Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade was created in 1972 for the Disneyland park. The parade which was created Bob Jani and Ron Miziker features an array of performers and floats covered in thousands of lights which are synchronized to music.

History

The parade actually was a predecessor to the Electrical Water Pageant that debuted during the opening of the Magic Kingdom. The Electrical Water Pageant which still currently still runs on the Seven Seas Lagoon consists of  floats with light that are placed on barges. The floats were designed by a company from Chicago who had previously designed light displays on Michigan Avenue.

The team behind the Main Street Electrical Parade were also the first to design the first show-control program. This program allowed there to be radio activated trigger points along the parade route. These trigger points allowed floats to enter a zone there by allowing the audience to hear music designed especially for whatever float they were seeing.

Different Incarnations of the Parade

There have been numerous incarnations of the parade at the different Disney parks around the world but currently the parade runs at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. Many of the floats from the original parades can bee seen in this newest incarnation which debuted for the third time at the Magic Kingdom in 2010 and still runs nightly at the park.

The Music

The music of Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade is iconic for its underlying theme song entitled “Baroque Hoedown.” Woven in this theme are the different musical traits from the Disney classic that are represented by the floats. The parade beings each night with this announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! The Magic Kingdom proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination. In thousands of sparkling lights, and electro-synthe-magnetic musical sounds: the Main Street Electrical Parade!”.