SpectroMagic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| SpectroMagic | |
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| Magic Kingdom | |
| Attraction type | Parade |
| Opening date | 1992 |
| Music | SpectroMagic |
| Vehicle type | Units |
| Ride duration | 20 minutes |
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SpectroMagic is an evening parade presented semi-nightly at Disney's Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort. Produced by longtime Disney Show Producer Ron Logan, it is similar to the Main Street Electrical Parade, which was its predecessor. The parade incorporates elaborate, brightly lit floats, a musical score, and many sound effects. The floats are populated with Disney characters and represent scenes from Disney's movies and short films.
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[edit] History
| “ | ...a lot of the preliminary technical work for the Fantillusion parade was proof of concept in this parade. So it's kind of the interim step between The Main Street Electrical Parade and Fantillusion. | „ |
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—John Haupt[1] |
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The parade went on a hiatus when the Main Street Electrical Parade made its return to the Magic Kingdom. SpectroMagic returned in 2001 with the following changes:
- Spectro-men have new heads
- Genie (from Aladdin) replaced Roger Rabbit
- Sebastian (from The Little Mermaid) animatronic and bubble system added to King Triton's float
- Jiminy Cricket animatronic added to the finale float
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Releases
- A partial (7:11) audio recording of the original parade can be found on the CD Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation. The CD was produced before the changes in 2001
- The full current soundtrack (14:19) can be found on the CD SpectroMagic.
- A modern jazz version (3:37) of the SpectroMagic theme can be found on Disney's Music From The Park as "SpectroMagic Medley", performed by David Benoit.
[edit] Music
The main theme for SpectroMagic ("On This Magic Night") was composed by movie composer John Debney. Together with Steve Skorija, he arranged music by Disney composers into a 14-minute suite. It is the only parade in Disney history to be in 3/4 time.
[edit] Show facts
- Original run: October 1, 1991 - May 21, 1999
- Second run: April 2, 2001 - present
- Show duration: 20 minutes
- Total number of batteries: 948
- Battery type: 75 tons of deep-cycle batteries
- Fiber-optic strands: over 100 miles
- Miniature lights: 600,000
- Miniature light colors: 11 (including clear)
- Speakers: 204
- Speaker power: 72,000 watts
- Speaker batteries: 112
- Parade Units:
- Entrance Unit with Trumpeters
- Title Unit heralding SpectroMagic
- Spectro-Men on Whirly-balls (4 pods)
- Mickey Unit
- Music Unit (3 units hitched)
- Garden Unit 1 (Peacock)
- Garden Unit 2
- Garden Unit 3 (Waterfall at back)
- Giant Fish unit
- Fish Family Unit (3 units hitched)
- The Little Mermaid Unit (3 units Hitched)
- Whilry Fish (2 pods)
- Ursula Whilry Unit
- Fantasia Opening Unit with Spinning Hippo
- Diana Unit(3 units hitched)
- Chernabog Unit
- First Finale Unit (3 units hitched)
- Carousel Unit
- Second Finale unit (3 units hitched)
[edit] Technical Information
In the parade there 29 units, and 7 whirly units giving a grand total of 36 units in the parade.
Disney refers to floats as "units." Each unit has a driver cleverly hidden in the unit. All audio is controlled through DTMF tones transmitted by RF signals from the antennas on Cinderella's Castle to each unit. Each unit has its own audio themed to the unit, with the main parade theme is then played on the zone speakers. Each zone is anywhere between 70 to 80 ft in length. The audio is stored on the unit as digitally encoded information. All the audio and other effects are stored in DACS (Digital Automation Control System). The lighting effects and other special effects are all controlled by on-board computers which initiate their own cues using a Programmable Logic Controller. The cues are sent via the antennas to the units. The main control center is located under Main Street USA. The PC (Production Center) is where all Magic Kingdom parades are stored. It is located behind Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain. In its original run in 1991 most units used Amiga software developed by Richmond Sound Design Ltd. running on Amiga computers to generate animations that were synchronized via MIDI Time Code with the local audio and projected onto the side of the unit.
Recently SpectroMagic has had upgrades. These upgrades were done to the Spectro-Men turning them face characters removing the masks. These characters now have either, a wig thats lit from within using LED lights, or wigs with hats lit from within with LED lights. Their make-up is a silver face, with blue and purple eye highlights. This change was prior to August 14, 2007.
[edit] References
- ^ John Haupt. (2005). Explore the Magic (From One Lightbulb To Another bonus documentary) [DVD]. Disneyland Resort Paris. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
