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Light Magic

DisneyWorld30th

DisneyWorld30th

Active Member
Original Poster
How bad was Light Magic? Why did it only run for 6 months? Why didn't Disneyland make improvements to the parade?

Does anyone have video of this parade? I could not find it on IRC.
 
DCA Fan

DCA Fan

New Member
Light Magic suffered from bad press, particularly from the AP soft previews. I did not see the parade, but I've heard that the only good thing about the parade was the music. There are not many LM clips on the net, but there's a commerical for LM in RU's folder in the IRC.
 
RU42

RU42

New Member
yep - it was bad - I saw it once and had no desire to see it again. There just wasn't any magic. There were breakdowns. The way the displays were designed you could not always see everything if you had a bad location to view the parade. IIRC the first time I watched it I walked away 1/2 way through - which was not an uncommon reaction by the crowd.

Also - following the MSEP was a formidable task.
 
Bagheera

Bagheera

New Member
Were you there when the Tinkerbell effect caught on fire and had to be stomped out in the middle of the street, in front of all the kids screaming that they were killing Tink? :eek:
 
M

MicBat

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by Bagheera
Were you there when the Tinkerbell effect caught on fire and had to be stomped out in the middle of the street, in front of all the kids screaming that they were killing Tink? :eek:
Click to expand...
:eek: Imagine how horrible that must have been!
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by MicBat
:eek: Imagine how horrible that must have been!
Click to expand...

it happened more than once lol. The sad thing is that LightMagic could have been great...Disney just demanded that it premier without being complete...had they spent a couple more months before the premier, they could have avoided the whole mess by making a presentable...well, it wasn't a parade..."streetacular". It was a kewl idea executed poorly. And I absolutely love the modernized Baroque Hoedown at the end of the score--it's very kewl.
 
celticdog

celticdog

Well-Known Member
I think the whole score is fantastic. The bagpipes in the beginning send chills down my spine, especially when the volume is cranked. It is unfortunate that this "parade" did not last. But now that TOD is gone from Epcot, they could resurrect Light Magic. I think it could do well at World Showcase.
 
WDI Magic

WDI Magic

New Member
ToTBellHop said:
it happened more than once lol. The sad thing is that LightMagic could have been great...Disney just demanded that it premier without being complete...had they spent a couple more months before the premier, they could have avoided the whole mess by making a presentable...well, it wasn't a parade..."streetacular". It was a kewl idea executed poorly. And I absolutely love the modernized Baroque Hoedown at the end of the score--it's very kewl.
Click to expand...
No, it only happened once on the night of the press event.

The locations for the illusion backstage were locked off as they wanted to set everything up before the park opened. There were guards and instructions to not let ANYONE into the control areas once it was set. When they were getting ready for the show, they noticed that one of the devices had been moved several feet. The guard said, “Oh, yeah, they needed to replace an air conditioner filter so we let them in.” The perfect tuning of the entire system had been changed! They knew that there as a chance it could work but a great risk that it could also fail. The decision was made to launch anyway.

Paul Pressler introduced the show from a small platform in the middle of the street and a single bright glowing light came to life flying out of a small flower on the platform. The audience gasped in amazement. Tinker Bell flew down Main Street dropping down to mere feet above the guests heads then back up to the tops of the buildings. Flying all around the area as the crowds watched in awe of the effect. Tink flew up to the top of one building as a pyrotechnic charge ignited, then across to the second building on the other side. Again the pyro went off right on cue… then finally back across to the last building where the system was out of adjustment. It stayed there struggling for a moment before flying down to the ground landing in one of the Street Car tracks. Unfortunately the rest of the system was still functioning so it now looked like Tink was flying down the track towards the Castle! Keep in mind this was a super bright light but a cast member thought it was a burning firework device and started running down the street trying to put it out. It looked like he was trying to kill Tinker Bell! Right after that Tink reappeared up on top of the Penny Arcade and shot up over the castle to bring the fireworks to life as the parade came around the corner.

In spite of the seeming “failure”, they ended up using the effect both in the park for special events and around the country. The rumor was that after the event, they asked Michael Eisner how the Parade was and he commented, “That Tinker Bell thing was great!”
 
WDI Magic

WDI Magic

New Member
Bagheera said:
Were you there when the Tinkerbell effect caught on fire and had to be stomped out in the middle of the street, in front of all the kids screaming that they were killing Tink? :eek:
Click to expand...
Lol… Yes, I was. You’ve been given some false facts there! I just posted the actual story above.
 

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