| History of the "Main Street Electrical Parade" |
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In 1972, when the Main Street Electrical Parade debuted, the engineers who helped create the parade
also created the first show-control program in existence. This allowed the 2000-foot long parade
route to contain multiple radio-activated "trigger zones". Using radio-activated triggers as each float
entered a new zone, the audience would hear float-specific music through the Disneyland audio
system. Each zone was between 70-100 feet long, and the zoned system meant that every person
along the parade route would experience the same show, no matter where they stood along that
route. [1] Until 1977, almost all of the floats were 2D and had to be pulled or pushed along the parade
route. The Blue Fairy float was the only 3D float, and ran until closing. A 3D "Chinese Dragon" float
was added later on.
The Main Street Electrical Parade's underlying theme song is entitled "Baroque Hoedown." The
original version was created in 1967 by early synthesizer pioneers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon
Kingsley. Originally, the parade's soundtrack had the same themes as the current recording, but was
a different arrangement by Jim Christensen and Paul Beaver. In 1977, it was updated and arranged by
electronic music artist Don Dorsey and Jack Wagner at Jack Wagner Studio, which is still used today.
A remix created for Dream Lights is still used in the Tokyo parade.
The soundtrack to the parade has been released numerous times, here are a few releases that
contain the multiple versions of the parade:
Main Street Electrical Parade (1973 LP) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort)
Main Street Electrical Parade (1977 LP) (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World)
The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World (1991 CD) - medley of the parade
Fantasmic! Good Clashes with Evil in a Nighttime Spectacular (1992 CD) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland
Resort) - contains Return To Oz & Disneyland's 25th Anniversary floats
The Main Street Electrical Parade (1999 CD) (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World)
Les Parades En Musique (2000 CD) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort Paris)
Disney's Electrical Parade (2001 CD) (Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland Resort) - character
voices included
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights (2001 CD) (Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort) -
features both Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights and Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade,
as well as character voices and sound effects
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights Show Mix Edition (2001 CD) (Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo
Disney Resort) - features two tracks, one with the character voices and one without
A Musical History of Disneyland (2005) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort) - character voices
included
Don Dorsey used the following sythesizers to create the soundtrack: Moog Model III, Mini-Moog,
Steiner-Parker Synthacon, Oberheim 8-voice, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Fender Rhodes Piano,
New England Digital Synclavier II, Bode 7702 Vocoder, Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter, Yamaha DX7 and
Yamaha TX7.
Jack Wagner was the voice that was synthesized for the intro and outro to the parade, until Don
Dorsey took over after Wagner passed away in 1995, as noted by Dorsey in a documentary about the
parade: "From One Lightbulb To Another".
also created the first show-control program in existence. This allowed the 2000-foot long parade
route to contain multiple radio-activated "trigger zones". Using radio-activated triggers as each float
entered a new zone, the audience would hear float-specific music through the Disneyland audio
system. Each zone was between 70-100 feet long, and the zoned system meant that every person
along the parade route would experience the same show, no matter where they stood along that
route. [1] Until 1977, almost all of the floats were 2D and had to be pulled or pushed along the parade
route. The Blue Fairy float was the only 3D float, and ran until closing. A 3D "Chinese Dragon" float
was added later on.
The Main Street Electrical Parade's underlying theme song is entitled "Baroque Hoedown." The
original version was created in 1967 by early synthesizer pioneers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon
Kingsley. Originally, the parade's soundtrack had the same themes as the current recording, but was
a different arrangement by Jim Christensen and Paul Beaver. In 1977, it was updated and arranged by
electronic music artist Don Dorsey and Jack Wagner at Jack Wagner Studio, which is still used today.
A remix created for Dream Lights is still used in the Tokyo parade.
The soundtrack to the parade has been released numerous times, here are a few releases that
contain the multiple versions of the parade:
Main Street Electrical Parade (1973 LP) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort)
Main Street Electrical Parade (1977 LP) (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World)
The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World (1991 CD) - medley of the parade
Fantasmic! Good Clashes with Evil in a Nighttime Spectacular (1992 CD) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland
Resort) - contains Return To Oz & Disneyland's 25th Anniversary floats
The Main Street Electrical Parade (1999 CD) (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World)
Les Parades En Musique (2000 CD) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort Paris)
Disney's Electrical Parade (2001 CD) (Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland Resort) - character
voices included
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights (2001 CD) (Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort) -
features both Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights and Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade,
as well as character voices and sound effects
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights Show Mix Edition (2001 CD) (Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo
Disney Resort) - features two tracks, one with the character voices and one without
A Musical History of Disneyland (2005) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort) - character voices
included
Don Dorsey used the following sythesizers to create the soundtrack: Moog Model III, Mini-Moog,
Steiner-Parker Synthacon, Oberheim 8-voice, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Fender Rhodes Piano,
New England Digital Synclavier II, Bode 7702 Vocoder, Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter, Yamaha DX7 and
Yamaha TX7.
Jack Wagner was the voice that was synthesized for the intro and outro to the parade, until Don
Dorsey took over after Wagner passed away in 1995, as noted by Dorsey in a documentary about the
parade: "From One Lightbulb To Another".
