Disney Park Updates: Main Street Electrical Parade Returns, 'Inside Out' Attraction Opens At DCA
For all you theme park lovers out there, here are a couple of brief Disney park updates to send you into the weekend. The beloved Main Street Electrical Parade, which hasn't been seen in the park since 2017, is being reintroduced for a limited time engagement, and an Inside Out-themed attraction has just opened at Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure. Check out a video of the re-themed ride, and explore the somewhat curious timing of parade's return below.
Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
The latest attraction at Disney California Adventure's Pixar Pier is based on the 2015 instant classic Inside Out. Riders board one of eight Memory Movers and spin around as Riley's emotions (Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust) communicate along the way. This attraction is open now, taking the place of the Maliboomer ride that used to launch riders into the air as if they were hitching a ride on one of those classic boardwalk games where you swing a mallet and ring a bell at the top if you're strong enough.
In addition to checking out the newly-themed Emotional Whirlwind, you can meet characters like Joy and Sadness for the first time in Pixar Pier's Inside Out Headquarters.
Main Street Electrical Parade
Meanwhile, Disney also announced that its beloved 500,000 light electrical parade is coming back to Disneyland for a limited time, with nightly performances scheduled between August 2 and September 30, 2019. When the parade left the park in 2017, it was strongly suggested that would be the last time guests would see it for a while – but now it's back, just two years later.
The timing is certainly interesting: as /Film's editor-in-chief and frequent theme park visitor Peter Sciretta noted earlier today, the arrival of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge forced Disney to figure out a plan for how to handle an influx of visitors who wanted to immediately visit this section of a galaxy far, far away. But it seems as if Disney actually did too good of a job preparing for mega-sized crowds, because both Disneyland and California Adventure were practically empty during the first week when reservations aren't required.
A relatively empty park in the middle of the summer is, uh, let's just say not great for the Disney Parks business model, so in addition to lifting some of the restrictions they'd previously put in place for employees visiting the park, it seems as if they're pulling out all the stops to attract guests any way they can. That includes bringing back this parade, which may be the most widely loved parade in all of Disney Parks, and bringing back Soarin' Over California for a limited time as well. (Note: Soarin' reverts to Soarin' Around the World on June 30, so you have one more weekend to experience the old school version!) For more discussion about this, listen to today's episode of /Film Daily.