Festival of Fantasy Parade coming to Magic Kingdom in 2014

[tcsnwhite]

Nope, I can understand maybe why two of the three things weren't working. Steve seems like he gets a budget but never thinks about from a day to day production standpoint. Remember on the Peter Pan float concept where they were going to have Hook and Smee on the anchor...
Also isn't Sebastian on TLM float a hold over piece from SpectroMagic maybe termites have infested that float...

Steve has been doing this work for 25+ years. He knows what he's doing. After it's handed over to that particular resort's entertainment operations, the responsibility now lies on them to keep it up.
As for Hook/Smee...that was a concept. Placement of performers will change through the process, and even after opening. Not uncommon.
And while Sebastian and other elements/floats are from other productions, they all got thorough refurbishments.

I find this to be a little uneducated. You don't work in theater or live entertainment, else you'd understand how this statement is not only ridiculous, but offensive.

Technologies like close-proximity flame effects have a lot of hoops to go through. Everything from Safety Committees, to (government employed) Fire Marshals can take an effect out of show for various reasons until they are satisfied with the end result.

If you payed any attention, you'd realize that this parade uses a new method of float tracking that negates the need for "Bed-Loops" such as the one in Disney's Electrical Parade. The parade communicates in real time utilizing data from GPS, NFC, and a host of other technologies to recognize where it is. It relays this information to a server which adjusts the area music (not just the music on the parade units) to the correct track. This has never been done before. By anyone.

When the iPhone debuted in 2007, it had a host of problems. When the iOS 7 update was released, it had a host of problems. Technical glitches are common amongst new, groundbreaking technologies.

If you're going to "hold Disney to the standards they used to hold themselves to" then you should understand that Disney no longer aims for the same standards. Lawsuits, new technologies, increased capacity all play a part in why Disney makes the decisions it does (mainly lawsuits and liability).

This new parade is phenomenal, regardless of the technical glitches it has in it's opening week. I honestly can't think of any broadway production I've been a part of that had a flawless first week.

There were weeks of overnights. Many performers were on 16+ hour days because of this.

Again, an uneducated response that assumes technical glitches could only be the product of poor planning and execution.

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is this:

The ONLY people educated enough to actually complain about issues with the BRAND NEW parade are the people making it happen on a daily operation -- ya know, the ones who really have to deal with the issues. I'm tired of reading cynicism over everything Disney does because it shows a complete lack of regard for the technicians, performers, stage managers, parade captains, and Cast Members who actually have to deal with the issues -- both from the technical challenges and from the complaints.

One would think that everyone would just be happy Disney didn't recycle the Crystal Castle float again -- but no, there's just something else for people to complain about.

THANK YOU MonorailOne for the incredible insight to how Disney Parades work. This is greatly appreciated. Truly.
And please feel free to share more (of what you can)!

And I did not detect any condescension. You needed to clear the air about misinformation coming from people who already seem to have a chip on their shoulder. As others said, you phrased it all very well.

 

[SirLink]

Steve has been doing this work for 25+ years. He knows what he's doing. After it's handed over to that particular resort's entertainment operations, the responsibility now lies on them to keep it up.
As for Hook/Smee...that was a concept. Placement of performers will change through the process, and even after opening. Not uncommon.
And while Sebastian and other elements/floats are from other productions, they all got thorough refurbishments.

I still blame Steve for the lack of trees in the hub ... the fact there is no safe B-mode for the Dragon is kinda weird, that if it is windy there are no dragon effects. The Sebastian thing was said in jest, to explain Flounder not moving.

Also after watching Jubilation parade again, it is weird that the first unit is the Garden float instead of the Minnie chariot would of been far more grand...

 

[WDWLover#1]

Anyone that's interested the parade was in full working order today

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

Great video of the parade Micaelorum. Thanks for sharing. I only wish they would add the bubble to Pinnochio's unit. It had the bubble effect in Tokyo and the Little Mermaid unit has them. Add a new boat for Mr. Smee prior to Tic Tock.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

Picture of original Pinnochio's unit in Tokyo.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

Peter Pan unit in Tokyo.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

Bring this over from Jubilation. Winnie the Pooh is missing from the parade. Take them out of Crystal Palace during the parade and schedule a break for their meet and greet. This would be awesome.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

More bubbles. Kids would love it.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

The original bubble costumes from Tokyo.

 

[Big Bad Wolf]

Adding horses for some of the characters would be awesome too.

 

[aladdin2007]

I still blame Steve for the lack of trees in the hub ... the fact there is no safe B-mode for the Dragon is kinda weird, that if it is windy there are no dragon effects. The Sebastian thing was said in jest, to explain Flounder not moving.

Also after watching Jubilation parade again, it is weird that the first unit is the Garden float instead of the Minnie chariot would of been far more grand...

Have been saying this all along. It would have been more cohesive if the first two/three floats were the current last grouping of floats, followed by mermaid and then the rest. The whole thing just seems backwords to me.

 

[asianway]

Bring this over from Jubilation. Winnie the Pooh is missing from the parade. Take them out of Crystal Palace during the parade and schedule a break for their meet and greet. This would be awesome.

An equity Tigger. The union stewards would have a heyday

 

[MonorailOne]

Steve has been doing this work for 25+ years. He knows what he's doing. After it's handed over to that particular resort's entertainment operations, the responsibility now lies on them to keep it up.
As for Hook/Smee...that was a concept. Placement of performers will change through the process, and even after opening. Not uncommon.
And while Sebastian and other elements/floats are from other productions, they all got thorough refurbishments.




THANK YOU MonorailOne for the incredible insight to how Disney Parades work. This is greatly appreciated. Truly.
And please feel free to share more (of what you can)!

And I did not detect any condescension. You needed to clear the air about misinformation coming from people who already seem to have a chip on their shoulder. As others said, you phrased it all very well.

It's my pleasure. It is my belief that the Walt Disney Company indeed, no longer has the same standards as they previously had. However, it has been often expressed that most feel a company can't change their standards "laterally," only vertically. Just because there are different priorities now doesn't mean that the company has fallen behind or is failing; just that it is focusing on a different goal. This can be a positive outcome, and for a wide variety of reasons.

This parade is a great example. The dragon could do a TON of other effects. There could be more units. There could be more characters.

But instead, Disney decided to spend an unprecedented amount of money investing in technologies that will greatly streamline future parades, shows, and offerings as part of this project. Some ancient technologies were replaced at a drastic cost during this project.

It's important to remember that not all decisions Team Disney makes are evident on stage. Infrastructure, operational concerns, and experience a all play a part in this. If the dragon doesn't breath fire, there's probably a good reason.

 

[psherman42]

Anyone that's interested the parade was in full working order today

When it passed Liberty Square the dress and Anna&Elsa/Tiana&Naveen pieces weren't rotating. However, Maleficent breathed fire and today was the first time (I've seen the parade four times) I've seen the ship/anchor on the Peter Pan unit moving. I knew the anchor was supposed to swing but had no idea the ship moved with it. It was pretty cool to see.

 

[MonorailOne]

When it passed Liberty Square the dress and Anna&Elsa/Tiana&Naveen pieces weren't rotating. However, Maleficent breathed fire and today was the first time (I've seen the parade four times) I've seen the ship/anchor on the Peter Pan unit moving. I knew the anchor was supposed to swing but had no idea the ship moved with it. It was pretty cool to see.

The princesses have "enables" they have to be on for the rotation to work. It could have been that one of them moved their foot? I believe it takes a minute or two for the rotation to resume.

Could have been broken too, though.

 

[wogwog]

Confused. The floats aren't bottoming out leaving LS?

Yes they are. I personally counted at least 18 skid or scratch marks from the floats in the pavement at the turn from the bridge exit toward the castle at 5 PM today. I did not see the parade so I will not comment on the other issues being discussed and but something is scraping on the pavement there and it isn't a duck. The MK manager I was walking around with said it was indeed from the new floats.

 

[Nubs70]

Yes they are. I personally counted at least 18 skid or scratch marks from the floats in the pavement at the turn from the bridge exit toward the castle at 5 PM today. I did not see the parade so I will not comment on the other issues being discussed and but something is scraping on the pavement there and it isn't a duck. The MK manager I was walking around with said it was indeed from the new floats.

This bottoming is a direct result of poor engineering design and failed testing. While the artistic side of the parade may be brilliant, design and testing is a failure that needs to be corrected before permanent damage occurs to parade elements and infrastructure.

 

[TTA94]

Did they remove the bubble effect from the finale unit or is it just not working yet?

Is there a reason why the strobes work on Mickey and Minnie's float but not the other floats? Id love to see pics or video from the overnight rehearsals

 

[aladdin2007]

Did they remove the bubble effect from the finale unit or is it just not working yet?

Is there a reason why the strobes work on Mickey and Minnie's float but not the other floats? Id love to see pics or video from the overnight rehearsals

I saw bubbles working a couple days ago...didn't see any strobes on Mickeys float though maybe I missed it.

 

[mm52200]

This bottoming is a direct result of poor engineering design and failed testing. While the artistic side of the parade may be brilliant, design and testing is a failure that needs to be corrected before permanent damage occurs to parade elements and infrastructure.

I wonder if it's the floats that were from Tokyo that weren't necessarily designed or tested for this parade route? I would like to think any new floats designed for MK would be designed with that part of the route in mind.