Disney Entertainment History

The History of the Main Street Electrical Parade

2010-10-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Main Street Electrical Parade has glistened its way through the streets of almost every Magic Kingdom across the nation and brightened the hearts of millions worldwide. It was inspired by the Electrical Water Pageant, created by Bob Jani, which floats over the Seven Seas Lagoon and features both real and mythical sea creatures presented upon lighted barges. At the end of the show, the creatures would turn into American flags and stars and present a tribute. The song that accompanied the barges while in “sea creature” mode was Baroque Hoedown, written by experimental artists Jean Jacques-Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. The song was not meant for the parade.

Bob Jani was not satisfied, however, and he wanted an electrical parade on land for Disneyland. With the interest of electronic musicians Paul Beaver and Jim Christensen, along with the “voice of Disneyland” Jack Wagner, the parade was titled the Main Street Electrical Parade. The duo of Beaver and Christensen rewrote Perrey and Kingsley's piece for the parade, adding a bass line among other new lines, and added Disney themes to the mix.

The parade debuted at Disneyland on June 17, 1972, to raving reviews and constantly returning audiences. During the rehearsal period, the parade was plagued with issues, such as horses falling under electrical weight, or one lightbulb going out and powering down the rest of the parade's lighting. The original floats were the Blue Fairy, Casey Junior Circus Train, Alice In Wonderland, Chinese Dragon, Dumbo's Circus, Cinderella's Ball, It's A Small World, and the American Finale. In 1973, the Chinese Dragon became the Sleeping Beauty Dragon, based very loosely on Maleficent. For the most part, the floats were two-dimensional, but some of them had three-dimensional elements or were completely 3-D.

The parade was, like other parades of the time, only meant to last the summer of 1972, but ended up with two more years running, through 1974. In 1975, America on Parade, a giant tribute to the Bicentennial of the United States, premiered, featuring a record fifty floats and new characters with huge heads representing the American people. This parade ran both day and night through the end of 1976.

Of course, complaints began to set in about the Electrical Parade and in 1977 the parade returned. However, all of the old floats were replaced with new, entirely three-dimensional floats. The Blue Fairy was finally proportionally correct, and the train and drum were relighted and alternated between saying “Disneyland Presents” “Main Street Electrical Parade”. Alice's Wonderland was filled with oversized mushrooms, insects, and of course Alice herself and the White Rabbit. Cinderella's Ball featured a pumpkin coach with the lovely princess, a ballroom, the clock tower, and a staircase featuring Prince Charming. Dumbo's Circus still did not feature Dumbo, but King Leonidas continued to play the calliope in a float seemingly pulled by a hippo, while a bear with a honey pot on his head (not Pooh) and an elephant showering herself (not Dumbo!) followed. Also in tow were the Seven Dwarfs. A unit known as the Briny Deep featured an undersea paradise and a terrible fish band playing their laughable “music” within the mouth of Monstro the Whale (from Pinocchio).

Only supposed to last one year, Elliott, the dragon from the 1977 film Pete's Dragon also appeared in the parade, along with the titular owner, Pete. Though Pete's Dragon flopped at the box office, the float was remarkable for its size and the fact that Elliott would completely disappear on command. It remains in the parade to this day. Also in the 1977 run was a tribute to “it's a small world” featuring Mary Blair's dolls and floats representing the South Seas and European countries. Completing the parade was a menagerie of swirling mirrors featuring neon-lit Disney characters.

Don Dorsey, an up-and-coming electronic artist, rewrote the score of the parade, fitting it with an opening fanfare, rerecording Baroque Hoedown and adding more instruments and lines, and recording music for “Alice in Wonderland” “Pete's Dragon” “Briny Deep” “it's a small world” and “Disney Neon Finale” units. For Cinderella's Ball and Dumbo's Circus, Beaver and Christensen's music remained.

Also premiering in 1977 at Walt Disney World was their clone of the Main Street Electrical Parade. For the most part, it featured the same floats as Disneyland, except they were made wider as to better fit the larger parade route.

In 1979, both Disneyland and Walt Disney World discarded their Neon Finales and replaced them with yet another tribute to America, known by its title “To Honor America”. It was a huge American flag that spread over large drums and ran up to a golden bald eagle at the end of the float, whose wings were flapped by cast members. Fireworks blasted over the float, which used the original American Finale music by Beaver and Christensen.

1980 brought multiple changes to Disneyland's parade alone. Disneyland added a special 25^th Anniversary float that was a replica of Sleeping Beauty Castle. It featured an arrangement of the 25^th Anniversary theme by Dorsey. Also added for one year only was a Fox and the Hound unit, featuring small cars based on those seen in the movie and puppet versions of the characters of the film. The characters that drove these units were exposed, and were reused from America on Parade's “giant head” characters.

Also in 1980, both parks converted their Briny Deep units to Pinocchio Underwater, featuring a rearranged score. Pinocchio was placed among the undersea paradise of the first float, and Geppetto was appropriately placed on a raft inside of Monstro's mouth. These two floats were retired after the 1983 run for both parks.

In 1983, Disneyland again retired their parade in favor of Flights of Fantasy, a parade featuring the characters of the New Fantasyland and giant inflatables of characters such as Maleficent's dragon form. However, in 1985, the parade returned, because once again the visitors missed the Electrical Parade.

1985 at Disneyland brought major changes to the parade, featuring a lineup that would become near-standard. Added to the parade after Cinderella's Ball was Peter Pan's Pirate Ship, featuring Peter Pan battling Captain Hook upon it, and Mr. Smee's rowboat which followed along and sometimes came up right next to the ship. Dumbo's Circus was enhanced with two new floats featuring a four ring circus, one coming before the bear and one after. They featured clowns doing “tricks” and Dumbo himself on the first float. Following Dumbo was Dopey's Mine Train, and the Seven Dwarfs working in the diamond mine. After Elliott pased, Pinocchio was given two new floats featuring Pleasure Island, with Pinocchio himself and his “friend” Lampwick appearing on the second. Return to Oz appeared for one year only, featuring a replica of the Emerald City. Also added in 1985 was the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, appearing atop one of the Mushrooms, and a new ballroom float that was placed between the two canopies.

1985 also brought a new incarnation of the Electrical Parade: the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade, renamed because there is no Main Street U.S.A. at Tokyo Disneyland. It featured the same floats as Disneyland's did in 1985, without Return to Oz, Smee's Rowboat, Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, Dopey's Mine Train, and obviously To Honor America. Some float designs changed, and many unique floats were added, such as the Knights of Light that followed the Blue Fairy, a small mushroom with two butterflies for the Alice in Wonderland unit and unique Japanese designs for the fireflies and centipede, an all-new giant ballroom float featuring Prince Charming in the center, and a redesigned clock tower; a new, more film-accurate version of Elliott the dragon, and a largely enhanced version of the “it's a small world” unit, featuring a ferris wheel.

1986 brought a 30^th Anniversary float for Walt Disney World, which did not have unique music but a unique design.

In 1988, Disneyland retired the “it's a small world” unit of the Electrical Parade, and added a special float for Mickey's 60^th Birthday following the train and drum, and with its own unique music.

In September of 1990, the Magic Kingdom played the Main Street Electrical Parade for the last time and then shipped the floats to Euro Disneyland (except obviously the American float) where they played the Main Street Electrical Parade. For the first year, the floats were set in a very weird, incorrect order, only getting right the fact that the titular unit was first. They were replaced in a normal order in 1993, but after that season, because of money issues, the “it's a small world” unit was cut. During the holiday season, the parade had holiday music added to it, arranged by Vasile Sirli, resident Euro Disneyland composer.

At the same time, the Magic Kingdom premiered a new parade called SpectroMagic, centered on the idea that Mickey Mouse and the SpectroMen created the light energy to run the parade. With more unique units such as a band conducted by Roger Rabbit and a beautiful garden featuring the fairies of Sleeping Beauty, and also film-centric units such as Fantasia and The Little Mermaid, the parade was good enough to keep people from begging for the Electrical Parade at that point. The parade concluded with a beautiful unit based on multiple Disney films and featuring a giant carousel in the center, that changed from colorful hues to black and white at particular times in the music. The parade barely changed over the years and never added or removed floats. The parade was directed by Ron Logan, one of his last hurrahs at Disney, and the score was composed by Steve Skorija and John Debney. At one point, when Don Dorsey was on the project, the Baroque Hoedown was to be kept in the parade, but once this suggestion was vetoed, he left.

In 1995, Tokyo Disneyland ran a “Sayonara” season for the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade, featuring a huge new float reading “Sayonara Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade”. The parade was removed and very quickly replaced by an amazing parade/show called Disney's Fantillusion, also in 1995. Fantillusion was loosely based on the show Fantasmic! which premiered in Disneyland in 1992, and featured a show stop for each section. The first unit was the Enchanted Fairy Garden, featuring Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, and the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty, along with famous Disney characters that only appeared at the show stop. The second unit was the Evil Villains, featuring the transformations of Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, and the Evil Queen into the dragon, sea queen, snake, and old hag, respectively, during the show stop. The third unit featured the Disney Princesses Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, and Snow White, along with their respective princes and Minnie Mouse. The score was arranged and written by Bruce Healey, who was also the composer of Fantasmic! The mushroom with two butterflies was reused in Fantillusion from the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade, but nearly every other float was demolished.

Even with the huge success of 1992's Fantasmic!, the Main Street Electrical Parade continued to run at Disneyland through 1996. The 1996 season brought patriotic female dancers to the sides of To Honor America. On October 15, 1996, the parade gave its last performances, but returned in November for three encore nights. The permanent loss (or so they said) of the Main Street Electrical Parade broke the hearts of thousands of fans, and the sparkling lights last appeared on the streets of Disneyland on November 15, 1996.

But Disneyland had new plans up their sleeves...a fantastic streetacular known as Light Magic. Like SpectroMagic, this new-age spectacle was powered by luminescent life forms, in this case fairies. The “floats” were rolled out from Small World Mall and stopped in Main Street, where the show was put on. Though it was a fairly good show, it was blasted for being known as the “permanent successor” of the Main Street Electrical Parade and was from then on known as Light Tragic. Though the Main Street Electrical Parade played for twenty years, not including breaks, “Light Tragic” could barely last twenty weeks! As was the standard at this time, Light Magic was shuttered for “retooling” and would reopen in the year 2000, similar to how Rocket Rods was going to “reopen in Spring 2001” and that the Submarine Voyage would “return in 2003”. However, this was all a big lie, and all of these things never happened. When the Mulan Parade premiered in 1998, it ran day and night, thus resetting the years-old standard of a parade running twice a day. There would never again be an electrical parade of any kind to play on the Disneyland streets.

Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade was boxed and shipped out to New York City for a spectacular evening, featuring all of the classic 1996 run floats (except the train and drum and the blue and pink Alice mushrooms) and three new floats celebrating the premiere of Hercules! This was the first of Disney's three huge movie premieres, and the biggest one of them all. The floats included a Greek Temple with the title of the parade, a large float featuring Hercules and Megara on Pegasus, whose wings flapped, and Pain and Panic standing on the bottom of an oversized Hades, whose palm exploded with fire on occasion. Though it was a difficult parade to handle, only one float actually ended up having issues, the second Pinocchio float, which mostly blacked out along the route. Mickey and Minnie were relocated to atop the America float.

With only one lonely Main Street Electrical Parade running now, the newly-renamed Disneyland Paris finally got an upgrade in 1997 with the addition of the one Tokyo Disneyland float kept in stable condition, the Swan Lake unit. 1998 brought more additions to the parade in the form of the Diamond Mine and Pinocchio floats from Disneyland, and the retooled parade was given a promotional name of “More Lights! More Magic!” After the 1998 season, however, the parade would never be the same, as huge entertainment cutbacks forced dance units to be almost entirely removed and floats would switch in and out.

With enough complaints annoying the customer service department and a promotional reason to bring the parade back, Disneyland's floats were sent over to Walt Disney World (minus the Diamond Mine and Pinocchio floats which were sent to Paris) and the Main Street Electrical Parade ran from 1999-2001. A few SpectroMagic performers were mixed into the parade during this limited engagement, and the American Finale featured Disney characters rather than high-kicking dancers.

In the summer of 2000, Disneyland decided privately that they would bring back the Main Street Electrical Parade. They were horribly worried that Disney's California Adventure would overshadow Disneyland, and guests had been begging for its return, so park officials decided it would be best to use a marketing ploy saying that the parade was back for a special engagement, then held over from that engagement, and then back by popular demand. However, Disney's California Adventure completely flopped, so Disneyland decided to bring the parade to that park immediately, rather than spend time upgrading it to new-age standards, and it did temporarily improve attendance as “Disney's Electrical Parade”, otherwise the same parade as in the Magic Kingdom, except with the replacement of the finale dancers. Gone were the ideas for upgrading the parade, as they were too expensive, and also gone was the idea for a special Christmas version based on Disneyland Paris'.

Tokyo Disneyland, being sponsored entirely by the huge Oriental Land Company and making use of the Disney funds also, had a lot of money to spend, so they decided that $25 million would be spent on a brand new incarnation of the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade. The classic electronic sound was replaced by new-wave instruments and slowly transitioned to fully orchestral. It featured all of the original units found in the original Tokyo Disneyland parade (with the exception of Dumbo's Circus) with brand new, gigantic floats, and new units based on Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, a bug's life, and Winnie the Pooh. Though the finale kept the music of “it's a small world” The parade music was scored by Gregory Smith, and the parade was a huge hit. In 2004, the parade was given a holiday version, featuring specially rearranged music, and wreaths and holiday decorations on certain floats.

In March 2003, Disneyland Paris ran the Main Street Electrical Parade for the last time. The final performance was a great sendoff, featuring every unit and every character and dancer possible (except “it's a small world”, which was supposedly demolished) That same year, Disneyland Paris purchased 15 out of 30 of the Fantillusion floats from Tokyo Disneyland, only half because of their financial condition, and premiered the shortened parade in July. There were less show stops, yes, and the parade had been severely cut down, to 13 floats and then down to 12 in 2005, but the parade was still acclaimed and loved. The float that was used initially but removed later, the Dark Forest, was brought back at Halloween 2008 and every Halloween since and used for Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The parade still runs today.

For Hong Kong Disneyland's opening, Walt Disney World/Disneyland Paris' Main Street Electrical Parade's floats were sent to them, but they had enough of a struggle with the day parade and could not keep up with the Electrical Parade, which still sits in crates in the production warehouse at Hong Kong Disneyland.

In 2007, DreamLights at Tokyo Disneyland received new floats. A Monsters Inc. and a Finding Nemo unit replaced the Bug's Life unit, and a new Cinderella float was introduced to replace existing floats with a technology allowing Cinderella's dress to change from many different colors.

Summer 2009 and the “Summer Nightastic” promotion brought updates to Disney's Electrical Parade at Disney's California Adventure, with a huge new Tinker Bell float replacing the Blue Fairy and the return of missing Snow White and Pinocchio units, which were shipped to them from Hong Kong. Also many unadvertised changes were made to existing floats, however the large Dumbo's Circus unit was retired. When the parade returned at Christmas 2009, a new Caterpillar was added to his float, finally correctly colored blue and with a new, projected mouth that could lip sync to his audio.

In 2010, the slightly renamed Disney California Adventure had the last run of Disney's Electrical Parade in April and sent their parade over to the Magic Kingdom once again, where it ran with all of the enhancements. In a similar marketing ploy to the one that was going to be set for Disneyland in 2000, the parade was marketed as only being around for the “Summer Nightastic” promotion, but ended up staying indefinitely.

In 2011, Tokyo Disneyland will again add floats to their parade, those being based on Aladdin, Disney Fairies, and a brand new Toy Story float. These will replace Beauty and the Beast, Swan Lake, and the existing Toy Story floats.

Though rumors were swirling that SpectroMagic would be updated and return in late 2011to the Magic Kingdom, newer rumors suggest that Disneyland Paris will receive SpectroMagic and Fantillusion will be rejoined with its three missing floats that weren't demolished and sent somewhere else...perhaps Disney California Adventure or Disneyland will receive this night spectacular?

The History of SpectroMagic

2010-09-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

The SpectroMagic parade was debuted in 1991 at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. It was to serve as the first of many worldwide replacements for the Main Street Electrical Parade. Michael Eisner and the Disney entertainment crew wanted something new to replace the aging parade, which had debuted in 1977 and hadn't been updated since 1983.

Don Dorsey, who was the music designer for the Main Street Electrical Parade, was briefly in charge of the "Electromagic" parade, however when his suggestion to bring back Baroque Hoedown in a slower form to the new parade was put down, he left the project and Steve Skorija took over music creation. John Debney wrote the famous theme song "On This Magic Night". The show, retitled "SpectroMagic" was directed by Don Frantz, and produced by Ron Logan, who was also known for producing Fantasmic! at both parks that it has appeared in so far.

The parade centers around the Spectromen, who together with Mickey create the power of SpectroMagic that is the basis of the parade. The parade has six different units that harness the power of SpectroMagic: Opening, featuring Mickey Mouse and the SpectroMen; Silly Symphonies, featuring a large chorus of musical instruments led by the Genie; the beautiful garden of the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty; the undersea kingdom of King Triton and his beautiful daughter Ariel; the whimsical world of Fantasia, featuring Chernabog's frightening conclusion; and the grand finale painted by the Three Little Pigs to change from a colorful world of black and white, featuring many famous Disney characters.

The parade has had multiple small changes over the years, but nothing on the level of new floats or units. However, these changes, however small, are quite significant and changed the parade for better or for worse. The parade went on hiatus for refurbishment from 1999-2001 andwas retired in 2010 in favor of the former parade, the Main Street Electrical Parade.

SpectroMagic Opening Unit

These floats have stayed exactly the same, however, their lineup and costumes have changed throughout the years.

The floats include: SpectroMen whirling around on giant lighted whirlyballs, speaking and singing strange phrases and sentences; a band of SpectroMen playing trumpets; a title float featuring a SpectroMan on each side creating the logos "Walt Disney World Presents" and "SpectroMagic"; and Mickey Mouse aboard a platform creating SpectroMagic inside an electricity ball with a glowing cape that leads down and up the float.

Here is a 1991-1993 walkthrough of the parade opening.

Two SpectroMen on whirlyballs

SpectroMagic trumpeters

Mickey's SpectroMagical Cape

SpectroMagic title float

Two SpectroMen on whirlyballs

In 1993, this was reorganized to form a slightly different lineup.

Two SpectroMen on whirlyballs

SpectroMagic title float

SpectroMagic trumpeters

Mickey's SpectroMagical Cape

Two SpectroMen on whirlyballs

During the 1991-1999 run, the SpectroMen were masked performers with a face lit up in light whitish colors, and had fiber-optic hair.

In 2001, when the parade returned, the opening unit was given a more sensible order.

SpectroMagic trumpeters

Four SpectroMen on whirlyballs

SpectroMagic title float

Mickey's SpectroMagical Cape

In the first two years of the parade, the SpectroMen had some different speech phrases, and various noises came along with them. The sounds were limited to voices in 1993.

The fanfare trumpeters once had completely different music which again only lasted two years and was replaced in 1993.

Between 2007-2008, the SpectroMen were split up to appear by two before and two after the title float.

From 2001-2007, the SpectroMen had color-changing heads from pink to blue with wider faces, and red hair and large hats. From 2007-2010, the SpectroMen were face characters who wore silver makeup and had fiber-optic hats/wisg. The title float was never updated to include the 1995 Walt Disney World logo, and still features the original.

Silly Symphonies

These floats, loosely based on Disney's Silly Symphony cartoons, have always been exactly the same through the history of the parade. Minimal changes have been made associated with the unit.

The floats are actually one long drive unit pulled along by the first float, which is a giant metronome; the second being a large group of percussion instruments featuring Goofy playing the timpani, cymbal, and xylophone and a self-playing female harp; a group of wind and brass instruments and two self-playing basses; and a huge piano featuring Chip and Dale.

The conductor of the unit stands atop the giant metronome at the beginning of the parade. From 1991-1999 the conductor was Roger Rabbit, and due to Amblin and Disney's fallout, he was replaced by the Genie in 2001 and he has remained at the post ever since.

Sleeping Beauty Garden

These floats underwent some lineup changes during the 1999-2001 hiatus, and they are a garden featuring the three fairies of Sleeping Beauty, and the floats change from a "day" setting to a "night" setting. Initially the fairies were all grouped on one float, but they have since been moved to three separate floats. This allowed Flora and Merryweather to "fight" and change the colors of their dresses. New dresses were commissioned for the fairies which did not have this ability but were a lot lighter.

The floats include: an oversized, glowing peacock with the first garden behind it, formerly occupied by a dragonfly and now by Fauna; a second garden occupied by Flora that formerly also carried Merryweather and Fauna; and a third garden that previously featured another dragonfly but now features Merryweather, with a lovely waterfall scene on the back.

The floats and fairies are accompanied by female butterfly and dragonfly dancers, whose wings light up in different colors.

The Little Mermaid

This is perhaps the most film-centric unit of the entire parade, as it solely focuses in on the famous Disney picture which had been released two years prior to SpectroMagic's opening.

The floats include: a "train" of four fish, decreasing in size, almost considered a family; Ursula whirling around in float form; Ariel's undersea paradise with the mast of a pirate ship and featuring the titular character and her fish friend Flounder; King Triton's chariot and Sebastian and his undersea band; and two fish who blow bubbles.

Sebastian was a puppet in the 1991-1999 run, and became an animatronic for 2001-2010. The bubble fish did not blow bubbles after 1993; this effect finally returned around 2005. Before more rules and regulations were set in place, the bubble fish could swim right up next to the floats before it.

Fantasia

This unit has not changed over the years at all, and features characters and music from Walt Disney's 1940 feature Fantasia.

The floats include: Ali Gator spinning Hyacinth Hippo atop a platform, with Mme. Upanova by their side; ostriches surrounding the ever-happy Bacchus atop another platform; Diana and her fleet soaring above the clouds; and a lava mountain, which opens to reveal the infamous Chernabog.

Chernabog is well known for sometimes not appearing in the parade at all; in certain sections of the route, he cannot open his wings to reveal himself, and just stays shut. In 2005, Hyacinth fell to the ground and was replaced by a disco ball while Mme. Upanova was replaced by a character version of Hyacinth; Hyacinth reappeared in 2006.

The Grand Finale

The finale is known for its many small changes over the years, though the floats have essentially stayed the same like the rest. The finale changes from a world of color to a wonderful black-and-white scene. Some of the floats and characters are homages to the Main Street Electrical Parade.

The floats are separated into three sections, each having its own drive unit.

The floats of the first unit include; a big platform with towers, featuring the Three Little Pigs who are painting the floats to change colors; Cinderella's carriage, essentially very similar to the Main Street Electrical Parade float, featuring Cinderella and Prince Charming and with Jaq and Gus in front; and the Queen of Hearts' labyrinth with Alice and the White Rabbit inside. Accompanying this unit are the Queen of Hearts and Mary Poppins.

The next float is a giant carousel, which features Disney scenes and a small castle on top, and many animals, including Dumbo, circling around.

The floats of the second unit begin with another tower, representing that of the Evil Queen, who stands next to it, and the remaining float consists of Captain Hook's pirate ship, another direct homage to the Electrical Parade, with Captain Hook onboard and smoke shooting out from the cannons; Dopey in the diamond mine and Pinocchio and Geppetto at Pleasure Island, two homages to the Electrical Parade; and another set of towers and platforms featuring Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Jiminy Cricket to finish off the parade. This unit is accompanied by many characters, including Snow White, Br'er Bear, Pluto, Peter Pan, Mr. Smee, and the remaining dwarves, Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, and Bashful.

At one point the floats were run up right next to each other and characters walked alongside them and mingled with each other. The floats were split up around 2004 and characters were split up and stayed in particular areas; Mary Poppins and Queen of Hearts between the first set and the carousel; Peter Pan and Mr. Smee between the Carousel and the second set; and the remaining characters following the parade. In 2010, the other characters were brought before the second set, and no characters followed the parade.

As far as changes to the first unit have gone, Prince Charming once stood outside of Cinderella's carriage. By 2005, he was inside the carriage. The carousel is a bit of a temperamental float, similar to Chernabog, and thus occasionally does not appear. The second unit once featured a puppet Jiminy Cricket who could look up when the lights changed; he was replaced in 2001 by an animatronic who could not do so.

The Parade Music

The music of SpectroMagic features a score by Steve Skorija, who is a top composer for Disney Parks, and the theme "On This Magic Night" was written by John Debney. The first two units only make use of this theme and variations upon it, and the finale also uses a second theme by Debney known as "Music Surrounds Us".

The Sleeping Beauty garden unit also uses "Once Upon A Dream", The Little Mermaid features "Under the Sea" and "Part of Your World", and Fantasia features various classical themes. The Sleeping Beauty garden and finale units utilize "When You Wish Upon A Star" as transformation music as they transform from day to night in Sleeping Beauty's case, or black and white to color in the finale's case.

The parade used to conclude with a version of the parade themes featuring chimes and bells, which actually had two different versions, one from 1991 and one from 1992-?; this was cut before the parade returned in 2001 and was replaced by the usual underliner.

Sources: Arete-Eimine-Phile's commentaries on deviantArt, various YouTube videos, especially those from brianrc73 and mcrtnyfan, Don Dorsey interview, my own knowledge, and WDWMagic!

BREAKING NEWS: Summer Nightastic at Walt Disney World!

2010-02-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

FOR THIS SUMMER, SO FAR:

Main Street Electrical Parade returns to Walt Disney World. Though certain text describes it as a "new addition", other text and pictures reference the Disneyland parade with its updates.
A NEW perimeter fireworks show! Originally thought to be Magic, Music, and Mayhem from the now-cancelled Pirate and Princess Party, there have been more elaborations and it is set to be a new show.
Tower of Terror gets new "glow-in-the-dark" lighting effects. What does this mean?
Disney's Animal Kingdom will be open late all 7 days of the week!

That's all I have so far from what I've read. CAN'T WAIT!

Toy Block Floats - Disneyland and Walt Disney World

2009-12-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

At first there was only one Toy Block float. This one belonged to Disneyland, and it held different characters over the years, sometimes none, sometimes one. Here is a picture of Fantasy on Parade 1986 with Donald Duck on it. Other years had Pluto and Roger Rabbit on the float.

In 1995, the parade converted to A Christmas Fantasy and this float was retired in favor of new ones. It was sent to Walt Disney World. In all of its years, it was covered by toys.

In 2007, when the parade was converted to the Once Upon A Christmastime Parade, they did not replace the float, which was showing its age, but they repainted it and added different decorations to make it look like a stack of presents.

Disneyland first replaced their Toy Blocks in 1995 for the Christmas Fantasy Parade, with floats themed to The Little Mermaid and Roger Rabbit. Between 1996 and 1998, the Roger Rabbit was converted to Toy Story, and held Woody and Buzz. Ariel was miked so she could speak during the parade.

They once again replaced theirs in 2007 with themed blocks for Woody and Buzz. Woody had the first block, with a rocking horse at the top. Buzz came later in the parade, and was seated in a spaceship toy.

MORE PICTURES COMING SOON!

New Discoveries about Christmas Fantasy Parade!

2009-12-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

A new video on YouTube has sprung with pictures from the first few years of A Christmas Fantasy. Here are a few things that can be noticed that were changed. However, I will not be adding them to my history post since their years are unknown.

Obviously, floats have been replaced.
Initially the ballerina on the opening float wore a red and green dress.
The "Classic Christmas Homecoming" unit was once "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and Daisy was not a part of it.
The reason why Daisy was not in this unit is because she and Clarabelle Cow shared the Gingerbread Treats float. In 1999 or before, she was moved to the Homecoming float, and Clarabelle did not return to the unit until 2005.
At one point Roger Rabbit was on the block that belonged to Woody and Buzz.
Also at this point there was no "Tinkertoy Ferris Wheel" trailer on the Toy Factory.
There was once a time when Toy Factory was followed immediately by Winter Wonderland. In the 1998-2002 videos, Toy Factory was at the beginning and followed by Gingerbread Treats, and then it was placed at the end of the parade.
The Seven Dwarfs once walked alongside Santa's Sleigh.
Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore walked between Roger's block and the Toy Factory.
The reindeer were once tied to Santa's Sleigh by rope. These are the silly reindeer.
Pluto once was Rudolph in the parade! (I think they have done that more recently)
The snowmen were once behind the ice rink. In fact, during one year of the parade, they had different snowmen. They were REALLY ugly.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY PARADE: History through 2009 Part 1

2009-11-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Worry about this, this may be left unfinished, but in this post, I will make a glorious attempt to chronicle the history of the Christmas Fantasy parade of Disneyland. Of course, the earliest video of the parade in existence is from '98, and the parade premiered in '96, so I'll give the float lineup of '98 and add to it for every year with video or pictures.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY PARADE 1998

The earliest version of A Christmas Fantasy Parade seen is very different from the current version. It included different costumes, a different float lineup and different floats, and many other small differences. There were five units.

Opening/A Christmas Fantasy unit

Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore in Christmas sweaters lead the way.

A large band of toy soldiers playing bugles and drums follows.

Float 1: A Christmas Fantasy opening float: a ballerina doll in a pink dress and brown toy bear reside on a float that looks like a stack of books with a platform at the top. This float is converted from a float used in the World According to Goofy Parade, its opening float with Ludwig von Drake topping it.

Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, and Grumpy follow.

Float 2: Dopey is on top of a float of Santa's Mail Room, run by Mrs. Claus, and elves mingle with each other. Reused from the 1990s Very Merry Christmas Parade, it used to carry Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was completely redressed before use in A Christmas Fantasy.

Float 3: Ariel rides atop a giant toy block with pictures of characters from The Little Mermaid along the side.

Float 4: Santa's Toy Factory is led by Pinocchio, joined by Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket working on a very intricate float filled with toys and structures and concluding with a Tinkertoy ferris wheel trailer.

Float 5: Woody and Buzz ride on a toy block float, again adorned with pictures of characters from Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

Various characters mingle among the Toyland floats.

A Recipe for Gingerbread Treats unit

Float 1: A book float, reused from The World According to Goofy parade, leads the way with a story telling the tale of a mad recipe for delicious Christmas sweets.

Bakers follow the book, throwing about various sacks of flour, candy canes, and other objects in a mad rush to complete the recipe.

Float 2: Alice and the Mad Hatter cook up something delicious on a beautiful Gingerbread house.

Gingerbread Men follow, dancing wonderfully choreographed dances.

The Candlelight Christmas Ball unit

Cinderella's stepsisters and stepmother lead the way before the ball, obviously uninvited and upset about it!

Float 1:A book float, showing the names of the invited, welcomes you to the Candlelight Christmas Ball, reused from The World According to Goofy Parade.

Various dancers lead the way for the princesses of the ball.

Float 2: Lumiere welcomes Cinderella, Prince Charming, Snow White, the Snow Prince, Aurora, and Prince Philip to the Candlelight Christmas Ball, on a lovely gazebo float, again reused from The World According to Goofy Parade, but was used afterwards in the Very Merry Christmas Parade, for Fantasia.

More dancers follow the float.

Float 3: A giant Christmas tree follows the unit, adorned with blue ornaments and covered with snow.

Greetings from A Winter Wonderland unit

Float 1: Aladdin and Princess Jasmine ride a sleigh driven by the Genie!

Float 2: A giant scroll with animated features leads the way for a beautiful winter day, reused from Snow White's 50th Anniversary Parade. Guess they ran out of books, huh?

Snowflake dancers on rollerskates!

Float 3: Another giant Christmas tree follows, this again covered with snow, but instead red and green ornaments.

Snowmen and snowwomen of different types do a very cute dance, leading in...

Float 4: The ice rink float, featuring Belle teaching Beast how to skate, follows.

A Classic Christmas Homecoming unit

Goofy yells out "Hear ye, hear ye!" to herald a Christmas homecoming!

Float 1: A book float from The World According to Goofy Parade reads "A Classic Christmas Homecoming to welcome the main cast.

Float 2: Mickey and Minnie arrive in a horse-drawn black carriage.

Various dancers dance to the carols playing in the background.

Float 3: The last giant Christmas tree comes next, this not covered in snow but adorned with garlands and red and green and yellow ornaments, and many more details that make it the most beautiful of all.

Live carolers sing to the carols in perfect harmony.

Float 4: Donald conducts the carolers on a house float, the only new float constructed for the first year other than the trees, while Daisy and Uncle Scrooge look on, and Chip and Dale converse with the crowd.

More dancers follow, in shiny gold outfits.

Santa's nine silly reindeer lead the way for Santa, in his beautiful sleigh.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 1999 appears to be the same parade as in 1998, except that the live carolers are no longer.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2000 changes:

Winnie the Pooh and friends come after the opening float, joined by Piglet.
The Toyland floats now come before Santa's Mail Room.
Alice and Mad Hatter are kicked off their float, replaced by Goofy and Max.
Aladdin's sleigh now comes before the Candlelight Ball floats.
Belle and Beast came to the Candlelight Ball, but Lumiere was no longer, and he has been removed from the opening float, and it has been changed a bit to include Belle's name.
Chip and Dale replaced Belle and Beast.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2001 changes currently unknown. Perhaps some of the changes in the category 2002 occured in 2001.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2002 changes:

The toy soldiers come after the opening float, rather than before.
The Mail Room is back to right after the opening.
Donald and Daisy appear on the Mail Room, the seven dwarfs are no longer. Pluto takes Dopey's place, and elves dance in the streets instead of the dwarfs.
Toy Story and Mermaid blocks switch places, and after the first block, Chip and Dale ride a small humdinger.
Elves replace the characters mingling between Toy Factory floats.
On the Toy Factory float, Jiminy Cricket has been replaced by Foulfellow or Gideon, because he was retired from 2001-2005.
Winter Wonderland unit is right after the Toy Factory floats.
Genie's float comes before the Winter Wonderland unit now.
The NEW snowmen and snowwomen switch places with the roller-skating dancers.
Mickey and Minnie now ride the ice rink.
Lumiere returns to the parade in the Candlelight Ball section, but he is not mentioned on the opening float.
Seven Dwarfs come before the last Christmas tree, and the Candlelight book, house, and carriage floats are no longer. The characters that used to mingle during Toy Factory appear now.
End of parade dancers are no longer.
New costumes for rope carriers.

CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2003 changes: unknown at this point. Any pictures possible would be nice.

CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2004 changes: Could have occurred in 2003 too.

The ballerina now wears a blue dress instead of pink.
Toy Factory is moved to near the end of the parade, so after Mail Room, it goes straight into Winter Wonderland, which switches back the snowmen and dancers.
Gingerbread Treats has new Gingerbread Men, and since they aren't ugly anymore, they now mingle with the bakers.
Lumiere again leaves the ball, for good this time. Also, no tree after the ball.
Toyland floats reordered and moved; the Christmas Homecoming book float becomes the Santa's Toyland book float, with new text and logo; the humdinger comes after the float, then Ariel's block, then Toy Factory, then Toy Story block.
Ending dancers return to the parade, still in ugly shimmery outfits.
New reindeer join the parade too, more serious than ever.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2005 changes:

Clarabelle Cow joins the Recipe for Gingerbread Treats unit, dancing with the Gingerbread men.
Santa gets a beautiful new sleigh over two Christmas trees.
Jiminy Cricket returns to the Toy Factory float, replacing Foulfellow and Gideon.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2006 changes:

Greetings from A Winter Wonderland gets new book float, similar to the other ones for other units, reading "Welcome to a Winter Wonderland", with snow Mickey and Minnie on the back.
Candlelight Ball book float gets new text written on it, replacing the guest sign-in sheet, though no other unit changes were made. Good for the Christmas Day Parade when different princesses ride the float.
Ending dancers get new beautiful costumes!

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2007 changes:

Giselle from Enchanted leads the parade for a pre-parade in Mickey and Minnie's old black carriage.
Christmas tree in Winter Wonderland gets replaced by the one originally used after the Candlelight Ball floats.
Ariel and Prince Eric join the Candlelight Ball, and the princes of Snow and Aurora get new outfits.
Woody and Buzz get separate, new toy block floats, with a rocking horse for Woody, and a spaceship for Buzz. They have dialogue, but it is very sparse, especially in Buzz's case.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2008 changes:

A new Toy Factory float replaces the old, with three sections: "Build", at the front, manned by Geppetto, "Paint" in the middle, manned by Jiminy Cricket, and "Wrap" at the back, manned by Pinocchio. Very annoying noises come out of this otherwise great addition to the parade. In addition, the music has been modified for this year only for this unit.

A CHRISTMAS FANTASY 2009 changes:

Genie's float with Aladdin and Jasmine has been replaced by three new, smaller floats with similar mechanisms; Winnie the Pooh and Tigger ride sleds down the street, driven by them, whereas at the end of the unit, Eeyore pulls his along.
The Toy Factory unit has a strange music mix; the underliner is the music used for the whole unit in 2008, but the float-specific music is the original used from 1995-2007.

There are other small changes, but I can't chronicle all of them!

Dragon Appeared...A Month Ago

2009-09-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Everyone out there has seen the dragon, right? If you haven't watch it on YouTube or go to Disneyland because it looks FANTASTIC! (or Fantasmic?)

Fantasmic Dragon...CANCELLED!!! YET AGAIN!!!!!

2009-08-31T05:53:00.001-07:00

Today was supposed to be the 5am press premiere of the Fantasmic dragon. Like every other premiere date, it did not show, except this time, Disneyland actually confirmed that it would happen! What the ---- is Disneyland thinking! This thing has been waited on for almost 1/4 of a year and they pulled it out when supposedly it was ready! I know the forest fires and stuff but everyone on MiceChat said that was not a reasonable excuse!

(SIGH THE SIZE OF THE DRAGON WHICH LOOKS COMPLETELY READY) Back to the drawing board. I'm picking September 13, 2099 as the premiere date now.

UPDATED: Dreams Come True Parade

2009-08-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

From March 2001-April (?) 2004, it was the Share A Dream Come True Parade, with a float concept of snowglobes that would create snow during the show stop.
From April (?) 2004-August 2006, it was the Share A Dream Come True Parade, however the big princess section was removed and instead the castle float that has already been described was added. The show stop section was also removed.
From August 2006-November 2008, it was the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, a generic Disney parade. The snowglobe tops were removed and each float received a new piece of "signage"; as an example Mickey's float had a Mickey made of film on top behind him instead of the snowglobe. The princess float was returned, but remained after the Peter Pan float and now the castle float closed the parade with Fab Five characters on it.
From January 2009-June 2009, the parade was known as the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade. It now features lots of generic dancers instead of characters in the street, a bland overlay to the opening and castle float, but lovable music that keeps the parade from hitting Hannah Montana territory. Showstops returned.
From June 2009-the present day more characters have been added to the parade. The villains float was cut out. Showstops remained.

This will describe the seven units that began the parade, and the various additions and removals.

1. Title Float
The title float of the Dreams Come True Parade is pulled along by two cast members. It features Walt Disney sitting on a platform, animating Mickey Mouse. This was replaced by an opening banner and a grand marshal float for the Celebrate parade.

2. It Was All Started By A Mouse
Mickey Mouse stands atop a platform/snowglobe, with many figures of the mouse himself in some of his different roles around him. These include but are not limited to The Brave Little Tailor, The Nifty Nineties, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Steamboat Willie, and Mickey's Christmas Carol. During the showstop (2001-2004), the globe fills with snow and park guests fill the streets to the "Mickey Mouse Club March". Following his float are the brooms from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In the Celebrate parade, Mickey's float was given a rather distasteful overlay to make it appear as though a present exploded on it. All of the beautiful Mickey Mouse statues have disappeared, but Minnie Mouse joined him. Chip, Dale, and Pluto were replaced as street characters in June 2009.

3. When You Wish Upon A Star
Donkey boys and Foulfellow and Gideon kick off the next unit. Pinocchio stands atop the platform/snowglobe, with his friends Geppetto, the Blue Fairy (2001-2005) and Jiminy Cricket (2005-present) beneath him. On the back of his wooden-looking float/snowglobe Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs follow along. During the showstop (2001-2004), the globe fills with snow and park guests fill the streets to songs from Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the Celebrate version, all of the Seven Dwarfs except Dopey were cut and so were Foulfellow and Gideon and the donkey boys; Foulfellow and Gideon returned in June 2009 and Geppetto was brought onto the street.

4. A Hundred Thousand Dreams To See
Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger glide down the parade route with balloons and kites in hand preceding this float all about the dream of flight. Winnie the Pooh himself sits in the front of the unit, while Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers rest on the Genie's lamp. Dumbo and Mr. Stork also appear on the opposite side of Winnie the Pooh. Aladdin sits on top of the snowglobe/float, on the Magic Carpet, with a giant Genie right beside him. In the original float he just sat inside a snowglobe but now his carpet floats over the city of Agrabah. On the back of the float is Mary Poppins on the rooftops of London. The Celebrate parade added Bert to the back of the float with Mary Poppins, but in June 2009 Winnie the Pooh was removed and his location was covered, and Genie, Jafar, and the rare Abu were added as street characters.

5. Face Your Darkest Fears
This evil-themed unit features the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs atop the snowglobe/float. Down beneath her is a selection of villains which changes every now and then; currently Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and Jafar from Aladdin. A giant Chernabog rests its arms on (originally) the snowglobe top or the current arch. Instead of the snowglobe, the Queen was given an arch and a bookcase filled with Evil Spells.Originally, this unit was preceded by Wendy and the Lost Boys, but this has since been replaced by Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, and their pirates. When the Celebrate parade began, nothing changed on float, but in June 2009 the float was removed, but can still be seen in the Boo to You Parade.

6. As Long As There Is Imagination Left In The World
The former finale unit, then the fifth one, and now the fourth one, Peter Pan rides on this float with some friends. Inside the snowglobe (which has not been removed) there is a crystal castle with a carousel of Disney characters. Next to Peter from 2001-2004 was Minnie, Goofy, and Donald but they were moved off the float in 2005. Wendy took their place in 2005 and remains there. Preceding the unit is a large variety of Disney characters, at one point including Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale, and Pluto who have since been moved to the new finale which came about when it was converted to the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. The DDCT lineup of characters was Stitch, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear, Rafiki, Baloo, and Meeko. When it was converted to the Celebrate parade, Alice and the Mad Hatter joined Peter and Wendy on the float, and Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee were added as street characters in 2009.

7. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes/Happily Ever After
This unit at one point was the fifth unit in the parade. The multi-tiered float featured Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Fairy Godmother on the first float, Belle and Beast on the second, and Ariel and Prince Eric on the third. Each float had a piece of scenery to evoke images of the movie. A cast member was killed underneath the float in April 2004 (Rest in Peace...) so it was removed for the rest of the SADCT run. The princesses were moved to the castle float until August 2006, when the float was returned. The first incarnation featured bridesmaids in the street, and the DDCT makeover also featured Perla and Suzy, and the Three Good Fairies from Sleeping Beauty behind. When the Celebrate parade premiered, the beautiful bridesmaids and characters were replaced by boring generic dancers, but in June 2009, Perla and Suzy along with Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella, were added as street characters.

8. Once Upon A Dream/A Kingdom of Dreams/Celebrate Today (Castle float that's as old as the park)
When the Share A Dream Come True Parade premiered, this float which has been used for the tenth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth anniversary parades was put into seasonal use for the Very Merry Christmas Parade. However, since previously stated accident, the princesses were brought out once again, this time on this float. The bridesmaids were cut back, in exchange for the Three Good Fairies, Aurora, and Prince Phillip. When the DDCT makeover was revealed, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale, and Pluto resided on the float, with the Three Good Fairies in the streets. At one point Mickey Mouse was on the float because his was having work done. When the parade returned as CADCT, it received a minor makeover of clouds and castles. Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, and Donald were on it initially, but the June 2009 remake replaced Pluto, Chip and Dale somewhere else, and King Louie and Baloo were added to the float, plus two generic dancers. Also, Woody, Jessie, Lilo and Stitch were added as street characters in this makeover.

Voices
Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse - all incarnations
Russi Taylor as Fairy Godmother - all incarnations, and Minnie Mouse - CADCT
Seth Adkins as Pinocchio - all incarnations
Suzanne Blakeslee as Evil Queen - all incarnations (CADCT first run)
Eddie Carroll as Jiminy Cricket - all incarnations
Rosalyn Landor as Blue Fairy - SADCT
Scott Weinger as Aladdin - all incarnations
Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh - CADCT first run
Chris Steele as Peter Pan - all incarnations
Kathryn Cressida as Alice - CADCT
Bill Farmer as Goofy - CADCT
Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck - CADCT

My Thoughts - Possible Updates to Electrical Parade every year?

2009-08-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Just as the Christmas Fantasy Parade, Disney's Electrical Parade is quite old and deserves a few new floats. So in the same vein as the forementioned parade, I think every year new floats (or replacements) should be added to the parade. I will have two sets of ideas and reasons for changes.

JUST REPLACEMENT FLOATS:

2010 - Train and Drum (also to say Main Street Electrical Parade since it will be in Disneyland for one year) and Elliott

2011 - Alice Whirlybugs and Cinderella Coach (needs horses!)

2012 - Alice Mushrooms (new concept if possible) and Pinocchio second float (cigars and indians)

2013 - Cinderella dance units (floats instead of canopies) Prince's float and Big Ben (combined like in Tokyo?)

2014 - Peter Pan pirate ship (too small) and Snow White unit (too unimpressive)

2015 - Pinocchio first float and America (maybe Small World instead?)

REPLACEMENTS AND ADDITIONS:

2010 - REPLACE: Elliott, ADD: Little Mermaid

2011 - REPLACE: Train and Drum, ADD: Aladdin

2012 - REPLACE: Cinderella's Coach and Dance Units, ADD: Toy Story (NOT Tokyo Disneyland's!)

2013 - REPLACE: Peter Pan pirate ship, entire Alice unit; ADD: N/A

2014 - REPLACE: Big Ben/Prince's Float, ADD: Small World (similar, maybe same as Tokyo Disneyland's), REMOVE: To Honor America

2015 - REPLACE: Pinocchio, ADD: Finding Nemo (same as Tokyo but with Dory and Marlin whirlies), REMOVE: Snow White

COMPLETELY forget what I just said two days ago.

2009-07-16T05:48:00.001-07:00

Fantasmic's dragon will not be ready at all for a long time. They need to reengineer her. I am not going to post anything more except when they actually bring her out for a performance. I hate the wait!

Fantasmic! Dragon News

2009-07-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Fantasmic! dragon was supposed to premiere yesterday night. According to recent reports, it did not show up and has been delayed once again, not due to technical issues but due to extra "just in case" testing. This means that they are going to keep testing every midnight hour to see how "Gertrude/Murphy" does; if she does well coming up, doing the routine and going back, or if it is problematic or if it collapses. The expected premiere date is July 17th for the D23 media event, however some cast members that are related to the show have said as late as July 26th. People have confirmed that she will be out of her pit by the end of the month. I will keep whoever's reading informed.

Disney's Electrical Parade Review

2009-06-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night, June 12th, Disney's Electrical Parade re-premiered in Disney's California Adventure. The new version of the parade includes new lighting, new floats, returning floats, new float elements, and semi-new music. I have a few things to say about the parade.

The opening float looks fantastic. Even though the Blue Fairy led the way for the parade very regally for 31 years, Tinker Bell is a suitable replacement and her float has many lighting effects and dimmers in it that give it a magical touch. Her pixie dust coming from the float continues throughout the parade, appearing on every major float (except Elliott).
Pinocchio and Snow White floats returned to the parade. The Pinocchio floats, which feature Pinocchio on his strange journey through Pleasure Island, have been relit and have completely different, more mysterious music from the organs that were originally featured. The Snow White unit already featured the Mine Train unit, but the Diamond Mine has returned from a stay in Disneyland Paris; Sleepy, Bashful, and Happy work in the mines.
Dumbo's Circus has been removed from the parade. For budgetary reasons, they needed to cut something, and since Dumbo was already being featured in Magical and his floats had the least amount of characters (just he and Leonidas, who no one knows) they cut him and now the parade is down from 26 to 24 floats, even with the 3 new additions.
Faders and dimmers are everywhere in this parade. Of course they control the pixie trails that go along the parade floats, but they also have control over other things. Tinker Bell's float has 160 dimmers that control the plants, the hot air balloon, the costumes, and the flowers on that float. Elliott the dragon has his body disappear, but his spots disappear after his body does! The title drum unit also has faders controlling the "Disney's Electrical Parade/Presented by Sylvania" words, which look very much like the Tokyo version which is equipped with the same thing. The Cheshire Cat is an almost 1:25 scale version of the one in Tokyo, but its effects are similar; its stripes, tail, mouth, and eyes all disappear on their own. On To Honor America, fireworks explode in the sky, thanks once again to the dimmers.
New float elements are also prominent. In the Alice in Wonderland unit, the Cheshire Cat and frog (back of Caterpillar float) have been replaced. On the Peter Pan float, there is a new skull and crossbones on the front. The title drum has new lighting around the logo and in the logo. To Honor America has a new banner. This is all thanks to the LED lights that the parade is now using.
The music has changed. The underliner, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Snow White, and most of Pete's Dragon are from Tokyo Disneyland's DreamLights parade. However, new music has been written for Cinderella, because she had orchestral music in Tokyo which wouldn't fit the theme, and Pinocchio and (obviously) To Honor America because they were not featured in Tokyo Disneyland. Pete's Dragon has some hints of orchestra which were removed and replaced by synths for the DCA version. The opening and closing announcements are exactly the same as they were from 2001-2008, but their pitch has been slightly lower to fit the new parade music.

That's all I have to say about the spectacle of lights. Here's hoping they make a new float every year like with Christmas Fantasy!

Fantasmic Review!

2009-06-12T03:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday evening was the premiere performance of Fantasmic! and I was lucky enough to be able to see it on YouTube. I have many comments on the performance, but I won't write much.

The Crocodile was amazing. He moved his head and arms and was partially submerged in the water, which was nice. The color of Tick-Tock was perfect instead of the too-yellow color of the previous version.
Flotsam and Jetsam look really nice. They bring something new to that long period of just water screens (Ursula and then Chernabog) and their glowing eyes and puppet mouths give them a mysterious look.
The show is pulled off well without the dragon (Gertrude). Even though the ferocious dragon will not show up for 2-3 more weeks, Maleficent's improvisation routine is not a suitable replacement forever, but does the job for these ensuing weeks.
The projections look really nice; last year they updated the projectors, this time the film; once the dragon comes in Fantasmic! is complete again.
The characters on the boat were realigned. Goofy, Pluto, and Clarabelle were brought to the bottom of the boat, probably replacing Robin Hood and lesser-known and lesser-used characters. The Toy Story gang; Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, and Green Army Men; resides on the back where Goofy, Pluto, Clarabelle, Launchpad, Roger Rabbit, and other characters had been seen before.

There's a lot more I can say but that's it for what's new. (For now...)

COME ON DRAGON!!!

Disney's Electrical Parade News!

2009-06-11T12:58:00.001-07:00

THE PARADE HAS RETURNED! Well, sort of...the first promotional video of the Electrical Parade has been released on YouTube! I have reposted this to confirm new things. Let's begin, shall we?

Tinker Bell is completely LED. She looks awesome. Already confirmed
Alice in Wonderland has a new Cheshire Cat. Already confirmed
The train and drum have been updated with sparkling lighting effects that look magical in real life.
Many costumes in the Cinderella unit have been changed.
Cinderella's floats' waterfalls are made out of more realistic blue colors instead of white-ish.
Peter Pan's water underneath appears to be darker and the skull on the front is internally lit.
Dumbo's unit is GONE.
Pinocchio's floats are back, but with technical malfunctions.
Elliott has new effects in his wings and his eyes are internally lit.
To Honor America, overall, looks brighter. There are some updates to colors and the fireworks look great.
Altogether there are swirls of pixie dust that keep showing up, as part of the theme that "Tinker Bell lights the way".

WOW! What a show...

News about Summer Nightastic

2009-06-10T14:43:00.001-07:00

Two days from now, Summer Nightastic begins its reign over the Disneyland Resort. Here's a recap of what is/should be seen on Friday.

Disney's Electrical Parade is greeted with new lighting fixtures and colors and effects, a new lead float featuring fan favorite Tinker Bell, and the return of three floats featuring Pinocchio and Snow White, albeit leading to a temporary removal of the Dumbo's Circus floats.
Fantasmic! is "re-imagined" with a new animatronic Tick-Tock Crocodile in the Peter Pan scene and new Flotsam and Jetsam waterskiis during Ursula's scene. A 40-foot-tall ferocious dragon was supposed to take the main stage on June 12, but technical problems are leading to its atrocious delay. Bad move WDI, importing your AAs from Canada.
Magical, the new Disneyland fireworks show, fully premieres on Friday night, featuring a new soundtrack led by Eden Espinosa, unique vocalist who starred for years in Wicked as the Wicked Witch of the West. She performs a heart-felt rendition of "Baby Mine", as a new Dumbo puppet flies through the air, as a supplement to Tinker Bell. The effect is...Magical! (You knew I was going to say that)
In Tomorrowland, a new dance club is opening, and in Fantasyland, Pixie Hollow is being enhanced with new lighting effects.

All Summer Nightastic offerings begin on June 12th and all except Fantasmic! and Disney's Electrical Parade end on August 23rd. Fantasmic will continue to run on a irregular basis, and Disney's Electrical Parade will run on weekends only. It is unknown when the dragon will return to the stage for Fantasmic!, but for now we'll have to deal with "tall Maleficent".

Poor old Gertrude. She'll take awhile to be the successor to good old Bucky.

FANTASMIC DRAGON CANCELLED!!!!! BAD NEWS!!!!!

2009-06-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Just as we were gearing up for Summer Nightastic, which is led by the dragon of Fantasmic! and named after said show, we hear that the dragon will not appear until July! WHAT?! Unlike rumors have stated, the dragon has not had its head snap off of its neck, however there are various technical problems, and fact is they need to put on the show this Thursday. So, we will either have Maleficent just stand there in human form and do whatever or maybe they will bring out ol' dragon-on-a-stick. Let's see, now shall we?

On the other hand, everything is going well with Disney's Electrical Parade, which is set to fully return on Friday. I'm excited since I'm a HUGE DEP fan!

MAGICAL! Early Review - better review will be posted later this month

2009-06-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Disneyland's Magical! fireworks spectacular soft-premiered yesterday night. I had the pleasure of watching it go on YouTube, though the video I saw was not fantastic. However, it was good enough for me to make a few comments.

The music was lovely. It was great to hear stuff you never thought you would hear in a Disney fireworks show, let alone anywhere in Disney, because of copyright reasons; True Love's Kiss from Enchanted was heard as the opening of the Princess finale.
Eden Espinosa is not the typical Disney vocalist; she seems to give the music more soul than usual, which brings certain songs down such as the theme and A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, but her performance of Baby Mine is fantastic!
Dumbo makes his grand debut, and he looks wonderful. His ears flap and he has a very intricate route around the castle, and he reflects the Dumbo used in recent press art for the Year of a Million Dreams very well. He looks great, flying along to Eden Espinosa's wonderful singing.
The pyrotechnics, were, eh...not great. I have heard that there will not be much used until the "official" opening on June 12, but I'm not sure; there were some parts (especially the beginning) that didn't have much.
Loved Flora and Merryweather's battle at the end of the show and Confetti Cannons! Great show. Now they have to get out those sucktacular vacuums to get all of the confetti (get it? pun intended? never mind).
Tinker Bell is still in that stupid mask, as I was able to notice from a freaking YouTube video. Bring back the real head Tink!

Once I see a better video, I will post more comments in this posting. One down, two more to go!

If you didn't know, those "two" are Fantasmic! and Disney's Electrical Parade, which open June 11.

Magical Fireworks Spectacular

2009-06-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

The new Magical! fireworks show is having dress rehearsals tonight June 3, June 5, June 8, and June 11. The show opens on June 12. It is a wonderful new show featuring a new soundtrack including a song sung by Eden Espinosa, alumni from Wicked, in which she played Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Dumbo will be featured in the show in a reverse Tinker Bell moment, in which he flies up through the sky. He will hopefully be seen tonight as previous testing has seen sandbags in the sky instead of Dumbo. The show will have its last performance August 23, and Remember...Dreams Come True will return. The reason behind this decision was because of foot traffic during Remember... because some of its effects are stationed in bad places, such as near Small World Mall where they do the projections that are also seen on the castle.

First reports seem to say that the show is not up to expectations, but it is enough for budget cuts.

Address changed

2009-05-31T18:41:00.001-07:00

Yes...the address changed to disneyentertainmenthistory.blogspot.com. Note that starting on June 12th and continuing through June 20th I will be posting informational reviews of Summer Nightastic entertainment which is:

Disney's Electrical Parade - New Tinker Bell and returning floats
Fantasmic! - New dragon, Crocodile, Flotsam and Jetsam, HD projections
Magical - New fireworks spectacular
Tinker Bell's Pixie Hollow Enchantment - New light show at Pixie Hollow

What Disneyland Paris did with their Electrical Parade

2009-05-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

First off, let me give a few quick information bits.

Disneyland Paris' version of the Main Street Electrical Parade was mostly made up of units originally featured in Walt Disney World's parade. However, what made it unique was also comprising the parade were units from Disneyland (CA) and Tokyo Disneyland.
The music of the parade was different in that the parade floats were much quieter and the underliner was much more present. Also, a special holiday version of the parade was recorded by Disneyland soundmen Bruce Healey and Don Dorsey especially for the parade.
Everyone knows that Disneyland Paris had budget problems, so their parade of over 30 units was always cut back in one form or another.
This will list every unit and units or floats with a star next to them are movies that Disneyland Paris tried to represent in every parade.

Opening Unit*

Blue Fairy*
Train and Drum*

Pinocchio

Funhouse Face
Pleasure Island

Alice in Wonderland*

Turtle
Butterfly Mushroom
Snail*
Firefly
Alice Mushroom*
Turtle
Firefly*
Caterpillar Mushroom
Snail
Centipede

Swan Lake*

Mother Swan

Cinderella's Ball*

Cinderella's Coach*
Ball Unit
Prince Charming Unit
Ball Unit
Big Ben*

Dumbo's Circus*

Hippo*
Calliope Car*
Honey Bear
Circus Elephant

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Diamond Mine

Pete's Dragon*

Elliott

NOTES: Many characters were not featured often, such as the Ball Units which were used as sporadically as possible, or every Alice in Wonderland float at once which was a rare sight. Sometimes, characters would be shoved onto floats that they would not normally be on, such as Mickey and Minnie riding on Prince Charming's normal float. Also, characters would often be absent, such as Alice not riding on her mushroom or Fairy Godmother not on Cinderella's coach. One particular absence that may be a costume problem was Lampwick from the Pleasure Island float; in all of my time of watching this parade, Lampwick was never seen. The only float to be in every performance ever might be Cinderella's Coach, which was also seen on the eclipse parade.

EDIT: Here is the most complete version of the Electrical Parade that there is! The entire Alice unit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsTkehiQ924&feature=related What's missing from this is the Pinocchio unit, the Snow White unit, the first and fourth Cinderella floats, but the rest is there!

Fantasmic! - 2009 Additions

2009-04-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

NOTICE: We have changed our name. In addition, we will be changing our address, but not until June 1, 2009. It will be disneyentertainmenthistory.blogspot.com at that time. Thanks for reading!

Fantasmic! is also receiving a nice treatment this year. A few large additions will be made to the already-popular show, which has been in talks about enhancements for a while now.

A new crocodile will be added to Peter Pan's section. This new animated croc will be able to swing its arms around like the one in the film. In addition, it will move its head around to try to get to the Captain and will even snap at him. It has been built and is ready for painting and testing.
In the Little Mermaid sequence, Ursula will remain projected onto the water screens, but not only she will be a part of her section. Flotsam and Jetsam will be added. On waterskiis, they will slither around Ursula and have lit eyes. One of them might even stare right out at the audience! These guys are ready for their paint job too.
Of course, the moment you've all been waiting for...the new dragon! "Bucky 2.0", as the cast members refer to Maleficent's transformation, will be enhanced. Instead of being a dragon head on a thinly-disguised boom lift, the new dragon will be full size and show its entire body. Concept art only shows a dragon shown in press art (direct from the film), but Bucky 2.0 has been seen halfway finished at press meetings.

Hoping for some new characters on the Mark Twain at the end, too.

Disney's Electrical Parade - 2009 Additions (and possible removals)

2009-04-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here we go... This past winter was the final season of the "California Classic" Disney's Electrical Parade. This included the units:

Blue Fairy/Opening
Alice in Wonderland
Cinderella's Ball
Peter Pan/Pirate Ship
Dumbo's Circus
Dopey's Mine Train
Pete's Dragon
To Honor America

...fast forward to June 2009. Once the summer season begins, Disney's Electrical Parade will resume its appearances on the Performance Corridor of Disney's California Adventure, but what's more, it will have been changed. Let's cover the basic facts of these changes.

Snow White's Dwarf Mine will return. This float carried Sleepy, Happy, and Bashful while they dig in the magical "mine". Grumpy, Doc, and Sneezy would remain on the streets. This float has been seen in DCA's Parade Barn, ready to go.
There have been rumors that there will be an all-new Snow White float in addition to the Dwarf Mine. I would assume it would be like the Wishing Well float in Tokyo Disneyland's version of the parade, however this now seems unlikely.
Pinocchio on Pleasure Island is returning. This unit included donkey dancers in the street and two floats, one featuring Pinocchio and the rarely-seen Lampwick. However, since he did not appear when the parade moved to Disneyland Resort Paris, it seems like there would be a 50% chance Lampwick will not appear in the parade. The "Clown Face" first float has been seen in the workshop ready to be pieced together.
Tinker Bell will now lead the parade. In a float inspired by the recent film Tinker Bell, Tink and possibly her fairy friends will appear on a garden-esque float, similar to the one that Atta and Flik previously rode in the Tokyo Disneyland parade, however on a larger scale with a hot-air balloon. Her float was first glimpsed in concept art form on Walt Disney World's 25th Annual Christmas Day Parade. This beautiful new float will unfortunately replace the Blue Fairy.
(RUMORED) Dumbo's Circus will not be returning. Plain and simple - when new stuff comes in, old stuff must go out. However, this has not been spoken of recently.
The music will be replaced by a soundtrack similar to Tokyo Disneyland's soundtrack. The units that will have to have music composed for them will be Pinocchio and To Honor America.
Various parade floats are getting additions and makeovers. All units will be receiving new LED lighting with a sprinkle of "pixie dust" on each float. The Cheshire Cat on the Alice in Wonderland float will be replaced by a new one that has much more technologically-savvy abilities, much like the one in Tokyo Disneyland's parade, though on a much smaller scale. Peter Pan's Pirate Ship will be refurbished, and other smaller modifications will be made.

That seems like it, eh?

Disney's Stars and Cars

2009-03-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Beginning on April 4th, 2009, Disney's Stars and Motor Cars Parade will take place in Disneyland Resort Paris, under a new name - Disney's Stars and Cars. Mickey and pals are going out of their way for a parade in their vehicles - this time the fleet is 10 cars -and lots of characters join them on their trip down the streets of Walt Disney Studios Park. Some of the stars include Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Lilo and Stitch, Ariel, and Cruella De Vil, in addition to others. A lot of things have been changed from the former parade, including the meet-and-greet and show stop that the parade includes. Also, the character voice-overs are French and English - Mickey and Donald speak fluent French, Goofy is all English (Bill Farmer), and Minnie only says a few phrases in French (Russi Taylor). This is unlike Candleabration in Disneyland Park where all characters spoke English. The music has been heavily edited, which is quite obvious as those edits are very choppy and bad. However, the parade has been mostly improved otherwise, with the new meet-and-greet and show aspect giving new life to the uninspiring cars.

Hoping for pictures soon of the parade, at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Walt Disney Studios Parks.

Christmas Parades are back

2008-11-30T06:35:00.001-08:00

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade and A Christmas Fantasy Parade have both returned for the season. Here are moi's thoughts.

A Christmas Fantasy Parade is the same up until the Santa's Toyland unit.

There is a new Toy Factory float; it is described in my Toy Factory floats post. Same characters but looks different and has some weird noises (like Inchworm from TDL's Electrical Parade)

The music has been changed for that unit, it is the same except it now has the "There's a special magic..."

Afterwards, it is exactly the same.

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade has had a lot of changes.

First of all the ice skaters now appear at the beginning of the "Winter Wonderland" unit and at the end.

The dancers are also split up instead of just appearing in front of Scrooge's house.

Scrooge's house in the Winter Wonderland is now first, then Donald and Daisy's carriage and then Chip and Dale's NEW ice pond.

Also, Santa has a new sleigh at the end that is longer and does not have Mrs. Claus, but it looks AWESOME!

That is all.

Next year, A Christmas Fantasy is due to get a new Ice Rink float.

Dreams Come True Parade, Magic Kingdom, WDW - Part 3 of 4

2008-11-30T06:21:00.001-08:00

Today I continue with the Dreams Come True Parade, featuring the floats "A Hundred Thousand Dreams To See", "Face Your Darkest Fears", and "As Long As There Is Imagination Left In The World".

"A Hundred Thousand Dreams To See"
Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger glide down the parade route with balloons and kites in hand preceding this float all about the dream of flight. Winnie the Pooh himself sits in the front of the unit, while Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers rest on the Genie's lamp. Dumbo and Mr. Stork also appear on the opposite side of Winnie the Pooh. Aladdin sits on top of the snowglobe/float, on the Magic Carpet, with a giant Genie right beside him. In the original float he just sat inside a snowglobe but now his carpet floats over the city of Agrabah. On the back of the float is Mary Poppins on the rooftops of London.

"Face Your Darkest Fears"
This evil-themed unit features the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs atop the snowglobe/float. Down beneath her is a selection of villains which changes every now and then; currently Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and Jafar from Aladdin. A giant Chernabog rests its arms on (originally) the snowglobe top or the current arch. Instead of the snowglobe, the Queen was given an arch and a bookcase filled with Evil Spells.
Originally, this unit was preceded by Wendy and the Lost Boys, but this has since been replaced by Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, and their pirates.

"As Long As There Is Imagination Left In The World"
The former finale unit and now the fifth one, Peter Pan rides on this float with some friends. Inside the snowglobe (which has not been removed) there is a crystal castle with a carousel of Disney characters. Next to Peter from 2001-2004 was Minnie, Goofy, and Donald but they were moved off the float in 2005. Wendy took their place in 2005 and remains there. Preceding the unit is a large variety of Disney characters, at one point including Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale, and Pluto who have since been moved to the new finale which came about when it was converted to the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. The current lineup of characters is Stitch, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear, Rafiki, Baloo, and Meeko.

Part 4 of 4 will speak about the confusing Castle and Princess units, and could be up later today but most likely tomorrow.

Dreams Come True Parade, Magic Kingdom, WDW - Part 2 of 4

2008-11-28T06:44:00.001-08:00

Here are three of the six floats that have been in the parade the entire time it's been around.

1. Title Float
The title float of the Dreams Come True Parade is pulled along by two cast members. It features Walt Disney sitting on a platform, animating Mickey Mouse.

2. It Was All Started By A Mouse
Mickey Mouse stands atop a platform/snowglobe, with many figures of the mouse himself in some of his different roles around him. These include but are not limited to The Brave Little Tailor, The Nifty Nineties, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Steamboat Willie, and Mickey's Christmas Carol. During the showstop (2001-2004), the globe fills with snow and park guests fill the streets to the "Mickey Mouse Club March". Following his float are the brooms from The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

3. When You Wish Upon A Star
Donkey boys and Foulfellow and Gideon kick off the next unit. Pinocchio stands atop the platform/snowglobe, with his friends Geppetto, the Blue Fairy (2001-2005) and Jiminy Cricket (2005-present) beneath him. On the back of his wooden-looking float/snowglobe Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs follow along. During the showstop (2001-2004), the globe fills with snow and park guests fill the streets to songs from Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Part 3 of 4 will feature the next three floats that stayed for the entire parade; A Hundred Thousand Dreams To See, Face the Darkest Fears, and As Long As There Is Imagination Left In The World.

Dreams Come True Parade, Magic Kingdom, WDW - Part 1 of 4

2008-11-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Dreams Come True Parade at Walt Disney World has undergone two incarnations, being the oldest parade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Remember when they had a new parade every year? No, not any more.

From March 2001-April (?) 2004, it was the Share A Dream Come True Parade, with a float concept of snowglobes that would create snow during the show stop.
From April (?) 2004-August 2006, it was the Share A Dream Come True Parade, however the big princess section was removed and instead the castle float that has already been described was added. The show stop section was also removed.
From August 2006-November 2008, it was the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, a generic Disney parade. The snowglobe tops were removed and each float received a new piece of "signage"; as an example Mickey's float had a Mickey made of film on top behind him instead of the snowglobe. The princess float was returned, but remained after the Peter Pan float and now the castle float closed the parade with Fab Five characters on it.
From January 2009-November 2009 the parade is expected to run for the last time before Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams is delivered from Disneyland, California. It will possibly be known as the Celebrate Dreams Come True Parade with makeovers or new floats of Mickey and Princesses.

The next two sections will describe the six units that were there for the entire parade; Title Float, It Was All Started By A Mouse, When You Wish Upon A Star, A Hundred Thousand Dreams To See, Face the Darkest Fears, and As Long As There Is Imagination Left In The World.

Castle Float - Disneyland Parades/WDW Parades/Tokyo Disneyland parades

2008-09-29T16:50:00.001-07:00

The venerable Castle floats have went through a lot. Ever since 1986, three castle floats have been in use, redressed, and sent out with over 20 different characters depending on parade. For this float I will be making lists of what characters were located on each float.

Disneyland's Castle Float (sent to Walt Disney World)
Fantasy on Parade 1986
Carried Sleeping Beauty characters - Aurora, Prince Philip, Three Good Fairies, courtmen
Very Merry Christmas Parade 1988
Carried Cinderella characters - Cinderella, Prince Charming, Perla, Suzy, Fairy Godmother, courtmen
Very Merry Christmas Parade 1991
Carried Sleeping Beauty characters - Aurora, Prince Philip, Three Good Fairies, courtmen
(sent to Walt Disney World)
Share A Dream Come True Parade (2005-2006 run)
Carried princess characters - Aurora, Prince Philip, Three Good Fairies, Ariel, Prince Eric, Belle, Beast
Disney Dreams Come True Parade
Carries Minnie and Friends - Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Chip, Dale, Daisy Duck, Pluto
Enchanted Adventures Parade
Carries Mickey and Friends - Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Chip, Dale, Pluto

Walt Disney World's Castle Float
15th Anniversary Parade
Carried Dancers + Goofy - Goofy and dancers
Character Hit Parade
Carried Mickey Mouse and Friends - Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, other characters (could consist of the Gummi Bears often)
25th Anniversary Parade
Carried Mickey/Cinderella characters - Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother
Share A Dream Come True Parade (2004 run)
Carried princess characters - Cinderella, Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, Belle, Beast, Aurora, Prince Philip, Ariel, Prince Eric
Disney Dreams Come True Parade (August 2008 run)
Carried Mickey/princess characters - Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Ariel, Prince Eric, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, Belle, Beast, Donald Duck
Very Merry Christmas Parade (all runs)
Has always had something to do with princesses
1993 ("Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade") carried Sleeping Beauty characters - Aurora, Three Good Fairies)
1994-2003 run carried princess characters - could consist of Aurora, Prince Philip, Aladdin, Jasmine, Pocahontas, John Smith, Belle, Beast, Ariel, Prince Eric, ALWAYS consisted of Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother
2004-2006 run carried either princess characters - Aurora, Prince Philip, Aladdin, Jasmine, Pocahontas, John Smith, Belle, Beast, Ariel, Prince Eric, ALWAYS consisted of Fairy Godmother
OR
2004-2006 run carried band and Fairy Godmother when running extended edition
Once Upon A Christmastime Parade 2007
Carried princess characters - Aurora, Prince Philip, Aladdin, Jasmine, Ariel, Prince Eric, Belle, Beast, Fairy Godmother, Three Good Fairies

Tokyo Disneyland's Castle float
(Shockingly, only used in ONE lonely parade)
Fantasy on Parade 1994-1997
Carried Cinderella characters - Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, Perla, Suzy, courtmen

There is a castle float being used in another parade in my future.

Platform Float - Disney Princess Parade

2008-09-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

The little Platform float is from Disneyland Paris. It was first used in Mickey's Nutcracker Parade (for Christmas), where it held Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. After the daily parade became the ImagiNations parade, the float was retained. This parade, however, could not last, as the CEO of Euro Disney said that it was too much money to run the floats or some lame excuse like that. So they brought back their old parade, the Wonderful World of Disney Parade, cut back on 8 or so floats, and renamed it the Disney Princess Parade. However, instead of just parading out some other float, they wanted a new float for the parade. So Disneyland Paris decided to bring out this Platform float and turn it into a float for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White, her Prince, and the Seven Dwarfs would all be around the float. It was also used in the Halloween Parade, where it was taken over by Stitch and Mickey Mouse and Friends again. When the Once Upon A Dream Parade debuted in 2007, the holiday parades were replaced by holiday units, and the old float was absent from the daily parade and Christmas section. However, it was used for Stitch in 2007's Halloween Pre-Parade.

Hundred Acre Woods float - Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade/Once Upon A Christmastime Parade

2008-09-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

This float has been in existence since 1989, when it was first used for Disney's Character Hit Parade. Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore danced in the street and Kanga/Roo and Owl rode it. Sometimes Kanga/Roo and Owl would be absent from the float. Beginning in the early 1990s, it was used in the Very Merry Christmas Parade, as seen in the 1993 version. It has been used for the parade ever since, even though Christopher Robin and Piglet have joined the street crew and Rabbit replaced Owl on the float. It is currently used in Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade and Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade and was formerly always accompanied by a giant Hunny pot float.

Ice Pond Float - A Christmas Fantasy Parade

2008-09-27T06:10:00.001-07:00

Ice Pond Float

This float has survived years upon years of use, and has never been redressed. It still looks the same as it did in the mid-1980s video "Very Merry Christmas Songs" where it is first seen. Mickey and Minnie rode that float from 198?-1994, but Belle and Beast took over in 1995 when it became A Christmas Fantasy Parade. In 2002, due to parade reordering, Chip and Dale took over the float, and Mickey and Minnie have rode it again ever since 2003.

Very Merry Christmas Parade music/units

2008-09-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ever since the 1990s began, Walt Disney World began hosting their Very Merry Christmas Parade, which would begin playing 2 weeks before Christmas and continue through the first week of January. However, the parade started up a lot earlier for the Very Merry Christmas Parties, which began in early December and as they got more popular, dates were added as far back as November. The parade has had various music changes and unit changes over the years, so I've decided to try to date the order of all floats and music since 1993, when a shortened version was played called "Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade". I've also noted 2007, when all music was changed and all units were slightly reordered to make "Once Upon A Christmastime Parade".

Year: 1993

"Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade"

Unit One

Music: "A Christmas Carol" and "Gloria"

Knights on horseback

Mickey and Minnie on horse-drawn carriage

Pluto with upright horses

Fairy Godmother, Perla, Suzy

Cinderella in six horse-drawn carriage

Aurora, Flora, Fauna, Merriweather on castle float

Unit Two

Music: Varies depending on float, but has recurring theme of "We Need A Little Christmas"

Six Dwarfs - Happy, Grumpy, Doc, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful (start of first music, which has the above song along with "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman")

Dopey on Dwarfs' Cottage float

Snow White and Snowman on ice pond float

Winnie the Pooh dancers (start of second music, which has the above song along with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" with narration by Winnie the Pooh and Tigger)

Pooh's "Hunny" Pot float

Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore

Kanga/Roo and Owl on Hundred Acre Wood float

Unit Three (Toyland)

Music: Varies depending on float, but has recurring theme of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" and "Toyland"

Toy Soldiers on giant Toy Drums (start of first music, which has the above songs with narration by Goofy)

Raggedy Ann, Toy Aeroplane, Toy Police Car, and Toy Top

Goofy and Elves on Toyland float (Goofy talks)

Clowns (start of second music, which has the above songs with "Entry of the Gladiators" with narration by Roger Rabbit)

Roger Rabbit on Toyland train (Roger talks)

Unit Four (Finale)

Music: "Here Comes Santa Claus" "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"

Elf Bakers in kickline

Mrs. Claus on Gingerbread House float

Reindeer

Santa Claus on Santa's Sleigh

Year: 1999

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade

Unit One

Music: "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" "Sleigh Ride" "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Jingle Bells"

Mickey and Minnie in horse-drawn carriage

Pluto and upright horses

Dickens Dancers

Mini Castle float

Dickens Dancers

Cinderella, Prince Charming, Aurora, Prince Phillip, Aladdin, Jasmine, Ariel, Prince Eric, Belle, Beast, Pocahontas, John Smith on Castle float

Six Dwarfs - Happy, Sneezy, Doc, Bashful, Grumpy, Sleepy with Snowman

Dopey on Dwarfs' cottage float

Snowmen and Snowwomen

Dancing Christmas Trees

Snow Dancers

Snow White and Snow Prince on Dwarfs' Mine float

Unit Two

Music: Varies depending on float, but has recurring theme of "We Need A Little Christmas"

Giant Hunny Pot float (start of first music, which has above song along with "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" with narration by Winnie the Pooh and Tigger)

Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh Dancers

Rabbit and Kanga/Roo on Hundred Acre Wood float

Dixieland Dancers (start of second music, which has above song along with "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah")

Br'er Bear, Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and brass band on Showboat float

Unit Three

Music: Varies depending on float, but has recurring theme of "Toyland"

Santa's Workshop mini-float (start of first music, which has above song along with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and narration by Goofy)

Cavalcade of Toys consisting of: Pinocchio, Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Masquerade Dolls, Green-hat elves, Green pointy-hat elves, Blue pointy-hat elves, Male Toy Bear, Female Toy Bear, Top, Aeroplane, Police Car

I know that this is not finished but eventually I will complete this guide.

Toyland floats - Magic Kingdom's and Disneyland's respective Christmas Parades

2008-09-25T11:26:00.001-07:00

The Toyland floats are two floats that have seen a lot.

Disneyland's Toy Factory float (early 1980s-2007)
Dating back to the early 1980s version of Fantasy on Parade, Disneyland's original has been a Pinocchio float since 1987 and has had Pinocchio, Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket, Foulfellow, and Gideon ride on it over the years. The float was updated in 1995 to reflect the change to A Christmas Fantasy Parade including a new toy ferris wheel trailer. In the 2006 Christmas Day Parade JoJo from JoJo's Circus rode the float, and Jessie did in the 2007 version.

Disneyland's new "Santa's Toy Factory" float
The new Santa's Toy Factory float premiered in 2008's A Christmas Fantasy. It features three sections; "Build", "Paint", and "Wrap", each manned specifically by Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket (or Foulfellow), and Pinocchio. The music for the entire Toyland unit has been changed to fit the new unit and its extra sound effects.

Walt Disney World's Toy Factory float
Walt Disney World's was probably first seen around the early 1980s also, as the televised 1988 Walt Disney World Christmas Parade has the float. It had the Gummi Bears from the television series of the same name on it. In the 1993 "Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade" Goofy rode on the float with elves jumping on and off. Somewhere between 1995 and 1998 changes were made for Woody, Green Army Man, and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story (and eventually Jessie and Bullseye from the movie's sequel) to ride on the float. It was changed again for the 2007 Christmas Day Parade when toy bears and rag dolls rode the float instead of the Toy Story characters.

Gingerbread House float from Once Upon A Christmastime Parade

2008-09-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

The Gingerbread House float is a very old float with an interesting history. It originated in Disneyland’s Fantasy on Parade where it probably first came out in the early 1980s as the 1972 version does not have it however the 1986 version does. It was probably sent to Walt Disney World in 1988, as that is the last year with the original audio and the small float and in 1989 they switched the audio for the float and remade it. Walt Disney World has had the float since 1993, when the first proof of it there exists. Over the years, Chip and Dale, Mrs. Claus, and Alice have resided on the float and the current resident is Horace Horsecollar, however during the 2007 Christmas Day Parade Chicken Little took over.

Bake Shop floats from Very Merry Christmas/Once Upon A Christmastime Parade

2008-09-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is Mastro informing you on Disney parade floats and parades. Over one hundred parade floats have existed in Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and I will attempt to tell you about each and every one of them on this blog. I am beginning today with some floats from the Christmas parades - here are two of my personal favorites.

Bake Shop float

This float is currently in use as a bake shop, but it was actually formerly a Pinocchio float. Pinocchio at some point resided on it with Geppetto, but when the Very Merry Christmas Parade was converted to all-Christmas units, it became the bake shop. Chip and Dale once resided on this float, but Mrs. Claus occasionally replaced them with a baker elf and Goofy had the float for one year and Clarabelle Cow now takes it.

Original Bake Shop float
In an early picture of the Very Merry Christmas Parade, a small bake shop float that was probably connected to another float was seen. Chip and Dale were on this float, seemingly making something, and it had two or three oversized candy canes in the middle of it.