When there are parades at Walt Disney World, the girls or guys that perform always lip-sync. One time I watched "Beauty and the Beast", and Belle did not sing for the whole time, it was all pre-recorded. They don't sing because the directors pick them for there looks, not there ability to sing.
REPORTED: anon 23 JAN 98
Best place to watch the parade with least amount of people is on the Emporium side next to the fire house. Everywhere else its 4-7 people deep but here even just before show time on Dec 27th it was only one deep when I arrived!
REPORTED: Tom and Renée Shaw 28 DEC 97
Our tour guide told us that is where she watches all the parades...especially the Spectromagic one!! It's a great spot! Nov 97
CONFIRMED: Heather Keenan 13 MAR 98
The best place to view a night time parade in Magic Kingdom is right by Tony's restaurant on Main Street. Most people don't think about the crowds leaving the park after the parade is over. At this location, you see the parade great! Also, you are the first to leave the park and don't have to wait for buses, ferry etc. We learned this from experience! Little kids are in no mood for an hour wait for a bus after a long day!
REPORTED: Colleen, Alyssa and Andrew Hamilton 29 MAR 00
During a parade, windows open and close automatically on the second-level buildings to reveal speakers which are synchronized with the floats.
REPORTED: Peter Stepniewicz 29 DEC 97
If you stand along the parade route of the
"Remember the Magic" parade, forty-five minutes before showtime. You
could get picked from the crowd to participate in the parade.
REPORTED: Marion Rumney 12 DEC 96
Cast members select people for the "Remember the Magic" parade if you are standing along the parade route 45 minutes or more before the parade begins. They also take volunteers right off Main Street as soon as you come into the park.
CONFIRMED: The Crutchley Family 28 JUN 97
When I went down in 1996, a WDW employee asked if we wanted to
participate in the "Remember the Magic" parade, and gave us a sticker
with Snow White and the seven dwarves on it. When "our" float came
around we got to go up and participate in the parade! It was a lot of
fun and I even got to have a sword fight with the infamous Captain Hook!
CONFIRMED: John Michael Prescot 28 MAR 00
What time does the 3:00 parade start? 2:00 on Christmas day!
It is filmed several times before that day just in case it rains...
REPORTED: W. Todd Stephenson 11 JAN 96
The Christmas parade is indeed filmed over a period of 2-3 days prior to Christmas in the event of rain. We were at the Magic Kingdom for Christmas 96 and 97. From watching the Christmas 1997 parade on tv, you'd never guess it was raining all morning! I was fortunate enough to become buddies with a couple of the camera people during the filming of the 96 parade and when I viewed it later after returning home, I was in the crowd scenes 4 times wearing 2 different outfits!
CONFIRMED: Cheryl 23 APR 99
What happens right before the parade starts? Where do they come from? Before I worked for Disney thousands of those questions filled my head. Now, that I've experienced the Magic Kingdom Parades Dept. I'd like to share my procedure that I did everyday to get ready for parade. Well, we start our day at 1 42pm (that's when we have to clock in). We park in a parking lot behind the Magic kingdom and take a bus to the tunnel entrance, which is right behind Fantasyland. We clock in, then we check in for parade at the parade base. We see who we are for the day, for example: court dancer, chef, or any of our furry friends. For face roles (chef or animal)you get your costume from Entertainment Costuming, which is in the tunnel. If you are fur, then you go to the character zoo to get your friend. Certain costumes are stored at the Production Center (PC) where the parade floats are stored. After you pick up your costume, you have the choice of catching two busses to the PC-2 10pm or 2 20pm. The bus takes a back road around the kingdom to Park 2 entrance (which is directly behind Splash Mountain. Now that we're there we can either chill, practice our routine, get dressed or whatever until step off which is at 3pm. At 2:50pm we get to our floats. Well, now it's 3pm and the parade has started. We go through parade smiling no matter how hot it is. Alright, we're now almost finished. We have to go through the barn doors and past the sight line (the line where guests can still see us), then we can drop our character. Now that we're done there's lots of people to help us take our costume off, give us towels, or hand us water or Powerade. Then, we head to one of the doors behind Main Street to enter the tunnels where it's AIR CONDITIONED. The parade ends by 3:45pm. You think we might be done then - fat chance. Then we check back in after parade (at the parade base) to see what afternoon sets we have to do. The sets are usually at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom (they call that Mickey floral), or Town Square PM, or Miss Minnie's Main Street Memories, or Hoe Down over in Frontierland. After that we have lunch/dinner till about 7. We have to be back at the PC by 7:30pm for the nighttime parade. THere are track talks to inform us of what's going on. We get dressed at the PC, then we go back out for parade at 9. We finish around 11:45 ish. We either walk back to the tunnels or we catch a van run. We clock out, catch the bus at the tunnel entrance, and find our car. We leave the most magical place on earth only to come back tomorrow and do it all again.
REPORTED: anon 06 OCT 99
I go throught that routine almost every day at work
CONFIRMED: anon 18 JAN 01
There are small sensors in the street along the parade
route. They are about the size of a nickel and look like
chewing gum stuck to the road. There are usually two or
three of them within 12 to 18 inches of each other. These
are used to monitor the parade floats from the main computer
center under the Magic Kingdom. Each float has an antenna
on it that the sensors recognize. An individual sits
at a computer monitor and can see exactly where each float
is on the route. These are necessary to keep the floats
and the music (played during the parade from speakers not
on the floats) coordinated. The person monitoring the
parade from the computer room can instruct each float driver
to speed up or slow down to keep the parade moving.
REPORTED: Richard White 25 APR 96
The small spots on the pavement are locating devices for the parades, however, the on-board systems in a float fails and Cast
members start coming out of the wood work. They carry radios to guide
the float drivers and communicate with parade control to keep
everything going right. We were taking the backstage tour when the last float in the Mickey-mania parade failed. A tractor was brought out and the float was towed the rest of the parade.
CONFIRMED: Paul Shepherd 04 MAR 97
CONFIRMED: Tom and Renée Shaw 28 DEC 97
The music for the parades does not only come from the floats. It comes from a combination of on-float speakers and those that are mounted in and on the surrounding "buildings".
UPDATE: Cait 02 APR 98
While on a backstage tour, a CM told us that all of the light bulbs on the floats used in the Main Street parades are purchased as clear bulbs and then hand painted to the desired color. He said they did this because they found inconsistencies in the color of the bulbs colored by the manufacturer.
REPORTED: Michael Rowe 23 OCT 98
A cast member told us that they have recently contracted with a new light manufacturer for the Spectromagic parades. The lights are guaranteed to be supplied colormatched. There are 11 colors of main light bulbs. Larger bulbs used for effect are clear, and hand painted to match.
CONFIRMED: anon 26 JAN 02
-- end report --
I worked at Disney World's Magic Kingdom just before the new Electric Light Parade became functional.
The rumor was that the old parade floats were being shipped to Paris.
There are plastic strips which are called "cheese" by Cast Members which
were laid in the tracks in Main Street to prevent the floats from getting stuck. However,
nearly every night at least one would get stuck in the tracks and we would
have to push it out.
REPORTED: L. Borne 25 JAN 96
The best places to view the day parade and Main Street Electrical parade are: on top of
the train Station platform, to the side of the Emporium shop (in front
of the Fire Hall), and next to Splash Mountain in Frontierland.
REPORTED: Kevin 11 DEC 98
The Parades all start from the warehouse behind Pirates and Splash Mountain. There is a road that goes behind Adventureland, and connects to Main Street next to City hall and the Fire Station. If you want to see the characters in the parade at their liveliest, go between Splash Mountain and Pacos Bill's. This is the end of the route, and the characters are eager to get out of costume. Behind the parade float wharehouse is a body of water that houses the barges that have a parade in the Seven Seas Lagoon.
You can even see this from space by clicking here.
REPORTED: Dr.J 21 DEC 98
the best place to view the Parade is in the garden nearest to the Castle. Just carefuly(and quietly) climb over the rail and sit next to the tree, perfect viewing area! Just dont get caught, and don't sit on one of those sprinklers(ouch!, been there done that)
REPORTED: Mike B 25 MAY 00
