Festival of Fantasy Parade coming to Magic Kingdom in 2014

[wdwmagic]

Was the anchor on the Peter Pan float not suppose to swing with Captain Hook on it? It appeared if its locked in the back position or something. Looking at the top where it attaches, it appears that it has room for movement...

It does move, but appeared to be having some issues.

 

[SpectroMan93]

As much as I understand where you guys are coming from, I couldn't agree less. I find Festival of Fantasy superior to Soundsational, music-wise and float-wise. Both parades have great music, but FOF's original theme gives it the edge. But what really makes the parade for me is that every unit is so different from each other. Why do parade floats need to have a unifying look? Soundsational tries that with the drum floats and for me that gets boring quickly and, honestly, it looks like a cop-out. You know what the unifying theme for this parade is? The floats are FREAKING AMAZING. There is so much kinetic energy in each one, so many vibrant colors, and each with a unique look. That's all the unification I need. Don't get me wrong, Soundsational is a great parade, but Festival of Fantasy is very much different from it and for me, it's different in a better way. Though I do agree, the parade would highly benefit from adding one more unit.

 

[cmanley23]

Just finished watching the video of the parade. Was very impressed with it overall. The steampunk Malificent dragon was awesome and my kids were in awe of it on the video! What amazes me though is that they can build that huge working dragon for this parade but the one for Fantasmic has issues most of the time… where's the love for the other dragon???

 

[danlb_2000]

Was the anchor on the Peter Pan float not suppose to swing with Captain Hook on it? It appeared if its locked in the back position or something. Looking at the top where it attaches, it appears that it has room for movement...

If you watch some of the different videos of the parade you will see that it is in different positions at different points in the parade. So it appears it moved a little during the parade, but probably not like it is supposed to.

 

[rodserling27]

I think FOF is very night worthy, daytime AND nighttime! Hope it happens soon! Although I didn't see any other lighting on the floats? are there some?

Just curious, why would you want the same parade to run twice? Why would you want it to replace a proper night-time parade? FoF at night would not look as cool as Spectro/MSEP or any other electric parade. There's no need to run FoF at night (unless MSEP gets a much-needed refurb.) That's like closing BTMRR and then Disney saying "well we will just turn the lights on once a day for Space Mountain instead." There's room for both a day parade and a night-time parade. MK deserves an electric light parade of sorts, not just a day parade converted to night parade. Disneyland has been getting away with that for too long. I understand if you don't like MSEP, really I do, and I would like to see it get a proper refurb. Heck, even if they came up with a suitable replacement, I'd be OK with it. This new 3pm parade is a step in the right direction. But replacing the MSEP with the day-time parade is a step backwards.

 

[NMBC1993]

You know what the unifying theme for this parade is? The floats are FREAKING AMAZING.

And The Avengers was the best superhero movie of all time because of all those one-liners and explosions...never mind all the details they left out. I'm sorry, I don't want to pick a fight I just wanted to point out that not everyone can be wowed by visuals alone. Some people want more depth to their entertainment.

 

[wdrive]

I may be wrong but originally Aurora was supposed to be where Anna and Elsa are, right? Once Upon a Dream is even part of the soundtrack. Was she just supposed to be there alone or was Phillip supposed to be with her? She would have looked odd standing there alone with Naveen, Prince Charming and the Beast were on the float but Phillip is part of the Maleficent unit.

 

[tcsnwhite]

As much as I understand where you guys are coming from, I couldn't agree less. I find Festival of Fantasy superior to Soundsational, music-wise and float-wise. Both parades have great music, but FOF's original theme gives it the edge. But what really makes the parade for me is that every unit is so different from each other. Why do parade floats need to have a unifying look? Soundsational tries that with the drum floats and for me that gets boring quickly and, honestly, it looks like a cop-out. You know what the unifying theme for this parade is? The floats are FREAKING AMAZING. There is so much kinetic energy in each one, so many vibrant colors, and each with a unique look. That's all the unification I need. Don't get me wrong, Soundsational is a great parade, but Festival of Fantasy is very much different from it and for me, it's different in a better way. Though I do agree, the parade would highly benefit from adding one more unit.

When some of us were talking about "unifying theme"... we, or at least I, did not mean it as in like Soundsational, with the tweener drum units. I personally don't care for those...and that's not really what I meant by that. It's not that all the units need to be blatantly cohesive in terms of theme/concept...to the point that it's overly visual...just that it could be a little stronger here overall. Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams for DL's 50th was very much like this parade - a "classics" parade where each unit reps one film - but it was unified in the size and scale that was cleverly played out in the design. I don't think FOF was meant to be as "unifying" in the overall concept as say Soundsational or Jubilation!, just that it could have been a bit stronger if a few more elements could have been added, or the design was played with a bit more (I'm thinking in terms of visual design).

ps. If I sound overly critical, and like I'm trying to rain on anyone's parade, I'm not. I'm just a designer/artist myself, with a focus in theatrical design, so this kind of stuff is where I personally get overly critical...even when I really like something. (And I do like FOF overall).

 

[tcsnwhite]

I may be wrong but originally Aurora was supposed to be where Anna and Elsa are, right? Once Upon a Dream is even part of the soundtrack. Was she just supposed to be there alone or was Phillip supposed to be with her? She would have looked odd standing there alone with Naveen, Prince Charming and the Beast were on the float but Phillip is part of the Maleficent unit.

I'm guessing Aurora and Phillip were to be together on the back (3rd) rotating section of the Princess Garden unit...just as they were in TDL's Jubilation! (where that float comes from). And the FOF music for that unit certainly alludes to that with OUAD in there...

Perhaps the creation of the Maleficent unit meant reworking that last PG section, and it seems they decided to go with Tiana and Naveen.
But then with Frozen being a massive hit, they either wanted to, or were asked by corporate, to try to add those characters in.
Since this parade was originally conceived and designed a while ago, probably over a year or more ago, they hadn't yet seen the reaction of Frozen because it hadn't been released yet. Something tells me if the timeline had been different, Frozen may have gotten it's own unit, and wouldn't have been shoehorned onto the back of the PG unit.

 

[RandomPrincess]

I may be wrong but originally Aurora was supposed to be where Anna and Elsa are, right? Once Upon a Dream is even part of the soundtrack. Was she just supposed to be there alone or was Phillip supposed to be with her? She would have looked odd standing there alone with Naveen, Prince Charming and the Beast were on the float but Phillip is part of the Maleficent unit.

Someone posted pictures on this thread a few months back of the Princess Float in the warehouse and it looked like it was Belle, Cinderella and Tiana only.

 

[SpectroMan93]

And The Avengers was the best superhero movie of all time because of all those one-liners and explosions...never mind all the details they left out. I'm sorry, I don't want to pick a fight I just wanted to point out that not everyone can be wowed by visuals alone. Some people want more depth to their entertainment.

It's a parade. Most of the entertainment value is in the visuals. And the music is fun. It may not be pulling at the heart strings like Spectro or Tapestry, but it's fun and catchy, and it compliments the parade nicely. The whole atmosphere that this parade evokes is exuberant fun. You could see it in the performers and it translated well with the guests. There is this kinetic, youthful energy about Festival of Fantasy that is incredibly infectious. Now, fun and excitement may not be depth, but it's an atmosphere that a daytime parade should evoke. Personally, I like to leave the deeply moving material for the nighttime shows like Wishes and Disney Dreams to end my day at the parks.

 

[rct247]

Beautiful parade with some impressive floats! Loved the Maleficent, but who didn't, right? It's a great parade for Magic Kingdom. I still prefer Soundsational for it's theme and music, but it's nice I get a little dose of it in a similar style here.

The one thing I don't like about it the parade is what they had to do to the trees over the Liberty Square bridge. They had to cut them back to leave enough room for the floats. Honestly, though, if that's my only complaint, not a big deal.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Beautiful Parade! So happy MK got new entertainment.
My favorite float (besides Maleficent) is Rapunzel's.

The only weird thing is how they didn't include Jasmine. Seems with the new batch of princesses from the last 5 years, Disney is starting to group Jasmine with Pocahontas and Mulan (aka the ignored ones)

 

[wdrive]

Beautiful Parade! So happy MK got new entertainment.
My favorite float (besides Maleficent) is Rapunzel's.

The only weird thing is how they didn't include Jasmine. Seems with the new batch of princesses from the last 5 years, Disney is starting to group Jasmine with Pocahontas and Mulan (aka the ignored ones)

The parade is supposed to be based around Fantasyland. Jasmine is more of an Adventureland character imo.

 

[Timothy_Q]

The parade is supposed to be based around Fantasyland. Jasmine is more of an Adventureland character imo.

True, but Tiana isn't Fantasyland either
And i've been seeing more and more princess merchandise that she's ignored

 

[TubaGeek]

I am not overwhelmed or underwhelmed. I guess I'm just whelmed.
There are some things that should improve over time, like pacing, but I'm super concerned about all the maintenance that parade will require...

 

[Violiav]

It's a parade. Most of the entertainment value is in the visuals. And the music is fun. It may not be pulling at the heart strings like Spectro or Tapestry, but it's fun and catchy, and it compliments the parade nicely. The whole atmosphere that this parade evokes is exuberant fun. You could see it in the performers and it translated well with the guests. There is this kinetic, youth energy about Festival of Fantasy that is enjoyable and infectious. Now, fun and excitement may not be depth, but it's an atmosphere that a daytime parade should evoke. Personally, I like to leave the deeply moving material for the nighttime shows like Wishes and Disney Dreams to end my day at the parks.

And honestly, sometimes you need a little spectacle to "rally the base" as it were.

 

[wdrive]

True, but Tiana isn't Fantasyland either
And i've been seeing more and more princess merchandise that she's ignored

True but that doesn't change the theme. If they really wanted Jasmine in there she would be there but remember Snow White and Aurora have kindof been relegated in this parade too.

 

[Sweet Thing]

Anybody know what's up with the "float escorts"/leads walking next to the dragon float? They were wearing purple outfits that vaguely fit the look of the float, but clearly weren't performers. The other CMs escorting other floats were wearing the main gate costume, so these ones really stood out

Is it possibly related to the float being a lot wider than the others? It looked like it was pretty close to the roped-off areas

They simply themed the costume to the float. If you notice the driver is wearing the same purple outfit.

 

[Sweet Thing]

Was the anchor on the Peter Pan float not suppose to swing with Captain Hook on it? It appeared if its locked in the back position or something. Looking at the top where it attaches, it appears that it has room for movement...

The anchor and the ship move.