Paint the Night
| Paint the Night | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Parade route |
| Type | Nighttime electrical parade |
| Opened | May 22, 2015 |
| Designer | Disney Live Entertainment
|
| Status | Operating |
Paint the Night is a nighttime parade presented at Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in California, and formerly at Hong Kong Disneyland. Built entirely around LED lighting, it was created as a modern successor to the Main Street Electrical Parade, updating that parade's concept with colour-changing, computer-controlled light on every float and costume. The Hong Kong version premiered on September 11, 2014; the California version followed on May 22, 2015, as part of Disneyland's 60th anniversary Diamond Celebration, and returned in May 2025 for the park's 70th anniversary.
History
Hong Kong Disneyland developed Paint the Night first, introducing interactive elements — guests could buy light-up paintbrush wands that changed the colours of performers' costumes as the parade passed. When Disneyland in California planned its Diamond Celebration, the concept was brought to Anaheim in an expanded form, with additional floats built for the American park.
The California parade's first regular run ended on September 5, 2016, although it came back for the 2016 holiday season, finishing on January 10, 2017. In April 2018 the parade moved across the esplanade to Disney California Adventure, where it ran with a new float for The Incredibles added for the opening of Pixar Pier. Hong Kong's version gave its final performance in January 2020. After several years away from California, Paint the Night was announced in October 2024 as a returning feature of Disneyland's 70th anniversary, and it resumed performances at Disneyland Park on May 16, 2025.
The parade
A performance lasts roughly 17 minutes and uses more than 1.5 million LED lights, with about 76 performers in the California cast. As in the Electrical Parade, a synthesised announcement introduces the show, and the soundtrack reworks that parade's theme, "Baroque Hoedown", beneath a version of "When Can I See You Again?" by Owl City, which serves as Paint the Night's main song.
The procession opens with a drum unit carrying Tinker Bell, Peter Pan and other characters, lit in shifting colour. Units follow for Monsters, Inc., Cars — built around a large Mack truck float — and The Little Mermaid, then a Toy Story section centred on a Slinky Dog float whose segments stretch and compress as it moves. A princess unit gathers Belle, Rapunzel, Cinderella and others, and at Disney California Adventure the Incredibles float joined the line-up. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy close the parade on a finale float of swirling light ribbons. Costumes and floats are programmed together, so whole sections of the parade change colour in time with the music — the effect the title describes, of the night being painted with light.
Relationship to the Electrical Parade
Paint the Night was designed openly as a successor rather than a revival. It keeps the older parade's basic grammar — a drum opening, units themed to individual films, a synthesised fanfare and the "Baroque Hoedown" melody — but replaces fixed incandescent bulbs with addressable LEDs capable of animation and colour change, and gives performers illuminated costumes that respond to the show control system. The two parades have alternated at Disneyland since 2015, with the Electrical Parade returning for limited runs in the gaps between Paint the Night engagements.