| |  |
Please
Note: |
From 14th July 2006, The
Wonderful World Of Disney Parade will become known
as Disney Princess Parade.
Please see this separate guide page for information. | |  | | | |
Clap your hands and tap your feet and shout a big hooray!
More than 60 Years of animated classics come to life before your eyes in a
magnificent parade of Disney heroes and heroines. From Steamboat Willie
to Aladdin, with Mary Poppins, Cinderella and more – this is one
huge party you don’t want to miss! | Each float passes
by to the magical “Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm)”, with
beautifully costumed dancers performing intricate and refined
choreography. |
Whether you love Baloo or Belle, Ariel or Aurora, Dopey or Dumbo,
they’re all here and ready to greet the crowds in one of the most
popular and longest running parades in Disneyland Resort Paris’
history… |  |
 Steamboat
Willie | The parade begins with 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. |  Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs | An understated and classical parade float brings Snow White, her
Prince and her adorable Seven Dwarfs into the parade. The
old-fashioned wooden float is decorated with flowers, toadstools
and forest wildlife – plus a cursed red apple with a bite taken
out of it! |  Sleeping
Beauty | 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! |
 Cinderella | The parade continues as an enchanted pumpkin carriage is pulled
into view by horses floating on a magical cloud. The
carriage driver tips his hat and the royal guests are revealed –
it’s Cinderella and Prince Charming! The jubilant Fairy
Godmother follows along behind, making sure everyone’s dreams come
true. |
 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. |
 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! |
 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! |
 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. |
 Dumbo | Dumbo “The Flying Elephant” swoops down out of the sky and lands
atop Casey Jr. to join the fun of the parade and bring it to an
end in a comical circus finale. Keep a look out for
mischievous clowns – although they’re sure to provide some fun and
laughter, it will most likely be from teasing you! | | | |  |
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 as
well! | |  | | | |  | 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 the
“Les Parades En Musiques” CD. | | | |  | |
 Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm)
EDDA005-2
Tracks: 2
Running time: 4m 40s | The
CD Single release of the parade’s theme song, “Dancin’ (A Catchy
Rhythm”, features both the original hit song and an exclusive
instrumental version. | |
 Les Parades En Musique
EDDA029-2
Tracks: 17
Running time: 73m 35s | The
new parades CD Album features four tracks of the parade’s “show
stop” music, which was used for the parade’s initial years, plus
the main theme song “Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm)”. | |
 Disneyland Resort Paris En Musique
EDDA028-2
Tracks: 27
Running time: 73m 31s | The
resort’s main CD Album also features the song. | | | | | | |  | 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 seven
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. | The
return of the parade, however, brought some major changes that
were almost entirely negative. 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. In May 2003 the parade finally
ended 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 Wonderful World Of Disney 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! | Since
early 2005, The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade has once again
returned to Disneyland Park’s Parade Route. The only change
from 2002 has been the addition of the Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs float which premiered with The Princess Parade,
but the original idea of a 3D parade timeline of Disney definitely
classics suits the year of celebrations for the 50th Anniversary
of Disneyland California. | The reintroduction of the
Wonderful World Of Disney Parade title brought with
it a series of major refurbishments to the parade’s floats, to
make sure the whole parade looks brighter and more colourful than ever
before for what have been
predicted to be its final months on the Parisian
Parade Route. | | |
The
Disney
