Of all the elements of Mickey’s Magical Party to cause more than a little concern on fan communities such as our own magicforum, there’s no doubt that the loud and colourful refit of the Main Street, U.S.A. seasonal lampposts, spotted in preparation backstage, was one of the worst offenders.

Well, it comes with great delight to see that the “Quelle horreur!” most fans were preparing can now be replaced by a more positive “Quelle surprise!”. Pourquoi? Because the overlay of multi-coloured “streamers”, Mickey Mouse shapes and blue Mickey’s Magical Party logos that had been in planning for over six months has been cancelled!

On Wednesday evening, member Mouetto of Disney Central Plaza forum spotted the first four lampposts in place, looking very familiar indeed.

In fact, the only thing to have changed is the banners themselves — now replaced by light blue designs showing the image of Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto peeking out of a Mickey Mouse-shape, surrounded by “Welcome!” written in different languages.

The new resort logo is featured below (no park-personalisation here), and the designs alternate between the French and English logos for the year — La Fête Magique de Mickey on one side, Mickey’s Magical Party the other.

So, why the sudden and rather large change in direction? Did they read the fans’ reaction? Did they realise themselves the design wasn’t exactly in-keeping with the turn-of-the-century street? Perhaps, but there’s also the fact that this design will be far, far cheaper…

Today, Saturday 21st March, the entire street of seasonal lampposts is complete:

And so, the Walt Disney World-style colourful streamers which were meant to wrap themselves physically around the lampposts have been restrained to sit as a graphic on the banner and Main Street looks little different — banner design aside — to how it has for the past two years.

It should be noted these new banners don’t feature any LED lights embedded in them, though anyone who’s visited the resort since late last year can tell you that this magical effect had actually long been defunct (since many were broken and not repaired) and replaced by simply shining light on the banners instead.

Judging by Mouetto‘s latest photos, above, there also appear to be only 24 lampposts — 12 on each side — rather than the full set of 26. Could this be a realisation that the final pair, nearest Central Plaza, served only to block views of fireworks?

Twenty-four banners not enough for you? Well, you’re in luck. Take a stroll out through Fantasia Gardens and the resort hub and you’ll find them swamped with smaller versions of the decorations, replacing all the old 15th Anniversary banners. They’ve even made their way to the Disney Hotels.

We all expected Mickey’s Magical Party to repeat the successful elements of the 15th, but perhaps not quite so closely. One area where Mickey won’t be attempting to implant party decorations appears to be the Disneyland Park entrance itself, which has just been returned to normal after two years of some very sympathetic “15” plaques replacing its castle design.

Sometimes, having a little restraint can be good for Disneyland.

Photos: Mouetto, Disney Central Plaza forum.