Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls...The Magic Kingdom Proudly Presents...

We had an opportunity to attend the passholder preview this past Saturday for the debut of Summer Nightastic! at Magic Kingdom. It didn't disappoint! In this article, we'll detail our first experience with The Mainstreet Electrical Parade. We watched both the 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. parade and the Summer Nightastic Fireworks Spectacular in between - we'll review the fireworks in an upcoming article.

I must start out by saying that my family really aren't huge parade fans (not that we don't like parades, we simply don't go out of our way to see them any more). I must also say that the kids had no idea about The Mainstreet Electrical Parade - the last time it came down the streets of MK, Chance wasn't even born yet and Katie was just a couple years old - so the news that it was finally coming back to The Mouse Of The South didn't hold much meaning for them. Hope remembers seeing it a very long time ago with only fleeting images as memories. I had never seen it in person.

The parade it replaced for the summer - Spectromagic - is cool. It has GREAT music and Hope loves the fact that it so heavily features princesses. The kids at this point could take it or leave it - the first couple times seeing it, it was more novel them, but not any more. So for us, it's a good time for a change. The Electrical Parade was just what the doctor ordered.

Now, I've heard the soundtrack on my ipod many times. I've also seen bits and pieces of the parade itself on youtube. So I was somewhat familiar with what it is...but that didn't do it justice at all. The Mainstreet Electrical Parade is unique and more importantly, FUN. I really enjoyed it, as did the whole family.

There's something very cool about how the lights shut off and the intro begins: "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls...the Magic Kingdom proudly presents..." It builds a real sense of anticipation. And when you finally see the floats, it's very much a spectacle. For the first showing, we saw it from Liberty Square; seeing it coming across the Liberty Square bridge from the Hub helped feed that anticipation. Seeing these HUGE glowing floats from a distance coming closer as you're surrounded by a dark MK is a sight to behold...and a unique feeling to experience. For the second showing, we were in Town Square across from the Confectionary with a full view of the gates to backstage where the parade emerges from and then begins its route. Seeing it come out from backstage was also a treat.

My first impressions of the Mainstreet Electrical Parade was that it's...weird. Cool and fun, but strange. And for that, I love it. I want something different...something that really feels like its out of another place and time. It's sort of surreal. And I love it for that.

I mentioned how great Spectro's music is/was. And it is...but it is SO different from this one. Spectro's soundtrack is grand and sweeping - it evokes powerful feelings in return. Electrical Parade's is pure fun - people loved it so much that everyone broke out into clapping in unison. It's a feel-good parade in a different way that Spectro is a feel-good parade. And that's also not just an interesting comparison, but it says a lot for both. These parades are effective in that they bring out an emotional response in everyone - and a vastly different emotional response in each.

Unfortunately, I forgot the digital camera...I only brought the cell phone which has a very poor night-time camera, so the photos came out horrible. So for the sake of providing a visual, I'm inserting several from Kathy Werling's DisUnplugged blog...she's a great photog with great camera equipment...enjoy!

You can see Kathy's original blog post here.