Extinct Attractions - Dreams of Christmas
This week, it was time to get into the Christmas spirit and look at a Tokyo Disneyland Christmas parade from back in the day.
VisionQuest had its finale this past week with what I heard is a major Avengers: Doomsday tease in its post-credit scene. I’ve still yet to get to it, so no spoilers here but I’ll do my best to get to it in the next month before the new film comes out at the end of December and takes over multiplexes as the first Avengers movie in seven years. It will be interesting to see a Marvel movie come out at Christmas time as they’ve never really tried it before, but it looks like they are staking themselves to that day with a Marvel Studios film at Christmas each of the next three years.
We’re sure to see tie-ins at the parks across their Marvel-themed lands, but one place that will likely stay largely Marvel-less is Tokyo Disneyland. But that’s ok because they won’t have any issue going all-in on Christmas as they always do. For today, I looked at the replacement to the Disney Jolly Holiday Parade, also known as Dreams of Christmas. The 20th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland was themed around Dreams, so naming the parade around it and opening it on November 4, 2003, in the middle of the celebration was the perfect move.
Dreams of Christmas kicked things off the right way: a Christmas medley of songs accompanied by some classic human snowflakes, a true key to any Disney Christmas parade. Tinker Bell got the honor of accompanying the first float to help sprinkle her pixie dust across the entire parade.
Following Tink were some more snowflakes along with a couple of snowflake-inspired stilt walkers, a theme that will become pretty familiar soon enough. They made it so chilly that when Mickey and Minnie showed up on their sleigh next, they were dressed in some Santa coats to help stay warm. They kept it cold enough that some snowmen were able to follow them up because it's a Christmas parade without some dancing snowmen?
Via Shutterstock
Some more stilt walkers popped in next, this time dressed as candy canes, with some more land-born cakes and gingerbread men joining them for a true candy party. They teased the way for Chip and Dale’s appearance next with a full-on gingerbread house that also featured our very own Donald Duck. Luckily, they didn’t eat any of it because there were some candy stripers following to make sure that nothing got out of hand.
It was time to class it up a bit next, with some ballet dancers taking the beat down a bit to set the stage for Daisy’s prime appearance on a float. Interestingly, she was followed up by some yodelers as well as even stilt walkers, this time dressed as the quintessential Disney nutcrackers from Babes in Toyland.
Via Shutterstock
Goofy drove a train with a bunch of blocks down the street next, but he needed to be careful because Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket were on a teeter-totter behind and perched very precariously. They were in luck, though, because Stitch was on his own float right behind them that was shaped like a classic spherical ornament.
But chaos was around as a gaggle of clowns was driving a toy truck and being urged on by the troublemakers of Hewey, Dewey and Louie. They were lucky that they didn’t end up driving into the crowd. The fun continued with some dancers wearing presents as tutus leading the way for the Seven Dwarfs and a giant Christmas tree that had some very sparkly ornaments and some jewels.
To close things out was who else but Santa Claus? He had an even larger sleigh than he normally does and brought that Christmas cheer for all to hear. The entire parade lasted until December 25, 2003, to be replaced by Mickey’s Christmas on Parade after just one season. I’m sure its replacement was also great, but Dreams of Christmas did nail the Christmas spirit and get me ready for the big day.
Via Pinterest
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years, where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!