The Disney Times

When I was at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom during this holiday weekend, there was one park mainstay that was missing – the afternoon parade that travels down the streets of Frontierland and Main Street. A brand new parade is currently in development, entitled Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade, that celebrates the characters from the Fantasyland portion of the park. After the break, watch a video going behind the scenes of the development and get a first look at the floats!

The floats have been in production now for several months, including one that features a gorgeous steampunk Maleficent dragon, which we first saw last week. In this new video, released by the Disney Parks Blog, Kris Bunnell, the Managing Producer for Creative Entertainment at the parks, and Steven Davison along with Richard Improta, creative designers from the same team, give us a peek at some of the floats. Specifically, we get our first look at The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and Brave floats. Take a look at the video in HD below:

As has come to be expected from the Disney Parks creative teams, there is a combination of storytelling with technological advances present in the parade floats. It is essential to balance both in order to not only wow the crowds with marvelous tech, but to also provide a memorable experience that only comes from telling a good story. How does a parade float tell a story? The design elements, the attached music, and all the choreography come together to hopefully form one cohesive story. It is the story that has the lasting impact.

Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade debuts in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World this spring!