Festival of Fantasy Parade coming to Magic Kingdom in 2014

[COProgressFan]

And, this probably happens especially with FOF because it has certain elements that absolutely cannot get wet, or they'll be ruined otherwise.

Did anyone ever question the wisdom of developing show elements like costumes that "absolutely cannot get wet" for a parade that appears outdoors in Orlando during mid-afternoon, where there just happens to be a rainstorm at that exact same time nearly every day for 5 months of the year?

Just wondering.

 

[Jose]

Did anyone ever question the wisdom of developing show elements like costumes that "absolutely cannot get wet" for a parade that appears outdoors in Orlando during mid-afternoon, where there just happens to be a rainstorm at that exact same time nearly every day for 5 months of the year?

Just wondering.

sometimes rain in Orlando is like this

 

[jrh1985]

Did anyone ever question the wisdom of developing show elements like costumes that "absolutely cannot get wet" for a parade that appears outdoors in Orlando during mid-afternoon, where there just happens to be a rainstorm at that exact same time nearly every day for 5 months of the year?

Just wondering.

I'm also wondering why MK put parades at 2, 3, 330 in the afternoon for the past 30 years when they know when it usually rains?

 

[mm52200]

Has anyone seen the dragon breathe fire recently? Cos by vids uploaded in the last week the neck doesn't seem to be moving. Everything else works but the neck doesn't raise so i can't breathe fire.

I frequently check the recently uploaded videos of the parade and there's only one I've found where the neck wasn't working. It was right where the parade starts and I've seen a few other videos where it takes a little bit for the Dragon to "wake up" but she usually ends up moving. But it's a highly complex float, things happen.

But I do question the stubborn WDW logic of running the parades at 3, the hottest time of day and the time when it's most likely to storm. DL and DCA do their parades at totally different times, 4, 6:30, 12, 2, and etc. WDW just seems married to the "3 o clock parade" idea.

 

[danlb_2000]

Has anyone seen the dragon breathe fire recently? Cos by vids uploaded in the last week the neck doesn't seem to be moving. Everything else works but the neck doesn't raise so i can't breathe fire.

It was breathing fire when we saw it last Thursday.

 

[LL2WDW]

I'm also wondering why MK put parades at 2, 3, 330 in the afternoon for the past 30 years when they know when it usually rains?

Two big reasons:

You have the majority of guests in park - those that arrive early and leave after the parade, and those that arrive late for the parade and stay till close.

More importantly, the 3:00 parade is at the end of the shift for the AM performers, and at the beginning of the shift for the PM performers. This way, you capitalize upon the number of performers you have on the clock.

 

[SpectroMan93]

Did anyone ever question the wisdom of developing show elements like costumes that "absolutely cannot get wet" for a parade that appears outdoors in Orlando during mid-afternoon, where there just happens to be a rainstorm at that exact same time nearly every day for 5 months of the year?

Just wondering.

I see where you're coming from, but at the same time, I'm sure there would be people who would criticize the use of lesser quality costumes in response to possibly wet weather.

 

[jrh1985]

Two big reasons:

You have the majority of guests in park - those that arrive early and leave after the parade, and those that arrive late for the parade and stay till close.

More importantly, the 3:00 parade is at the end of the shift for the AM performers, and at the beginning of the shift for the PM performers. This way, you capitalize upon the number of performers you have on the clock.

Oh I totally agree with your first point and I like the parade at 3PM as we're not early birds. Maybe the rain isn't that big of deal, because there are YT videos of FOF from summer and early fall so it can't get cancelled every day. And in all my trips, I only lost one 3PM parade and that was my second look at SADCT, so no big loss and you could see why, it poured before and right through the canceled announcement at 3PM!

I've come really close a couple of times. The closest being 2011: poured at 2:45, stunning rain version of CADCT from splash on the Train Station with perfect view of MS at about 3:20/3:30, Storm 5 min after CADCT ended! MK's timing was as magical as CADCT That day!

3PM isn't the only questionable time, twice I've come CLOSE to 9PM Canceled MSEP and Spectro. The one that really sticks out is DL's MSEP Grand Debut at MK in 1999. Storm started at 6:30, would not stop until after 8:30! Man i was nervous as that was my first chance at MSEP as I grew up on Spectro.


When MK does 2 Parades over Easter, July 4th and Christmas, does the AM cast stay for the 3:30 parade?

 

[YodaMan]

Not that we need constant "parade updates," but just as an FYI the dragon was breathing fire for today's parade. It was also about to pour so the parade started 15 min early. Mickey and Minnie were still in their parade costumes but no sign of the Fantasia float. And maybe I've just had horrible luck up until now, but the bears were working in the Merida float. Every time up until now they've been 101 when I watched.

 

[Clamman73]

Saw a little bit of fire breathing today. Didn't seem as much as those initial parade videos though...Watched it by the train station and got a bunch of pics on my regular camera and think I got some great shots. Snow White was talking to a few kids next to me and it was so cool that she was right there! It's very impressive when the CMs take on the roles so well.

 

[Kitty17794]

Florida rain is unfortunate, and the downing of parades is no fun. (I've been on both sides of that, so I know!) But if Disney tried running the parade in the pouring rain, things would be damaged. Which means we'd eventually end up with problems that might not get fixed. So it's better, unfortunately, that they do Rainy Day. But they could certainly spruce Rainy Day up, no question about that. It's kind of lacking these days. The old one was at least cute.

 

[SpectroMan93]

Tokyo Disney has fantastic rainy day parades. Look up their nighttime rain parade. It's pretty spectacular. Even has a fricking original track to go with it.

 

[WDWLover#1]

Interesting back story to it:

 

[mm52200]

Florida rain is unfortunate, and the downing of parades is no fun. (I've been on both sides of that, so I know!) But if Disney tried running the parade in the pouring rain, things would be damaged. Which means we'd eventually end up with problems that might not get fixed. So it's better, unfortunately, that they do Rainy Day. But they could certainly spruce Rainy Day up, no question about that. It's kind of lacking these days. The old one was at least cute.

I agree about the rainy day parade. With CaDCT's rainy day parade, it had almost all of the characters from the parade in it. Why isn't that the case with FoF?

 

[jrh1985]

I agree about the rainy day parade. With CaDCT's rainy day parade, it had almost all of the characters from the parade in it. Why isn't that the case with FoF?

Just an observer here, it seems like CADCT's method of the Rainy Day Parade (having the dancers in it walking with umbrellas)moved over to fill in for Move It, around the start of 2014. Can't tell from YT if MISICI had it before CADCT left. Which don't get me wrong, it's impressive to me that they do something for MISICI. However, all FOF has is the Countdown to Fun/PPP theme and no dancers. Why? There has got to be enough dancers in FOF to filll Rainy Day.

Since Move IT got it, any talk of MSEP getting something? No dancers in there would make sense since MSEP doesn't have many dancers.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Agree with above it was breathing fire. Last Thursday !

 

[ddd8170]

Just an observer here, it seems like CADCT's method of the Rainy Day Parade (having the dancers in it walking with umbrellas)moved over to fill in for Move It, around the start of 2014. Can't tell from YT if MISICI had it before CADCT left. Which don't get me wrong, it's impressive to me that they do something for MISICI. However, all FOF has is the Countdown to Fun/PPP theme and no dancers. Why? There has got to be enough dancers in FOF to filll Rainy Day.

Since Move IT got it, any talk of MSEP getting something? No dancers in there would make sense since MSEP doesn't have many dancers.

I think the issue of FOF having no dancers in it's Rainy Day Parade is because the costumes don't allow for it. In CADCT, the dancer costumes were not so elaborate, and a raincoat could easily be put on at the last minute. With FOF there are no dancers whose costumes allow for a raincoat to be put on at all. And, they definitely wouldn't hire additional performers just for the Rainy Day parades.

 

[Kitty17794]

I think the issue of FOF having no dancers in it's Rainy Day Parade is because the costumes don't allow for it. In CADCT, the dancer costumes were not so elaborate, and a raincoat could easily be put on at the last minute. With FOF there are no dancers whose costumes allow for a raincoat to be put on at all. And, they definitely wouldn't hire additional performers just for the Rainy Day parades.

No need to hire additional performers. If the dancers can't go out due to rain, they could easily switch to raincoat without wearing said dancer costumes. There are other things to wear underneath. Honestly, it baffles me that Rainy Day is so short because Disney could EASILY send out multiple characters (even ones that aren't normally in day parade) and 'raincoats' out, instead of letting performers sit doing nothing backstage. They could MAKE it a nice substitute parade to no additional cost. Who knows why they don't, especially when we do get so much rain.

 

[mm52200]

I think the issue of FOF having no dancers in it's Rainy Day Parade is because the costumes don't allow for it. In CADCT, the dancer costumes were not so elaborate, and a raincoat could easily be put on at the last minute. With FOF there are no dancers whose costumes allow for a raincoat to be put on at all. And, they definitely wouldn't hire additional performers just for the Rainy Day parades.

Well then atleast why aren't more of the characters in it? None of the princesses appear and they're all just wearing their normal costumes. Rainy day also used to have some characters walking too when it was CADCT, why couldn't the same be done for FoF?

 

[TTA94]

Was awesome seeing FOF at 5pm with the Main Street lights and Christmas lights on! First time FOF has done a dusk performance! The stobes and fire looked awesome!