True or not? Spectromagic Dead?

[Baxter Manor]

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Tis' true.

Spectro has been 'retired'...and will not be coming back.
It was indeed junked as the floats were in very bad condition after spending several years stored in a unprotected tented area. Florida's weather patterns, coupled with termite infestation in many of the floats support structures ( wood based ) pretty much destroyed the parade.

A LOT of money would have needed to be invested in bringing the floats back up into performance grade and safety requirements, so instead of throwing money at a production that had passed it's prime ( in some higher-ups opinions ) it was decided to just junk the units.

A shame, but they were a mess.
Some would argue it was a careless move to keep them stored for so long in such a unsuitable location.

 

[MonorailLime]

I can confirm the above. As of last week the official scrapping of the SpectroMagic units had begun. There are only two remaining floats at this moment: Chernabog and The Little Mermaid, both of which have more advanced technologies in them that Disney is trying to salvage.
From all connections I have with The Walt Disney Company I can say that at this moment there is no serious commitment to a replacement parade for The Magic Kingdom; however, there is currently a parade in Paris that is not being use which keeps coming into conversation ::ahem::
SpectroMagic suffered from far more debilitating conditions than just wood rot. Technologies like DTMF versus SMPTE, automated show control, safety equipment, fall protection, supply of spare parts, etc. all contributed to the demise of this spectacular. SpectroMagic was a rather proprietary design, and it got to the point that replacement parts where starting to get valued beyond sensible cost.

 

[skier_pete]

Ya know - though I miss it, if it meant coming in with "something new" I would be all for it. However, being stuck with MSEP makes me kind of sad - but also allows me to skip this stinky parade.

 

[littleorangebird]

Saw this posted over at WDWMagic. I trust this poster since he has posted accurate backstage information in the past:

"I have the unfortunate duty of reporting the official death of Spectromagic.. There are 6 'trailer style' dumpsters filled with the crushed remains of the Spectromagic Parade units.. I believe at this point the only surviving unit is Chernobog... Which may only be temporary as they are removing equipment from the unit..

I personally witnessed a forklift being used to crush the pile of rubble down into the dumpsters.. Twisted metal and all... I couldn't believe my eyes.. It was all backstage, so no pictures... I couldn't take pictures anyway... it's like taking photos at a funeral.. this is one of those times where I wish you could 'dislike' my post."

Not my Spectro!
I prefer MSEP but Spectro will always have a special place in my heart.

 

[SarahBeth79]

Sad to hear this, I have great memories of this parade.

 

[Spacedog1975]

Ya know - though I miss it, if it meant coming in with "something new" I would be all for it. However, being stuck with MSEP makes me kind of sad - but also allows me to skip this stinky parade.

Stinky?

Hardly. MSEP is classic and wonderful. I still think they should rotate it with a more current parade, but I'd be disappointed should MSEP ever depart forever.

 

[skier_pete]

Stinky?

Hardly. MSEP is classic and wonderful. I still think they should rotate it with a more current parade, but I'd be disappointed should MSEP ever depart forever.

OK - stinky is too harsh, I admit. But I don't really like MSEP very much. It feels very dated to me, and I don't mean that in a good way, like I traveled back in time to 1978. Spectro always seemed very classic to me - timeless.

 

[luvmymouse]

It breaks our hearts that Spectromagic won't be a part of our trip this fall. Our last trip was in 2009 so we haven't seen MSEP. However, we have the music to it and we really don't like it at all. The Spectromagic music is so light and magical. It just made us feel so good the many times we watched the parade.

"On this magic night,
A million stars will play beside us..."

 

[Fantasia79]

I agree with Spacedog1975, SpectroMagic is clearly the better parade, but I do get nostalgic about the Electric Parade (pretty sure it was the 1st one I saw). Having a rotation of sorts is awesome. Or blowing the dust of EP for a year every decade or so.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Queenofspoons]

This is kind of depressing, but I wouldn't mind if they remake the parade with new floats instead of refreshing the older floats. Replace some of the 90s technology with new lighting and special effects.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I can confirm the above. As of last week the official scrapping of the SpectroMagic units had begun. There are only two remaining floats at this moment: Chernabog and The Little Mermaid, both of which have more advanced technologies in them that Disney is trying to salvage.
From all connections I have with The Walt Disney Company I can say that at this moment there is no serious commitment to a replacement parade for The Magic Kingdom; however, there is currently a parade in Paris that is not being use which keeps coming into conversation ::ahem::
SpectroMagic suffered from far more debilitating conditions than just wood rot. Technologies like DTMF versus SMPTE, automated show control, safety equipment, fall protection, supply of spare parts, etc. all contributed to the demise of this spectacular. SpectroMagic was a rather proprietary design, and it got to the point that replacement parts where starting to get valued beyond sensible cost.

This makes me very sad. Our whole family loved SpectroMagic. It was a must do.

 

[MarkC71]

I was hoping to have the opportunity to see Spectromagic at least once more. My kids are too young and never had the chance to see it. I really liked the Spectromagic music a lot better then Main Street Electrical, I always thought is sounded grander, more royal.

However, if I have learned nothing else since becoming a Disney fan it's that when they take something old away it is frequently replaced by something newer and more exciting. I look forward to seeing what they have in store for us.

 

[Spacedog1975]

Much like other fleeting live performances (Broadway theater, etc), I wish Disney would do a professional recording of things like Spectromagic so that they could be sold after the performance has been permanently retired.

 

[GagesMama]

Much like other fleeting live performances (Broadway theater, etc), I wish Disney would do a professional recording of things like Spectromagic so that they could be sold after the performance has been permanently retired.

That's a great idea. I fink I'd be less bummed if I could at least watch a decent recording of it.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

OK - stinky is too harsh, I admit. But I don't really like MSEP very much. It feels very dated to me, and I don't mean that in a good way, like I traveled back in time to 1978. Spectro always seemed very classic to me - timeless.

I agree with this; we always skip MSEP and were waiting for Spectro to come back. I can't stand the music for MSEP. And Spectro has wonderful memories for me of our first trip. I guess if I look on the bright side it will make the ride lines shorter during parade time.

 

[GoofyFairie]

Spectromagic was #1 on my to do list. I don't get to go very often and it was high on my list. I will have to settle for MSEP, but it is NOT the same.

 

[Postal68]

OK - stinky is too harsh, I admit. But I don't really like MSEP very much. It feels very dated to me, and I don't mean that in a good way, like I traveled back in time to 1978. .

Like most of Disney World's attractions, especially Magic Kingdom.

 

[Polydweller]

I was a lover of the parade. But one of the things I didn't see mentioned in this thread was how the parade was not liked by many and a source of many complaints for Disney. This was mostly around the Spectromen, the lighted face guys. Turns out the really creeped out a lot of people and many kids. Disney tried to fix them by having their hair lit instead but for many, myself included this just made them creepier. It was a problematic parade in some ways.

That said, I've been going to Disney for decades and one of the things that has kept me going is constant change. That's one part of Walt's legacy they should never give up. And there have been a lot of parade changes since 1971.

However, the current set of parades has been going on far too long and it is time for change. They've announced big changes for the day parade and now I hope to see a new night time parade as well.

 

[DisneyHolidayFan]

This makes me very sad. Our whole family loved SpectroMagic. It was a must do.

It makes our family sad also. We loved Spectromagic; MSEP's music is so irritating to us.

 

[optims129]

spectromagic was an amazing parade.. not only from the dazzling lights thats changed color at key points in the various songs but also the characters costumns changed light paterns too by a flick of a small switch hidden in characters gloves each character was trained to listen for various music ques and moments in the parade to press their switch to change their costumns coloros from white to rainbow.. chernabog was amazing how he'd turn from amountain to his wings out spread and he looked around and then refolded his wings as they came up on the various corners..

there are 2 areas where the floats are stored.. central shops which is where the storage warehouses are (houses everything!) the monorail and train barn and bus maintence. behind that is central shops if its thought up designed or even has to be created this amazingly massive workshop is the place where all the on site stuff happens if it comes in parts from all over the world thats the facility where it all gets put together.. next to that building is walt disney engineering offices.. on the very far end is the dry docks for seven seas lagoon.. thats where all the maitnence for those boats takes place.. now going up the road a little bit from magic kingdom and just past the central shopsthere is off the beaten path dirt road that leads frankly no where but to a yard.. behind barbed wire gates and looks like a construction site thats another storage facility thats where all the 20k subs were stored then cut to ribbons crushed smashed and recycled save 1 which was stripped sealed and then sent to castaway kay and then sunk to become a reef and so swimmings could swim over and look at..

on the far westside of property behind big thunder and splash is the parade services building they recently have put up large gates with barbwire cause as of xmas 2012 they've destroyed several old floats. (roumer is they were the spectro floats too far gone and no longer useable) (these gates may be gone now as it is 7 months later and they were only temporary). this parade facility stores the day time parade, the MSEP, MNSSHP (mickey's not so scarey) and the MVMCP (mickey's very merry xmas) parade floats.. some of of the spectro floats are stll there but not very many..

there are also other locations on disney property that they store stuff as well thats away from public eyes thats more like deep storage but most thing that end up there are eather waiting to get shipped back to cali or are destroyed once the execs figure out what they wanna do..

unless your looking at an upto date sky view photo more then likely you wont see the gates..