Disney theme parks will often repurpose music and themes among properties on opposite coasts. For example, as I've already written, in 1985 Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Parade soundtrack was tweaked to be used by Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom as the tune for Mickey's Street Parade.

Recently, we've seen this type of repurposing in soundtrack once again with Disney's promotion for Summer Nightastic. This seasonal event started in Summer 2009 as an all-encompassing theme of pre-exisiting shows bundled under the same brand name ("Nightastic") to help Disneyland push their summer activities, as they didn't have any new rides or attractions to promote.

This promotion included the following elements:

• The Electrical Parade at Disney's California Adventure stole parts of Tokyo Disneyland's modern "Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights" soundtrack, ditched the Blue Fairy float for one featuring Tinker Bell, and brought back Snow White and Pinocchio
• Fantasmic got a new dragon for the finale of the show. Incidentally, this didn't appear till end of summer after many technical failures, earning the dragon the nickname of "Murphy" (as in "Murphy's Law")
• The "Magical" fireworks at Disneyland featured a flying Dumbo character on a zip line
• New LED lights added to the Pixie Hollow area of Fantasyland
• Live bands playing at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace stage… which they renamed the TLT Dance Club

Overall, it was a rather lame approach to try to sell something "new" with a bunch of recycled stuff. But apparently, it worked well enough because Disneyland is bringing the idea back for Summer 2010.

Concept art of "World of Color" nighttime water show (Disney's California Adventure)

This time around the Disneyland Resort has something to brag about… the new "World of Color" show debuting at California Adventure. This is also prompting something called "Glow Fest" over there that really is in place for crowd control for the new water show. The flying Dumbo returns for the fireworks, as does the dance club in Tomorrowland. Fantasmic might actually get a whole summer season with their new 40-foot animatronic dragon. The Toy Story Midway Mania ride over at California Adventure also is getting a new game to tie into Toy Story 3.

Concept art for "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" (Universal's Island of Adventure)

But over on the East Coast, Walt Disney World is facing its own summer issues. You see, there's this hugely hyped and (by all accounts) very well-executed new Harry Potter land opening at Universal's Island of Adventure park… and that is sure to be the buzz of the season. So what do the folks at WDW do? Borrow the Summer Nightastic idea of using "old stuff" to try to make it seem like they have new offerings. What's in store for WDW's Nightastic?

• Florida borrowed the Main Street Electrical Parade and is hyping the "return" to the Magic Kingdom. Granted, this still is the old parade (which I love) that got some refreshing last year at Disneyland.
• Over at the Studios, a new drop sequence and lighting package at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (which the park is overselling as a "reimagining")
• Repurposed fireworks in the way of the "Magic, Music, and Mayhem" show used for the "pay extra if you want to enjoy this event even though you paid for a day's admission event", Disney's Pirate and Princess Party.
• Concert series at Epcot
• Extended hours at Animal Kingdom

Wow, yeah… that will bring the crowds in.

What I find interesting is all the repurposing of promotional content now that both Disneyland and Walt Disney World have "Summer Nightastic" promotions running. The first is noted in the audio "jingle" that each coast is using. This year, Disney has produced a song to promote Summer Nightastic and has changed the words to match the events on each coast.

Thus, for your listening and comparison enjoyment, I've included live audio of both versions of the song, complete with how the lyrics were changed for each.

Audio: Summer Nightastic Jingle (Disneyland Version)
(Source: Disneyland.com)

Audio: Summer Nightastic Jingle (Walt Disney World Version)
(Source: YouTube.com)

The Disneyland version of the song is listed first, with the changes made for the Walt Disney World version noted in brackets:

Summer Nightastic Jingle

I wanna go!

Park hoppin'
Fast ride droppin'
Flyin' through Space Mountain sky

I wanna go!

California dreamin' [Magical dreamin']
Dragon fire breathin' [Tower drop screamin']
It's a Fantasmical ride [It's a spectacular ride]

I wanna go!

Matterhorn soarin' [Jungle Cruise roarin']
Toy Story scorin'
Ghosts are grinnin' [Electric light parade]
Jungle Cruise aboardin' [And my heart soarin']

I wanna go!

Everyone dancin'
Fireworks blastin'
Let's go to Disney's Summer Nightastic
Let's go to Disney's Summer Nightastic

Moving on, not only did Walt Disney World borrow from Disneyland's jingle, their TV commercial pretty much features attractions and scenes completely located at Disneyland. Granted, the average person probably won't notice this, but keen Disney theme park fans picked up on this right away. First, take a look at the commercial and then we'll break it down:

Video: Walt Disney World "Summer Nightastic" TV commercial

Now that you've watched this commercial, let's take a closer look at the scenes used… noting that most have absolutely nothing to do with Walt Disney World.

Guy with Disneyland hat
Take a look at the cap the 2nd person from the left is wearing. That "D" on his hat is the typeface used for Disneyland, and this is most likely a Disneyland-specific item.

Mad Tea Party
This is the "spinning tea cups" ride that makes everyone vomit. The only problem is that Walt Disney World's version is under a roof to protect it from Florida rains. The image from this commercial is Disneyland's.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Finally, we have a WDW-specific shot. This is the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith which is located at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's an indoor coaster, in case you haven't figured that out!

Tomorrowland
Hey look, it's Space Mountain, located in Tomorrowland. Of course, the Tomorrowland in this shot is from California. How can you tell? The shape of the "Space Mountain" sign, the inclusion of "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience" (which is located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, but at Epcot's Future World in Florida), and the general layout of the land. Watch out for the flying Dumbo!

Space Mountain
We shift back to a shot of Walt Disney World's Space Mountain? How do we know? In Florida, the seating for Space Mountain is single-file, as shown. In California, Disneyland's copy features rows that each feature 2 people sitting side-by-side.

Fantasmic
This is the nighttime show Fantasmic, which Disneyland shows around the Rivers of America… and Walt Disney World features in a dedicated theater located at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The dragon featured in these shots (nicknamed "Murphy") was added to Disneyland last summer… while the one in Florida looks nothing like this, doesn't breathe fire, and frankly looks like a 3rd class Muppet reject.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
These two shots are park-agnostic and are canned video pieces that could represent any of the Tower of Terrors in the Disney theme park empire.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World opened the first Buzz Lightyear-themed ride in 1998, a cheap production built on the former Ominimover track previously used for If You Had Wings/If You Could Fly/Delta Dreamflight. As the first prototype of the ride, it probably has the least innovation. For example, the guns are mounted to the ride system, thus cannot be picked up and moved around. Oh wait. That would mean that this shot is from Disneyland's version of the ride, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

Jungle Cruise
Another staged shot that seems park-agnostic and probably could take place on either coast.

Toy Story Midway Mania
This ride was originally created for the Paradise Pier boardwalk area at Disney's California Adventure, consisting of a video-based 3D "shoot em up" system. Disney ended up franchising the ride to other parks using the more generic name, Toy Story Mania… thus it also appears at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios. Video games are video games, thus this shot is park-agnostic (though the logo for "Toy Story Mania" — leaving out the "Midway" part — is used).

Disney's Electrical Parade
Don't even get me started on this one. Those of you familiar with our wedding know that we featured a recessional with the theme from the Main Street Electrical Parade; it's a fav. The Parade "glowed away forever" from Disneyland in 1996, followed by a farewell run at Walt Disney World in 2001. That same year Disney's California Adventure opened and was a huge dud.

In the hopes to save the lame park, Disney shipped the Electrical Parade back to the West Coast and ran it at DCA. Of course, since that park didn't have a "Main Street", the iconic parade was blandly renamed "Disney's Electrical Parade"… where it ran till this year. In fact, it was "upgraded" last summer as part of Disneyland's original Summer Nightastic concept.

Well, the parade is now back at Walt Disney World and the dorky accountants running the show didn't want to put up the cash to change the large drum back to saying "Main Street Electrical Parade". In any case, this shot was most definitely taken on the West Coast.

Disney's Electrical Parade
Hey, it's Minnie Mouse, standing on a float as part of Disney's Electrical Parade. And she's in California, not Florida. How can we tell? Look at the sign behind her. It reads "Hollywood Pictures Backlot", one of the many lands at Disney's California Adventure.

Orbitron
This by far is the oddest video piece in the commercial. It features the Orbitron, a spinner-type ride. Disneyland and Walt Disney World have rides like this in their respective Tomorrowlands called Astro Orbiter. However, this image? It's from Hong Kong Disneyland! The stateside parks have cars in the shape of rockets, while the Hong Kong version pictured uses "flying saucers". Oh, and the folks riding it are Asian. Very weird that this is in the commercial.

Crazy Dancin' Lady
I honestly have no idea on this one. It looks to be some sort of nighttime parade/festival/special event.

Hades and Fireworks
The Disney character featured on the left is Hades from the 1997's Hercules. And there's fireworks. Interestingly, this shot was lifted from Disneyland's Halloween promotion called HalloweenTime. How do we know? Look at the pumpkin-shaped Mickey head on the box of fireworks!

Cinderella Castle and Fireworks
Hey, how about this… a shot actually from Walt Disney World! Yes, that's Cinderella Castle, which is very different looking from Disneyland's icon, Sleeping Beauty Castle. (Of course, it could also be from Tokyo Disneyland, but that's a stretch!)

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
And just like that, we're back in California. We return to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The original is in Florida at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The first clones were built for Disney's California Adventure and the Walt Disney Studios Paris. How can you tell them apart? The easiest giveaway is the way the letters on the building are positioned.

In Florida, "Hollywood Tower" is written on one line. The clone in California writes that name on two lines. Yup, yet another misplaced shot.

Disney's Electrical Parade
It's the Disney's Electrical Parade again at California Adventure. The background architecture give away the West Coast location once again.

Summer Nightastic Logo
The same logo for this promotion is used on both coasts. It originally was created for Disneyland in 2009.

Cinderella Castle in the Clouds
What we see here is the end of the commercial using the "castle in the clouds" element that was first introduced during the horrid 15-months-in-a-year promotion, "Year of A Million Dreams" (2006-2008). It's well known that I hated that promotion. Commercials featured shots of each respective castle in the clouds. This is probably lifted from the WDW version.

And that's it… a complete deconstruction of the Summer Nightastic commercial for Walt Disney World… which was obviously made up of mostly stock shots from Disneyland. Isn't Mouse-powered synergy/cost-cutting grand? [/sarcasm]