Spectromagic vs. Main Street Electrical Parade?

Main Street Electrical Parade or Spectromagic as your favorite?

  • Main Street Electrical Parade

    Votes: 97 48.0%
  • Spectromagic

    Votes: 105 52.0%

  • Total voters
    202

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
Anyone who's ever seen MSEP knows that it's the vastly superior parade, in all aspects. Especially the updated one with the new lights. It's a no contest baby, how on EARTH is Spectro winning this poll!??! :eek:
 

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
Anyone who's ever seen MSEP knows that it's the vastly superior parade, in all aspects. Especially the updated one with the new lights. It's a no contest baby, how on EARTH is Spectro winning this poll!??! :eek:

I have seen the videos of MSEP - can you explain how it is superior? The music and lights of spectro are top notch. What makes MSEP so good?
 

David S.

Member
I enjoy both parades but I prefer the MSEP. For me, the biggest reason is the MSEP MUSIC - the sound of pure happiness and joy! ;) It just really sets a tone of pure happiness and whimsy for me.

Some of my favorite parts that I really love the most are the Alice In Wonderland segment where all the different animal units come out and electronically "beep" along with the soundtrack! The Pete's Dragon unit is also a big favorite, but I love the whole parade!

Spectro goes for a slower, more "sophisticated", more elegant sound, and while I enjoy it's music, it just doesn't take me to as high a plane of PURE HAPPINESS like the MSEP music does.

One real positive thing I'll say about Spectro is I absolutely LOVE the finale, though. Not to seem "unpatriotic", but the Finale of Spectro does more for me, when you see so many characters all together with great lyrics like "Though we say goodnight, we cast a spell that won't be broken". That's just a magical moment that gives me goosebumps!

Overall, though, I have to vote for MSEP.

A few weeks ago I made an extra trip for three days, just to see the MSEP for the first time in 20 years, past the time I normally visit Florida, braving the summer heat (which is out-of-the-ordinary for me) just in case it does go away before I get back in the fall.

I felt every penny of that money was well spent! On my first viewing, when the music started, right before the parade came out of the gate, I am not ashamed to say I was overwhelmed by emotion and had both goosebumps and tears of joy. Everyone around me started clapping their hands along with the beat, which I have never seen with Spectro. There was a tangible feeling of happiness and magic in the air of a type I haven't felt along the MK parade route at night since the last time I saw MSEP 20 years ago!

I enjoyed that first viewing so much that I walked through the Emporium, then Adventureland, and made it to the end of the route before the parade did. Then I saw it a second time in its entirety!

I did the same thing again for the 11 PM parade, seeing that one twice as well, and repeated this pattern on my last two nights for a total of 12 viewings in my 3 nights! I was on a cloud of happiness each of those nights and a few weeks later, still am! As much as I enjoy Spectro, it has never affected me this way, or made me want to see it multiple times a night.

I am really hoping the parade stays past the summer and lasts at least a year, so I can see it a lot more during my normal winter-centric stay in the area. Either way, I plan on going again before it leaves and am already looking forward to seeing it again!!!

MSEP Forever!

PS. While the older Don Dorsey arrangement of the MSEP music is overall still my favorite, it didn't take me long to get used to the newer version! I like how some segments (like Snow White and Pinocchio) now actually seem to have more classic songs from their films interwoven with "Baroque Hoedown" in this new version. Also, I am glad I knew the Dumbo segment would be missing before my trip, as that spared me from being as disappointed by its absence while viewing the parade as I would have been.
 

loveofamouse

Well-Known Member
I'm going to say spectro. I saw MSEP a couple of weeks ago. It was neat and all but even with bein a band nerd music nut and downloading the song for the car, the music just blends into the background. With spectro, the music is a huge part of the parade. Maybe I'm biased as I'm not a huge fan of synthesized music lol
PHP:
 

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
I have seen the videos of MSEP - can you explain how it is superior? The music and lights of spectro are top notch. What makes MSEP so good?

1. You can't compare by watching videos. You HAVE to see both in person to make a fair comparison.

2. Everything about MSEP is uplifting, exciting and gets the crowd into it. All three times I watched the parade last week, the crowd cheered loudly and clapped throughout the entire thing. There was this feeling of lightness, happiness and general euphoria throughout the crowd. SpectroMagic is a nice parade, but the symphonic music changes the mood of the crowd considerably. It's impossible to tap your foot to, no one claps along, and I feel like with SpectroMagic, the audience isn't part of the show whereas with MSEP, we are crucial.

3. The new lights for MSEP are unbelievable and far superior to SpectroMagic. The colors are too much for a camera to pick up; they look phenomenal in person.

4. Not to mention that MSEP is the ORIGINAL nighttime parade of both Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom. I will always be partial to that fact. There's something very magical about Main Street Electrical Parade that SepctroMagic, despite its name, just lacks. And also, MSEP is just classic Disney. Classic characters and all. For some reason I feel like characters like Roger Rabbit/Genie or Ariel don't belong in a classic parade (as they did/do in Spectro). I can't pinpoint my logic on this one.

Just my opinion though, everyone's allowed to disagree :slurp:


Edit: Oh yes, and while the original Don Dorsey version mixed with the Perrey-Kingsley recording was the vastly superior soundtrack, the new music taken from the Tokyo DreamLights works fine once you get used to it. Though I would have preferred to see the parade with that original synthemagnetic musical sound.
 

PLeyava

New Member
The Main Street Electrical Parade is much better than SpectroMagic, the music is uplifting, more dancers and cooler floats (The Cinderella one with the dancers is SO neat and the last float is huge and I love the dancers on the side).

In my opinion, MSEP should stay for good :)
 

disneypearl

Well-Known Member
I have seen both. I saw MSEP when I was young and then again a few weeks ago. I have also seen Spectro many times in recent years.

I like MSEP but I love Spectro. Spectro has a special place in my heart and I just connect more to it.
 

WDW-Crazy

Active Member
When I hear the MSEP score, I reflect back to 1989 when I first saw it. When I first saw Spectro in 2003, I thought it was rather impressive. It will be nice to see MSEP again this Sept (after hearing that it still will be running by then) and to reflect back. That score is just something once it gets in your head, it keeps going through. As others have said here, it's upbeat and does make you cheerful. I think they did a good job adding the LED's and having Tink at the front was a big improvement (I like her better anyways).

I've seen Spectro twice (03 and 07) so it will be nice to see a classic again. I say that they're both really good but MSEP's score, IMO, beats Spectro any day.
 

mike10

New Member
What's the major differences between the two? I saw photos of MSEP and it looks basically the same as Spectro.

So I was curious is there any major differences that set these two apart?
 

Grizzly Hall 71

New Member
I've seen both and I prefer THE MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE! I feel as though that parade is more interactive. Te characters talk to you during the parade. Also i'm more for a happy feeling when leaving MK than the slow and upsclae score of SpectroMagic. Also the robot dude who says the title at the beginning sets it up so well.
 

Evil Genius

Well-Known Member
MSEP for me and my family!

I don't know what it is about it. I know it isn't as technologically advanced as Spectro...and the score isn't as elaborate...but something about that parade just makes me smile bigger than almost any other attraction at WDW.
 

wizards8507

Active Member
On this magic night,
A million stars will play beside us,
Cast a spell of light,
Glimmering, shimmering, carousel-ling
'Round the world tonight,
A symphony in SpectroMagic.
Pure enchantment lights our way!
 

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