SpectroMagic
| SpectroMagic | |
|---|---|
| Park | Magic Kingdom |
| Land / area | Parade route |
| Type | Nighttime parade |
| Opened | October 1, 1991 |
| Closed | June 2010 |
| Duration | About 20 minutes |
| Status | Closed |
SpectroMagic was a nighttime parade performed at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. It ran in two separate engagements, from October 1, 1991, to May 21, 1999, and from April 2, 2001, until June 2010.[1][2] Created for the resort's 20th anniversary, it replaced the Main Street Electrical Parade and in turn was replaced by that parade's return at the end of both of its runs. In between, it was the Magic Kingdom's defining after-dark procession for a generation of guests: a fully orchestrated, fibre-optic spectacle in which Mickey Mouse and a company of glowing figures called the SpectroMen conjured the power of SpectroMagic, with Jiminy Cricket announcing the start and signing off at the end.
History
By the end of the 1980s the Magic Kingdom's copy of the Main Street Electrical Parade had been running since 1977, and Walt Disney World was preparing both to celebrate its 20th anniversary and to help supply the new Disneyland Paris, opening in 1992. The Florida Electrical Parade floats were sent to Paris, and a new parade was commissioned to take the slot in Orlando.[3] SpectroMagic, developed under the working title ElectroMagic, debuted on October 1, 1991, the anniversary day itself.[4]
The first run lasted nearly eight years. It ended on May 21, 1999, when a refurbished set of Electrical Parade floats returned to the Magic Kingdom for the resort's Millennium Celebration, and SpectroMagic went into storage. When the Electrical Parade moved on to Disney California Adventure in California, SpectroMagic was brought back, returning on April 2, 2001, with small changes rather than new floats; most visibly, the Genie from Aladdin took over the Silly Symphonies orchestra float that Roger Rabbit had conducted in the first run. Its soundtrack was also released as a stand-alone album in 2001, rather than as part of the resort's official album.
The second run ended in June 2010, when the Electrical Parade came back once more as part of that summer's Summer Nightastic promotion. That exchange was presented as temporary, and for three years Disney said nothing definitive about SpectroMagic's future. In July 2013, after reports that the stored floats had deteriorated badly in the Florida weather and had been destroyed, Disney confirmed that the parade was permanently retired.[5]
Description
A performance lasted about 20 minutes along the park's parade route between Main Street, U.S.A. and Frontierland. Where the Electrical Parade had used fields of miniature bulbs and a synthesiser score, SpectroMagic layered fibre optics, colour-changing light and other effects over sculpted, three-dimensional floats, so that whole scenes could shift colour and brightness in time with the music.[6]
Jiminy Cricket's recorded announcement opened the parade, promising the Disney worlds presented "in a million points of musical light". The opening unit introduced the premise: SpectroMen trumpeters and others spinning inside large illuminated whirly-balls preceded the title float, and then Mickey himself, in a magician's cape that cascaded with colour, conducting the light from a glowing orb. In the parade's backstory the SpectroMen were the keepers of that light, and Mickey directed the power they created.
Five themed sections followed. The Worlds of Music, drawn from the Silly Symphonies shorts, presented a rolling orchestra of instruments and characters. The Wonder of Sleeping Beauty's Garden centred on the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, among flowers and fountains. The Fantasy of The Little Mermaid's Ocean moved under the sea with King Triton, Ariel, a school of whirling fish and a large Ursula. The Imagination of Fantasia ranged from dancing ostriches to Chernabog, the demon from "Night on Bald Mountain", unfolding huge wings over his float. A grand finale, the World of Dreams, gathered a large cast of classic characters around a carousel, closing the procession in full colour.
The music was as distinctive as the lighting. The parade's theme, "On This Magic Night", was written by film composer John Debney, and Steve Skorija scored the parade around it, weaving Debney's themes together with arrangements of familiar Disney melodies. Unusually for a parade, the score was written largely in waltz time and played by a full orchestra rather than synthesisers, giving SpectroMagic a dreamier, more sweeping character than the parade it replaced — and the one that twice replaced it.