Perhaps longtime Disneyland attractions supervisor Bruce Kimbrell was the one who said it best.
While serving as the master of ceremonies at the 2001 edition of "Flashback" (a cast-members-only talent show that Disneyland staffers hold each year in an effort of raise money for Orange County's "Make A Wish" foundation), Bruce did his version of "Carnac the Magnificent." You know, that old bit that Johnny Carson used to do on the "Tonight Show." The one where Johnny wore a turban and supposedly used his amazing psychic abilities to comically answer a question while was still sealed inside an envelope?
Anyway ... while "borrowing" this classic old "Tonight Show" bit, Kimbrell reportedly held an envelope up to his head. He then supposedly said:
"And the answer is ... Elizabeth Taylor, cars crossing the English Channel, and Light Magic."
Kimbrell then ripped open the envelope and read the following question:
"Name something married, something ferried, and something buried."
When they heard that, the audience inside DCA's Hyperion Theater just roared with delight. Why for? Because Kimbrell had found a witty way to mention the unmentionable.
You see, NOBODY at Disneyland ever talks about "Light Magic" anymore. That $40 million fiasco that Mouse House management has worked extremely hard at sweeping under the rug.
Don't believe me? The next time you're out in Anaheim, pick up a copy of the official Disneyland Resort souvenir book (you know, that beautiful hardcover that Tim O'Day and his staff put together back in 2000). This book shouldn't be too hard to find, given that the Mouse has it on sale in almost every gift shop on property.
When you find the book, thumb through this thing and try to find a single mention of the infamous streetacular. You'll find several nice big pictures of the "Main Street Electrical Parade" and "Fantasmic!" Not to mention a few cute shots of "Aladdin's Royal Caravan," "The Lion King Celebration," Disneyland's 35th "Party Gras Parade" as well as the Mulan parade. But -- were you to search this book from cover to cover -- you wouldn't find a single image or mention of "Light Magic."
More telling is the book's "Strolling Down Memory Lane in 'The Happiest Place on Earth'." This section features a timeline of Disneyland's history and marches the reader through many of the theme park's more memorable moments. Check out 1997, the year that "Light Magic" actually made its ill-fated debut. There's not a single acknowledgment that this parade ever existed.
A streetacular that the Walt Disney Company spent tens of millions of dollars to create, then tens of millions more to promote ... deliberately unmentioned?
Why would the team behind the official Disneyland Resort souvenir book make an omission like this? To put it bluntly, the wounds that this streetacular caused at the uppermost levels of Disney Company management haven't healed yet. For many folks, it's still 'way too soon to talk objectively about this Disneyland Entertainment disaster. People's careers ended and lawsuits were filed because of how poorly "Light Magic" was received.
Which is why Tim O'Day (who's actually a pretty nice guy) decided to delete this awkward moment in Disneyland history. To spare the feelings of some very powerful folks in the Team Disney Anaheim building, who are still smarting from the whole "Light Magic" fiasco.
Well, lucky for you folks, I am NOT a "pretty nice guy." And -- just like Bruce Kimbrell -- I like to mention the unmentionable. I enjoy asking those really awkward questions like ... whatever possessed Disneyland to try replace the "Main Street Electrical Parade"?
I mean, given that the "MSEP" -- which, you may recall, was once said to be " ... glowing away forever" -- is now back bigger than ever at the Disneyland Resort, where it's been thrilling DCA guests since July 2001, one has to wonder: What imbecile ever came up with the idea of shutting down this much beloved show? I mean, didn't the Mouse know what it had with this Disneyland classic?
And the short answer is ... actually, no. Disneyland Entertainment office never did really understand what they had with the "Main Street Electrical Parade." Which is why -- as far back as 1978 -- Entertainment staffers were annually asking Disneyland management "What are we going to do to replace the Electrical Parade?"
Why would Disneyland Entertainment office be looking -- for nearly 15 years, mind you -- to replace the MSEP? Well, to understand that, you have to know a little bit about what was going on behind-the-scenes at Disneyland, circa the winter of 1971 / 1972.
This is just months after the Walt Disney World Resort had opened. And the personnel back at Disneyland were feeling ... well ... kind of neglected. You see, the press was full of all these glowing reports about Florida's "Vacation Kingdom." Which gushed about Walt Disney Productions' $400 million resort with its brand Magic Kingdom which was loaded with all of its start-of-the-art attractions. Plus the two luxury hotels that were built right at the edge of Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon.
Whereas Disneyland only had ... well ... Disneyland. Where the most recent ride to be added to the Anaheim theme park (in May 1971) was the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. Which were admittedly fun, but could hardly be expected to compete with the highly themed, hi-tech wonders that WDW guests would find when they visited "The Hall of Presidents" or "The Mickey Mouse Revue."
Up until October 1971, Disneyland had been the crown jewel of the Disney media empire. The place that you HAD TO go to if you wanted to experience the very best in themed entertainment that America had to offer. But -- once Walt Disney World opened -- Disneyland suddenly found itself being shoved out of the spotlight. Saw itself being compared unfavorably to WDW's sleek majesty.
Understandably, the staff at Disneyland found themselves resenting this sudden shift in their previously lofty position. The folks in Anaheim didn't like that they were all-of-a-sudden No. 2. They even disliked the idea that the first new attraction that would be opening at Disneyland after WDW's debut would be a Disney World hand-me-down: "Country Bear Jamboree" (which opened in Anaheim in March 1972).
DL cast members began grumbling about how much they hated becoming the No. 2 theme park. "Isn't there something that we can do to become No. 1 again? Or -- at the very least -- help make Disneyland seem special again?"
Oddly enough, yes. But this would involve building on an idea that had proven to be quite successful out on the waters of Disney World's Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, then adapting this nautical concept to dry land.
To explain: How many of you have seen WDW's Electrical Water Pageant? That simplistic but still vastly entertaining show that have been occurring out the waters of Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon every night since October 26, 1971?
By today's standards, WDW's Electrical Water Pageant is admittedly somewhat crude. It's basically made up of thousands of outdoor Christmas lights that are strung up on these giant mesh screens. This mesh screens are attached to the 14 barges that make up the 1000-foot waterfront procession. Each night, the barges are towed out to the center of Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Once in they're in position, the barges' sound system is turned on. And -- as the speakers send 1970s style moog music rolling across the water -- the Xmas lights on the mesh screens blink on and off. Forming colorful creatures like jumping porpoises, a seal that balances a ball on its nose, even a brontosaur who's having a bit of brunch.
WDW's Electrical Water Pageant -- which (of course, given that this is a Disney theme park show) wraps up with a star spangled salute to America -- was the brainchild of Robert F. Jani, Disneyland's long time Vice President of Entertainment. Jani had been recruited by WDW officials to come on down to Orlando to help with the staging of Disney World's opening hoopla. But -- once that job was complete -- Robert was free to return to the Anaheim theme park.
Which admittedly -- at least in comparison to its newer, bigger brother in Orlando -- now seemed kind of drab. At least to Jani. Robert also noticed that Disneyland's staff seemed to be moping around. Developing a bit on an inferiority complex, if you will. So Jani thought: "What can I do to cheer these folks up? What can I do to brighten up Disneyland?"
And then it hit Robert. Just like Jiminey Cricket sang in "Pinocchio"'s "When You Wish Upon a Star": like a bolt out of the blue. He'd brighten up Disneyland by staging yet another Electrical Water Pageant. Only this version wouldn't float around Bay Lake or Seven Seas Lagoon. This show would roll right down Main Street U.S.A.
Now keep in mind that Robert Jani came up with the idea for Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade" in late December 1971 / early January 1972. And that by June 17, 1972, this parade was up and running -- twice nightly -- in the Park. Featuring over a half-million lights spread out over a dozen floats. With 100 live performers marching right alongside these brightly lit units.
You get what I'm saying here? Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade" was pretty much thrown together on the fly. This whole project -- from its initial proposal right through to when the finished units first rolled out "onstage" -- was completed in just under six months. That sort of high-speed show production is almost unheard of these days. But back in the early 1970s (back when Disneyland actual had its own parade float fabrication office located right on site), this sort of thing used to be possible.
Mind you, those first MSEP parade units were kind of crude. How crude? So crude that Disney's PR department doesn't really like to release images of the 1972 version of the parade to the media. They prefer the beauty shots that they've got on file for the 1977 version of Disneyland's "Electrical Parade." This was the year that MSEP underwent its first top-to-bottom makeover. When all 30 of the parade's floats were finally sculpted in three dimensions. And all the cruder units -- like that flat version of the Sleeping Beauty dragon -- had long since been retired.
As you all already know, Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade" became an immediate hit with the public. With people staking out their positions along the parade route hours in advance, just so they could be assured a front row seat as the park's lights suddenly dimmed and Gershon Kingsley and Jean-Jacques Perrey's "Baroque Hoedown" began booming through Disneyland's loudspeakers.
But -- because of the quick way that Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade" had been thrown together -- DL's Entertainment staff always thought of the MSEP as this jury-rigged creation. Not as something wonderful that the public loved right from the start. But as this hokey show that Robert Jani had thrown together on the fly.
This is why Disneyland Entertainment staffers always sort of looked down on the "Main Street Electrical Parade." I mean, given that this nighttime show for the Anaheim theme park had been put together so quickly, it couldn't possibly be really good, right? Why not? Well, because everyone knows that real art -- things that last, things that really make an impression on people -- take years to create. They're not thrown together in just six months time. Built on an idea that was "borrowed" from a WDW nighttime waterfront show.
Mind you, Disneyland's Entertainment staff had several clear warnings about how strongly theme park patrons felt about the MSEP. Both in the summers of 1975 and 1976 (when the "Main Street Electrical Parade" stepped aside to make way for "America on Parade," that special street pageant that Disneyland's Entertainment office created in celebration of America's bicentennial) and 1983 and 1984 (when the MSEP was put in mothballs to make way for "Flights of Fantasy," the special all-inflatable parade that DL Entertainment staffers put together to celebrate the grand opening of the park's New Fantasyland area), hundreds of guests made the trek to City Hall to file a complaint. To make sure that Disneyland management knew how much they missed the "Main Street Electrical Parade."
And the public's love for Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade" really did continue to build as the years went by. I've seen internal Disney Company documents that show how in 1987, only 43.7% of the guests in the park stayed to watch MSEP. While in 1989, 69.9% of all Disneyland guest hug around after dark specifically to get their "Main Street Electrical Parade" fix.
But as the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, Disneyland's Entertainment staff continued to be dismissive of the "Main Street Electrical Parade." Sure, the public still seemed to be fond of this hokey piece of crap. But the MSEP still used twinkle lights and synthesizer music, for Christ's sake. In comparison to the state-of-the-art thrills to be found in Disneyland's new "Star Tours" and "Splash Mountain" attractions, the "Electrical Parade" really seemed to be showing its age. (The MSEP was almost 20 years old at this point. For those of you who are keeping count.)
So what was the final straw for Disneyland's "Main Street Electrical Parade?" It was actually the May 1992 debut of "Fantasmic!" This New Orleans Square area riverfront extravaganza was an immediate hit with the public. Getting high marks from the media as well as the guests for its clever use of state-of-the-art technology.
"You see what we can do when you actually give us the time and money we need to develop a great new show?" Disneyland's Entertainment staff crowed to Disney company management.
It was on the heels of "Fantasmic!"'s enormous success that the park's Entertainment staffers really stepped up the pressure on Disneyland management to allow Entertainment to pull the plug on the "Main Street Electrical Parade." So that their office could finally develop a REAL nighttime parade for the Park. Something that Disneyland's Entertainment office could be proud of. Not some stupid dated twinkle lights monstrosity that seemed dated back in the early 1970s.
In late 1994 / early 1995, Disneyland management finally acquiesced to DL Entertainment's request. They agreed that it was time for the Anaheim theme park to shut down its version of the "Main Street Electrical Parade." The only question now was: what would be the proper way for the park to shut down this Disneyland favorite? More importantly, when should they pull the plug?
Looking over the theme park's long range calendar during one of those strategic planning sessions that Disneyland officials and lead Imagineers hold every month, it was determined that -- since "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye" was opening in March of 1995 -- that 1995 was out. And that -- given that Disneyland's new Tomorrowland was due to open to the public in the Summer of 1998 -- that 1998 was out as well.
That left 1996 and 1997. Which -- to Disneyland's Entertainment office's way of thinking -- was perfect. Throughout the summer of 1996, Disneyland guests could come say good-bye to an old favorite. Then -- during the summer of 1997 -- these same guests could return to the theme park to come witness the birth of a new Disneyland tradition.
And what was this show -- that was going to have to top the somewhat old fashioned but still much beloved "Main Street Electrical Parade" -- going to be about?
Well ... let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Join me here next Monday, and we'll talk all about the Lumin and the Lightkeepers, okay?
Your thoughts?