Elite Eight - Round II
IDInstitute's Submission
Coming later next year (that is, if it ever opens
) will be a one of a kind in terms of Disney parks. While it may have a similar style, Shanghai Disneyland will not just be your average MK/DL parks. It is slated to feature extremely innovative, first of their type, and game changing attractions. Once it opens, it will be a must visit for any Disney (or theme park in general) fanatic.
With this in mind, I feel like this park needs something really spectacular for a nighttime parade. In order to really give closure to an amazing day of excitement and adventure, this nighttime parade really has to encapsulate what this park is supposed to represent. And following this goal, I have worked hard to create a concept that can really fit. Presenting...
Shanghai Disneyland Electrical Parade!
With Shanghai Disneyland being the cross between classic Disneyland and a new, innovative future, I decided to bring this park a 21st Century version of this fantastic and nostalgic parade. As the successor to the original Main Street version, the Tokyo version (Dreamlgihts), and even Paint the Night, it will have amazing effects set to a classic soundtrack, extravagant floats of your favorite childhood attractions. This new Electrical Parade is the perfect way to complete Shanghai Disneyland.
The parade will follow the same route as the current (and still unknown) daytime parade, set to go through Gardens of Imagination (center "hub" area).
(Because this route is unknown, follow the blue dots with the start being towards the bottom side for a visual for now
)
And now, without further adieu, I invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!
The artfully decorated light posts around Gardens of Imagination suddenly go from dim to completely dark. The anticipation built up over the past hour or so of guests waiting at the seats they saved with an amazing view have all built up to this moment. They can hear the music begin to play, as well as the announcer introducing the show:
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Shanghai Disneyland proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination. In thousands of sparkling lights, and electro-synthe-magnetic musical sounds: The Shanghai Disneyland Electrical Parade!"
There are a grand total of 15 floats/units. The way they are presented is divided into 3 different sections, being Classic Animation, Pixar, and Park-Based. However, first is the introductory float. Guests will see this one round the corner first. Playing homage to the first float in the original parade, Mickey and Gang will ride in on an electrical train. However, this new version will have a new design, with a cross between the original and a much more futuristic draft of the train. It will have OLED lighting layered around the outside, with the name of the parade fading in and out in fiber optics.
Following this first float begins the section on the classic movies. As the first Disney animated film, it only makes sense for Snow White to be the first float theme! This float has a cottage on it, much like the one in the film and later recreated at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, however of course with an electrical parade spin on it. The entire cottage will be lit up with the many, famous little LED lights. The most interesting part of this scene however is when you look through the windows when it comes by, and you can see NextGen electronic holographs of Snow White and the dwarfs dancing inside.
Up next is Peter Pan. This unit will be introduced by many little dancers wearing Tinker Bell-esque costumes, with fiber optic-infused wings. However, the
real Tinker Bell is flying over the float set, a wonderfully lit up recreation of London at night, with Big Ben towering towards the back. Tinker Bell will be created through the use of a small drone with fiber optic lights on it to make the image of the character. Meanwhile, the Peter Pan character will be on the ground, dancing a bit, and running around to high-five and be interactive with the guests watching.
After the Peter Pan scene, a new Lion King float moves in. It will be a completely electric version of Pride Rock (again, in a similar style to the original parade floats/the Snow White float with many LED lights lining it). What makes this scene incredibly impressive and fascinating to watch ride by is the sheer scope of the Pride Rock- it is a whopping 21 feet (for reference, that's almost 2 yards taller than the tallest MSEP float, Pete's Dragon, at 16 feet). In addition, another neat feature of this scene is the usage of NextGen animatronics in Simba, Nala, Pumba, Timon, and other animals, as well as a Zazu drone!
As the Lion King floats turns the corner, you see a new float rolling in- themed to Aladdin. The general layout of this float will be Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie actors/animatronic standing on the LED covered balcony of the Sultan's Palace, reminiscent of the final scene of the movie:
The coolest feature of this scene is the use of drones. However, it will be different that Zazu and Tinkerbell. This time, 4 different drones will each be attached to a corner of the magic carpet (with fiber optic cloth), and it will fly around over the float and guests in very cool fluid motion.
The sixth unit is modeled after Pinocchio. The float will be themed much like the original Pinocchio float in the first edition of the MSEP, with the Pinocchio character standing in front of the whale:
However, it will be updated significantly to match the higher quality of electrical effects, with new /more lights with different colors/sizes. The main aspect this unit will focus on though will be the dancing. Over 20 live dancers with lit-up Pinocchio-styled costumes will dance around in the famous puppet dance!
The final unit themed to Classic Disney Animation will be the Little Mermaid. In this scene, Arial will be sitting in her clam (much like seen in the theater show at DHS), with many LED drone fish swimming around in the air to create the illusion that the guests are suddenly underwater. To add to this effect, all plant life will actually be animatronics, swaying in the "sea movement".
(Imagine this area with the different colored sand the float, except with more lights of course!
)
Once the Classic Animation segment ends, it will move on to floats themed after Pixar franchises. The first one to be featured will be Toy Story. However, there won't really be any one general float to this unit. Instead, your favorite and most memorable toy characters, including Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Rex, and many more, will be dancing around and celebrating in lit up clothes. There will be some LED float-like vehicles zooming around though, themed after the less "walkable" toys, such as RC Racer and Slinky. These units will be similar to the "whirly" units that are famous from the original show:
The next scene is Monsters, Inc. The float itself will be modeled after the scare floor. A Sully costume character and NextGen Mike animatronic will be on the float, waving to guests, as the doors around them (three on each side of the float) raise up and down. The doors will actually be screens that occasionally produce a really cool effect. They will often open and close. Usually the doors will open and there will be nothing there, but if your'e lucky you can get a glimpse into the human world with Monsters in different rooms. Using screens and holographs, it will appear as if there is no ending to it for a few seconds until it closes before you get a new point of view
It's one of the coolest effects yet in this parade!
Following the Monsters Inc unit will be A Bug's Life. This unit will feature a very technological "circle of life" effect. Part of the set of this float will feature fiber optic plant life technology currently being developed for DAK's Pandora. While many characters such as Flik, Atta and Dot dance around on the float in their fiber optic costume, in the back a tiny, NextGen animatronic plant will grow from a tiny sprout to a full plant, maintaining LED lights along it the whole time, making the whole expanding of the plant that much more mystifying and amazing.
The next float will be modeled after Finding Nemo. The main float will have a giant, "under sea", swaying aneneme...anemeneny...anenehmeh....what's it called...Oh yeah, anemone!
This giant fiber optic animatronic anemone will constantly have a glowing Marlin animatronic cautiously looking out of it. Meanwhile, down on the ground will be Nemo and many other fish friends dancing and swimming around. The way this will be pulled off will be with dancers similar to Finding Nemo: The Musical, except this time the puppets will be lit up with fiber optic cloth, because, ya' know, it's the
electrical parade!
Meanwhile, silly Marlin audio can be heard calling out for Nemo to be safe out there.
The final Pixar float will be themed after one of Pixar's newest films, Inside Out. The float will feature OLED glowing NextGen animatronics, all on a float themed to the Headquarters. Many unique glowing/holographic and lighting effects will be played with to get the effect of the memory orbs shining at night on the parade, much like how they did in the film.
The last three floats are themed to specific areas of the park. The first one will be inspired by Adventure Isle/Treasure Cove. It will be one of the largest floats in any Disney Parade length wise, with it having two sides to it. On the front half will be a prehistoric-ish jungle, with the return of the Avatar glowing plant life, as well as grand LED rockwork and a river and waterfall with glowing blue water. On the back side of the float, however, will be the side that has become overcome by pirates! Several pirate animatronics will be laughing and yo ho-ing, all over obtaining their
literally shining loot of gold and coins!
The second park based unit (14th overall) will be themed mainly to Tron. The reason I chose Tron to have it's own float is not because of its movie relevance, but how it fits into the park. It is a huge part of Tomorrowland, and that will be represented here in the parade with the same type of electric atmosphere. Like Toy Story, this unit will not feature a central float, but rather many dancers wearing electric and lighted clothing (Tron-like), and a few small "whirly" floats, in the form of Light cycles.
The final float is a grand celebration. Mickey and the rest of the Fab Five have returned, wearing their electric clothing, standing in a sophisticated garden under a fiber optic recreation of the castle. For this grand finale, many electric lasers will shoot up into the sky in many different colors. In addition, for the first time ever in a parade, the viewing area around will will become part of the show, as the entire Gardens of Imagination land itself starts to glow and take part in this festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination!
As the Baroque Hoedown music starts to come to an end, the lights simmer down, and you are thanked for joining the park in the grand spectacle!
Parade Stats:
Start time: 10:00 PM
Duration: 14 Minutes
Budget: 250 US million (excluding performers' salary)
Number of performers: 70
All in all, this new Shanghai Disneyland Electrical Parade will be a nighttime event unlike any other you've ever seen. As the successor to the previous renditions, it will feature first of its kind usage of new technologies to celebrate all the park has to offer and some of the greatest nostalgic memories of any Disney fan's childhood. Thank you for reading my submission, and I hope you enjoyed the show!
