Paint the Night

Paint the Night is an nighttime parade at Hong Kong Disneyland that premiered on September 11, 2014. The Disneyland version of the parade premiered on May 22, 2015 as part of the park's 60th anniversary celebration. The parade is intended to serve as a spiritual successor to the long-running Main Street Electrical Parade, which has appeared at numerous Disney parks in several different incarnations from 1972 to the present. Paint the Night is scheduled to run until September 5, 2016, after which point it is scheduled to be a seasonal offering for the holiday season. Meanwhile, Disneyland has announced that it will once again host the original Main Street Electrical Parade in 2017.

The parade is a "spiritual successor" to the Main Street Electrical Parade, as it uses a newly-arranged version of that parade's theme song, "Baroque Hoedown", as its own, alongside an arrangement of Owl City's "When Can I See You Again?" from the 2012 Walt Disney Animation Studios film, Wreck-It Ralph.

Hong Kong Disneyland
Paint the Night Parade (alternatively: Disney Paint the Night or Paint the Night) is the very first time ever Walt Disney Parks and Resorts created fully LED parade featuring seven original floats containing over 740,000 individual lights. It premiered on October 1, 2014.

On August 14, 2014, David Lightbody, Director of Entertainment and Costuming of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, shared the news of brand new nighttime spectacular at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, together with Halloween and Christmas season. New technology was coupled with imagination to bring a "colorful feast" to park guests. David Lightbody said that the creative team spent over 2 years and developed over 1,000 scenic and lighting designs to ensure the parade. Over 25 different styles have been applied in the design and construction of the costumes and many of them have been developed specially for this parade. Each costume has its own very sophisticated system of lighting controls. The development team used new technologies on costuming bring a new perspective to the guests. Lightbody was keen on enhancing guests' immersive experiences.

Special magic-enabled merchandise items were developed for the parade. Hong Kong Disneyland designed interactive "Mickey Mouse Paint Brushes," which, when activated, allow guests to change the colors of performers' costumes. Other wearable merchandise items, such as the "Mickey Glow Mitt" and "Minnie Glow Bow" change colors throughout the show through the use of RFID-enabled technology.

Disneyland Park
Disney's Paint the Night Parade (alternatively marketed simply as Paint the Night and the Paint the Night Parade) premiered on May 22, 2015. Under the tagline of being a "New Electrical Parade", the parade has floats and costumes that light up with over 1.5 million LED lights. It is similar but slightly different to the Hong Kong version, featuring special effects and over 80 performers. Frozen is part of this version of the parade, including appearances by Anna and Elsa. Also unique to the Disneyland version is the drum float, which serves as a tribute to the original Main Street Electrical Parade. The show stop and "Let's Paint the Night" song are not present in the Disneyland version.

Paint the Night is one of the three shows announced for the Disneyland Diamond Celebration. The entire 24-hour event was streamed live via Internet by the Disneyland Resort, including the premiere of Paint The Night parade at 8:50 PM Pacific Standard Time on May 22, 2015. Paint the Night is the first nighttime-only parade presented at Disneyland since the short-lived and ill-received Light Magic in 1997. It is the third parade at the Disneyland Resort to be derived from an earlier Hong Kong Disneyland parade, with the Pixar Play Parade and Mickey's Soundsational Parade borrowing music and elements from Mickey's WaterWorks and Flights of Fantasy Parade, respectively.

Although the parade made its last regular performance on September 5, 2016, it will do a short run during the holiday season on select nights.

Opening Unit
Based on the 1953 animated film Peter Pan. Tinker Bell leads the way before a dazzling "color spiral" of sparkling fairy dust. She magically flies within this "color spiral" while spreading pixie dust all around her. Following Tinker Bell are glittering Fiber Fairies and the Pixel Painters (Hong Kong Disneyland only).

In the Disneyland version, this float is 40 feet long, with 44 universes of control and video screens, more than 850,000 points of light. Presenting the Disney Fairies such as Rosetta, Iridessa and Silvermist and also includes Peter Pan sitting on a tribute to the “drum unit” that led the classic "Main Street Electrical Parade" from 1972 to 1996 in Disneyland. Tinker Bell’s wand is handmade and is capped by a rosette from the original 1972 Main Street Electrical Parade. Also in this unit are the puppets from the World of Color Preshow: Genie from the 1992 animated film Aladdin, Lumiere from the 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast, and Tigger from the 1977 animated film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Monsters, Inc. Unit
Based on the 2001 Disney and Pixar film. The float is 11 feet wide, 21 feet long, and has nearly 17,000 points of light. The Scare Floor in Monstropolis comes to crazy, vivid life as Mike and Sulley navigate an array of vibrant, twirling doors. The five animated doors are just over 9 feet tall and contain 40 individual LED video panels that feature an endless array of appearances by "surprise visitors" from Monsters, Inc. and 2013 Disney and Pixar film Monsters University. The animations on video screens doors were created in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios.

Cars Unit
Based on the 2006 Disney and Pixar film. It includes Piston Cup champion Lightning McQueen in his World Grand Prix paint job, Mack (over 54 feet long, 18 feet tall, the longest vehicle in the parade, and has 28 moving lights) and DJ. Mack is driving along in a "larger-than-life" fashion, equipped with 3D "light display" panels affixed to his sides that creates exceptional depth of image. The display contains 26,730 individual orbs. Almost 2,000 feet of LED "neon" is used in this unit.

The Little Mermaid Unit
Based on the 1989 animated film. The "under the sea" themed float is an underwater, watercolor wonderland of vibrant, glowing hues and is 32 feet long, 11 feet wide and 18 feet tall. King Triton (stands over 12 feet tall), Princess Ariel and a school of glowing "sea creatures" are nine fish, eight flowers and more than 250 blades of grass fill the streets with their own briny brilliance. Sparkling animated figures that depict Sebastian and Flounder grace the float and join the party as well. Each of the 80 "sea grass bubbles" was custom cast and painted and can be individually programmed.

In the Disneyland version, the unit is followed by Nemo, his father Marlin from the 2003 Disney and Pixar film Finding Nemo, and jellyfishes.

Toy Story Unit
Based on the Disney and Pixar film. Slinky Dog (32 feet long, and his ears are 18 feet tall and 11 feet across) scampers along with Woody and Buzz Lightyear holding on. Slinky's ever-moving, ever-changing "coils" glow with eye-popping, ever-changing and iridescent patterns. The 10 spinning disks rotate at 120 RPM and are programmed with custom video content. Bringing additional excitement to the hoedown are the Lasso Poi Performers wielding light-up lassos.

In the Disneyland version, this unit includes Jessie with the dancers. Also on the float, Woody sits on a different side and includes the Little Green Men. Later, this unit also added the Little Green Men spaceship from Tokyo Disneyland's former daytime parade named Jubilation!

Belle Candlelight Unit
Based on the 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. Vibrant projections that depict memorable and iconic moments from Belle's "tale as old as time" story fill her gown and travel upwards onto a giant tapestry of electric imagery, featuring unforgettable chapters from her beloved story. Her dress has 40 custom-designed jewels and the most decorative lighting caps of any float, and the video screen contains more than 500,000 pixels and presents scenes as well as floral graphic imagery and starry night skies. Following Belle are giant glowing candelabras that are framed by lovely Dove Dancers and a series of illuminated Court Couples.

In the Disneyland version, the float is 26 feet long and the rose is 17 feet tall, and also includes Cinderella from the 1950 film Cinderella and Rapunzel from the 2010 animated film Tangled.

Frozen Unit (Disneyland)
Based on the 2013 Academy Award-winning hit animated film. From Arendelle comes the tallest float in the entire parade (almost 35 feet long and 30 feet tall), inspired by Elsa's Ice Palace. Princess Anna and Elsa the Snow Queen will grace the float, accompanied by the summer-lovable snowman Olaf and eight snow-covered trees, enhanced with 3,000 tear drop crystals. The central chandelier is made up of 72 individual "ice shards" each lit by its own LED. There are 56 over-scale scenic snowflakes and 11 individual water jet cut swirls on the float. There are six unique etched window art panels on the float. Three depict happy memories of Anna and Elsa in childhood. The other three feature Kristoff, the Trolls and Sven.

Mickey & Friends Finale Unit
For the grand finale, Sorcerer Mickey is the star of the celebration and takes center stage -- riding high above guests' heads and leading the way to brighten up the park (14 feet tall, 7 feet wide, contains 6,944 individually programmable LED pixels with 124 "paddles" on 31 armatures) with vibrant colors from 12 feet above the street. The float is 31 feet long, has 40 universes of control and more than 10,000 points of light. Joining Mickey Mouse, on a series of Whirly-Balls from SpectroMagic, are Goofy, Donald Duck, and Minnie Mouse, each whirling vehicle has 352 points of light custom designed for the character on board. This glittering gathering also features a series of Finale Drum Majors (Hong Kong Disneyland only), Light Stick Mirror Dancers (Hong Kong Disneyland only) and Double Pinwheel Performers.

Music and Audio
The music for both the Hong Kong Disneyland and California Disneyland parades is a medley of past and contemporary Disney music. An original song was written for a show stop segment in the Hong Kong Disneyland version.

Introduction
Guests in both parks are greeted with an introductory sequence. The introduction starts off with a variation of "Baroque Hoedown" followed by "Electric Fanfare", both from Main Street Electrical Parade, and a voice over. Next, a verse and a chorus in the tune of "When Can I See You Again?" from Wreck-It Ralph (adapted version) plays followed by the main melody of "Baroque Hoedown". The introductory sequence is longer than the normal music during the parade since it accommodates an opening voice over and an extra verse. The Hong Kong Disneyland version features a group of Cantonese singers.

In California, the Disneyland introductory music is in English and features artist Owl City.

Parade
For the rest of the parade, the music enters a looping stage. Every thematic unit has a two minute and thirty seconds tune that begins with a variation of "When Can I See You Again?", transitions into a melody of "Baroque Hoedown", plays several snippets of theme songs, and ends with a mix of "Baroque Hoedown" and the theme songs. The theme songs for each units are:


 * TINKERBELL AND DRUM UNIT
 * "The Second Star to the Right"
 * "You Can Fly"
 * MONSTERS, INC. UNIT
 * "Monsters, Inc. Theme"
 * "The Scare Floor"
 * CARS UNIT
 * "Life is a Highway"
 * "Route 66"
 * THE LITTLE MERMAID UNIT
 * "Under the Sea"
 * "Part of Your World"
 * TOY STORY UNIT
 * "You've Got a Friend in Me"
 * "We Belong Together"
 * PRINCESSES UNIT
 * Hong Kong Disneyland version:
 * "Something There"
 * "Beauty and the Beast"
 * "Be Our Guest"
 * Disneyland Park version:
 * "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"
 * "Beauty and the Beast"
 * "I See the Light"
 * FROZEN UNIT (Disneyland version)
 * "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"
 * "Let it Go"
 * "In Summer"
 * "For the First Time in Forever"
 * FINALE UNIT
 * "Mickey Mouse Club March"
 * "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"
 * "When You Wish Upon a Star"

Show Stop (Hong Kong Disneyland)
Hong Kong Disneyland has an exclusive show stop sequence. Guests can use their light-up Paint Brushes to change the colors of the performers during the show stop. A song unique to the sequence is performed and features both Cantonese and English lyrics. Later, the song's length is truncated when compared to the song performed at launch day. Since November 12, 2015, the stow stop had canceled with immediate effect link.