Paint the night is not moving to Disney World. Stop bumping this.

[allgiggles]

Most retail locations would be lucky to have thousands of people lined up right outside their doors waiting for a parade. Those guests waiting for the parade ARE purchasing high margin glow merchandise. They ARE purchasing high margin snacks and beverages while they wait. They ARE taking turns shopping while other members of their party hold spots. And most importantly that parade is keeping them in the park giving them more time to spend. Disney knows that without attractions and entertainment there is no reason for people to be in the park and without people in the park the profit centers will have no purpose and no profit.

(Bolding is mine)
I was just going to say this. When we watched MSEP from Main Street in June, there were 6 of us in the group so we took turns going into stores and restaurants on Main Street while we waited 60+ minutes for the parade. My sons stood in line for 35 minutes at Starbucks. My daughter-in-law stood in line for 20 minutes at the Main Street Emporium to make an impulse purchase. I spent 15 minutes browsing in Uptown Jewelers (where the lines were several people deep -- not something I've seen outside of parade time. Usually it feels like I'm the only person purchasing things there) and went back another night to purchase something I saw and liked during that browsing session. The people sitting next to us on the street purchased about $40 worth of stuff from one of the street vendors and numerous other people were making purchases as well. In my experience, there seems to be *a lot* of people in the shops along Main Street while waiting for the parade to start.

 

[GoofGoof]

Why? Truth hurting since WDW is closing down attractions and entertainment like mad with no announced replacements. The relentless cutbacks will not stop until a large enough number of people say I'm taking my money elsewhere which in itself could have unintended consequences,

Iger tried to sell WDW once back in 2007 to Prince Alaweed, Nothing preventing him from trying again perhaps this time to Wanda or Shendi instead of Prince Alaweed.

Unlike pixie dusters I see WDW as a business unit (one which I've enjoyed for 3 decades) not as part of my identity.

Is Star Wars Land still being built? I read somewhere on here a while back it wouldn't happen.

As far as the parade goes, let's wait until we know what the plan is before jumping to conclusions.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

You forgot the most likely option of all, NO parade at night, WDW has one other problem with parades, They interfere with people SHOPPING. While watching the parade people are not in the stores making the cash registers hum. And especially with a retail guy like Chapek at the helm that is definitely a factor in the night time parade going away.

I feel like you have blinders on, you see what you want to see and nothing else (not even the truth) effects your reasoning. Nighttime parades and fireworks encourage shopping from what I can tell, not deter it.

 

[GoofGoof]

I feel like you have blinders on, you see what you want to see and nothing else (not even the truth) effects your reasoning. Nighttime parades and fireworks encourage shopping from what I can tell, not deter it.

Anyone with kids knows that the candy shop on Main Street is packed leading up to the parade. People get bored waiting for the start and end up using the stores to kill time. Lots of kids (and a few of us adults too) getting their sugar fix to keep them up for the parade and fireworks. Same goes for ice cream and I'm sure lots of other treats.

It's not hard core shopping, but I'm sure they make a big profit on sales leading up to the parades.

 

[Mike S]

Is USJ even owned by UNI, it's owned by OLC, but if USJ is so successful (6th in the world i think) you would think they would do it over in Orlando.

Comcast recently took even more ownership of the park and I think has the majority now so yes Uni owns it. Which is a good thing.

 

[VJ]

I honestly think, and maybe someone else can eventually verify this... Disney didn't have a full plan in place at the end of the 60th, they knew Paint the Night needed downtime... To work on if, refurb etc... But once they saw the backlash over the parade being listed as "ending" a mad scramble happened... Because you see, Disneyland park itself hadn't had a proper night parade in many years and they knew full well that once locals got one back, they weren't going to take it lightly no longer having one...

Now that "one Disney" has ended, I think Disneyland just said, "Hey Florida... We need our parade back so we can refurb our other parade... And it's ours.. So you have until October." Now it seems Disneyland keeps a night parade, ends the backlash that was happening. Can run MSEP in January and then have a summer date to return Paint the Night after refurb, win-win for them... Especially after the ToT drama.

I really think that's the most accurate theory. Lines up perfectly with everything else.

 

[VJ]

But has WDW really gotten to the point of cheapness that they didn't even fight to keep the parade?

It's not WDW's to keep. As far as I've read the parade has been on loan from the Disneyland Resort and thus if DLR wants it back, I'm not sure there's much WDW can do.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

TDL's DreamLights is getting 5 new floats to debut in July of 2017. If only

 

[MagicHappens1971]

But has WDW really gotten to the point of cheapness that they didn't even fight to keep the parade? It appears that they simply saw a way to unload an expense, both nightly operation costs and long-term maintenance and rehab costs. I would love to know if WDW actually even wanted to keep MSEP or tried to get PTN or if they were dictated to by other parties. Of course, I understand if you don't know/can't say.

The parade was only on loan for the Summer thing in 2010, it then has overstayed it's welcome for the past six years. In theory Disneyland still owns the parade and they wanted in back, why I don't know.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

If you think MSEP has been "just fine" you are ingesting life threatening levels of pixie dust. TDA is being proactive in this situation by taking their brand new parade off line after a only a year to give it some love; so it doesn't become a walking zombie like the Electrical Parade has. It has nothing to do with Paint the Night being unsuccessful. Seriously, the conspiracy theories around here get more bizarre each day.

Well well I've seen worse. They have net so many things go beyond repair. Disneyland does in fact do a much better job in upkeep, why else wouldn't their Electrical Parade last so long. It doubled against Spectromagic which has never left Disney World.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Well well I've seen worse. They have net so many things go beyond repair. Disneyland does in fact do a much better job in upkeep, why else wouldn't their Electrical Parade last so long. It doubled against Spectromagic which has never left Disney World.

One of the reasons Spectro probably never left WDW is because the floats were destroyed.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I have my own crazy theory to throw out. The only side I don't have an explanation for is what WDW is doing... maybe they just thought that MSEP had reached the end of its life without a refurb that they didn't want to pay for. Anyway, since this is the original version of MSEP, the Archives would definitely want to pick it over once WDW decides to get rid of it. The Archives wouldn't want to put everything in storage while it's falling apart, but maybe they couldn't front the cash to really restore everything enough to make it worth storing. Not that I think they'd take the whole parade, but I could see this being a big project for them. That's where DL comes in. They lay out all or most of the cash for the refurb, they get to sell nostalgia merch, and they get something to show while PTN gets its own refurb. Then, the Archives gets a parade in decent shape that actually ran in DL that can be stored for a long time, and they can drag out some small floats to the 2021 D23 Expo.

 

[marni1971]

Paint the Night isn't even 2 years old and already needs work while MSEP has been running on its last leg 6 years after refurbishment just fine..

MSEP is far from fine...

PTN needs TLC. I guess they (not them, those others) don't make them like they used to.

 

[TTA94]

MSEP is far from fine...

PTN needs TLC. I guess they (not them, those others) don't make them like they used to.

Is PTN getting it's refurb when it goes down next month? Or is the refurb happening next year?

 

[marni1971]

Is PTN getting it's refurb when it goes down next month? Or is the refurb happening next year?

From what I gather this year.

 

[culturenthrills]

I guess they could bring back the Enchanted Adventures Parade from the Pirate and Princess Party while they are at it bring back Magic, Music and Mayhem fireworks back. That show was awesome.

 

[GoofGoof]

After 66 pages I think maybe I have a theory on what the plan is going forward and why they decided to do this. First, attendance is down at WDW. They are looking to cut costs (even more than normal) to make sure the margins don't slip too much. Some time in Q4 AK will be introducing a new nighttime show (maybe, possibly?). To partially offset the cost of running that show they are stopping the MK show. DL asked for their parade back and instead of TDO pushing back and asking for a delay they may have gladly agreed to give it up. The MK show happens to be ending right when they start a 4 month run of upcharge events that still include a parade. You want a nighttime parade you can still see one, it will just cost extra. Now they are saving money by not running the free night parade and getting extra cash from selling more upcharge tickets for the Halloween and Christmas parties.

Some of the insiders said there were plans for a new night parade but it wouldn't be ready until summer 2017 at the earliest. I think they may try to get away with not running a night parade at MK until the new parade is ready. The hope is probably that Orlando tourism rebounds by next summer and if attendance is up and things are going well they can absorb the cost of the new parade. They are also hoping that more people are spending their nights at AK with their new night show and eventually at some point Avatar opening. In the time between then and now, maybe they will run the daytime parade at night too. It could be possible to add some lights to the floats or just run it a little earlier when it's still light out. I don't see them bringing any of the parades from the other parks to FL. I think we are going to be without a parade for a little while.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

MSEP is far from fine...

PTN needs TLC. I guess they (not them, those others) don't make them like they used to.

Once they get their Set of units back I don't think they will ever trust Disney World with their parade sets ever again.

 

[mikenatcity1]

Paint the Night isn't even 2 years old and already needs work while MSEP has been running on its last leg 6 years after refurbishment just fine. Seems to me Paint the Night wasn't to successful. Is Spectromagic wasn't destroyed we would have a definite answer unless it comes crawling out with whatever might be left of it. Doesn't seem like there going to have an empty slot, Disney Worls would never be caught dead without a light parade. Just look what they had fill in for Spectromagic.

The difference with DL and WDW- DL takes attractions down routinely to do refurbs while WDW may wait years (take Dinosaur or PotC). DL also caters mostly to passholders while WDW caters more to tourists, people that may only see a Disney park 1 time in their life. While I love WDW, the quality of attractions at DL is superior. It appears they take better care of their toys.

 

[flynnibus]

Of course, that still says nothing about moving PtN to the swamps and I have a hard time believing TDA would just let it go. And MK has no plans for a new night parade at this time that I am aware of. Of course, not one smart little twinkly fanboi has noticed that PtN is also off at HKDL as of 9/4 with no set return date either. So, chew on that.

Sounds like the idea of night parades in general were targeted as a great way to significantly reduce ongoing OpEx. Stop doing daily and move to 'special event' reasoning for night parades. I'm sure thinning all that labor would be a huge savings. The question becomes is how do you staff stuff that runs in such short periods like this on a recurring basis.