Disneyland to launch new parade, fireworks for 60th anniversary
The Disneyland resort in Anaheim will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year with a new parade, an upgraded fireworks show and other changes that park officials describe as “amazing.”
Disney officials unveiled details of its Diamond Celebration during a presentation Wednesday night that included a brief explosion of fireworks and a light projection show on Disneyland’s Main Street.
The new celebration is set to start at the park May 22 with no end date scheduled.
“It’s really going to be amazing,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
Officials said the celebration will include a new nighttime parade, inspired by the Main Street Electrical Parade, which ended at Disneyland in 1996. The new parade, dubbed “Paint the Night,” is to feature more than 1.5 million LED lights that will be in synch with the music and the lights of the costumed characters in the parade.
The park’s nighttime fireworks show will be upgraded to include light projections that will extend beyond Main Street to splash images on such attractions as the Matterhorn, It’s a Small World and Rivers of America, said Steve Davison, executive of parades and spectaculars.
The “projection mapping technology” will be used to project characters and scenes from popular Disney and Pixar films throughout the park, he said.
In addition, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland and the Carthay Circle Theatre in Disney’s California Adventure park will be overhauled with diamond exteriors to reflect the diamond anniversary, said John Addis, senior show director at Disneyland.
“It’s going to look sparkly,” he said.
At Disney’s California Adventure, the “World of Color” light-and-water show will also be remade to use fire, water and lights to tell the history of Walt Disney and his park, officials said.
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