Kristof of Photos Magiques joins Beth (of Pursuing the Magic and The Magical Blogorail), Manda (of Mandas Disney Blog) and I on 20 Days to 20 Years; a blogger countdown to the upcoming 20th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris. Today, Kristof shares amazing photos of the Wonderful World of Disney Parade and its 9 year history. How fortunate are we?!
1998 was the year the Wonderful World of Disney Parade was first introduced. If featured a mix of floats dating back to 1992 from the Disney Classics Parade and all new floats featuring more recent Disney movies.
The parade was a chronological time line of Disney features starting with Steamboat Willie. The original concept was to update the parade every year with the latest Disney movie, an idea that never came fully to fruition.
The Wonderful World of Disney Parade was accompanied by a classic Disney soundtrack featuring classical music from each different movie. Early 2000 this soundtrack got replaced by the very popular “Dancin’ a Catchy Rythm”, the song that was originally used for the parade stop. It proved to be so popular, it was eventually used in several other Disney resorts around the world, and is currently still being used for some special events at Disneyland Paris.
But it wasn’t just its soundtrack the parade lost over the course of the years. More and more floats started to disappear, as well as the original chronological order. In 1999 there was even an accident with the gigantic Princess Staircase involving guests and crew, which led to the entire removal of the float. It got replaced by old and new floats, like the Maleficent dragon and the Beauty and the Beast float.
Over the years the Wonderful World of Disney Parade received several seasonal make-overs. In 2003, when the Disney Princesses franchise was going strong, the parade was shortly renamed the Princesses Parade, although the Mary Poppins, Steamboat Willie and several other non-princess units were kept. For Halloween, the floats were taken over by the Disney Villains, and for Christmas several decorations and characters in all white costumes paraded down Main Street, U.S.A. to the sound of Chante C’est Noël.
The parade came eventually to an end when Disneyland Paris celebrated its 15th Anniversary in 2007. An all new parade, with all new parade floats and music, replaced the everlasting Wonderful World of Disney Parade. Most floats got destroyed to save backstage space, with the exception of a few. The Cinderella Coach was rebuild to Santa’s Sleigh for the Christmas Unit and the Casey Jr. float from the Dumbo unit was reused in 2007 for the Disney Characters Express and all of its succeeders the years after.
Video of the Wonderful World of Disney Parade in 2003.
All photos and video (c) Photos Magiques
Website: http://www.photosmagiques.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/photosmagiques
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If you have not stopped by the Photos Magiques web site, you simply must! His photos are absolutely amazing…
Don’t stop now- we’re on a roll! Tomorrow, we celebrate 2005 with the Canadian team from CanaDisney!!
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing those photos and the video Kristof!! I can't tell you how much I love Dancin' a Catchy Rhythm! So many memories 🙂 x
Kristof, I love the detail of this parade; especially the fire-breathing Maleficent! I love that Disney recycles their floats whenever possible- I was just looking through my shots of the Disney Dance Express, and recognize it in your last photo. Thank you so much for lending your talents to our series!!
When we first went to DLP, I remember it being called the Princess Parade and then when we went back the year after it was the Wonderful World of Disney Parade. It confused the hell out of me at the time but nonetheless it brings back so many memories. I always think of this parade when Dancin' comes up on my DLP music playlist.
Hi Emma- Such history goes with this parade. I think I would have loved the Princess version!! Thanks for stopping by 😀