Main Street Parades

[Disney Vacation Planner]

A "not to be missed" celebration of Disney, there are various different parades that occur. Generally the normal parade will be a celebration of the latest Disney film however, there are other parades that run at different times of the year.

There are generally two parades each day, one held in the afternoon (normally at 3:00 PM with an evening parade at around 9:00 PM, although during peak season when the parks are open for extended hours there are often two evening parades, one at around 8:00 PM and the second later at around 11:00 PM. (The second of the two evening parades is far less crowded than the earlier parade, so if there are two parades, and you want to watch one, it's better to take advantage of the early evening parade to ride some of the busier attractions, and then catch the later parade when it's less busy anyway.

The normal parade route is between the large gates at the left of the start of Main Street along Main Street itself, through Liberty Square and Frontierland ultimitely finishing at the far end of Frontierland, although the parades run in different directions depending on the time of day. The various parades take approximately 18 minutes to travel the parade route from start to finish.

To get a good viewing spot for the parades, you're going to have to be prepared to stake your claim early. One good tip, is to try to select somewhere that people can't possibly get in front of you, or where you are above the head of anyone that does, such as standing on one of the low walls that line the route at several places. This will mean that you're going to have to stand right the way through the parade though, so be warned.

Generally most people don't mind having a child sat in front of them at the edge of the parade route, so if you are accompanying smallish children, the chances are that they ma well get the best view.

Guests in WheelChairs are specially catered for during the parades, by the various Cast members that line the route, who will ensure that they get a prime spot in a specially roped-off area at the very edge of the parade route.

Another benefit of the parades, is that a lot of people line the parade route to watch the floats going past, and the more people that line the parade route, the less there are riding the attractions, so it can be a very good time to head for the busier attractions throughout the park.

After the parades finish, there are obviously a lot of people leaving the parade route, which means the key attractions get very busy very quickly once the parade finishes. Also a lot of people leave the park immediately after the evening parade (or the second if two are running), which means Main Street becomes incredibly busy.

If you plan to leave the park immediately after te parade, you're going to be in with a huge number of other people trying to do the same, so it may be worth either missing the parade, and opting for a leisurely trip back you the accommodation, or hanging round in the park for a while after the parade finishes to try and let the crowds subside a little, however, this policy probably won't work after the late evening parade, because anyone who has stuck it out until 11:00 PM or later will probably be doing exacty the same thing.

Also be aware that some of the free buses that travel to off-site acommodation stop running shortly after the evening fireworks, and quite a while before the parks finally close for the night, which may leave you stranded at the park, with a taxi as the only alternative for getting back to your hotel. Happily this doesn't apply to residents of hotels on Disney Property, since the buses run virtually continuously.

Spectromagic

Spectromagic first appeared during Walt Disney World's 20th anniversary on the 1st October 1991, and was designed so that the older Main Street Electrical Parade could be moved over to Disneyland Paris. The main difference between Spectromagic and the Electrical Parade is that Spectromagic makes more use of fibre-optic lighting effects, and there are some new characters specially designed for the newer parade.

Mickey Mania

The Mickey Mania Parade is one of the Magic Kingdom Afternoon (3:00 PM) parades, centered around Mickey and his friends, with a very upbeat catchy sound track. It's well worth seeing if it's running, but probably only once.

Note that a recorded version of Mickey Mania as used in the Mickey Mania Parade is available on the second track of the fourth CD in the boxed set "Tokyo Disneyland: 15 Years of Magic", which is available from Virgin Records Megastore at Downtown Disney.

Remember the Magic Parade

The Remember the Magic Parade ran throughout Walt Disney World's 25th anniversary, and featured floats representing most of the classic animated films, along with a few other notable films and events. The Remember the Magic Parade was longer than most, and lasted for around 25 minutes in total, due in part to the regular pauses.

Just before the parade, Cast Members selected up to 1,400 volunteers from the audience, who were invited to dance along with the parade at a number of scheduled pauses during 8 pauses in the parade along the parade route.

At the end of the 25th anniversary celebrations, the parade finished, and was replaced with the Magical Moments Parade although it's basically the same parade under a different name.

The Magical Moments Parade

Disney's Magical Moments Parade is basically a renamed Remember the Magic parade, but with a few changes.

Main Street Electrical Parade

The Main Street Electrical Parade ran from June 11th 1977, until September 14th 1991, when it was replaced by Spectromagic. It can now been seen at Disneyland Paris, where it started in April 1992.

From the 21st of May 1999 Spectromagic currently running in The Magic Kingdom will finish, and will again be replaced by the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Easter Parade

The Easter Parade, is a nationally televised event in America.

Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Parade

The Christmas Parade runs twice nightly during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.