The Great Disneyland Apology: Main Street Electrical Parade to Return 2022

Yesterday was not a great day for Disneyland fans. With the ticket price increase and the pause on the Dream Keys, the mood among fans was pretty darn gloomy. But hey, now they’ve announced that the Main Street Electrical Parade is coming back, so we all good now?

Well, to answer that question succinctly: no, I’m not all good now. I’m still pretty bummed and the impending price-out from Disneyland that seems to be looming in the distance. However, I am pretty thrilled at the news that the Main Street Electrical Parade will be coming back to the Happiest Place on Earth, and I would bet good money that the timing on this announcement was extremely intentional. Disney does pay attention to fans, though whether they actually consider what we have to say about things is another story. Not sure if they made the decision to release this news in reaction to the ire from yesterday, or if they planned in advance to deliver great news a day later as a carefully planned soothing balm on our salty wounds. Either way, here we are. The Main Street Electrical Parade is coming back in 2022!

The Main Street Electrical Parade was originally introduced in Disneyland in 1972, but was shut down in 1996 and replaced the following year with the poorly received Light Magic (often dubbed “Light Tragic” for how hated it was). Since then the parade has been bounced around the Disney parks quite a bit. It was sent over to Walt Disney World in 1999, then brought to Disney’s California Adventure in 2001 through 2010, then sent to Walt Disney World again a few months later for a five-year run, and then returned to the original Disneyland park for a limited engagement in 2017 and again in 2019. Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland have their own altered versions of the parade, but the original has been the one bouncing around between Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure, and Walt Disney World since it ended in the ’90s. This will mark the third return to Disneyland itself, and it just happens to fall on its 50th anniversary.

Back in my last article, I lamented the fact that the next time I go to the parks after my currently scheduled trip, I’ll feel all the price hikes I’m escaping this time due to my well-timed pre-booking. I expected maybe a year or two before that change hit me, but, well, here we are. Looks like I’ll have to make my way back to the parks next summer to see this. This is one of those things that you can’t miss because you never know when it’ll really really be the last time you get to see it, so every limited engagement should be treated as the possible last one. Someday it will be, but we just don’t know which one will actually be the final curtain on the popular nighttime spectacular. They may just keep bringing it back forever and ever and ever. Who the heck knows really?

As we wait to figure out if this will actually be the final swan song for the Main Street Electrical Parade, turn out your lights, turn your volume up, and press play on this music. Feel the nostalgia flowing through you! Let’s go!

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary