On October 1, 2001, as part of the “100 Years of Magic” marketing campaign, four new (or somewhat new) parades premiered at the four major parks of Walt Disney World.
1. At Magic Kingdom Park, the new Share a Dream Come True parade featured giant snow globes with live Disney characters inside them.
Cynics suggested it was a merchandising effort to sell more snow globes.
In August 2006, the parade was transformed into the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, primarily by removing the clear acrylic globes from the floats.
2. At Epcot, the old Tapestry of Nations parade from the Millennium Celebration was updated to become the Tapestry of Dreams parade.
The music and many of the giant puppets were reused.
The parade gained a new theme, “celebrating children, dreams and the legacy of Walt Disney.”
The Sage of Time from Tapestry retired.
In his place, three Dreamseekers—Leonardo Columbus, Elfin, and Cosmo—joined the parade.
Each represented specific qualities, but it was unclear what they were unless you did your homework on the Internet before watching the parade.
Tapestry of Dreams ran until March 2003.
3. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the new Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle parade featured large, colorful animal puppets, designed to look as if they were created by folk artists from found objects.
This parade is still performed daily.
4. And, as described in this article, the new parade at Disney-MGM Studios was Disney Stars and Motor Cars.
According to Disney publicity copy, “5 cars and 3 motorcycles make up the cavalcade.
63 character performers and 18 drivers participate.”
The actual number of cars and performers could vary.
For example, if Luke Skywalker was unavailable, only Princess Leia would ride in the Star Wars car.
When the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade premiered, it included a Hercules car—a golden convertible decorated with clouds and Greek columns.
Hercules and Megara rode as passengers, while Pain and Panic went along on foot.
There was also a rather odd Atlantis: The Lost Empire car—a gray-green, Ketak-like convertible with Milo James Thatch and Princess “Kida” Kidagakash riding in back.
The Monsters Inc. and Power Rangers units were not originally part of the parade.
Temporary units, such as Ratatouille and Enchanted, joined the parade when those movies were current.
You might be wondering where Disney found so many vintage cars.
In reality, there are only two vintage cars in the whole parade—the 1950 Studebaker and the 1929 Cadillac.
For all other cars, the parade’s creative team acquired “kit cars”—brand-new replicas of classic vehicles.
This explains why some of the base cars look so similar; they started as the same kit car.
The cars’ gasoline engines were replaced by electric motors.
The final performance of the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade at the Studios park—now named Disney’s Hollywood Studios—is March 8, 2008.
Block Party Bash, previously at Disney’s California Adventure, will take over in mid-March 2008.
It’s a street party with floats and characters from Pixar films.
So what will happen to the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade, with its fleet of distinctive cars?
Will this parade be shipped to another Disney park?
Or are the cars destined for eBay?
Anything’s possible, but when the Disney Company has something that’s good, they don’t like to throw it away.
Disney Stars and Motor Cars would be a perfect replacement for the Disney Cinema Parade at Walt Disney Studios Park at the Disneyland Resort Paris.
The Disney Cinema Parade ended its long run on March 31, 2008.
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