| 4: Sleeping Beauty A lavish group of majestic dancers heralds the
royal arrival of the beautiful Sleeping Beauty and her dashing Prince
Philip, both dressed perfectly for the regal parade in classic tones of
white and gold. Not everyone is quite so happy, however, as dragon
Maleficent appears to disapprove of this joyous celebration – watch out! 5: Aladdin An Arabian fantasy unfolds before your eyes, with Aladdin and Jasmine taking
a romantic Magic Carpet ride over the rooftops of Agrabah, which have been
magically dusted with a sprinkling of snow! Something evil lurks behind,
however, as disgruntled serpent Jafar breathing fire to warm the cold winter
days! 6: Mary Poppins Mary Poppins brings her merry gang of
chimneysweeps to the streets, to celebrate Christmas with a special song and
dance routine, as she and Bert watch from the rooftops above. They’re all
dressed in bright white, with special silver soot covering their faces. Mary
even has a special matching white parrot umbrella! 7: Father Christmas Ho ho ho! The Christmas chief himself is here,
being pulled along in his majestic sleigh by a beautiful herd of reindeer,
who make a special seasonal sound of jingling bells as they go. Make sure
you catch Santa’s eye to tell him what you’d like to get on the big day –
but remember to be on your best behaviour throughout the parade, or you
won’t get a thing! 8: Toy Soldiers A whole band of gigantic, marching Toy Soldiers
from the classic Christmas Nutcracker make sure the parade finishes with a
touch of royal propriety, as they follow the sergeant major who rides up
front on a rocking horse atop a giant drum!
 Finding a Place to Watch The parade enters the Parade
Route at It’s A Small World in Fantasyland and leaves at Town Square in Main
Street USA, so plan your viewing
position accordingly! The added sparkle of the Christmas touches make
the parade even more popular than normal, so try to find your viewing
position around 30 minutes before the parade is due to begin. On busier days
or from mid-December to New Year’s Day, finding a viewing position even
earlier than this is recommended. If you want a unique view of the parade, how
about the balcony of Main Street USA Railroad Station, or the platform at
the back of Royal Castle stage? To experience the parade with every touch of
Christmas magic possible, find a place along the middle section of Main
Street (Emporium to Casey’s Corner), where you’ll get outburstss of snowfall
throughout the parade! Taking Part Sing and dance along to the parade’s
magical theme song and not only will you enjoy the experience even more, but
you’ll get everyone around you into the Christmas spirit too! It’s a great
way to warm yourself up on those cold Winter days or get a bit of extra
attention from the characters!
  When The Christmas Parade we know today premiered as part of 2003’s
Christmas Season, one of the most important parts of this new overlay of the
park’s daytime parade was to use a theme song that would provide the same
kind of magical, catchy atmosphere which
Dancin’ (A
Catchy Rhythm) did for The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade (aka
Disney
Princess Parade) itself. Vasile Sirli, musical director for
Disneyland Resort Paris, and his lyricist partner Jay Smith were given the
task to create another hit parade theme song, right after creating
It’s
Halloween-Lo-Ween for the
Disney Villain Parade. Would they be able to produce another smash
hit song in the same year? Judging by the amount of guests who flock
into Main Street USA’s stores after the parade to buy the soundtrack CD,
they’re on the right track! Chante, C’est
No�l ! is perhaps the most popular resort theme song after the original
Dancin’ (A
Catchy Rhythm), with guests requesting the music almost year-round and
sales of the original CD being so strong that a second, re-released edition
featuring more music (and the full soundtrack of
The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony)
hit the shelves of Disneyland Resort Paris in late October 2005. The song is quite unique as a Disney Park theme
song due to its very traditional and acoustic style, featuring large
sections of choir vocals before moving into the fully orchestrated chorus
section. It is this quality, perhaps, that allows it to mix seamlessly with
the truly classic Christmas songs used throughout Main Street during the
season, and stand proud as such a traditionally festive piece of music. Through its mix of a lively choir, memorable
lyrics, festive music and Disney magic, the song becomes more popular with
every Christmas Season, and is well on its way to becoming a true classic
Disney theme park song.
A special Christmas Parade has actually been a part
of Disneyland Park’s annual entertainment since the park’s first Christmas
in 1992. The early parade, however, was simply the standard Disney Classics
Parade with a few Christmas touches – far from today’s lavish overlay of
entirely new costumes and transformed floats. A major change to the park’s yearly Christmas
Parade came in 1997, when a brand new, original parade was launched for the
season. Mickey’s Nutcracker Parade featured a mix of new, smaller floats
based on the classic ‘Nutcracker’ story as well as, from 1998 onwards,
garland-smothered floats from the Disney Classics Parade. The parade even
used a new recording of the classic Nutcracker music pieces by Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky, with sections of music from the Nutmarch and Russian Dance to
the Arabian Dance and Waltz Finale providing a varied and lengthy soundtrack
to the parade. Highlights of the parade were the marching Toy
Soldiers with their sergeant major on his rocking horse, Father Christmas in
his extravagant sleigh and the two horse-drawn carriages which carried
Mickey, Minnie and other classic Disney characters. The parade became a huge
success, with a popular CD release of its Tchaikovsky soundtrack, very
minimal alterations each year, and a successful return every Christmas
Season until its final season in 2002/03. Following on from the resort’s similar relaunch of
Disneyland Park’s Halloween
parade, The Christmas parade was also redesigned and relaunched for the
2003 season. Whilst the parade stayed surprisingly similar to its
predecessor, it gave a strikingly different, more upbeat and catchy,
atmosphere to the parade route. The main reason for this was the new parade
theme song, similar to
The
Wonderful World Of Disney Parade‘s
Dancin’ (A
Catchy Rhythm), written by Vasile Sirli and Jay Smith –
Chante, C’est
No�l ! – which became an instant hit. In the costume department, every single character
and dancer got a new outfit in dazzling white and gold, whilst Mickey and
Friends kept their stylish red and green outfits. More floats were
used from The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade (an updated Disney Classics
Parade, and more recently aka
Disney
Princess Parade), all of which featuring many decorations than
previously. Over more than 10 years the park has developed a
Christmas Parade with an unforgettable seasonal atmosphere and an amazing
variety of dancers, characters and Christmas favourites to give a warm
festive feeling to every age group. With the new
Disney’s Once
Upon a Dream Parade scheduled to run throughout 2007, the return of The
Christmas Parade in its current form has been cast into doubt, so make sure
to enjoy this popular seasonal celebration while it lasts! | 
The
DLRP Today Photos & Video
Mickey’s
Disney
