As the parade starts, we hear a trumpeting fanfare blaze and the doors which hide backstage on the route are made to look like film strips. They are covered on the front in the white part by a really fast moving screen. After the fanfare, there is a explosion of smoke and sparks and the screen drops out of sight revealing a broken page and the Magic Kingdom Band dressed in fiber optic costumes that are in black and white literally step off the filmstrip and begin to march off of on the route. After they have all stepped out of the page, the first float comes along. THERE ARE NO VOICES IN THIS PORTION.
Float #1 - The doors swing open. The first float is Steamboat Willie's Steamboat. Guess who but Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, The Cow, and Pete are on this boat all in black and white with accompanying "movie music". The sides of the boat are screens and there are dropping and rotating panels hidden from the audience all over the place. The float moves off into the route.
Float #2 - After Float #1 has passed, the next float parades out. Out front are "chicken girls" also in fiber optic costumes and they march ahead with the giant barnyard float behind them also in black and white. Goofy as a Viking and Donald as chicken are on this float with its chickens in boxes and other gags on it. There are also many platforms, rotating panels, and other special effects that change this float to color later on. There are also scarecrow dancers in the barn. There is a composition of "Barnyard Cartoons movie music".
Float #3 - After Float #2 is off, the Silly Symphonies Float comes out. It is a foresty-ish setting with a bug on a swing and the three little pigs homes and flowers and the three little pigs along with the wolf will be on this float. All is again black and white with many many rotating panels; drop down panels and tapestries, and many trap doors, etc. The music is a composite from the "Silly Symphonies movie music". This float is double sided meaning the identical set in on both sides and character, except for the swinging bug which is perpendicular to the audience. The three little pigs are being chased and "mutedly" singing to the music.
Float #4 - As soon as Float #3 is off, the fourth float, the biggest float in this section, a forest with a house in the middle, also double sided, moves out into the route. There is even a foresty canopy over the float that changes color during show mode. There are trees in the background and the house is very cottage looking. Mickey and Minnie are on this float with Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Donald. They are all in black and white including the float. Mickey and Minnie romance most of the time and they usually do some repetitive dance combo while the float moves into show mode position with the others. There are many many rotating props and many dropping panels, scenery and even trap doors and turning sets on this float. The music is just "movie music" from any combo of the old cartoons.
Float #5 - Next up, is the Film Reel float. First there are black and white girls wearing film reel costumes made of fiber optics and other various color change materials. This float is a giant film reel with some of the early characters inside the strip where it has flown out of the reel. On the other parts that are visible, there are actual movies being played. On the parts of the reel where there are characters inside the film, there is a really fast moving screen that makes it seem as if the character is in a movie. Kind of like a strobe light effect where you move and it looks blurred and really jerky. The music is your standard "movie music" from the old cartoons. The film reel features many creative color change props, panels, etc.
Float #6 - Right afterwards, there is the Plane Crazy float, which happens to be one of my favorites. This float is a float of Walt's studio with white clouds overhead. This part of the float is double sided. Then attached to the white clouds is a plane that is covered in screens that show plane texture, etc. The plane rotates from side to side with Mickey and Minnie inside of it and she's freaking out and Mickey is trying to steer the plane. Smoke is billowing from the back of the plane. On top of the building, it is a sign advertising Walt's Studio and there are palm trees which sway from side to side to the music and the whole set is in black and white. The music is from the "Plane Crazy movie music" and the set change features a very ingenious idea with many dropping panels and screens.
Float #7 - The last float in the section, Mickey's Choo Choo is a giant train. Mickey is in the conductor's cabin and the other cabins contain all of the other characters that are well known in the early shorts. I'd say this train is about 4 - 5 cars + the head with Mickey. All of the sides are panels and there are many many rotating and sliding color panels for the transformation including many dropping sets. The train will feature real rotating wheels and many trap doors for the color dancers inside. The music that goes along with this float is "Mickey's Choo Choo movie music".
Once all of the floats have arrived in their stopping positions, their musical all reaches their final notes and when it ends on a big DUN, everyone and everything freezes where it is at. The music starts off like that new day noise after the rooster crows. You know that soft, new day music and there are some lyrics before the music reaches a small instrumental medley and the characters come to life. NO WORDS BY THE CHARACTERS YET! Here's the break down by each float during this instrumental and afterwards.
Band - The band's hat's change to color almost instantly and do some little skit while they play to the music. Then, once the instrumental piece is over and the main piece starts, their costumes change to color, and they begin a full out dance routine playing the instrumental version of everything being sung.
Float #1 - When the instrumental starts Mickey and gang on Steamboat Willie come to life, Mickey pulls out Minnie’s sheet music IN COLOR. He hands it to her, and she kisses him with the kissing noise in the music. The music rapidly speeds up into the main medley and the side panels change to color, panels drop down from the room of the operator’s booth with Pete inside and everything basically changes into color. The characters, upon the appropriate part in the music, run into a covered room in the back of the ship and as quickly as they ran in, they come out in color. Then the main musical number commences. Near the end of the main number, maybe 10 seconds before the finale (see script), they run back into the box room and come out black and white and the panels roll up in time with the music, and everything changes back to black and white and at the end of the main number, everyone freezes and everything is in black and white, and they resume the float’s individual music and continue along the route.
Float #2 – When the instrumental starts, Goofy, Donald and the others come to life. The two sort of interact in what seems like an opera and Donald pulls out a colored rubber chicken and then the chicken girls come up to Goofy and kiss him at the appropriate time in the music. As the music speeds up, the chicken girls costumes change to regular chicken colors and the whole barn begins transforming with many many rotating and dropping panels on the sides of the supports and Goofy and Donald and the scarecrow dancers walk into a side house and shut the door and almost instantly later, they come out in color again, in time to the music. The main number commences and just like the Steamboat Willie float, about 10 seconds before the finale, they get back to the box room and shut the door and come back out in black and white, and the panels and other things roll up in time with the music and they freeze back in their starting positions as everything is in black and white again and then their individual music starts and they continue along the route.
Float #3 – When the instrumental starts, the Three Little Pigs come to life and run into their homes, but don’t shut the doors and the bug continues swinging. Then they each pull out their individual house makeup (straw, brick, and sticks) in color and throw it at the wolf, and when the music speeds up, the swing with the bug rises into the tree and another one comes down in color. The trees change to color via lighting. And everything else has drop down panels or screens with lights under them. The three little pigs close their doors and open them again appearing in color. The wolf sneaks into a tree and then reappears on the other side in color. Then the main number commences and at the end, just like the rest, 10 seconds before the finale, they all change back into black in white and panels and screens roll up or change back to black and white in time with the music and they freeze at the end in their starting positions and then their individual float music starts and they continue along the route.
Float #4 – The main float of this section will start during the instrumental with Mickey pulling out a pair of colored flowers and handing them to Minnie. She kisses him at the appropriate time when the kissing noise occurs and then the music speeds up. The trees have drop down panels and then from the top there is a tapestry that falls down and covers the black and white one and panels rotate on the doors and then on Mickey and Minnie stand in front of the colored house door and it spins around revealing colored versions of them. Everything is in color and Mickey clothed dancers guys and girls appear and a rainbow rises behind the house. NOTE – EACH NUMBER HAS DANCERS, I JUST FAILED TO MENTION THEM. THE COME ON WHEN THE MAIN PART STARTS AS EVERYTHING IS CHANGING. Then the main number commences after the rainbow has appeared. Then, after the main number is about over, everything slowly retracts to the music and Mickey and Minnie stand in the doorway and at the end, everyone is returned to black and white and they freeze. NOTE – ALL THE DANCERS THAT COME ON DURING THE TRANSFORM FOR THE MAIN NUMBER, THAT ARE NOT ORIGINALLY PART OF THE BLACK AND WHITE FLOAT, THEY LEAVE BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM (THE INSIDE OF THE FLOAT). Finally, the float resumes its individual music and continues along the route with the rest.
Float #5 – When the instrumental portion is on the movie reel, the film effect begins again and Mickey pulls out a color dog bone for Pluto in the next part of the reel, then, there’s the kissing sound, which is actually going to be Pluto barking in this one. Then the fast music starts and at the appropriate point, Mickey suddenly disappears quickly from the reel and a colored one appears and the film effect stops and he walks out of the reel and there’s a big dance number. The movies playing on the real change from the tinted black and white tone to color and play in the background and some panels drop in places. When the song is nearly over, the reverse effects occur. Mickey and Pluto step back into the reel and everything slowly changes back to black and white, except the characters. The reel starts the movie effect again and then in a flash he’s black and white again and frozen. Then they resume along the route with the individual music.
Float #6 – When the instrumental portion plays here, Mickey ensures Minnie they are not going to crash. This is the exception when it comes to talking. They will have lines on THIS FLOAT ONLY! When the fast music starts, we’ll see smoke begin to billow out of the cabin engulfing Minnie and Mickey and using a actor changing system, the plane will change to color using the screens and the actors will change to color using this complicated system (see drawings provided). The rest of the set changes, the palms using lights inside and screen and the studio and clouds using drop down panels and lights for the clouds. The main number will commence and at the end, the opposite effects occur. Panels and lighting are slowly changed out back to black and white in tune with the music at those final 10 seconds and smoke will billow out of the cabin again with some commotion and using the same complicated system, the black and white actors will be back again in a frozen position at the end of the song. Then the individual float music will begin playing again and they’ll progress ahead.
Float #7 – This is perhaps the most complicated float in the whole black and white section. During the instrumental, Mickey will pick out a colored shovel and shovel coal and then turn to Minnie and hand her a diamond and she’ll kiss him and the whole set will turn change to color using very complicated effect. Smoke will billow out of the wheels engulfing the characters. They’ll slip under one pair of trap doors, while the colored ones slip under the other side of the trap door and then the smoke will stop all the while panels are dropping down the sides and the wheels are dropping down colored ones and whistles and other gadgets are changing color using lights and screens. Then the dance will commence in which it seems as if the train is moving and the characters will bounce to train rhythm and then at the end the whole complicated process will take place in reverse. The train will billow steam again covering the characters and they’ll switch and the panels will pull up and the lights return down to black and white. Then at the end of the song, the orchestra will let out a train stopping type 5 second music piece from The Music Man and the characters will throw themselves forward as if the train came to a stopping halt. In the end, after they freeze from their positions thrown forward, the individual music will start again and they’ll continue along the parade route.
. - The WeirdOne