“Paint the Night” is a Stunning Addition to the Disneyland 60th Diamond Celebration

Hi everyone!

Disneyland debuted several new offerings as part of the 60th Diamond Celebration! The first we are sharing is “Paint the Night”, which weaves 8 different stories into one stunning parade. There are nearly 1.5 million sources of light in the nearly 20-minute parade, which is almost completely all in LED. We recommend seeing the second parade on any night that the parade shows twice, it is much less crowded once guests leave after fireworks.

The theme of this summer is sure to be “When can we do this again?”

The first float is the Tinker Bell float. It includes Peter Pan on a drum that is a tribute to the Main Street Electrical Parade (which currently runs at Walt Disney World). There is a rosette on the tip of Tinker Bell’s wand that is from the 1972 Main Street Electrical Parade.

Peter Pan sits atop the float.

Several of the Disney fairies – Rosetta, Silvermist and Iridessa – walk ahead of the float.

The drum lighting changes, from the parade title and more – including the Peter Pan pirate ship.

Before finishing our article, check out our full video of “Paint the Night”! We photographed it from the “it’s a small world” Mall as the parade traveled from Main Street, with the Matterhorn as a backdrop.

Genie and Lumiere.

The “Monsters, Inc.” float was created in partnership with Pixar Animation Studios.

Sulley is at the controls.

Mike Wazowski sits at the back of the float.

Lightning McQueen leads the “Cars” contingent, with Mack measuring in at 54 feet long. Mack is the longest vehicle in the parade.

There are many unique costumes in “Paint the Night”.

Mack rounds the bend.

DJ can be seen at the back.

Next up is “The Little Mermaid” float.

King Triton stands 12 feet tall.

Ariel’s costume looks gorgeous – even her headpiece is lit.

Ariel looks on at Flounder.

King Triton holds Sebastian.

The float for “The Little Mermaid” is 32 feet long.

I really enjoy all the performers and costumes that are between the floats.

Jessie is seen ahead of the “Toy Story” float.

The Slinky Dog “Toy Story” float is 32 feet long. It is fun to watch the eyes of Slinky Dog as he passes by.

Woody sits atop Slinky Dog.

Little Green Men.

This float is unlike any I’ve seen, with Belle fronting it. There are performers in view that look like candelabras.

The costumes here are phenomenal.

Belle rises above the float, with a rose behind her. The princess float is 26 feet long. Here, the rose is purple, but in the next photo it is red.

Candles light the way for Rapunzel and Cinderella.

Rapunzel is surrounded by lanterns.

Cinderella waves to the crowd.

A glass slipper sits nearby.

Some of the biggest cheers were for Anna, Elsa and Olaf. Kids near us were still enthralled by these characters, who are on a 35-foot long “Frozen” float.

Anna and Elsa.

Olaf stands at the back of the float.

Scenes from the film can be found here, including the childhood Anna and Elsa.

Kristoff can be seen to the right.

The final float set includes Goofy, Donald and Minnie.

Sorcerer Mickey conducts the finale, and stands 12 feet in the air.

This is one of the most fascinating parts of the parade for me, Disney calls it a kinectic sculpture.

“Paint the Night” is well worth staying for. It is a vibrant, colorful addition to Disneyland’s nighttime entertainment. I expect crowds will be high for it this summer – so far, guests have waited for hours to see the first parade (much less time for the second). We found “its a small world” Mall to be a terrific place to watch it from, but “Disneyland Forever” fireworks is best seen on Main Street U.S.A.