WDWMousing - Chapter 31 - Magic Kingdom - Parades - 1990's

Chapter 31 - Magic Kingdom - Parades 1990's post 1/16/20

Magic Kingdom Parades of the 1990’s

In the 1990’s the daily parade tradition continued. There were fewer new parades introduced during this time, but the ones staged were much more extravagant and spectacular. Because of this, the parades ran for longer times.

SpectroMagic Parade

25th Anniversary Parade

Parade Route for the mid-day Parades

List of Parades of the Magic Kingdom:

In Chapter 29 – we presented Magic Kingdom Parades that started in the 1970’s

Grand Opening Day Parade October 25, 1971
Character Parade October 1971 - December 1971
Christmas Parade 1971 - present

Character Parade (Pooh for President)1972
Happy Easter Parade Easter only 1972 – 1998
Character Parade 1973-1974
Character Cavalcades1974-1975, 1977-1978
America on Parade June 1975 - September 1976
Mickey Mouse Club Parade September 1976 - June 1977
Main Street Electrical Parade (evening parade) 1977–1991, 1999–2001, 2010–2016
Mickey's 50th Birthday Parade November 1978 - December 1978
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade/ Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade Christmas only 1978 – present
Dumbo's Circus Parade January 1979 - December 1979

In the previous Chapter 30 – we viewed Magic Kingdom parades that started in the 1980’s

Pinocchio Parade January 1980 - June 1980
Tencennial Parade October 1981 - September 1982
Mickey Mouse Character Parade October 1982 - May 1984
Donald's 50th Birthday Parade May 1984 - December 1984
Mickey's Street Party January 1985 - November 1986
15 Years of Magic October 1986 - September 1987
Spirit of America September 1987 - November 1988
Mickey's All-American Birthday Parade November 1988 - November 1989
Disney Character Hit Parade October 1989 - September 1991

In Chapter 31 - Magic Kingdom parades that started in the 1990’s (this Chapter)

20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade September 1991 - December 1992
Surprise Celebration Parade January 1993 – June 1994
SpectroMagic (evening parade)1991 - 1999, 2001 - 2010
Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade 1993/1994 – 2006
Mickey Mania June 1994 - September 1996
Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary "Remember the Magic" Parade October 1996 – January 1998
Magical Moments Parade February 1998 - September 2001
Mickey's Boo to You Parade(during the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party) 1996- present

Chapter 32 - Magic Kingdom parades that started in the 2000’s

Share a Dream Come True Parade October 2001 - August 2006
Main Street Trolley Parade (morning event) February 2003 – present
Disney Dreams Come True Parade August 2006 - January 2009
Disney's Enchanted Adventures 2007-2009

Chapter 33 - Magic Kingdom parades that represented the 2010’s

Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade January 2009 - January 2014
Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party February 2009 – October 23, 2014
Festival of Fantasy Parade March 2014 - present
Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play it! Street Party October 24, 2014 – December 1, 2018
Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party January 18, 2019 - Present
Rainy Day Character Cavalcade

Then in Chapter 34 – the `Magic Kingdom Christmas Parades from 1971 to present will be described.

Christmas Parades in the Magic Kingdom 1971-present

In the 1990’s, Magic Kingdom added several remarkable and amazing Parades to the entertainment offered at the Park. So, let’s take a look at the Magic Kingdom Parades that started in the 1990’s, some even continued beyond.

20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade September 1991 - June 1994

The 20th Anniversary "Surprise" Celebration Parade was preformed from September 1991 through December 1992.

The 20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade, replaced the Disney Character Hit Parade, featured six giant cold air filled balloon figures that towered 35-40 feet over the parade route.

The 20th Anniversary Celebration Parade theme was a blend of Mardi Gras, based on Disneyland’s Party Gras Parade, and Carnival Del Rio with characters, acrobats, jesters and stilt walkers.

Note: The Party Gras Parade is a Disneyland parade that ran in 1990 to represent Disneyland's 35th anniversary. The parade includes giant cold air floats of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Roger Rabbit. The floats come from Disneyland but were slightly remodeled, except the Mickey balloon was new, before they relocated to the Magic Kingdom and used for the Surprise Celebration Parade.

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Party_Gras_Parade

The parade would start off escorted by characters from Pinocchio wearing Mardi Gras outfits and there were musicians. Then the giant balloon floats would follow featuring, Roger Rabbit, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, and Mickey.

Roger Rabbit

Roger Rabbit’s float was first, he stood on the top and the Grand Marshals sitting on the bottom. Each day of the parade, one lucky family was chosen to ride in the parade on the Roger Rabbit float.
The balloon remained mostly unchanged from Disneyland, but with the addition of a jester’s hat on and a different bow tie. A jester themed music box float followed on after the balloon.
Two masked figures followed behind, wearing puppet-like costumes that made it look like a woman was on either side of them. Masked dancers that looked like they were from a Venetian carnival followed them.

Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse was next, The Minnie balloon was unchanged from the one in Disneyland except for the position of the pupils in her eyes. Minnie Mouse was led by dancing women, while some women stood with her.

A horsed pineapple followed on with King Louie and one of his servants standing backwards. He fanned King Louise as he rode on a pineapple float and Baloo walked beside it. Baloo and King Louie also wore their TaleSpin outfits. More dancers came behind them

Pluto

Pluto was the next character, he was joined by the Country Bears playing tropical music. Pluto’s balloon was unchanged but with the addition of maracas.

Donald Duck

Donald’s float featured the Three Caballeros and Donald Duck. The balloon of Donald featured him with puffy arm cuffs and playing a drum.
Chip & Dale rode on palm tree carts after the float.

Goofy

A jester music box followed on with Goofy, and was joined by acrobats. Goofy’s balloon remained unchanged except for his shorts that were detailed. The float has jester faces all over it.

Acrobats did cartwheels ahead of the Goofy float.

Mickey Mouse

The final float featured the new King Mickey balloon. Since the float was for royalty, so Snow White and Cinderella rode with Mickey.

Colored souvenir coins were thrown from the floats in this parade.

Video of Parade:

When the 20th Anniversary celebration ended, this parade was renamed Surprise Celebration Parade and marched from January 1993 – June 1994, very little else changed.

References:

SpectroMagic October 1991 - 1999, 2001 - 2010

1991 was an amazing year for Parades in the Magic Kingdom. The 20th anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney World was celebrated with not one but two new parades opened within just few a weeks of each other in 1991.

©Disney

In September the 20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration parade began, and in October a new nighttime light dazzling parade called SpectroMagic began. The SpectroMagic Parade replaced The Main Street Electrical Parade, This presented the Disney company with an opportunity. The new park in France would need a nighttime parade, thus Disney decided to send the Main Street Electrical Parade from Walt Disney World to its newly opening park in Paris.

SpectroMagic had much in common with its predecessor The Main Street Electrical parade, both featured floats with large concentrations of bright and colorful lights. Both parades have a main theme, and sub sections of music that go with the individual floats, but there are differences as well.

SpectroMagic also uses some slightly different lighting effects. The parade made very good use of fiber optics, which gave it a sense of movement and subtle beauty that was a technological advancement in its early years. The floats would alternate between white and color lights in sync with the music.

SpectroMagic uses music that is more vocally oriented, whereas The Main Street Electrical parade had an instrumental and electronic melody. The main theme was written by John Debney. It was notable for being written in waltz time, which is typical for parade music.

Note: John Debney an American composer and conductor. He is a long-time collaborator of The Walt Disney Company, having written music for Disney films, television series, and theme parks.
He composed of Disney Park’s Nighttime Spectaculars, including: World Of Color Celebrate! in Disney's California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories and You! and Celebrate The Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Debney

SpectroMagic ran from 1991 - 1999, then it left for a time in 1999-2001, while Disneyland’s former Main Street Electrical parade came to the Magic Kingdom for an encore performance.

In 2001 SpectroMagic came back to the Magic Kingdom with a few changes:

The SpectroMen had new heads,
The Genie from Aladdin replaced Roger Rabbit,
A Sebastian from The Little Mermaid animatronic and bubble system were added to King Triton's float and
A Jiminy Cricket animatronic was added to the finale float.

Parade

The voice of Jiminy Cricket was the Parade Announcer.

Opening announcement by Jiminy Cricket was "Welcome to the splendor, the spectacle, the sparkling sensation, where the romance, the comedy, and the thrill of Disney fantasies come to electric life. And now, the Magic Kingdom proudly presents, in a million points of musical light, the magic worlds of Disney...in SpectroMagic."

The parade was about Mickey Mouse, along with the SpectroMagic SpectroMen, who together create the power of SpectroMagic. The “SpectroMen,” clown-like characters who rode what appeared to be giant disco balls.

The parade consisted of 23 units, with some of the units consisting of more than one float.
The SpectroMagic parade featured themed floats from different animated films.

The Worlds of Music from the Silly Symphonies

SpectroMagic Trumpeters Unit
SpectroMagic Whirly-Balls (four Whirly-Balls)
SpectroMagic Title Unit
SpectroMagic Mickey Mouse's Unit
Silly Symphonies Unit (four separate floats connected together)

The Wonder of Sleeping Beauty's Garden

Sleeping Beauty's Garden Unit 1
Sleeping Beauty's Garden Unit 2
Sleeping Beauty's Garden Unit 3

The Fantasy of the Little Mermaid's Ocean

Giant Fish Unit
School of Fish Unit (two separate whirling floats)
Ursula Unit
The Little Mermaid Unit (three separate Floats)
Orange Fish and Gray Fish

The Imagination of Fantasia

Fantasia Opening Unit
Bacchus Unit
Diana Unit (three separate floats)
Chernabog Unit

A very hauntingly impressive float was the Chernabog float in the Fantasia section. This mechanical float could fold and unfold its wings to alternate between the mountain top and the demonic character as seen in the film.

©Disney

The World of Dreams in a Grand Disney Cavalcade

First Finale Unit (three separate floats)
Carousel Unit
Second Finale Unit (three separate floats)

Cheap Flight Tickets. Book Now & Save. Apply Promo Code FLIGHT50 and Get Up To $50* Off.

As well as a vast collection of other characters. The parade required 65+ performers nightly which included 14 SpectroMen, and 8 Butterflies, and 45+ Disney characters:

Mickey Mouse
Roger Rabbit [Original Run]
Genie [Secondary Run]
Goofy
Pluto
Golden Harp [Mickey and the Beanstalk]
Chip
Dale
Fauna
Flora
Merryweather
Ursula
Ariel
King Triton
Ostriches (x5) [Fantasia]

Big Bad Wolf
Fifer Pig
Fiddler Pig
Practical Pig
Jaq
Gus
Prince Charming
Cinderella
Alice
White Rabbit
The Queen of Hearts
Mary Poppins
Peter Pan
Smee
Snow White
Grumpy

Doc
Bashful
Sneezy
Sleepy
Happy
The Evil Queen
Captain Hook
Dopey
Pinocchio
Geppetto
Donald Duck
Minnie Mouse
Pluto (sometimes)
Chernabog
Br'er Bear
Br'er Fox

The Closing announcement was "So long! From Jiminy Cricket... in SpectroMagic!"

The parade was put on hiatus for the Summer Nightastic celebration in 2010. In July 2013 Disney confirmed that SpectroMagic was “retired” and would not be returning to the park.

Note: Summer Nightastic! was an annual three-month promotion by the Walt Disney Company celebrating the summer, which ran in the Magic Kingdom only during the summer of 2010.

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Summer_Nightastic

The SpectroMagic Parade was replaced by the Main Street Electrical Parade in June 2010.

References

Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade 1993/1994 – 2006

The Magic Kingdom’s Christmas Parades have been a tradition since 1971 and over the years it has seen many changes, this includes its name.
There are many conflicting lists showing that the Christmas parade’s name has varied through the years.

May leave these lists out of final.

Christmas Parades List:

Fantasy On Parade (1986-1993) Fantasy on Parade is the original name for the Christmas Parade at the Magic Kingdom
Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade 1993/1994 – 2006
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade (1994 – 2006)
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2007 – present)
Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade (2009 – present)
The Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (? - 2009) held every year on Christmas morning on the Disney-owned ABC. Renamed Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade in 2009.

Another Christmas Parade List:

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade/ Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade 1978 – present

Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade 1993

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade 1994 - 2006
Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade 2002-2008
Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade 2009-2013
Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration 2014
Disney Parks Unforgettable Christmas Celebration 2015
Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration 2016-2017
Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade 2018

Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parades Television Special Shows

The Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade 1983 – 2001
Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade 2002 - 2008.
Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration 2014
Disney Parks Unforgettable Christmas Celebration 2015
Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration 2016/2017
Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade 2018

And yet another Christmas Parade List:

Mickey's Christmas Cavalcade (1975-1986) an early incarnation of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade ended in 1993. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade reused some of the music and made a new float theme.
Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade (1983 - present) held every year on Christmas morning on the Disney-owned ABC. Formerly known as The Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade until 2009.
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade (1994 – 2006) replaced by Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2007 – present)

In an upcoming Chapter on Christmas Parades in the Magic Kingdom we will try to make sense of the Christmas Parades presented.

Mickey Mania June 1994 - September 1996

The Mickey Mania parade was all about the main mouse.
The parade began in June 1994. Every float carried performers and characters representing an element of Mickey Mouse. There were more than 100 performers riding on skateboards, and dirt bikes, bouncing along the route on inflatable hop balls, stilt walkers, and dressed up in inflatable Mickey costumes.
Character appearances included Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Roger Rabbit, Goofy, and Max.

There were six major themes to the parade, designed to showcase Mickey as seen in merchandise, movies and theme parks from all over the world — Mickey in Music, Time, Motion, Toys, Balloons, and Images over the Years.

The next unit was introduced by another rolling Mickey silhouette that had a gumball machine in the middle of it full of Mickey heads. Mickey dolls were clamped to the ears of the silhouette. Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, Geppetto and Wendy rode tricycles behind it.

The next unit included Mickey-influenced television sets, followed by performers pushing TV cameras. Minnie performed on the main float with dancing musicians.

The final section included performers wearing Mickey's traditional outfit of red pants, black shoes, yellow tie and black coat. Walking Mickey gloves, Mouseketeer ears and rolling Mickey shoes escorted the main float, which featured the real Mickey Mouse on it. It depicted his various looks through the years and had a moving circle of Mickey toys and static wind-up Mickeys going up the float toward the real-life mouse.

Sources:

Food and Drink Books at chroniclebooks.com

Parade

The parade started with people on skateboards, dirt bikes and roller blades in front of a float featuring a tornado slide with the parade logo and characters such as Pluto and Roger Rabbit. Stilt walkers wearing top hats with mouse ears followed behind.
They were followed by performers riding on inflatable hop balls.

The main float featured Goofy and Max with tanks of air that were blowing up a giant Mickey balloon and smaller ones on the sides. Behind them were more people wearing inflatable Mickey costumes that were designed to look like Mickey was walking on his hands.

The main float of this section featured Winnie the Pooh surrounded by Mickey toy plush. Characters such as Tigger and Dopey walked behind it with Mickey puppets on their hands.

After that was a clockwork section featuring clock gears and introduced the main float featured a giant moving Mickey clock, complete with gears. Chip and Dale were inside of the clock. Characters that had something to do with time, such as Cogsworth, Jiminy Cricket, a watch-dealing Tick Tock Crocodile and The White Rabbit walked behind.

The Mickey Mania Parade even had two original songs: Rock the House with the Mouse by J. Cox and G. Smith and Crazy 'Bout the Mouse by Sherilyn Draper and Ted Ricketts.

Note: The collaborative efforts between Ted Ricketts, his writer/director wife, Sherilyn Draper, and Kathleen Gearhart-Filmer, a London based entertainment producer, resulted in the creation of numerous hugely successful pops concerts celebrating the music of Walt Disney.

This parade ended in September 1996 to make way for the Remember the Magic Parade.

Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary "Remember the Magic" Parade October 1996 – January 1998

1996 was the 25th anniversary of Magic Kingdom Park. The occasion was celebrated by turning Cinderella Castle into a giant pink birthday cake, and the Remember the Magic parade debuted.

The “Remember the Magic” parade started in October and the celebration continued for 15 months.

The parade was entirely new kind of entertainment, it was a highly guest interactive parade. It would stop periodically along its route to allow guests to join in on the fun with the characters on the floats.

Floats

In the parade, six giant floats (up to 55 feet long and 22 feet high) roll down Main Street, U.S.A., each afternoon loaded with famous Disney characters and surrounded by dancers and colorfully costumed performers singing the 25th anniversary theme song, "Remember the Magic."

Remember the Magic" Theme Float – Disney "royalty" led the parade in a sparkling castle float. Cinderella and Prince Charming rode at the front. Sorcerer Mickey waved from an 18-foot high turret on the float adorned with more than 500 pounds of glitter. Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale rode on different sections of the float. Up to 12 selected guests would be invited to ride with the characters. At each of the performance stops, 14 court dancers led by the Fairy Godmother in royal ball attire will dance with other guests to the music of "So This is Love," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and other Disney originals.

The Little Mermaid's Undersea Float — Based on the 1989 animated film. The float with a coral backdrop, it set the scene for Ariel, a revolving fish conga line with Flounder and an Audio-Animatronic sea band, including Sebastian including Sebastian as director of an underwater band. Reefs of coral and playful seahorses disguise jets spurting water along the sides of the float in time to the "Under the Sea" theme song. At each stop, guests would join a conga line led by a dancing starfish and South American samba dancers.

Beauty and the Beast Float — Based on the 1991 animated film. Chefs pushed serving carts announcing the arrival. Lumiere led the way riding inside a rotating giant punch bowl. He was surrounded by all the other "Be Our Guest" performers of the enchanted dining room — knives, forks, spoons, saucers, magnum bottles of champagne and twirling cakes. On a separate float, Belle and the Beast appeared on a stone bridge in the royal garden. The dining hall dancers brought a score of guests onto the stage to join Cogsworth the clock in a merry waltz to the music of "Be Our Guest."

Aladdin's Treasure Float — Based on the 1992 animated film. Guests had the magical chance to conjure up a giant blue genie that rises 20 feet above a sea of gold and jewels. Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar and harem dancers directed the performance as up to 30 guests would join in the fun playing "Genie Says." Scimitar warriors led by the dancing Magic Carpet and a pair of harem camels surrounded the float. The music themes include "Prince Ali" and "One Jump Ahead."

The Lion King — Based on the 1994 animated film. Full-grown Simba rode high on Pride Rock beside other favorite characters from the famous movie. Rafiki stood toward the back waving his mystical walking stick while Zazu flies overhead. Guests would beat out happy messages on jungle drums along the sides of the float. Simba and his friends, Timon and Pumba, continued a rousing chorus of "Hakuna Matata." Dancers marching beside the float included gazelles, zebras and elephants. Music included "I Just Can't Wait to Be King."

This was the first Walt Disney World parade to shoot fireworks from a float

The parade music changed with every float, matching each movie represented to a popular song from its soundtrack.

After the 25th-anniversary celebration ended, the parade was renamed “Disney’s Magical Moments Parade.” Most of the floats remained the same, but there were changes made to the parade’s introduction and some newer characters were introduced. The renamed parade ended in 2001 in order to make way for the “Share A Dream Come True Parade”.

In the renamed parade, Songs include "Remember the Magic" theme song, "So This is Love," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," "Under the Sea," "Be Our Guest," "Prince Ali," "One Jump Ahead," "Hakuna Matata," "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," and "When You Wish Upon a Star."

When the 25th anniversary celebration ran from 1996 to 1998. After Walt Disney World's 25th anniversary ended, the parade was renamed Magical Moments Parade, which ran until 2001.

After the 25th Anniversary was over, the parade was renamed. A few changes happened at this time such as the opening introduction and the sign on the first float. Also, the words during the song's Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah refrain were changed from "25 Years of Disney Magic" to "Remember the Disney Magic." Some of the characters were changed in the garden float whereas the Mad Hatter replaced White Rabbit and the current designs of Pinocchio, Captain Hook, and Winnie the Pooh were also used. This parade ran until 2001, when it was replaced by the Share A Dream Come True Parade.

Enchanted Forest — Largest of all, the 55-foot-long finale float depicted a fantasy garden decorated with 1,000 pounds of foliage. The float was filled with favorite Disney heroes and heroines: Snow White, The Seven Dwarfs, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Alice, Mad Hatter, Baloo, King Louie, Mary Poppins, Pocahontas, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook. The Prince from Snow White, Bert, Wendy Darling, Mr. Smee, John Smith, and Meeko sometimes appeared. Snow White and Dopey, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Pocahontas, Meeko were surprise performers from recent Disney films. Grandmother Willow smiles and winks from the center of the float. Snow White's wishing well and a fountain sent water leaping into the air. A magic castle rose up to 30 feet above the float, which sends daytime fireworks skyward for the finale. As the parade closes, 22 other characters lead guests in a grand waltz to "When You Wish Upon a Star" and other favorite Disney songs.

Sources:

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parade/Mickey's Boo to You Parade 1997- present

The “Boo to You Parade” is the one of the gems during the annual Halloween-themed “Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party” at the Magic Kingdom. Get into the spirit of Halloween at this frightfully fabulous parade. The parade include both Disney Hero’s in their Halloween best as well as, the Disney Villain’s in their hauntingly finest.

The “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party” debuting in 1995, the celebration originated as a single-night event celebrating the holiday. It eventually grew into a longer seasonal event in the years since.
According to Gene Harding, producer for Disney Parks Live Entertainment, it was relatively modest. For the first year, SpectroMagic ran as the nighttime parade, the regular nightly fireworks show was presented, but there are trick-or-treating in the park.

In 1997, a “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween” Parade was added to replace the SpectroMagic Parade during the Party.

By 1999, the Magic Kingdom’s Halloween-themed Party took place for only three nights in late October.

The Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade was introduced in 2003 and in 2005 a new fireworks show called HalloWISHES was featured.

Note: During the first years of the Halloween Party, the evening's fireworks show was the original Fantasy in the Sky show (1976-2004), with the addition of a Halloween-themed finale.

Now Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is held annually during the months of August, September, and October. The event encourages guests to dress up in Halloween costumes and celebrate the season.

Over the years Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party expanded with each year having new activities and entertainment added:

1995 - First Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party held on Halloween night.
1996 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party held on Halloween night.
1997 - Event extended to two nights, October 30 and 31.
1998 - Event held on two nights, October 30 and 31.
1999 - Event extended to three nights.
2000 - Event held on three nights.
2001 - Event extended to 5 nights.
2002 - Event extended to 7 nights.
2003 - Event extended to 10 nights. Boo to You parade debut.
2004 - Event extended to 14 nights.
2005 - Event extended to 15 nights. HalloWISHES fireworks show was introduced
2006 - Event extended to 18 nights.
2007 - Event extended to 20 nights.
2008 - Event extended to 24 nights.
2009 - Event held 24 nights.
2010 - Event held 24 nights.
2011 - Event held 23 nights.
2012 - Event held 23 nights.
2013 - Event held 23 nights.
2014 - Event extended to 26 nights.
2015 - Event held 25 nights.
2016 - Event held 29 nights.
2017 – Event held 32 nights.
2018 – Event held 34 nights
2019 – Event held 36 nights

More about Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in another Chapter about Special Events in Walt Disney World, now back to discussing the Boo-To-You Parade.

Parade Floats
The Boo-To-You parade features many different Halloween themed floats as well as Halloween style music. Some of these floats are recycled and repurposed from older parades.

Based around Frontierland, the Halloween Hoedown is focused around two floats consisting of a silo and a barn serving as a backdrop for a square dance featuring characters from Splash Mountain. The Country Bear Jamboree was set to the "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and the parade main theme. Since 2013, Clarabelle Cow has become the voiced host of the Hoedown, while Clara Cluck can be seen clucking along to the music at the top of the barn float.

The parade was revamped in 2014 by changing several units, and eliminating some elements.

Set to the tone “Grim Grinning Ghosts”, The Haunted Mansion unit is led by the Caretaker and a group of zombie gravediggers dancing with shovels, scraping the pavement to create sparks. After a minifloat featuring tombstones from the graveyard, a ghostly waltz takes place on the streets while the Hitchhiking Ghosts can be seen aboard the main Haunted Mansion float.

Set to the music of the Flight of the Valkyries, the Headless Horseman, from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, rides down the parade route ahead of the rest of the show.

Note: The Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the second half of Disney's 1949 animated feature film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Besides the Haunted Mansion dancers, Hitchhiking Ghosts, the hoedown dancers, the barn unit, the parade and soundtrack were changed in 2005

The opening unit of the parade has Mickey, Minnie, and a number of Disney characters celebrating a costume party at a fall gazebo with a number of characters dancing with masquerade ball style masks. The gazebo was also originally accompanied by an additional Winnie the Pooh float, giving the residents of the 100 Acre Wood their own spotlight, though this was retired after 2013 in favor of having Pooh characters simply join Mickey's party.

The Pirate’s unit blends Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean together with a medley of A Pirate's Life (Is a Wonderful Life) and Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) and has undergone a number of alterations over the years.
The unit was originally divided into a pirate ship crewed by Captain Hook and Mr. Smee that was chased by a large Tick-Tock the Crocodile minifloat and a treasure hoard that held Captain Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa. In 2018, a new treasure chest float was introduced as the leader, featuring Tinker Bell riding atop the chest and the Peter Pan characters now in front of it, while Sparrow and Barbossa took over the pirate ship. Accompanying pirate’s unit, acts have included flag twirling pirates, as well as, pirates dancing with wenches.

The 2019 season saw the addition of a Tomorrowland unit featuring elements based around The Incredibles and Buzz Lightyear.
The parade features various Disney characters (Mickey and Minnie, Donald, and Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and their friends) in Halloween costumes.

In 2014, the unit traded places with the final villain unit and was rethemed to Sugar Rush from Wreck-It Ralph. The Goofy's Candy Company truck was rebranded as a "Sugar Rush Delivery" truck and featured Ralph riding on it, while Vanellope von Schweetz took Goofy's place aboard the Candy Making Machine. In between the two floats are a group of baton twirling Sugar Rush Racers lead by Taffyta Muttonfudge.

The villains are also in the parade with a unit of their own. The finale is a procession of Disney Villains accompanied by a skeleton band playing a peppy tune celebrating evil called Villains-a-Go-Go. On the band's moving stage are Pain and Panic dancing in cages.

2019 Boo-To-You Parade highlights include:

A flurry of favorite Disney friends, including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse—in all-new Halloween costumes—trick-or-treating down Main Street, U.S.A.
Hitchhiking Ghosts and a new addition—the spectral Bride, who glides among the waltzing spirits—representing the Haunted Mansion from Liberty Square
A new Tomorrowland unit featuring The Incredibles and designer extraordinaire Edna Mode, followed by Buzz Lightyear and some alien explorers
Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz and the girls from Sugar Rush making sure there’s plenty of sweet stuff to go around
Pirates sailing in from Adventureland, Clarabelle Cow hosting a square dance during a Frontierland hoedown and a wicked assortment of Disney Villains reigning over a Fantasyland-inspired grand finale.

Sources:

https://www.thesavvypixie.com/a-most-magical-day/

In the 1990’s, Disney continues to entertain guests with increasingly magical Parades. The 25th Anniversary celebration was amazing with the Castle decorated as a cake and a parade to match. In the 1990’s, Disney started the Not So Scary Halloween Party and a fitting Parade. And in the 1990’s Disney brought us one of the most popular and remarkable parade, SpectroMagic. But Disney didn’t stop there, in the 2000’s they pushed the envelope even further. We’ll visit them in the next Chapter 32 – Magic Kingdom – Parades 2000’s

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Afterword:
WDWMousing.com is designed to be a tour of Walt Disney World through photos. We have been to Walt Disney World countless times over the past 25 years and accumulated a magnitude of photos in that time. This website is an intention to combine two of our favorite pastimes, Walt Disney World and photography, and provide an insightful pictorial tour.
While doing so, we've done an extensive research of the internet and literary sources for background information on each area and attraction. The information is available, but most bits and pieces are scattered all over. WDWMousing doesn't intend to rewrite the stories, legends or data, but to try and collect it into one location with references and links to the original articles and authors, giving rightful credit. We've stumbled through quite a bit of misinformation, most of which came to life by fans because the origins were lost, forgotten or no one seems to remember. Over the past 25 years we've also lost most of the great Imagineers that helped develop, design and build the original concepts of Walt Disney World. So we believe it's extremely important to make sure that their efforts, intentions, details and creativity in making this Happiest Place on Earth isn't lost.
So we ask for feedback, insights, and suggestions.

Thanks,
WDWMousing

Chapter 31 - Magic Kingdom - Parades 1990's post 1/16/20

We would definitely like to hear from you.Let us know what your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, and absolutely, if we've missed anything.

We would definitely like to hear from you.
Let us know what your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, and absolutely, if we've missed anything.