Ranking All The Nighttime Parades

Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It came up in the Starlight thread, so I thought it may be fun for us all to rank the night parades, whether seen in person or on video, and we can get a sense where these parades land for everyone.

In no particular order:

Disney Starlight
Paint the Night
Main Street Electrical Parade
Light Magic
Disney's Fantillusion
SpectroMagic
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights

(Not sure if we want to include old versions of Electrical Parade for the international parks, or separate Fantillusion between Paris and Tokyo?)


My rankings:

1) Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights
2) Paint The Night
3) Main Street Electrical Parade
4) Disney's Fantillusion
5) SpectroMagic
6) Disney Starlight
7) Light Magic

If any are missing, or you want to include and separate versions of the same parade, have at it!
 
AxolotlTales

AxolotlTales

Well-Known Member
My Rankings:

1.) Dreamlights (Has the nostalgia and feels of MSEP, the original, with modern technology and overall a good performance)
2.) Paint The Night (2015 version is the peak, overall direction of the show is done well)
3.) Fantillusion (Fantasmic but on parade. Best quality of any parade, but its idea wasn't new)
4.) MSEP (It's the original night parade and only one I've seen in the parks. Wish they'd stop retiring and returning it)
5.) SpectroMagic (An original parade for MK. Not much else to it for me)
6.) Light Magic (Very unique and creative, but that's why it failed. Last time they do a parade centered on Celtic elves)
7.) Starlight (Gets last place since nothing about it is unique or new. Soundtrack is a 7/10)

Honorable mention: Nightfall Glow (Not made to be compared against full-scale night parades, but the idea is unique for a rainy night parade and is nicely designed)
 
Starship824

Starship824

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
  1. Dreamlights
  2. Paint The Night
  3. Spectro Magic
  4. Starlight
  5. MSEP
Haven't seen Fantillusion or Light Magic even on video, I think it's worth noting that out of all of these are really good besides light magic from everything I've heard about it.
 
Disgruntled Walt

Disgruntled Walt

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Can't speak to the overseas ones, but I'll do the ones I've seen in person and on video:
  1. SpectroMagic
  2. Paint the Night
  3. MSEP
  4. Starlight
  5. Light Magic
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
1) Main Street Electrical Parade
2) SpectroMagic
2) Disney Starlight
4) Paint the Night

The underlined parades I have seen in person. I've left out the others, which I have watched online but didn't find overly memorable on video.
 
K

KaliSplash

Well-Known Member
1. Main Street Electrical Parade --1980 version
2. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1981 version
3. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1982 version
4. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1983 version
5. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1984 version
6. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1985 version
7. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1986 version
8. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1987 version
9. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1988 version
10. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1989 version
11. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1990 version
12. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1999 version
13. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2001 version
14. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2010 version
15. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2016 version.
499. SpectroMagic
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
KaliSplash said:
1. Main Street Electrical Parade --1980 version
2. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1981 version
3. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1982 version
4. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1983 version
5. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1984 version
6. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1985 version
7. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1986 version
8. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1987 version
9. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1988 version
10. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1989 version
11. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1990 version
12. Main Street Electrical Parade - 1999 version
13. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2001 version
14. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2010 version
15. Main Street Electrical Parade - 2016 version.
499. SpectroMagic
Click to expand...

Don't hold back, tell us how you truly feel.
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
Haven't seen a lick of Starlight-waiting til I go in person, whenever that might be-but I've seen all of the others live, with the exception of Fantillusion.

For me, there's no comparison between Dreamlights and anything else. It fits its park perfectly, uses great modern technology to enhance the parade, and it's constantly updated.

I want to like Paint the Night more than I actually do. It's a well done parade for the most part, but it feels a bit short and there's a little too much character dialogue for my taste.

SpectroMagic was the first night parade I ever saw, and as an eight year old it held a special appeal. A night parade, wow, who knew they could do that?!? Not crazy about the soundtrack, but seeing that live was one of the highlights of my first WDW trip. I wish I had been able to see it again before they canned it.

MSEP-needs to be permanently retired. Now, the first time I saw MSEP was in 2014, so I definitely was not around for this parade's prime, but still, it's just embarrassing at this point. I will concede that this parade does work better in person than I typically remember from afar; even so, its time has more than come.

Fantillusion-perhaps unfair for me to judge, not seeing it live, but I admire what they were trying to do. In some ways, it is perhaps still the most ambitious night parade from a conceptual standpoint. That said, I'm not really a Fantasmic person, and putting it in parade form doesn't really change that.

I don't know that I can properly rank them, given how long it's been since I've seen SpectroMagic live, but all have their merits. Still, unless Starlight is really and truly something exceptionally special, I don't really see a case for any night parade still around that can top Dreamlights.
 

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