There was a time when every Disney Park in America had a parade. In fact, there was a time some even had two parades that would run on the same day. But over the last decade and a half, we've seen them go away one by one, virtually eliminating the night parade and cutting day parades down to one at the Disneyland Resort and one at Disney World.
So what happened?
So let's start at Epcot. Epcot started the new millennium with Tapestry of Nations, later renamed Tapestry of Dreams for its final few years. It was initially very popular, but by the time it needed a major refurbishment it was not deemed popular enough to warrant the money required to fix the parade and it was retired, leaving Epcot without a parade ever since.
Moving on to Disney's Hollywood Studios. This park had a variety of parades throughout its MGM phase. Notable parades include the Stars and Cars Motorcade and the parks final full parade, Pixar Pals: Countdown to Fun. Given the crowd levels soon expected at the park, a parade is not likely any time soon.
Shifting over to Disneyland Resort, the original park lost a night parade to Disney California Adventure following the end of the Main Street Electrical Parade and the move of Paint the Night out of the park. Now it is left with only Mickey's Soundsational Parade.
Moving on to Disney California Adventure it has also lost a parade, as following Pixar Fest the Pixar Play Parade never returned to the park, leaving it without a daytime parade. This is now the first extended time the park has been without a parade.
There are also no indications Paint the Night will return any time soon, leaving the park entirely paradeless.
Finally, we go to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This park had featured the same parade since 2001, but as a result of Pandora construction, Mickey's Jamin' Jungle Parade and its holiday version ended their run in 2014. This marked the second parade in 2 years to be closed without a replacement at Disney World.
So why did this happen?
The easiest answer is for convenient budget cuts. The Animal Kingdom and Epcot parades had other reasons for closing and were likely not replaced to cut back on the entertainment budget.
But for some, there are more complicated answers. Specifically, at the Magic Kingdom, Spectromagic, the parks normal night parade was supposed to be on temporary hiatus while the park borrowed Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade, but the parade was literally left out in the rain and destroyed. Now we are left without a staple of the Disney Parks and we might not get that back until the early 2020s (if then).
At Disneyland, it is unclear what led to the demise of the Pixar Play Parade. It had just gotten new floats yet disappeared following Pixar Fest. Paint the Night while normally seasonal, also seems to have disappeared without a trace from this summers entertainment lineup.
Disney appears to be abandoning one of its signature entertainment ventures, leaving a hole in the entertainment lineup at its parks across the US.
There are also no indications Paint the Night will return any time soon, leaving the park entirely paradeless.
Finally, we go to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This park had featured the same parade since 2001, but as a result of Pandora construction, Mickey's Jamin' Jungle Parade and its holiday version ended their run in 2014. This marked the second parade in 2 years to be closed without a replacement at Disney World.
So why did this happen?
The easiest answer is for convenient budget cuts. The Animal Kingdom and Epcot parades had other reasons for closing and were likely not replaced to cut back on the entertainment budget.
But for some, there are more complicated answers. Specifically, at the Magic Kingdom, Spectromagic, the parks normal night parade was supposed to be on temporary hiatus while the park borrowed Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade, but the parade was literally left out in the rain and destroyed. Now we are left without a staple of the Disney Parks and we might not get that back until the early 2020s (if then).
At Disneyland, it is unclear what led to the demise of the Pixar Play Parade. It had just gotten new floats yet disappeared following Pixar Fest. Paint the Night while normally seasonal, also seems to have disappeared without a trace from this summers entertainment lineup.
Disney appears to be abandoning one of its signature entertainment ventures, leaving a hole in the entertainment lineup at its parks across the US.
Comments
Post a Comment