Paint the Night Parade to end this Fall

[VJ]

------
ETA: @GiveMeTheMusic has clarified that Paint the Night is not being retired.

I got some clarification. The plan is still to run PTN seasonally, Christmas and summer. This is a typical case of Disney bungling communication.

That is still stupid, but not as stupid as closing it permanently.

-------

Disneyland Today on Twitter has confirmed that the Paint the Night Parade is ending along with World of Color: Celebrate! and Disneyland Forever.

https://twitter.com/DisneylandToday/status/760576544154804224

 

[Rich T]

Disneyland Today on Twitter has confirmed that the Paint the Night Parade is ending along with World of Color: Celebrate! and Disneyland Forever.

https://twitter.com/DisneylandToday/status/760576544154804224

Possibly to return as "Force the Night" or "Paint the Force?"

 

[Disney Analyst]

I say we all flood them with tweets on this stupidity.

 

[VJ]

Just to recap, Disneyland is retiring its year-old entertainment in favor of no nighttime parade, a budget-level fireworks show that has been playing in its current incarnation since the late '90s, and a 5-year old water show.

This is Walt Disney World level stupidity. I literally cannot find anything to be positive about in any of this.

"It was just for the Diamond Celebration", you say. Then why did Remember... Dreams Come True, Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams and Disneyland: The First 50 (!) Magical Years play for at least 5 years after the 50th Anniversary celebration ended? Is it really that outlandish to expect that the Diamond Celebration entertainment would be sticking around that long?

 

[Franklin47disneyguy]

Just to recap, Disneyland is retiring its year-old entertainment in favor of no nighttime parade, a budget-level fireworks show that has been playing in its current incarnation since the late '90s, and a 5-year old water show.

This is Walt Disney World level stupidity. I literally cannot find anything to be positive about in any of this.

"It was just for the Diamond Celebration", you say. Then why did Remember... Dreams Come True, Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams and Disneyland: The First 50 (!) Magical Years play for at least 5 years after the 50th Anniversary celebration ended? Is it really that outlandish to expect that the Diamond Celebration entertainment would be sticking around that long?

Some idiot called Bob Chapek is in charge

 

[Disney Analyst]

Everyone needs to tweet. Ending a new nighttime parade after Disneyland not having a night time parade for many years, only after a year? Ridiculous. Not even replacing it. No fantasmic, no decent fireworks, no night parade. What's even the point?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I got some clarification. The plan is still to run PTN seasonally, Christmas and summer. This is a typical case of Disney bungling communication.

That is still stupid, but not as stupid as closing it permanently.

 

[VJ]

I got some clarification. The plan is still to run PTN seasonally, Christmas and summer. This is a typical case of Disney bungling communication.

That is still stupid, but not as stupid as closing it permanently.

I'm so relieved to hear that. Thanks for sharing.

I really want to be positive (I do!) but it's hard to when loads of depressing news is being dropped every day in regards to the parks; the fact that Paint the Night won't be retired permanently makes the whole thing a bit more bearable though.

 

[Donaldfan1934]

Just to recap, Disneyland is retiring its year-old entertainment in favor of no nighttime parade, a budget-level fireworks show that has been playing in its current incarnation since the late '90s, and a 5-year old water show.

This is Walt Disney World level stupidity. I literally cannot find anything to be positive about in any of this.

"It was just for the Diamond Celebration", you say. Then why did Remember... Dreams Come True, Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams and Disneyland: The First 50 (!) Magical Years play for at least 5 years after the 50th Anniversary celebration ended? Is it really that outlandish to expect that the Diamond Celebration entertainment would be sticking around that long?

Totally agree with this post. While a year ago I would've praised Disneyland for all it does better than WDW, its starting to look like WDW will shockingly end up being the better value sooner than later. The amount of decline at the Disneyland resort in the past year may be equal to, if not greater than the declines WDW has seen in the past decade and that is saying something.

 

[Franklin47disneyguy]

Personally really sad about this news, we are going to SoCal next year as a family vacation. Being from Europe this is not a vacation you do annually. Next year no Tower of Terror, no Forever and now the paint the night cancelled. At least we keep ToT in Paris.

 

[VJ]

Edited the first post to clarify that the parade is not being retired.

My comments on the matter were emotionally-driven and premature and I apologize.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I felt like emailing Disneyland saying it should be kept on Weekends, and how silly it is to end the run so soon... I never email Disney or do anything, but felt compelled to do so... I received a call within 5 minutes, and I don't even live in the country. Pretty impressive Disney.. you win with Guest Relations still...

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Were it not for the early closing hours by the time the hiatus of this and nightly fireworks takes effect, it would be totally worth it to enjoy the park in the evening. It really is awful when the park is disrupted twice for the parade and Fantasyland is closed down for the fireworks. But the park will just close every night by the time these disruptions would have occurred.

 

[deix15x8]

Seems like they spent a lot of money on a parade they are just going to let sit around for half the year. Last September/October was my only trip to Disneyland, but in my research leading up to it I found that fireworks were only ever on weekends (though the day parade ran a second time in the evening). Last year they had fireworks every day and the parks hours were extended slightly to accommodate them. Could this be a return to the more traditional weekday close times forcing no fireworks (along with saving money) once again? Even with the earlier close you would think they could run the parade though. It has to be dark, but not pitch black for that and doing just once should be possible.

 

[Curious Constance]

I don't think it's outlandish to expect it to stay a long time, although I've seen my fair share of negative criticism towards Disney for keeping things around too long.

 

[Phroobar]

Isn't this the normal pattern during the fall when open hours are reduced? I don't remember having a nighttime parade during the fall. Besides DL closes early for Mickey's Not so scary Halloween party. There is no need for PTN until next spring.

 

[VJ]

I don't think it's outlandish to expect it to stay a long time, although I've seen my fair share of negative criticism towards Disney for keeping things around too long.

I don't think it should stay around until it's falling apart (eye roll to you, WDW) but it should be given a nice run. I don't consider a year and 4 months a long enough run, to be honest.

 

[Curious Constance]

I don't think it should stay around until it's falling apart (eye roll to you, WDW) but it should be given a nice run. I don't consider a year and 4 months a long enough run, to be honest.

I'm sure it'll be around for years to come, just seasonally.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I don't think it should stay around until it's falling apart (eye roll to you, WDW) but it should be given a nice run. I don't consider a year and 4 months a long enough run, to be honest.

It actually IS falling apart, or at least the costumes are. My rebel spies inform me that the PTN costumes have been extremely problematic from the start, even after they supposedly learned from the original PTN in Hong Kong. There is a big problem institutionally with many new costumes that are more sophisticated than traditional parade or meet-and-greet characters. Management just cannot understand or plan for the costs involved, from Marvel super heroes to Star Wars to PTN.

There are nights when there aren't enough PTN costumes in some parade units for a full cast. Similarly, the lack of electronic components means that some Star Wars Launch Bay characters go out without the ability to talk (mostly Chewbaccas, due to prioritization). Before Super Hero HQ closed, the Thor costumes were on a death watch because they were deteriorating so badly. Now it's the Spider-Man suits that are most stressed.

I realize it's a tired cliche to opine about "what Walt would have done", but I think it's fair to say that current management's "just good enough" mentality falls short of the standard he set.

PTN is going to be around for a while--they have to recoup their investment in the floats. The three main entertainment offerings for the 60th were only ever scheduled to run year-round for about 18 months. Disney is cynically calculating that guests will still pay exorbitant entrance fees to see ANY water show or fireworks in the off season.

 

[Phroobar]

I think it is funny how soon everyone forgets that DL is going into its off season mode with shorter hours and the private halloween party. We typically don't get a nighttime parade and big fireworks during the off season. Let them referb the parade so it will be running great again in the spring.