12 illuminating facts about the Main Street Electrical Parade’s return today

The “Main Street Electrical Parade” makes its return today (Aug. 2, 2019) for a limited time to Disneyland Park,

The parade will travel down Main Street, U.S.A., through Sept. 30 and you’ll be able to see its return as the Disney Parks Blog livestreams the performance tonight.

The “Main Street Electrical Parade” made its world debut at Disneyland June 17, 1972, and later appeared at Disney Parks around the world. The parade was a staple at Disneyland until Nov. 25, 1996. Most recently, the after-dark parade ran for a limited-time at Disneyland in 2017, and prior to that, it illuminated Disney California Adventure Park from 2001-2010.

In honor of the parade’s return, let’s take a closer look at what you will see.

1. About 600,000 lights sparkle in the parade’s nighttime journey from Small World Mall in Fantasyland to Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A.

2. There are now 22 floats in the parade, nearly doubling the number of floats from the parade’s debut (12) in 1972.

3. Seven films are represented in the parade: “Alice in Wonderland,” “Cinderella,” “Peter Pan,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio,” “Dumbo” and “Pete’s Dragon.”

4. There are 27 Disney characters performing throughout the show including Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Captain Hook and Tinker Bell.

5. About 80 parade performers bring the magic to light including 10 To Honor America patriots, 16 royal court dancers and the Seven Dwarfs.

6. There are 35 lighted costumes worn by the parade performers.

7. The 18.5 foot high Clock Tower in the “Cinderella” sequence of the parade, is the tallest float.

8. At 118 feet long, the To Honor America float is the longest float in the parade. It was added in 1979 after the success of the bicentennial tribute parade “America on Parade.”

9. At 5,600 pounds, the massive Elliot float, added in 1977 for the release of “Pete’s Dragon,” measures 16 feet tall, 10 feet wide and 38 feet long.

10. Composers, Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley, wrote the iconic synthesizer piece known as “Baroque Hoedown” in 1967, and the song was adapted for the “Main Street Electrical Parade” in 1972, interwoven with classic Disney themes to create the now iconic parade soundtrack.

11. There are six different colors of light bulbs flash throughout the parade, in amber, blue, green, chartreuse, red and pink.

12. Five  Disney Parks have presented versions of the “Main Street Electrical Parade” including Disneyland, Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Park, Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.