, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

The crowd-pleasing Paint the Night parade has returned to the Disneyland Resort as a part of Pixar Fest, but this time around it’s glowing down the performance corridor at Disney California Adventure. Fresh off a long refurbishment, the parade feels largely the same, but with some significant changes and more to come later this summer.

An Incredibles 2 float will join the parade on June 23rd, a replacement for the Frozen float which was too tall for the DCA route.

New 'Incredibles' Float Coming to 'Paint the Night' Parade at Disney California Adventure Park
Looks like the family and Frozone will be fighting a massive Underminer drill.

Put your hands up, ’cause the night is young!
Kick your heels up when you join the fun.
As the magic sets us all aglow,
I gotta know, my friends,
When can we do this again?

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

Dusty Interviews the Director of Paint the Night

During MiceChat’s media coverage this past week, our fearless leader, Dusty Sage, had the chance to interview the director of the Paint the Night parade and get all the details on how it came to be. Click play and enjoy an interesting look at how this parade came to be and why changes were necessary when it moved to DCA.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

Paint the Night

We’ve been asking “when can we do this again?” for a while now and Disney has answered, “how about now?” If you’ve never seen Paint the Night, it’s a nighttime parade that was created for Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary. The parade was based on Paint the Night from Hong Kong Disneyland. It was an immediate hit, packing the park night after night for its initial year and a half run.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

And while there have been some changes since the Disneyland run, the parade feels the same. There are still millions of points of light, dazzling displays of technology, and all the same charm that we expect from a now-beloved parade.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

One thing that has changed is the removal of any Diamond Celebration specific branding. Gone is the 60th style Disneyland “D,” it’s been replaced with a Mickey Mouse shape.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

Moving to California Adventure hasn’t changed the enjoyment of the parade in the slightest.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night , Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night , Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

A small change was made to the Little Mermaid float so that it could fit under the Red Car Trolley wires, the sparkling icicle roof was removed.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

While small, the float does now cast a bit less light. Regardless of that, we’re doubtful it’ll distract from Ariel’s wonderful performance.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night
The original configuration of The Little Mermaid float included these sparkly icicles above everything.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night
I hope you guys appreciated that Dusty’s interview happened on a cherry picker two stories above ‘ol Slinky

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night
These dresses are still one of my favorite costumes, they’re so unique and cool.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

Unfortunately, there was one large change to the parade, the retirement of the Frozen float. While grand, it was too tall and couldn’t be reconfigured, like the Little Mermaid float, to fit under the Red Car Trolley wires.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night
Here’s a vintage shot from the initial run.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night
I’m having a blast, how about you?

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

Dusty shared this LIVE video of the parade on opening night. Take a look and let us know what you think about Paint the Night on the streets of DCA’s Hollywood Blvd.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

There’s one other thing about the move of the Paint the Night Parade that we should all consider. Previously, Disneyland had three nighttime spectaculars (Fantasmic, Fireworks and Paint the Night), DCA had only one (World of Color). It was a situation which brought pedestrian traffic in Disneyland to a standstill night after night. Now each park has two nighttime spectaculars. With Star Wars land set to pack Disneyland like never before next year, perhaps Paint the Night will help load balance the parks so more folks will visit DCA in the evenings and take a bit of a load off of Disneyland.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Would you have rather that they removed the trolley wires and kept the Frozen float for the Paint the Night Parade at Disney California Adventure? Or do you like the change and new Incredible float to come in June?” quote=”Would you have rather that they removed the trolley wires and kept the Frozen float for the Paint the Night Parade at Disney California Adventure? Or do you like the change and new Incredible float to come in June?” theme=”style3″]

Personally, I’m delighted to see Paint the Night return to the Disneyland Resort and hope it sticks around longer this time around, perhaps with new units and updates from time to time. In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll frequently visit this spectacular nighttime pageant of magic and imagination, in millions of dazzling lights and astounding musical sounds.

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

There’s more Pixar Fest Goodness on MiceChat:

  • Dusty interviews a Disneyland chef about the food of Pixar Fest:

  • Dusty interviews Disneyland Resort Ambassador Jessica Bernard about Pixar Fest:

Don’t miss any of the breaking news from Disneyland and the theme park world. Follow us on social:

, Pixar Fest – Repainting the Night

 

 

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Scott Attula
Author, photographer, videographer, Disney Cast Member. Scott comes from multiple Disney generations and disciplines, including his Grandpa Fred and father at Imagineering and his Grandpa Bill and mother in Live Entertainment. For MiceChat, Scott focuses on other SoCal parks like Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios. He can be found at theme parks on a semi-frequent basis trying to get that perfect angle. Check out Scott on Instagram @AttulaPhoto