Disneyland Resort now has return dates for its nighttime spectaculars and parades, with the Main Street Electrical Parade getting a new “Encanto”-infused finale.
The parade will return to Disneyland Park on April 22, as will the “Disneyland Forever” fireworks and projection show (which will run on weekends only). The same date will also see “World of Color” come back to Disney California Adventure. “Fantasmic” will again be performed along the Rivers of America in Disneyland starting May 28.
Disneyland had announced last year that the Main Street Electrical Parade would be coming back. Despite being hyped as “glowing away forever” back in 1996, it has been resurrected multiple times since at both Disneyland and Disney World, having last run in a limited engagement in Anaheim in August and September 2019. This time, however, it will sport a new finale.
Disney explained the new sequence in a press release:
To honor the milestone 50th anniversary of “Main Street Electrical Parade,” Disney Live Entertainment will introduce a magnificent grand finale that celebrates the theme of togetherness in an all-new float. This universal theme is reflected in the creative concept of the grand finale sequence, drawing inspiration from the original design of classic “Main Street Electrical Parade” floats and Mary Blair’s iconic art style on “it’s a small world.” The seven-segment float stretches 118 feet in length and brings to life more than a dozen Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios films, making it one of the longest and grandest sequences in the parade’s history. These stories will be interpreted in thousands of sparkling lights and electro-synthe-magnetic musical sound, with unique representations of beloved characters as animated dolls.
Guests along each side of the parade route will see different stylized scenes from classic and contemporary favorite stories such as “Encanto,” “The Jungle Book,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Aladdin,” “Coco,” “Mulan,” “Brave,” “The Princess and the Frog” and more. The finale also pays tribute to the parade’s heritage with the return of the Blue Fairy character from “Pinocchio” and a unique, 19-foot-tall representation of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Concept art of new Main Street Electrical Parade floats (Disney)
The success of “Encanto,” which is the first Disney animated film to land multiple songs in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, has led to questions about how soon (and how often) Disney plans on exploiting the film inside its theme parks. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote songs for the film, has said he has already pitched an “Encanto” ride concept to Disney CEO Bob Chapek.