Disney Cinema Parade at the Walt Disney Studios Paris
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Much of the Disney parade output over the last decade has been disappointing to most guests. Disneyland has not had an entertaining and visually stunning parade since the Lion King Celebration departed for its new home in Lake Buena Vista and only SpectroMagic at the Magic Kingdom has captured the hearts and imagination of guests in Florida. A whole host of mediocre and creatively tepid product has filled the U.S. parks from the aging and constantly recycled Parade of the Stars in Anaheim (vastly inferior to Disney's California Adventure's offering, the much maligned but aesthetically exciting and vastly refreshing, Eureka! parade) to the cringe worthy and juvenile design of the trite Share a Dream Come True procession at the Magic Kingdom. No one was surprised when replicas of the globes appeared in the stores, suggesting that the entertainment product was inferior to that of the merchandise.
Tokyo Disneyland has been the leader in creating varied and imaginative parade product (often several times a year), but the guest demographics in Chiba demands new attractions throughout the year, as over 90% of the 17 million guests are resident in Japan. This summer, Tokyo Disneyland will debut another new parade based around Donald Duck, as Donald's Super Splash replaces the distinctly odd D Pop Magic at the park. However, it will need to go that extra mile to become more impressive than the Disney Cinema parade. Reggie Jarrett, Franco Dragone and their respective teams deserve the praise and critical kudos afforded to them, as this new parade is a real gem. The parade proves that size is not important, as the narrow parade corridor ensures that the guests are close to the performers and feel part of the action unfolding before their eyes. The Disney Cinema Parade is immensely entertaining with a strong storyline (largely absent form U.S. product recently), a fun soundtrack, a rich cinematic look and an enthusiastic cast (it is clear that the performers prefer this parade to their two other daily gigs, the ancient and fading Wonderful World of Disney parade and Main Street Electrical Parade, that will be retired this Christmas at the Studios' neighbour, to make way for the 8 year old Tokyo retiree, Disney's Fantillusion).
In short, this parade is virtually faultless. A minor pick would be that the timing was not perfect, as the parade floats seemed to pass by too quickly after the "downtime" sequences. However, guests definitely seem to appreciate the parade and the crowds have been substantial at the new park since the parade's debut at the start of the month. Once the summer season kicks off on July 6, the Disney Cinema Parade is due to be moved to a 6:30pm slot from its current 1:30pm debut to ensure that Studios guests remain in the park for as long as possible, rather than disappearing off to the Disneyland Park. Also, the evening access to the Disneyland park that is included in a 1 Day Studios pass will not begin until 8pm when the parks enter the key peak summer season on July 6.
Finally, there has been a strong rumour that the parade is due to be transferred to the Disney MGM Studios once the Stars and Motor Cars parade is retired. Reggie Jarrett confirmed that members of the Walt Disney Entertainment team from Walt Disney World had seen the parade in rehearsals, but as of yet, there are no definite plans for this proposal. It is more likely that the Entertainment team will use the services of Creation du Dragon to create another masterpiece, possibly for another park. I would suspect that the compact floats of the Disney Cinema Parade would look small and insignificant when arriving at Hollywood Boulevard due to the scale utilised at the Florida park. This parade was designed exclusively for the new Paris park and early indications are that this collaboration will be wildly successful, as the parade will be seen by in excess of a million guests this summer.
In short, if you happen to be at Disneyland Resort Paris this summer, and only have time for one parade this summer, there is only one clear winner; the Disney Cinema Parade. The parade proves that Walt Disney Entertainment can still produce a parade that exceeds your wildest expectations. Maybe we can expect to see more varied and creatively diverse entertainment in the United States resorts soon….
Once again, Lindsay and I would like to thank the Marketing & Press Relations team at Disneyland Resort Paris for their phenomenal hospitality and assistance during a busy weekend. In particular, we would like to extend our gratitude to Ian Benjafield, Anne-Laure Maiffret and Caroline Garcia of Media Relations for arranging our trip and ensuring their availability during the weekend. Their assistance was very much appreciated.
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-- Posted June 24, 2002