Electric Water Pageant

Our boat pulls in front of the Polynesian beach and then turns to face north. Several other boats are here also. Soon after we "park" we spot a train of barges arriving from the direction of the Grand Floridian, though they are hard to spot in the darkness. The barges pass from left to right in front of us.

Suddenly there is a fanfare of electronic music, a synthesized score that immediately makes me think of the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland. The barges of the Electric Water Pageant light up from right to left with simple but colorful designs of sea life: leaping fish and octopus, a dinosaur, a whale, even King Triton.

The music is identifiable to hardcore Disney fans like us, but some of the songs are more easily recognized (like “Under the Sea”) than others (“I Love You, Too” from Pete’s Dragon).

Once each of the barges have had their turn and all are lit up, the entire pageant changes to a red, white, and blue, flag-intensive salute to America, complete with stirring patriotic music.

The whole show lasts about 12 minutes. I’m glad we got to see it. It doesn’t redeem the whole fireworks cruise mix-up, but it was a bonus event we weren’t expecting. And while the display wasn’t the most exciting thing we’ve seen – I’ll be okay if I don’t ever get to see it again – it was cute and fun, and we had a great view of it!

Bob confirms with Alex, our driver, that there were 14 different barges, and it turns out that Alex used to be one of the boat pilots for the Electric Water Pageant, so he knows a lot about it.

There are two strings of seven barges each, he tells us, with a piloted boat at each end of the string in a push-pull configuration. Although it appears that the barges stay in one place during the show, in reality the boats at each end are constantly pulling the strings of barges back and forth to keep them in position. Otherwise they’d be blown out of place by any wind that was present. Interesting.

Alex goes on to tell us that the pageant debuted in 1971 for the opening of the luau at the Polynesian Resort and was only planned to run for a few months, but proved to be so popular that they’ve kept it around, and added appearances at the other waterfront resorts as well.

It’s the most Alex has talked all evening.

We do return to the Polynesian marina after the pageant. I still would have liked a tour of the lagoon, but I’m not going to press the issue. As a group we’re more ready to move on and make happier memories elsewhere.

I exit the boat leaving my Passporter – with all of my cards and notes – behind on the seat. Thankfully the others spot it before I get too far. That would have been a nightmare on top of an already disappointing evening.

So… it’s after 9:00. Are we just going to turn in for the evening now? On New Year’s Eve? With this less-than-perfect fireworks cruise as our last memory of the year?

Even the turn-in-early members of the group don’t want that, so everyone likes my idea (it’s not a night-time plan, just an idea!) of taking the monorail to the Grand Floridian and looking at the huge gingerbread house!