JulesLovesTigger
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2000
- Messages
- 4
I lurk around here a lot, but I don't post often. But I wanted to share the story of last night's final MSEP with people who would appreciate the story, since quite a few of my friends just won't quite understand...
I was up really early yesterday morning. Daylight savings time always hurts in the spring, doesn't it? But I had decided that I was going to the final MSEP, and I wanted the limited edition pin to prove it. I was at TTC early, in line for the monorail what seemed like forever, and i was the third one off of the first monorail of the morning. Still, the line was unbelievable for the limited edition pin. I met some really nice people there -- a mother-daughter pair of die-hard pin traders were in line behind me, and we talked through most of the line. I have to hand it to anyone who is willing to get up early and go through those lines on a regular basis. That's dedication! At any rate, the thing that we talked most about was the MSEP, of course, which they had gone to see the night before. The woman (whose name I, unfortunately, did not ask) said that she could put her children on her shoulders, but it was important that she see the parade, too, because she really loved it. It was an interesting foreshadowing to the adult following that the parade had that night.
I went home and picked up my sister (who slept in and missed all of the early morning fun). After breakfast and a few errands, we were back at at the park. We came in as people were lining up for the 3:00 parade, and there was an announcement that suggested that epople "enjoy shorter lines during the first night parade and see the second one." I hoped that not everyone would listen, becuase I wanted a good spot to say goodbye to my favorite Disney parade.
My sister and I spent a long afternoon riding rides and waiting breathlessly for the parade. We didn't think it was fair to try to take prime spots for two parades, so we had dinner at Pecos Bill's and actually watched it go by from inside. Then, as soon as the first parade was over, we took our spots near the very end of the parade route. Fantasy in the Sky gave us some entertainment as we waited and tried to stay warm as the tempature began to drop during our wait.
We noticed an unusual number of cast members standing around, talking and waiting for the parade. A supervisor walked up to them and said something to them, but didn't send them away the way a supervisor normally would if he saw a bunch of employees standing around talking. This night was special. We also noticed that the vendors who sell all the light-up gadgets didn't go where they normally did, but they stationed themselves where they could see the parade go by one last time.
The other thing we noticed was that there were really very few children in sight. It was, after all, 10:00 on a chilly Sunday night. But the people who lined the parade route were obviously real fans. The man across from us had a sign that said goodbye and listed all of the parks with the dates that the parade had been at each. His companions had some beautiful MSEP t-shirts that we asked about and were told were from the DisneyLand run of the parade.
So the parade began. It's always magical, but it was especially so this one last night. There were some amazing little things. Goofy had a camera in the train with him, and he took pictures of some of the crowd. (How often will you see that without the CM being in big trouble afterwards?) Alice, reading the sign across from us, said goodbye and then said, "But tomorrow is hello to SpectroMagic!" Several of the seven drarves stopped to interact with and hug the man across from us who had the sign.
As Eliott came, the CM riding the float said "Elliott is going to hide one last time!" Everyone cheered for the lights to come back on for the float, and of course, they didn't at first. "Elliott doesn't want to say goodbye!" the CM explained, and had everyone cheer again.
As that last, long, float came into view, I heard my sister say, "It's almost over ALREADY??" I felt that way, too.
Chip came along our side of the street. I'm one of those people that must not look appealing to the characters. During a parade, the characters never interact with me, always with the people around me. "Bye, Chip!" I yelled. He came over and held my hand a moment, then kissed it before moving on. I looked down and saw that the characters were moving along the sides of the street, interacting with just about every person lining the parade route. Usually, they will pick a person every four or five people to shake hands with, but the parade was slowing as it ended and the characters spent time with their fans. Pinocchio, Ghippetto (sp), Brer Bear... The best, though, was Pluto. My sister and I both yelled "Bye Pluto!" at the same time, and Pluto came right to us and grabbed us both in a huge hug, so hard that all three of us nearly went over backwards. I felt myself start to get choked up, and an unexpected tear slid out from behind my glasses.
As the float passed, Winnie the Pooh broke ranks and ran across to hug someone on our side of the street, distracting my sister long enough for me to wipe my eyes without her noticing.
I then did something I never do... I fell in with the parade followers. The whole "let's all follow the parade" phenomenon has always been mysterious to me, but tonight I wanted to watch the floats wind their way off into the trees. As the characters all crossed out of the area where the actual guests were, they started hugging the CMs working the parade, and then they vanished around the corner. As we turned the corner to head toward the gate ourselves, the final sounds of the parade were heard... those synthesized-voice words: "The Main Street Electrical Parade!"
It was sad and wonderful, and absolutely worth how terribly difficult it was to get up this morning after having such a late night. I wish everyone on DIS who loves Disney as much as I do could have been there to say goodbye... but I tried saying enough farewells for all of us.
Sorry this was so long. Thanks for reading so far!
Jules
(edited to fix the sad face on the message icon)
[This message was edited by JulesLovesTigger on 04-02-01 at 10:42 AM.]
I was up really early yesterday morning. Daylight savings time always hurts in the spring, doesn't it? But I had decided that I was going to the final MSEP, and I wanted the limited edition pin to prove it. I was at TTC early, in line for the monorail what seemed like forever, and i was the third one off of the first monorail of the morning. Still, the line was unbelievable for the limited edition pin. I met some really nice people there -- a mother-daughter pair of die-hard pin traders were in line behind me, and we talked through most of the line. I have to hand it to anyone who is willing to get up early and go through those lines on a regular basis. That's dedication! At any rate, the thing that we talked most about was the MSEP, of course, which they had gone to see the night before. The woman (whose name I, unfortunately, did not ask) said that she could put her children on her shoulders, but it was important that she see the parade, too, because she really loved it. It was an interesting foreshadowing to the adult following that the parade had that night.
I went home and picked up my sister (who slept in and missed all of the early morning fun). After breakfast and a few errands, we were back at at the park. We came in as people were lining up for the 3:00 parade, and there was an announcement that suggested that epople "enjoy shorter lines during the first night parade and see the second one." I hoped that not everyone would listen, becuase I wanted a good spot to say goodbye to my favorite Disney parade.
My sister and I spent a long afternoon riding rides and waiting breathlessly for the parade. We didn't think it was fair to try to take prime spots for two parades, so we had dinner at Pecos Bill's and actually watched it go by from inside. Then, as soon as the first parade was over, we took our spots near the very end of the parade route. Fantasy in the Sky gave us some entertainment as we waited and tried to stay warm as the tempature began to drop during our wait.
We noticed an unusual number of cast members standing around, talking and waiting for the parade. A supervisor walked up to them and said something to them, but didn't send them away the way a supervisor normally would if he saw a bunch of employees standing around talking. This night was special. We also noticed that the vendors who sell all the light-up gadgets didn't go where they normally did, but they stationed themselves where they could see the parade go by one last time.
The other thing we noticed was that there were really very few children in sight. It was, after all, 10:00 on a chilly Sunday night. But the people who lined the parade route were obviously real fans. The man across from us had a sign that said goodbye and listed all of the parks with the dates that the parade had been at each. His companions had some beautiful MSEP t-shirts that we asked about and were told were from the DisneyLand run of the parade.
So the parade began. It's always magical, but it was especially so this one last night. There were some amazing little things. Goofy had a camera in the train with him, and he took pictures of some of the crowd. (How often will you see that without the CM being in big trouble afterwards?) Alice, reading the sign across from us, said goodbye and then said, "But tomorrow is hello to SpectroMagic!" Several of the seven drarves stopped to interact with and hug the man across from us who had the sign.
As Eliott came, the CM riding the float said "Elliott is going to hide one last time!" Everyone cheered for the lights to come back on for the float, and of course, they didn't at first. "Elliott doesn't want to say goodbye!" the CM explained, and had everyone cheer again.
As that last, long, float came into view, I heard my sister say, "It's almost over ALREADY??" I felt that way, too.
Chip came along our side of the street. I'm one of those people that must not look appealing to the characters. During a parade, the characters never interact with me, always with the people around me. "Bye, Chip!" I yelled. He came over and held my hand a moment, then kissed it before moving on. I looked down and saw that the characters were moving along the sides of the street, interacting with just about every person lining the parade route. Usually, they will pick a person every four or five people to shake hands with, but the parade was slowing as it ended and the characters spent time with their fans. Pinocchio, Ghippetto (sp), Brer Bear... The best, though, was Pluto. My sister and I both yelled "Bye Pluto!" at the same time, and Pluto came right to us and grabbed us both in a huge hug, so hard that all three of us nearly went over backwards. I felt myself start to get choked up, and an unexpected tear slid out from behind my glasses.
As the float passed, Winnie the Pooh broke ranks and ran across to hug someone on our side of the street, distracting my sister long enough for me to wipe my eyes without her noticing.
I then did something I never do... I fell in with the parade followers. The whole "let's all follow the parade" phenomenon has always been mysterious to me, but tonight I wanted to watch the floats wind their way off into the trees. As the characters all crossed out of the area where the actual guests were, they started hugging the CMs working the parade, and then they vanished around the corner. As we turned the corner to head toward the gate ourselves, the final sounds of the parade were heard... those synthesized-voice words: "The Main Street Electrical Parade!"
It was sad and wonderful, and absolutely worth how terribly difficult it was to get up this morning after having such a late night. I wish everyone on DIS who loves Disney as much as I do could have been there to say goodbye... but I tried saying enough farewells for all of us.
Sorry this was so long. Thanks for reading so far!
Jules
(edited to fix the sad face on the message icon)
[This message was edited by JulesLovesTigger on 04-02-01 at 10:42 AM.]
