ILoveRides Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 (edited) It was an exciting week at the Disneyland Resort! After a 20 year departure that took it to Disney resorts around the world, The Main Street Electrical Parade returned on Thursday to its original home at Disneyland! Additionally, Disney California Adventure (DCA) expanded its Lunar New Year celebration by making it a 17 day-long celebration this year and adding new activities, food, and entertainment to the mix. There's so much fun stuff to cover, and it's best shown with photos, so check out our complete report below! Be sure to watch the end of the video for the interviews! We’re at The Disneyland Resort to check out the return of The Main Street Electrical Parade and the expansion of The Lunar New Year Celebration! We’ll start at DCA! The event kicked off with a presentation to let us know about everything in store. Chef John State talked to us about all the new food offerings. He explained how he and his team worked with cast members, cultural advisors, and diversity groups to find dishes that would connect with guests. They then explored flavors and textures that weren’t typical, and sought feedback to refine the menu into something guests would love. The foods in the Lunar New Year Marketplace are inspired by the cultures of China (Pork Soup Dumplings, Turnip Cakes with Spicy Sausage), Korea (Kimchi Fried Rice, Steamed Vegetable Dumpling) and Vietnam (Sticky Rice Cake with Pork, Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer). Additional items at Paradise Garden Grill include Vegetable Japchae, Kalbi Beef Short Ribs with Steamed Rice, Whole Crispy Tilapia with Citrus Chile Vinaigrette, Beef Pho Noodle Soup, Mango Pudding and Cassava Coconut Cake. YUM! Creative Director Susana Tubert discussed the special entertainment for the Lunar New Year Celebration. She talked about how they’re proud to be able to celebrate cultural diversity by having authentic Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese performers present heartfelt and entertaining acts for guests. Every day during “Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession,” Mulan and her dragon friend Mushu will welcome the Year of the Rooster with a procession of Chinese umbrella dancers, martial artists, and other performers. Additionally, the park invited Acrobats from China who will perform daily in the World of Color viewing area, showcasing their skills that have been passed from generation to generation. As guests enter Paradise Gardens they’ll be greeted with red and gold lanterns as well as displays in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese to explain what the celebration means. Various musicians were invited to immerse guests in authentic sounds while artisans will create calligraphy for guests to take home and children can make Lunar New Year paper lanterns. There’s also a wishing wall where guests can write wishes for the new year on red ribbons and tie them to the wall. Additionally, there will be photo opportunities with Disney characters in their Lunar New Year costumes to add a Disney touch to the authentic celebration. Producer Jennifer Magill discussed the all new “Hurry Home” World of Color pre-show that was created just for the Lunar New Year Celebration. The show will precede “World of Color,” and run nightly during the Lunar New Year Celebration. The show tells the story of a Little Lantern returning home for the annual celebration of good luck and fortune with his family. Little Lantern encounters three “dream sequences,” featuring appearances by Mulan and Mushu. The show consists of all-new animation created specifically for it, and the style contrasts CG animation with sequences inspired by traditional Chinese paper cut-out style animation. Senior Show Director John Addis talked about the return of “The Main Street Electrical Parade.” The parade started at Disneyland in 1972 and ran through 1996. During that time there were over 3,600 performances and it was seen by more than 75 million guests. After the parade closed at Disneyland, it traveled to Florida, Paris, and Tokyo - solidifying it as the most popular parade Walt Disney Park and Resorts has ever presented. In honor of it returning home, the first float once again says in lights, “The Main Street Electrical Parade Presented by Disneyland.” After the presentation, it was time for Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession! Mulan and Mushu led the cast of authentic performers. We really enjoyed this show! The dragon dance was neat! There’s lots of motion and excitement. It’s as if there was a real live dragon! There were umbrella dancers... and ribbon dancers. The show was so colorful with all the authentic costumes and decorations! And you could feel the music with the live drumming. This show was a great mix of Disney style with authentic traditions. It’s definitely worth seeing! After the show, we enjoyed some food and activities at Paradise Gardens. As we entered there were displays explaining the New Year celebrations. There were photo ops all around. We wrote our wishes for the new year and tied them to the wall. Peace and happiness for all! Then we got in touch with our inner children, busted out the crayons, and made some Lunar New Year lanterns! Check out the official TPR lantern on the right! Not too shabby! An impressive display was set up, showcasing the merchandise and food offerings. There’s t-shirts, Disney themed red envelopes, and more! I liked this small box. Lets not forget the food! Disney created so many amazing food offerings for the celebration. This report has just a small sampling of what’s available! Everything we tried was delicious! Lantern, check. Food, check. Spears is good to go! Einstein had his formula, so here’s mine: 3 food samples = 1 Mickey Mouse. There was a tasty lychee drink too! The authentic music set the tone for the celebration. And we were blown away by the talent of the calligrapher. Spears collects character photos like most TPR members collect coaster credits. We loved the Lunar New Year costumes! Meeting Mulan and Mushu was really cool too! We definitely could’ve partied there all night, but alas, there was more to see! Next up, the “Hurry Home” World of Color pre-show! The show tells the story of this Little Lantern as he returns home. The paper cut-out art style is really neat! The show even features some of the food that you can try at the celebration! Mulan makes an appearance. It’s a lovely pre-show, and does a nice job of leading into World of Color without upstaging it. Spoiler alert: the Lantern makes it home! And since it’s the year of the rooster, here's a rooster. One very special effect that the pre-show has is fireworks! It was really surprising seeing them appear over Paradise Pier! After the pre-show, World of Color begins! Spoiler alert: Dory eats Marlin! (ok, not really) Oh no, Zurg! Up, up, and away! Pretty! World of Color is always beautiful! And there’s always lots of fire! We were close to the front, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and it was cold that night. A bad combo, but Spears bundled up and committed to bringing you live social media updates! World of Color is ALWAYS a great way to end the night at DCA! And the new pre-show only makes it better! The Lunar New Year Celebration runs through Feb. 5, 2017, so don’t miss it! Over to Disneyland, the park had closed early for the separately ticketed Main Street Electrical Parade event. There was a red carpet set up and Spears waltzed in like a VIP! They had tons of photo opportunities set up for guests attending the event. And then the moment arrived... The lights turned out, the music turned on, and glowing floats began to appear down Main Street. It’s back! It’s home! And it once again says, “Disneyland Presents!” Cue the Goosebumps! I was so nostalgic seeing the parade again. I have memories of watching it with my Dad when I was just a kid! And it’s just like I remembered it! Some things Disney does are just timeless, and I think this is one of them. It’s quirky, it’s fun, and it’s as entertaining today as it was when it debuted. I kept switching between taking photos and just standing there trying to take it in. There are some subtle changes that have been made to the parade over the years, but at its core it's still the same old Main Street Electrical Parade that everyone remembers. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! Oh no, it’s midnight! There are over 600,000 lights in the parade! Peter Pan says, “Wow, that’s a lot of lights!” Tinkerbell is blown away by the amount of lights! This is one of my favorite floats! The diamonds are so cool looking. “600,000 you say? That’s a LOT of lights!” There are so many neat floats! Another one of my favorites! It even breathes smoke! And last but not least, BACON! The world’s largest piece of bacon, to be exact. It may be California hippie grass-fed vegan bacon now, but it’s bacon nonetheless. So there it is! Like I said, it was an exciting week for the Disneyland Resort! There’s a greatly expanded Lunar New Year celebration over at DCA, and a legendary parade has returned home to Disneyland! Mickey would like to remind you that The Lunar New Year Celebration at DCA runs through Sunday, February 5 and The Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland runs through Sunday, June 18. Don’t miss them! Thanks to Disney for putting on such a great event and for inviting us to attend! And thanks to you for reading our report! Edited January 25, 2017 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 This really is the parade that refuses to die. Disney has tried so many new parades, yet the Electrical Parade just keeps chuggin' along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Great TR! Really miss DLR and I have to go back! Lmao the Chinese characters in the Mickey actually means "Monkey" instead of "Rooster" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I would like to luck out, and catch this iconic event sometime sooner, than later. Now that I've actually taken the first step of traveling solo, down to S.Cal on the train, DLR is closer than ever for me. Other visits in decades past, always seemed to miss The Parade. This One. Maybe I'll get lucky this time around, Wonderful video and shots of it all, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I went to it's first retirement from Disneyland about 20 years ago. I'll probably have to check it out when I'm there in May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmadmanray Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Fantastic report. Great pictures and videos, thank you! Always loved this parade! It will be missed here in Orlando. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyBo Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Awesome report as always! I loved in the video you asked if it was Bacon or a flag at the end of the Electrical Parade...that's hilarious! I'm really excited that it's back for a limited time. I remember seeing this as a kid and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I'm pretty sure it was my first parade I had ever seen. It's really neat seeing what Disney has to offer for Lunar New Year. I'll be honest, I don't think I've ever really known that they did something for it but it's great to see that they are offering new things during this time. Jimmy "Bacon is American!" Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 This really is the parade that refuses to die. Disney has tried so many new parades, yet the Electrical Parade just keeps chuggin' along. Nostalgia seems to be a big seller now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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