Disneyland Review: Paint the Night Parade

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Visual feast with creative use of lights

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Lights dance down Main Street

In one of a kind parade

That’s not to be missed

Vivid Colors, Music, and Fun Paint the Night

As much as I love Disneyland, I do my best to avoid the parades and shows.  In my mind, they are nothing but a pain if you are trying to navigate from one side of the park to the other, and if you want good seats, you have to line up hours in advance.  However, I’d heard such good things about the Paint the Night parade that I was curious enough to make an exception on my most recent visit.  I’m glad I did because I loved it.

This is the new nighttime parade, and the floats are designed to light up with so many lights you won’t miss a thing.  The parade starts with Tinkerbell and a Neverland inspired float before moving on to floats inspired by other Disney and Pixar movies.  That’s right, we see characters from both side by side.  There’s are floats for Monsters Inc., Cars, and the Toy Story gang along with ones for The Little Mermaid, Frozen, and other Disney Princesses before the parade closes out with Sorcerer Mickey and the rest of Mickey’s friends.  In between the floats come some pretty impressive solo walkers.  Some are giant characters, others are just cool things to look at.

Although, really, everything here is cool to look at.  This parade really is a feast for the eyes.  All of the floats are absolutely covered in lights, but these lights are often blinking or twisting in some cool fashion.  I just had to stare in awe at some of the floats as they passed by.

Accompanying the floats down the parade route is the soundtrack.  The music is always appropriate to the float passing by, usually a song from the movie or at least something from the soundtrack for the Pixar movies light on songs.  The songs have been given a slightly modern pop/rock update that allows them to all blend together seamlessly.

It’s easy to view this as an update of the Main Street Electrical Parade from the 70’s.  However, the technology evolution since then allows this to be a completely different parade unlike anything you’ve seen before.

For once, I was actually sorry to see the parade end.  I will definitely make a point to watch the Paint the Night Parade next time I am in Disneyland, and I highly recommend you do, too.  It is worth missing out on some lines and rides to enjoy.  Save me a spot at the curb.