SpectroMagic is an evening parade presented semi-nightly at Disney's Magic Kingdom in the
Walt Disney World ResortWalt Disney World Resort is the largest and most visited recreational resort in the world, containing four theme parks; two water parks; 23 themed hotels; and numerous shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation venues. Owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment of The Walt...
. Produced by longtime Disney Show Producer
Ron LoganRon Logan is the former executive vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment and a university professor in Orlando, Florida, United States.-Life and career:...
, it is similar to the
Main Street Electrical ParadeThe Main Street Electrical Parade was a regularly-scheduled parade, created by Bob Jani and project director Ron Miziker, famous for its long run at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort most summers between 1972-1974, 1977-1982, and 1985-1996...
, which was its predecessor. The parade incorporates elaborate, brightly lit floats, a musical score, and many sound effects. The floats are populated with Disney characters and represent scenes from Disney's movies and short films.
The parade went on a hiatus when the Main Street Electrical Parade made its return to the Magic Kingdom.
SpectroMagic is an evening parade presented semi-nightly at Disney's Magic Kingdom in the
Walt Disney World ResortWalt Disney World Resort is the largest and most visited recreational resort in the world, containing four theme parks; two water parks; 23 themed hotels; and numerous shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation venues. Owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment of The Walt...
. Produced by longtime Disney Show Producer
Ron LoganRon Logan is the former executive vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment and a university professor in Orlando, Florida, United States.-Life and career:...
, it is similar to the
Main Street Electrical ParadeThe Main Street Electrical Parade was a regularly-scheduled parade, created by Bob Jani and project director Ron Miziker, famous for its long run at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort most summers between 1972-1974, 1977-1982, and 1985-1996...
, which was its predecessor. The parade incorporates elaborate, brightly lit floats, a musical score, and many sound effects. The floats are populated with Disney characters and represent scenes from Disney's movies and short films.
History
The parade went on a hiatus when the Main Street Electrical Parade made its return to the Magic Kingdom. SpectroMagic returned in 2001 with the following changes:
- Spectro-men have new heads
- Genie
The Genie is a fictional character and a protagonist from the Disney animated features canon movie Aladdin, as well as related series and sequels. He was portrayed by Robin Williams in the first film, though the role was later taken over by Dan Castellaneta after a contract dispute between Williams...
(from AladdinAladdin is a American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 31st animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and is based on the Arab folktale of Aladdin...
) replaced Roger Rabbit
- Sebastian
Sebastian the crab is a Disney character who first appears in Disney's 1989 feature film The Little Mermaid...
(from The Little MermaidThe Little Mermaid is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 17, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...
) animatronic and bubble system added to King Triton's float
- Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his classic novel Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Walt Disney in 1940...
animatronic added to the finale float
Releases
- A partial (7:11) audio recording of the original parade can be found on the CD Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation
Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation was a 2-CD set only released in Japan in 1997. Out of print.-Disc one:# "Light Magic" – 16:06#*; DREAM OUR DREAMS FANFARE / OPENING / PLAY ON#:* Dream Our Dreams Fanfare#:* Dream Our Dreams Opening Play On...
. The CD was produced before the changes in 2001
- The full current soundtrack (14:19) can be found on the CD SpectroMagic
SpectroMagic is the soundtrack for the return of SpectroMagic to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World. In print.-Track listing:# "SpectroMagic Parade" – 14:19#*; ENTRANCE#;* On This Magic Night#;* Once Upon a Dream#;* Toccata and Fugue In D Minor...
.
- A jazz version (3:37) of the SpectroMagic theme can be found on Disney's Music From The Park
Disney's Music from the Park was a compilation of celebrities singing Disney theme park songs. Out of print.-Track listing:# "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" - Splash Mountain#* Performed by Patti Austin# "Yo Ho " - Pirates of the Caribbean...
as "SpectroMagic Medley", performed by David Benoit.
Music
The main theme for SpectroMagic ("On This Magic Night") was composed by movie composer
John DebneyJohn Debney is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ...
. Together with Steve Skorija, he arranged music by Disney composers into a 14-minute suite. It is the only parade in Disney history to be in 3/4 time.
Show facts
- Original run: October 1, 1991 - May 21, 1999
- Second run: April 2, 2001 - present
- Show duration: 20 minutes
- Total number of batteries: 948
- Battery type: 75 tons of deep-cycle batteries
- Fiber-optic strands: over 100 miles
- Miniature lights: 600,000
- Miniature light colors: 11 (including clear)
- Speakers: 204
- Speaker power: 72,000 watts
- Speaker batteries: 112
- Parade Units:
- Entrance Unit with Trumpeters
- Title Unit heralding SpectroMagic
- Spectro-Men on Whirly-balls (4 pods)
- Mickey Unit
- Music Unit (3 units hitched)
- Sleeping Beauty Garden Unit 1 (Peacock)
- Sleeping Beauty Garden Unit 2
- Sleeping Beauty Garden Unit 3 (Waterfall on back)
- Giant Fish Unit
- Bubble Fish Unit (3 units hitched)
- Ursula Unit (1 pod)
- Little Mermaid Unit (3 units hitched)
- Whirly Fish (2 pods)
- Fantasia Opening Unit with Spinning Hippo
- Baracus Unit (Fountain with Ostrich's)
- Diana Unit (3 units hitched)(Flying horses)
- Chernabog Unit
- First Finale Unit (3 units hitched)
- Carousel Unit
- Second Finale Unit (3 units hitched)
Technical Information
In the parade there are 29 units, and 7 whirly units giving a grand total of 36 units in the parade.
Disney refers to floats as "units." Each unit has a driver cleverly hidden in the unit. All audio is controlled through DTMF tones transmitted by RF signals from the antennas on Cinderella's Castle to each unit. Each unit has its own audio themed to the unit, with the main parade theme is then played on the zone speakers. Each zone is anywhere between 70 to 80 ft in length. The audio is stored on the unit as digitally encoded information. All the audio and other effects are stored in DACS (Digital Automation Control System). The lighting effects and other special effects are all controlled by on-board computers which initiate their own cues using a Programmable Logic Controller. The cues are sent via the antennas to the units. The main control center is located under Main Street USA. The PC (Production Center) is where all Magic Kingdom parades are stored. It is located behind Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain. In its original run in 1991 most units used
AmigaThe Amiga was a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. Development on the Amiga began in 1982 with Jay Miner as the principal hardware designer. Commodore International bought Amiga Corporation and introduced the machine to the market in 1985...
software developed by
Richmond Sound DesignRichmond Sound Design Ltd. is a theatre sound design and show control systems and software developer and manufacturer. It was founded in 1972 by Charlie Richmond. The company began as a manufacturer of specialty mixers and theatre sound design consoles...
Ltd. running on Amiga computers to generate animations that were synchronized via MIDI Time Code with the local audio and projected onto the side of the unit.
Recently SpectroMagic has had upgrades. Most notably, the Spectro-Men are now face characters and no longer wear masks. These characters now have either a wig that is lit from within using LED lights, or wigs with hats lit from within with LED lights. Their face make-up is silver, with blue and purple eye highlights. This change was prior to August 14, 2007.
External links