You've probably heard that the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade has returned to Disneyland after its run at Walt Disney World. The parade first opened in Disneyland in 1972 and ended its run at Disneyland 24 years later.
Then in 2001, the famed parade made its return to California, this time inside Disney's California Adventure park! It was during the parade's time in California Adventure that I saw it for the very first time. Now, if I'm being honest, the only thing I really remember about this historical parade is the snails.
The night-time parade I came to know and love was Paint The Night, which is an incredible parade with fun music and beautiful floats. However, I was excited for the Main Street Electrical Parade.
When it made its way home to Disneyland earlier this month, I knew I had to see it.
Fast forward to two days after its public debut and I'm sitting on Main Street, U.S.A watching it for the first time as an adult.
The music began and I'll be honest, I really liked it. The music is simple but fun. It wasn't until about 10 minutes into the parade that I found myself getting annoyed with the music.
That was quite different from Paint The Night. The first night I ever watched the Paint The Night Parade, I found myself instantly annoyed with the music; it wasn't until later on that the music grew on me and I fell in love.
I thought the floats were a little sad. The best way I can accurately describe the Main Street Electrical Floats is by saying they looked like "chicken wire and light bulbs." Although they weren't anywhere near as elaborate as the floats from Pain The Night, I loved them. They were cute and reminded me of a much simpler time.
In fact, when I saw the snails in the parade, I panicked because they looked exactly how I remembered them when I had first seen the parade as a child.
The performers were amazing in this parade. Don't get me wrong, I adored the dancers and other parade performers in Paint The Night. However, the performers in Main Street Electrical were wonderful.
This parade is not the big-budget fancy parade that Paint The Night was. It's not elaborate or flashy. It's light-hearted and simple. Maybe it is the nostalgia that accompanies the parade, or maybe it's the pure simplicity of it all, but this parade is fantastic.
I had my doubts when I first saw it, being that aside from seeing it as a child, I had only ever watched the parade on YouTube, but nonetheless, I loved it. Now it is no Paint The Night, and it will never have the same place in my heart as Paint The Night, purely because it wasn't the parade I first fell in love with.
Many of my friends who had never previously seen the Main Street Electrical Parade hated it, because it wasn't Paint The Night. I'll be honest; at first I felt similar. I thought it was highly overrated until I sat back and realized that it wasn't meant to be some fancy, over-the-top, spectacle. It was meant to be a simple, yet fun, parade!
If you're like me, and Paint The Night will always hold your heart, go and enjoy it just like the generations before us did and try and remember that this is the older generation's Paint The Night. 45 years from now, Disney will have a new parade that our kids will fall in love with, and when they bring back Paint The Night, our kids will probably think it's pathetic. But we will be screaming the words to every song and trying to get Buzz Lightyear to wave at us off the back of Slinky!
Main Street Electrical was overall a great parade. I loved it. I would've loved it more had I remembered it more from my childhood, but I'm not disappointed in it! Go check it out if you get the chance, I know I'll be watching it a few more times while it's here!
