The parade was very good though I expected more... I think there is no theme in common between all these floats.. maybe it's because it was the first performance. the music is good, I have to see more photos
Maybe that's the thing that leaves me a bit "hmmm, ok" with it. I'm quite used to Steven's latest productions having a very strong conceptual basis that ties them together.
This is more your "magic kingdom/classics" style parade where each unit reps one film (other than the beginning and ending). The cynical part of me says the "celebration of New Fantasyland" is kind of a convenient way to tie it together - though Brave really isn't there, Tangled is a set of restrooms, Pinocchio is a quick service eatery, Sleeping Beauty is where (?), etc. The beginning and ending really rep NFL more so, and act as bookends to the "concept", I suppose.
My only personal criticisms as of right now are -
-That it could use even a few more performers in key spots...behind a few floats, the opening, etc...
-It could use some "tweener" units following some floats, like the Fairy bikes, puppet animals, little drive units that Jubilation had... to kind of flesh out the units a bit more...
-More variations in the dancer costumes, particularly in the closing unit... (partly because I'm spoiled from seeing more designs/variations in each unit from parades in Tokyo, HK, and even CA...)...
-The Brave and The Little Mermaid floats are bit small in scale compared to other floats. With the parade supposedly being based on NFL...a bigger Mermaid unit would have been nice... and playing even bigger with the size and scale of those floats - esp. the Mermaid one...
-I personally would have loved to see more various dancer roles with more incredible unique costume concepts from Mirena Rada...rather than floods of characters as in the finale (but I suppose that's because I quite like how Tokyo puts their characters more up on the floats and slightly less on the street, making for more various dancer roles... and it makes the parade look more theatrical to me, rather than a character flood that WDW always seems to like to do)...
-Playing around more with the concept in the design of the floats themselves, as in the opening/closing units do (since they're based on Jubilation!)
- It kind of needs a small opening unit, like the Blue Fairy unit that Jubilation! had... something to anchor and announce the parade...and lead us into the grander Princess Garden unit. Putting the title unit right on the Princess garden, and having that as the opening float, feels a bit rushed.
-And as much as the finale Air Balloon really is cute, it's kind of anti-climatic compared to some of the truly grand finale units Steven usually puts at the end of his parades.