come from different sides of the river. We’re still learning as we see it.”
If you’ve been a regular Disneyland visitor for a while, chances are good you have seen Eden Espinosa in a show — she did more than a half a dozen during her career in entertainment at Disneyland, before moving to New York City where she starred in such musicals as Wicked, Rent and Brooklyn. This summer, park guests will be able to hear Eden’s rich vocals nightly; the incredible talent recorded the music for the new fireworks show Magical. D23 sat down with Eden for an exclusive interview and learned about her favorite attraction, her best Disneyland job and why she needs to reach for a box of tissues any time she hears a Disney song.
