Q & A : Disneyland Dancer

On Oct. 15, Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade will end. For the last 24 summers (with the exception of 1975 and 1983), the parade--with its 750,000 twinkling lights, haunting synthesizer theme music and 40 psychedelic floats--has enchanted (and possibly terrified) spectators lined up from “It’s a Small World” to Main Street’s Town Square. Five nights a week, at 8:45 p.m. and 10:25 p.m., 24-year-old Tustin cosmetologist Coryn Houston dances the route. We talked with Houston about the twilight of this Southern Californian mainstay.

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WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE PARADE?

I’m a finale dancer alongside the “America” float. It’s 128 feet long. Oh, goodness, let’s see . . . I don’t know how high it is, but it’s very similar to a flag--with “To Honor America” written on the front.

IT MUST BE A HEADY RESPONSIBILITY.

The crowd gets into the patriotic spirit. They cheer when we come down the street.

WHERE DID YOU WORK BEFORE DISNEYLAND?

I was in high school!

EVER PLAY OTHER ROLES?

Before last year I had always been a rope carrier or wing tender.

WHAT’S A WING TENDER?

At the end of the parade, you’ve got a big eagle and two girls on the sides holding the wings. I was one of them.

IS IT HARD TO LOOK PERKY KNOWING THE END IS NEAR?

You know, some feel, “Well, shoot, it’s ending. What’s happening? This is my parade.”

WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE “FAREWELL SEASON” BILLBOARDS?

It hits a little spot in your heart.

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THIS JOB ON A RESUME?

Dance and performing experience.

WHAT’S YOUR COSTUME LIKE?

Blue satin shorts and a long-sleeved jacket--they’re wonderful--red-and-white front pieces, gold buttons and all the trimmings, with 50 to 100 lights in each jacket. We’re lit up.

EVER BURN OUT A BLUB?

Every night we keep track of our lights. If anything’s missing, or a bulb’s out, we tell costumes.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOURSELF LIT UP?

A battery pack.

EVER BEEN SCARED OF A SUDDEN RAINSTORM?

We all say that God and Walt Disney are partners--that there’s always a clear sky above the parade.