Opinions of the New Celebrate Street Party (Spoilers!)

[Kasey]

I was completely unimpressed. There just isn't room for this on Main Street.

[briansp]

Originally Posted by Kasey

There just isn't room for this on Main Street.

Or on Matterhorn Way, or Small World Mall, or anywhere in Disneyland.

No thanks Celebrate Street Party. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

[Chernabog]

Sheesh I do feel sorry for the poor city hall CMs....

And "The Cup of Life" by Ricky Martin has no place at Disneyland.

People would groan even if they played it at a Bar-mitzvah.

Seriously, it's like they stripped down the Block Party Bash floats to their bare-bones metal and painted them purple. Pure crap.

And now we'll all have to pay attention to the show times, and make sure you're on the correct side of the park for whatever you want to do, or you're screwed. Opening backstage areas during every performance for crowd control? You'd think that Disneyland had no experience putting on a parade. Or crap-tacular.

[tyler2cfhs]

I just watched a video, and I think the floats are completely ugly! It just doesn't seem like a Disneyland thing to me either. It belongs somewhere like DCA or Hollywood Studios.

[Kasey]

Since yesterday was a Blackout Day for all APs except premiums it wasn’t horribly crowded, but I wouldn’t want to be there today.

[Walt Jr.]

If whoever is in charge of Entertainment sees the "stress" this puts on the park, I'm sure he would close it down if he was that sure to do it with Remember.

[Imag1neer]

Originally Posted by tyler2cfhs

I just watched a video, and I think the floats are completely ugly! It just doesn't seem like a Disneyland thing to me either. It belongs somewhere like DCA or Hollywood Studios.

Even DCA has had much better street parties than this thing, Block Party and Pixar Play are both 10 times better!

This new Celebrate parade looks like something they dusted off from the old "Disney Afternoon Live!" days, very ugly indeed.

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by mrfantasmic

You know, for the longest time guests always had to stand for day parades. It's only more recently that they've allowed seating.

That's interesting, because as long as I remember parade viewing on the curbs at DL have always been for sitting, anyone behind the people sitting on the curb is asked to stand.


The viewing area for this "streetacular" really looks to be even less than what they had for Light Magic - and that was one of the major problems with Light Magic. Even though DL tries to prepare the guests to tell them where the "streetacular" show is performed and show on the maps where to be, guests will continue to line up along the rest of the parade route - and then ultimately be disappointed. For the number of guests who visit Disneyland, the viewing area is just WAY too small an area.

And it's important to remember that the beginning of summer season is still more than two months away! Even with spacing out the stripped down parade units, and adding performers to fill in the gaps does add a little more viewing area. BUT with only 4 units, it's still less than half of what POD covered. And yes, when you cut down the hot summer day performances down to two, when the park is maxed out on capacity, and guests making a once in a lifetime trip to DL, expecting to see a full, all out parade, Well, that is just a recipe for disaster.

Those folk's in TDA, Jay Rasulo, and Ed Grier better be looking real close that the chaos and unhappy guests that will be lining up at city hall, while the "streetacular" is actually in progress.


Can you imagine what would happen if DL does NOT have a parade during the summer months - sadly, we may soon be seeing that happen.

[Armadillo4]

After seeing it three times yesterday, I enjoyed the street show a lot and can't wait to see it again! However, there are operational issues to be sorted out.

Originally Posted by Gregmh48

Also, the planners of this parade assumed that guests would prefer to stand and watch rather than sit. As the parade approaches, all guests in the sitting areas along Main Street are required to stand because the bikes require the space their feet would take up in order to travel up and down the parade route.

This is my biggest issue with CASP logistics. If you want to sit to watch the show, you can only do that along IASW promenade. At both the Hub and along Main Street, you have to stand. While an annoyance to adults standing behind others, if you have children and you're not in the "front row", they will have a hard time seeing anything. I can see this causing unhappy families.

Some of the Main Street congestion was relieved by using the westside backstage area for two way traffic instead of the traditional exiting traffic.

I didn't see the backstage area used during the afternoon show time at all. Did they use it in the evening? After watching the 3:30pm stop at IASW, I made my way to Main Street via Tomorrowland and looked for the backstage exit. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of backstage. But traffic was moving quite smoothly along both East and West sidewalks of Main Street. Now, once the show stop actually reached Main Street, I bet the sidewalks were significantly congested, but it would have been like that for POD too.

Closer to showtime, all of Matterhorn Way from the churro cart near the castle, all the way up to Storybook Land is closed for this parade.

Actually I don't find this too different from traffic for Parade of Dreams and A Christmas Fantasy--with the major exception of it not being used for viewing. During POD, this corridor is inaccessible during the first TWO show stops. It was one of my favorite places to watch POD becuase you got two show stops for the price of one. LOL! It was essentially closed off for the same duration as CASP, but at least you could watch it from there. To me, it's not the blocked Matterhorn Way that causes headaches, but the reduced viewing area. For Celebrate, the other viewing areas have to absorb more guests that are normally spread out along the entire parade route. That caused the craziness in the Hub as seen in your pictures.

I hope some adjustments are made in the coming week to help alleviate some of these logistical problems. It's a fun show, but you need to plan ahead if you want to watch it from a decent location.

[Mr Wiggins]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

You'd think that Disneyland had no experience putting on a parade.

I think Disneyland flushed their half-century of experience putting on parades down the same crapper as their half-century of experience building monorails.

Originally Posted by mrfantasmic

You know, for the longest time guests always had to stand for day parades. It's only more recently that they've allowed seating.

I'll bet you & your DL management buddies my 20 years of sitting on the Main St. curb in the 1950's and '60's that you're wrong.

[Gregmh48]

Originally Posted by Armadillo4

I didn't see the backstage area used during the afternoon show time at all. Did they use it in the evening? After watching the 3:30pm stop at IASW, I made my way to Main Street via Tomorrowland and looked for the backstage exit. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of backstage. But traffic was moving quite smoothly along both East and West sidewalks of Main Street. Now, once the show stop actually reached Main Street, I bet the sidewalks were significantly congested, but it would have been like that for POD too.

They have only been using the westside backstage area (between Adventureland and Main Street). They regularly open the doors behind Coke Corner and next to the Emporium. If you head towards Coke Corner during the Main Street show stop, I'm sure you will be able to go backstage. I was there yesterday and saw it open for both the afternoon and evening parades. It sounds like you were near the eastside backstage area. That one is rarely opened, usually just for New Year's Eve to connect Main Street to Tomorrowland. Traffic does get through before the show stop because the people in the walkways have nothing to watch. Once it starts, however, the walkways immediately stop.

[jrramsey]

This parade was as bad as the old Light Magic. The music was pathetic (tennie bopper) with cheesy looking floats. Those guys/gals on stilts had the worst costumes I've ever seen. They weren't complimentary to either sex. Whoever designed this parade should be FIRED! What happened to good ole fashioned parades with great Disney music. This parade seemed to play for those with IQ's less than their shoe size. (Sorry...I've been trying to bite my tongue on this to give it a chance. But after seeing it twice yesterday and both were bad I just couldn't hold it any longer).

Note: How can you have Mary Poppins & Burt doing Hip Hop...just doesn't fit the image. Someone in Disney brand police must be about to explode!

[Gregmh48]

Originally Posted by Armadillo4

Actually I don't find this too different from traffic for Parade of Dreams and A Christmas Fantasy--with the major exception of it not being used for viewing. During POD, this corridor is inaccessible during the first TWO show stops. It was one of my favorite places to watch POD becuase you got two show stops for the price of one. LOL! It was essentially closed off for the same duration as CASP, but at least you could watch it from there. To me, it's not the blocked Matterhorn Way that causes headaches, but the reduced viewing area. For Celebrate, the other viewing areas have to absorb more guests that are normally spread out along the entire parade route. That caused the craziness in the Hub as seen in your pictures.

Matterhorn Way is much more closed now than during POD. In the days of POD, the bathrooms remained open and guests could still go around the south side of the Matterhorn. Also, except for the fifteen minutes of POD, the street itself remained open and guests could use it to move away from the direction the parade was traveling. They were stopped if they tried to go towards the parade, but the away direction was fine. This is a huge artery of the park and it helped with the guest flow. The Celebrate setup completely closes Matterhorn Way about 30 minutes before the parade steps off. It then remains closed for the entire 45 minute performance of the parade because the area is needed for the performers and their stilt equipment. Whereas POD restricted access for the 15 minutes of the parade, Celebrate completely closes down the area for well over an hour by not allowing guests to pass through it, in addition to the effect it has on the loss of viewing areas. Furthermore, it is more difficult to explain to guests why they can't go through an area or use the restrooms because 20 stilts need a break area than to point at the parade passing by. It is an inconvenience to guests that does not allow a simple answer which always makes guest control more difficult and guests more irate.

[spacejockey]

Everyone I know who has seen the Street Party say it sucks and don't waste your time. Their kids ages 8, 9 and 12 years said it was boring and also said it sucks.

[Indiana Joel]

While I agree that Celebrate isn't quite what we have come to expect from Disney as a whole, I, as well as people around me in the Small World Mall were entertained by it yesterday. Having a friend in the show may have helped my enjoyment, but it's kind of fun to watch anyway. And, I think that's the only real strength of this show, the performers.