So yesterday marked a unique point in our schedules where we both actually had “free time” on the same day. After sleeping in late and running a few errands at the mall, we opted to spend the remainder of our afternoon/evening over at the Magic Kingdom to partake in the new night parade and fireworks prior to our annual passes going on blackout for the summer…
Just Wanderin’ Around
Call it a new juncture in our lives, but at one point we both made comments about not necessarily wanting to go on anything, so we pretty much killed time prior to the evening’s festivities by just wandering around the park. We went on exactly one attraction total (Buzz – I won…), and the rest was spent walking the loop around the park, moseying through gift shops, and just sort of taking in the atmosphere … and frankly, it was kind of nice. Other than our overnight, bear-ridden trip a couple of weeks ago, we really haven’t spent a whole lot of time over there this year (or last year, really), so instead we just sort of walked around and got reacquainted, checked out some of the expansion concept art for the new Fantasyland Forest, and generally just mellowed.
Summer is Hot!
…which was probably ultimately a good thing because good god, was it fucking hot out! Hot, and even more so muggy, which makes it even worse – we were sweating just walking around, so I couldn’t imagine trying to actually stand in lines and do stuff. Honestly, it’s around this kind of year that I almost feel bad for the other guests over there because if we do go when it’s really hot, we typically tend to only hit specific attractions (i.e. those with AC) and if the heat just starts to get too unbearable, we’ll go find something else to do instead (like our last trip where we checked out DisneyQuest, which is all indoors). Unfortunately, this is the only time available for a lot of people due to summer vacation, but man, I sure as hell would be hanging out by the pool and hitting up those 2am Extra Magic Hours if *I* had to do it!
The Main Street Electrical Parade
So this was the primary reason for our trip and I’ve got to say that by the end of it … I wasn’t really all that impressed. And I know that it’s kind of sacriligious to say that because this was the original electric parade before SpectroMagic at the Magic Kingdom, but to me a lot of it just felt really old and outdated. It didn’t help that the soundtrack is simply horrendous and obnoxious – whereas Spectro’s truly is a fanfare of this amazing show passing down the street, the Electrical Parade’s music made me feel like I was stuck in a carnival … and with all of the Peter Pan floats, that theme continued with some really weird results (giant head float – I’m talking about you!). A few of the floats were admittedly really cool – Pete’s Dragon and the Seven Dwarf’s with their gem caravan, to name a few, but overall it just didn’t have that sparkle for me. The end was probably the worst of all because although the patriotic float complete with a giant bald eagle and “fireworks” was really cool, that was it … no Mickey waving goodbye, Jiminy Cricket bidding us farewell … nothing. To see people flooding the streets directly after the eagle felt very anti-climatic – almost like one of the floats had broken down and they were just ending the parade early.
It definitely wasn’t nearly as majestic and fun and playful as Spectro, either – you might say that this is literally my Daddy’s light parade. Pardon the expression, Dad!
Summer Nightastic Fireworks
Unfortunately for me, even after the parade it was all downhill for me because I really didn’t care for the new fireworks. I would kind of compare it to the shows that take place on the castle stage throughout the day – they’re fine if you’ve got an 8 year-old with you, but otherwise there’s really nothing to catch your interest. The “story” of the fairies fighting over the color of the fireworks was just annoying, and then Captain Hook’s appearance just felt weird – as if they wanted to dig up a villain who hadn’t seen the light of day in a while (just like in the parade, now that I think of it … maybe some Disney Exec. just has a hook fetish or something???). And whereas Sara thought the “siege on the castle” was really cool with all of the smoke and blasts, I was a bit troubled by it because it seems to me that if I was a little kid who had been ogling Cinderella Castle all day long, to then see it catching on fire might be just a bit troubling to me! And finally, the fireworks “all around” were annoying just because I’m used to watching Wishes from Main Street and seeing the whole show – it was weird to only see parts of some of them going off.
Final Thoughts…
I guess my overall problem with both of these new shows is that to me, they really lacked the story element that both Wishes and SpectroMagic boasted phenomenally. Wishes has a couple of great moments like where I feel that shiver when the little girl starts singing, “Star light, star bright…” and I have to hold back the waterworks, and even SpectroMagic just feels very momentous as it winds down the street, like this is the show that you’ve waited all day to see and HERE IT COMES!!!, but I didn’t get those feelings with either of the new shows. Honestly, it really makes me question emotions because people are really into the Main Street Electrical Parade, but to me it just seemed so lackluster – really, where’s all of this undying fandom coming from??? Granted, there is a fair number of fans who truly believe that the Mouse can do no wrong and evangalize for even the most mundane of nostalgic moments, so maybe it’s just one of those cases where they’re remembering it better than it actually is? I know I’ve experienced that when I’ve tried to revisit some movies and cartoons from my childhood – certainly not all of them stand the test of time, no matter how many years I dressed up as the characters for Halloween. Nonetheless, it’s just weird to go watch a show that so many people absolutely praise, saying, “Finally it’s back where it belongs!” and then thinking, “Wow – that sucked. So when are we getting Spectro back???”
Because I guess that’s the real question – are these truly summer promotions as they’ve been presented, or have we officially traded out Spectro and Wishes to another park for the next couple of years. Frankly, I hope not because I really loved those shows and it’s going to definitely swing my nighttime attention back over to Epcot if this is what we’re left with, but we’ll see. If I had to make a guess right now, it would be that Wishes will return at the end of the summer, but the Electrical Parade is here for the duration. We’ll see, though…
