| Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, stands proudly next to
her handsome Prince Phillip as the defeated dragon of Maleficent tries – and
fails – to attack them from behind. This gigantic vicious dragon moves from
side to side and snaps its jaw at the young couple, but luckily never quite
catches them! 4: Mary Poppins On the rooftops of London… Coo, what a sight!
It’s Mary Poppins and her merry band of chimneysweeps, out to sing and dance
their way across the rooftops. This beautifully detailed float features a
labyrinth of chimneys and rooftops, from which Mary Poppins formally greets
her guests and wishes them a delightful day. 5: The Little Mermaid Ariel and her colourful underwater
friends are here to make us a part of their world and show us how nowhere
really is wetter and nowhere is better than under the sea. Ariel sits inside
a giant sea shell with her father, King Triton, watching over her every move
as bubbles and sea shells float around the parade route. 6: Beauty and the Beast A tale as old as time is alive,
right before your eyes! Don’t believe us? Ask the dishes! They can sing,
they can dance and they’re inviting you to be their guest as the classic
dinner scene from Beauty and the Beast makes its way along the parade route
and Belle and the Beast fall in love! 7:
Aladdin Aladdin and Jasmine soar high into the sky above
Agrabah, sharing their magical, romantic moment with you as they fly past
the shining, shimmering, splendid moon and on to a whole new world
together… However, following behind them is the fire-breathing menace,
Serpent Jafar, curling himself around the moon! 8: Steamboat Willie The parade ends as Mickey and Minnie remind us
where all this magic began, with a mouse! This is Mickey’s first starring
role and the first cartoon to feature synchronised sound – Steamboat Willie!
Mickey and Minnie, in special old-fashioned black and white costumes, bring
this 1928 classic out from the archives and onto the parade route as the
faithful Steamboat rocks over the waves.
 Finding a Place to Watch The parade enters the Parade
Route from next to “it’s a small world” and leaves at Town Square (next to
Discovery Arcade), so plan your viewing position accordingly. If you don’t particularly want to watch the
parade on Main Street USA or have a view of the castle, then a good place to
watch the parade is near the archway into Fantasyland opposite the Pizzeria
Bella Notte. Here you are near the start of the parade route so you won’t be
waiting a long time for it to arrive, and it is also usually far less
crowded than the rest of the route. It’s best to find a place on the parade route at
least 20 minutes before the parade is due to begin, though in the busy
seasons finding your place anything up to 45 minutes before the parade
begins can be a good idea if you want one of the more popular spots. Taking Part Clap your hands and tap your feet… Join
in the fun by dancing, singing and clapping along to the parade and waving
to all the characters. You’ll have a great time and you’re also more likely
to get a wave back from the Disney stars!
  In 1998, Jay Smith and Vasile Sirli created a brand new song that would be
the title song of Disneyland Paris’ new “The Wonderful World Of Disney
Parade”. Little did they know that it would go on to soon become one of the
most popular and longest running parade theme songs, with worldwide
recognition from other Disney Resorts and many devoted fans across Europe. The reason for its unfathomed success would appear
to be in the title of the song itself – “A Catchy Rhythm”. The rhythm of the
song and it’s simplistic, universally recognisable lyrics of Disney memories
and happy occasions are enough to lift the spirits of every age group, take
them back to their childhoods and get them into the spirit of a Disney
parade. Full lyrics for the song can be found on the DLRP CD Archive. In addition to the hugely popular theme song, the
1998 version of the parade also had a collection of lively instrumental
pieces that were played from each float when the parade stopped. These
excellent melodies of songs from the movies featured on the floats were
created exclusively for the parade and were arranged by Vasile Sirli and
Dave Volpi. Unfortunately, when the parade returned to the parade route in
2001 these pleasant musical interludes did not. Currently, the parade runs from start to finish
without stopping. Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm) is available on a variety of CDs
(listed to the right), whilst the instrumental parade stops music is
available exclusively on 2000 release of
Les
Parades En Musiques CD.
Disney Princess Parade (aka The Wonderful World Of
Disney Parade) has a long and interesting history, since it was created in
1998 from a combination of existing and brand new floats and has been around
for over eight years, with many minor (and some major) changes along the
way. The parade began with 13 floats in early 1998 as
one of the main attractions of The Year of Disney Classics. The parade aimed
to show a 3D timeline of Disney’s greatest films, and by featuring classics
ranging from Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie to Hercules via Cinderella and
Aladdin, it did just that. The parade became hugely popular thanks to the
wide range of characters, and the brand new theme song worked a treat
aswell. Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm) was produced by Jay Smith and Vasile Sirli
exclusively for the parade, and with its immediate success and insanely
catchy nature it became one of the first CD singles the be released by the
resort that very same year. The same parade line-up of 13 floats and the
old-timer character car pre-parade ran for two years until 31st December
1999, when a new parade began to celebrate the Millennium. Disney’s
ImagiNations Parade blended Disney characters with themes from every
continent in gigantic, breathtaking floats. Unfortunately, whilst the
colourful and creative designs and the towering floats of the parade were
spectacular to look at, the parade was simply not very practical in the
unpredictable Parisian weather and audiences missed the large amount of
characters seen in The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade. And so, after some
tough decision-making it was decided to scrap this parade (which had
originally been scheduled to run for the whole of 2001) and return the more
popular Wonderful World Of Disney to the parade route. However, the return of the parade brought some
major changes – almost all for the worse. Gone were the interactive parade
stops which featured some excellent soundtrack mixes for each float, along
with six of the floats themselves! Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Jungle
Book, Pinocchio and Hercules were simply removed whilst the giant Princesses
Staircase float was replaced by two separate floats for Cinderella and
Sleeping Beauty, both of which were recognised by fans as two floats from
the park’s old Disney Classics Parade (1992 – 1998). In late March 2002, a more positive change was made
to the parade. For the 10th Anniversary of Disneyland Park, a special Giant
Birthday Cake float was added at the start of the parade. On this float,
dancers in chef costumes handed out sweets to the crowds and joined the rest
of the characters in a new parade stop which featured the exclusive 10 Years
Of Magic song written for the celebrations. In September 2002, the parade
lost the Giant Birthday Cake float but retained the 10 Years Of Magic parade
stop. By early 2003 both had been removed. May 2003 brought the parade to an end after four
and a half years of magic, to be replaced by The Princess Parade as part of
the Princess Weeks event. Fans of the old parade had little reason to be
upset, however, since this “new” parade simply featured the previous
parade’s line-up with the addition of a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
float and minus the Steamboat Willie, Mary Poppins and Dumbo floats. The
Princess Parade even used Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm) as its theme song! Over
the Summer, The Princess Parade regained the Steamboat Willie and Dumbo
floats. Eventually, at the start of the 2005 season, the name reverted back
to The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade and the Mary Poppins float was also
reinserted, creating a lengthy parade of 9 major units. From the 2006 Summer Magic season onwards, however,
the parade is now being performed under the Disney Princess Parade title,
drawing on the large number of princess units in the parade to create a
single parade theme. The Dumbo unit is no longer used for this re-named
parade, however a far greater number of characters joined the celebration
each day. On 20th August 2006, the order in which the floats are presented
was altered, moving Cinderella to the front and the “un-princess” float,
Steamboat Willie, to the back as an extra “encore”. The parade will officially end its epic run in late
March 2007, to make way for a brand new parade in honour of the resort’s
15th Anniversary Celebration:
Disney’s Once
Upon a Dream Parade. | 
The
Photos Magiques
Disney
Disney’s
