Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade

The Main Street Electrical Parade was one of my favorite things we saw at Disneyland. More than anything else at the park, it feels like it belongs in a different era. I feel very lucky that it just happened to have returned for the summer we visited the park. This post will be about the parade as well as Main Street after dark. So let's start out with a boatload of train station pictures!

Iconic. (What else is there to say?!)

 The full-moon shots are probably cliche at this point, but I still like them.

I forgot to take a nighttime trip on the Railroad, but I rode pretty much everything else at night!

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Disneyland proudly presents our spectacular pageant of nighttime magic and imagination in thousands of sparkling lights and electrosynthomagnetic musical sounds: The Main Street Electrical Parade!"

I had seen the Electrical Parade in 2014 at the Magic Kingdom, but I was more than excited to see it again.

50 years strong, and not a single burnt-out light bulb in sight! I appreciate the effort to add this "50 years" design to the opening float.

Although there are a lot of people lined up along the curb, there were only a couple of other people watching from the train station with me. It was really one of the best moments of the entire trip. Hearing the iconic fanfare on the Main Street that gives the parade its name, I did get chills.

Who doesn't love the Alice in Wonderland segment, with its whimsical spinning bugs?

Although all the lights go out on Main Street for the parade, the train station stays lit.

I seem to remember the Cinderella pumpkin coach having live horses before ... am I remembering things?

I lined this photo up with the castle for a unique shot down Main Street.

Despite these floats being nowhere near today's technology, I still love teh MSEP so much, if even just for the music!

"Heigh-ho!"

Some features of the parade have been damaged in the past few years, like the second half of the Pinnochio segment. 

But the important part, the giant smiling mouth, still lives on.

The most iconic float in the parade has to be Pete's Dragon. While the Magic Kingdom has a parade dragon who can breath fire, this is more charming in my opinion.

Elliott happily trundles towards Sleeping Beauty Castle once again, just as he has done thousands of times in the past.

The MSEP's finale was updated last year, reskinning the old "To Honor America" flag to now feature different princesses.

Although I am not a fan of this new finale compared to the old one that was stuck eternally in the Bicentennial, hopefully it shows Disney's long-term commitment to the Electrical Parade.

Looking back down Main Street from the Hub, I try to plan how to cross the parade route.

We'll finish up our look at Disneyland with some nighttime shots of Main Street.

I love how this "Disneyland~Emporium" sign is an original (or at least a similar sign) that was here upon the park's opening in 1955.

When we were being ushered out through one of the crowd flow corridors one night, I had to grab a picture of some dry-docked Jungle Cruise boats!

"Twinkle lights" make the Hub a special place after twilight.

By turning the shutter speed down, I captured a more moody Main Street than its flashy reality.

And that concludes our look at Disneyland! I will have a post on Magic Mountain and California Adventure eventually, but that's all I have planned for my Disneyland trip reports. Coming soon, I may also have a Disneyland miscellany post where I share the best pictures I didn't include. Thanks for reading!

Disneyland After Dark

Disneyland has to be the country's best park for the nighttime atmosphere. I don't know of any other theme park that is open until 12AM most days of the year, allowing you plenty of time to see the lights. This post will be the first of two focusing on Disneyland at night, and the second will mostly be about the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Although not in the park itself, the water slide tower at the Disneyland Hotel looks great after dark. I love how the slide supports look just like the real Monorail support columns.

When it's not swarmed by people watching the fireworks like in this shot, being in front of a lighted Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Partners statue is truly special.

We'll save Main Street for next time, but I like this nighttime view down toward the entrance. You can even see the Carthway Circle Theater peeking up in the background.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is one of the best night rides at the park. It's great fun dipping through the darkness, with parts of the ride's layout in pitch black.

I can't say enough good things about the castle's lighting... if only every park could light up its iconic buildings this well.

I found it funny to see this CM (a lighting technician?) surveying his domain from the rear balcony of the castle. He was standing there still, and I have no idea what he was doing!

If you really want to ride Dumbo, it's a good idea to wait until 11:00pm or so when its target audience of toddlers has mostly gone home. Looking back at these pictures nearly eight months after I was at the park, I can't believe that I was actually there and took photos like this one!

Seeing the King Arthur Carrousel lit up made me very happy. Kennywood's carousel has an identical lighting scheme, just with more burned-out light bulbs.

I mentioned it in my Fantasyland post, but I really appreciate how the Carrousel uses two alternating light bulb colors--it's a subtle detail, but it makes a difference in person.

The lanterns of the Mad Tea Party cast a charming pinkish hue on the ride below, with the Matterhorn looming above.

People always talk about how roller coasters are better at night, but one underrated night ride at Disneyland is the Storybook Land Canal Boats.

It's special to enter Monstro's creepily-lit jaw and emerge in a dim Storybook Land. Although you can't make out much detail in the models, it's tranquil to hear the water lapping against the boat at night.

It's hard to tell that the rose archways have lights during the day, so it's wonderful traveling under them at night to the lull of "A Whole New World."

Here we see Arendelle Castle from Frozen, with the Matterhorn, a full moon, and some of Fantasyland's twinkle lights in the background.

While Big Thunder certainly feels wild at night, Matterhorn is even crazier because the ride is so rough to begin with. It's the best night ride in the park in my opinion!

Although I had seen lots of pictures of Disneyland at night, nothing can truly beat walking by a moonlit Matterhorn and hearing the crash of its waterfalls, the roar of the yeti, and the screams of riders. 

I don't have many pictures of the west side of the park after dark, but the lights in Frontierland and Adventureland, if not as dazzling as Fantasyland, are just as atmospheric.

I love this ominous shot of a full moon over the Haunted Mansion.

Being used to Eastern Time, I was basically up until 3:00 AM on the nights I stayed at the park until closing. But the excitement of being in Disneyland meant I was full of energy until the end.

While we're over here, we might as well take another ride on Splash Mountain. After all, we won't be able to do so forever.

At the opposite side of the park, Tomorrowland looks great in the dark with its dramatic lighting.

One ride I missed out on experiencing at night was the Autopia. My heart is still broken. ;-)

The centerpiece of Tomorrowland is a sight to behold at night. I'm looking forward to seeing Florida's Space Mountain lit up next to the Tron coaster in just over a month.

Space Mountain is one ride where there's no difference in whether you experience it during the day or in the dark!

The ride operator in me could have stood here for a long time watching the efficient dispatch of trains, but the ride was waiting.

Despite not getting to experience the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, I was still able to appreciate the lighting of the newly-refurbished lagoon.

Oh well, there's always next time...  this peaceful water really adds calm to Tomorrowland.

While Tomorrowland sometimes feels like a jumbled mess during the day, it takes on a whole different feel after the sun goes down.

I had to grab a castle shot framed in one of the old Peoplemover supports!

There's nothing like an amusement park after dark, and Disneyland might be the best park anywhere for a nighttime stroll. Having so much time there was a wonderful gift. Next post, we'll look at Main Street and the Main Street Electrical Parade!