New Christmas Parade Review
I saw the Christmas parade last night/this morning. No photos here, but I will provide spoilers. So beware.
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The music was nice. I imagine somewhere around the 20th time seeing the parade, I'll be singing along.
The parade started with a title float, followed by Mickey and Minnie standing on another float. If I remember correctly, they were on two separate tiers.
I'm never going to get the order correct, but I'll just list random floats.
A bunch of characters followed on foot, like Peter & Wendy, Alice, Hatter, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore. Jasmine & Aladdin might have been there. I can't remember. Following that was one of the Halloween floats with Kanga & Roo & a tree.
Donald and Daisy were in a horse drawn carriage. Daisy appeared to have lost her hat along the way. It was on the seat in front of her.
Horace Horsecollar was on the barn float. Clarabelle Cow was on a float that looked like she was in a kitchen cooking.
Chip and Dale were on a float making two snowmen, or rather snow chipmunks. They talked and threw snow up. They had lots of energy.
Snow White and Snow Prince Charming were on the gazebo float dancing.
The crystal/prism float that usually holds the Pals characters during dreams come true parade (3:00 parade) held the couples. The couples just stood with each other and waved. I saw Belle & Beast, Ariel & Eric, Aurora & Philip, and 2 other couples who I can't remember.
Cinderella and Prince Charming were in their coach.
There was a toy float preceeded by a tiny red car. On the toy float were Buzz, Woody, Jesse, and more.
Goofy was on his candy float from Halloween.
Of course Santa Claus was on his sleigh high in the air and Mrs. Claus was on a tier below.
In between the floats is where the performers shined. "Ice" did some elaborate moves on rollerblades...and on Main St where there are railroad tracks to trip you up. There was a group of couples doing ballroom dancing on rollerblades, then there was a group of ladies in white doing their moves. All were wonderful.
The march of the toy soliers was phenomenal. I marveled at the band members who not only had to see through the heads, but play musical instruments as well.
There was a group of gingerbread men, some dancers, elves, dancers moving with guys who held cloth banners in the air the the dancers could move under the cloth. There were the female elves, the dancing reindeer, and I know I'm forgetting a whole lot more.
They lit the castle up about 15 minutes before starting the parade. Can I just say "kids in a candy store" was the reaction of the cast. They had cleared up from the streets, you know, lined up on the sidewalk for the parade. The minute the castle was lit, everyone piled back into the street oohing and ahhing and snapping photos. Eventually they got us all back on the sidewalk again.
The castle lighting, while not static, does not blink and twinkle either, at least while we were there. Some of the effects fade in and out kind of like a fiber optic wreath would. It was beautiful.
The fun part for me was that I was seated across the street from some entertainment cast members who were obviously not in the parade. It was fun to see their faces as they alternately hooped and hollered for their friends, but also looked in awe at some of the performances. It was the experienced critical eye of appreciation. I also saw that they too were examining some of the faces trying to figure out if they knew the person or not.
I thought the parade was long enough to make it seem worth your money (or in our case, worth hanging out at work for 2 more hours til 2AM to see it). But the parade wasn't so long that you were bored.
There were children there last night. Why I don't know since it was a cast preview. Someone speculated that they were there so this could be filmed for a commercial.
Well, that is my parade report. I liked it. I loved the castle lighting.
