The planned return of the Magic Happens parade to Disneyland this weekend didn’t go quite as planned, with Friday and Saturday’s performances being canceled due to inclement weather. Still, for many performers in the parade, it feels like a homecoming. An article by The Orange County Register shares that more than half of the performers in the parade returned from its original run in early 2020.
What’s Happening:
- More than half of the nearly 100 performers in the Magic Happens parade were part of the original troupe that launched the pandemic-shortened production in 2020.
- “It feels new and the same,” said parade performer Jenn Acevedo. “It’s a weird feeling. It doesn’t feel like it was three years ago.”
- Acevedo always believed that Magic Happens would eventually return, but she never thought it would take this long. “It feels like a dream,” said Acevedo, 23, of Anaheim. “I get to come back and relive the opening again. There’s a lot of returning people that still want to do it, loved it the first time and really want to live it again.”
- Acevedo taught dance classes via Zoom during the pandemic while Disneyland was closed before returning in 2022 to work on the Main Street Electrical Parade and “Fantasmic!“
Left: Jenn Acevedo performing in the "Moana" section of Magic Happens. (Photo – Disney)
- Acevedo is once again an ocean dancer leading Moana’s float along the parade route. “I do the same exact thing in the same exact spot, which I’m really happy about,” Acevedo said.
- It only took Acevedo a few rehearsals to shake off the rust and remember the original choreography. “All of it came back,” Acevedo said. “It was just like getting the gears moving again, but it was muscle memory as well.”
- “We’re ready,” Acevedo said. “I just want to get going again.” We just have to wait for the biggest blizzard to hit California in 40 years to pass…
- Check out our full video of the parade below, during its original two-week run in 2020, and click here for some photos from the very first performance.
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