Light Magic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Light Magic | |
 |
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| Locations, openings and status | |
| Disneyland May 23, 1997 | |
| Closed - September 8, 1997 |
Light Magic was a parade/street show at Disneyland that ran for less than three months in 1997. It was originally billed as a replacement for the venerable 24-year-old Main Street Electrical Parade.
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[edit] Synopsis
Light Magic was a "streetacular," with floats moving into two performance zones, one located at the Small World Mall, the other on Main Street. Upon reaching the performance zones, the floats would stop and the pixie characters, who were the focus of the show, would awaken to perform step-dancing routines for the audience, later being joined by Disney characters and audience members. During the performance segment, a portion of each of the floats would open to reveal a screen upon which images were projected from equipment hidden in the surrounding buildings. As part of the grand finale, the fairies would use their 'magic' to throw pixie dust, lighting up the buildings with a shower of twinkling lights provided by fiber optics embedded in the structures.
Light Magic's music was very Celtic-influenced, and some of the songs in the show included but were not limited to:
- Dream Our Dream, the Light Magic Theme
- Little April Shower from Bambi
- Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast
- Topsy Turvy from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Step in Time from Mary Poppins
- When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio
- A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella
- Baroque Hoedown from the Main Street Electrical Parade
[edit] Criticism of Light Magic
[edit] Annual Passholder premiere
Light Magic had a difficult role to fill as the Electrical Parade had been a favorite at Disneyland for almost 25 years. Expectations and apprehensions were both high as Light Magic made its debut at a private event for Disneyland Annual Passholders. The premiere night did not go well as technical problems came up with aligning the floats with the projectors, sound equipment failures and missed cues.
Annual Passholders are known for being both the most ardent supporters of Disneyland, while at the same time being its harshest critics. The response to the poor performance of Light Magic's debut was very negative. In response, Disneyland stated that the Annual Passholder night was not truly a debut but was a dress-rehearsal. This did not sit well with the Annual Passholders who had paid a premium price to attend the event under the impression, based on all of the information that had been distributed, that they would be the first to see the finished product, not a test audience with which to work out the bugs. Word of mouth reports quickly spread that Light Magic was not worth seeing, even earning the nickname Light Tragic.
[edit] General public response
Light Magic played for the remainder of the summer season in 1997 with the majority of the response from the public ranging from lackluster to complete dislike. Many fans of the Electrical Parade regarded Light Magic as an unworthy replacement for the Main Street Electrical Parade.
Disney announced that Light Magic would be on hiatus until the year 2000.But 2000 came without any indication of Light Magic returning.
[edit] Trivia
- Three towers constructed on Small World Mall for sound and lighting technician use in Light Magic are still standing. Two currently serve no explicit purpose, but their exterior façades are still maintained. One has been returned to service as a projection tower for Remember... Dreams Come True.
- The fiber optics installed in the Main Street building façades remain in place today; however, they are not used. It is rumored that these fiber optics never worked as intended due to Disney underestimating the required fiber lengths.
- Was originally called Tinker Bells Light Magic because it was created around Tinker Bell and was supposed to have had mechanical flying Tinker Bell for the finale. However the mechanical Tinker Bell effect was dropped due to Disney's lawyers.
[edit] Soundtrack
Baroque Hoedown was incorporated into the finale of Light Magic.
A partial soundtrack for the show can be found on:
- Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation
- Disneyland/Walt Disney World: The Official Album (1997 CD)
[edit] Production
- Produced by Bruce Healey
- Engineered and Mixed by Paul Freeman
- Announcer: Randy Crenshaw
- Dream Our Dreams Opening Play On (Vocals by Ellis Hall)
- Dream Our Dreams (Vocals by Richard Page)
