Yesterland
 
The Hunchback
of Notre Dame
Procession

 
Formerly
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Topsy-Turvy Cavalcade
Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Chris Bales, 1997

Emerging from backstage

Guests have lined the parade route. Floats with characters from The Hunchback of Notre Dame emerge from backstage. And parade music fills the air.

Topsy turvy!
Everything is upsy daysy
Topsy turvy!
Everyone is acting crazy
Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet
That’s the way on topsy turvy day
Topsy turvy!
Beat the drums and blow the trumpets
Topsy turvy!
Join the bums and thieves and strumpets
Streaming in from Chartres to Calais
Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy
On the sixth of January
All because it’s topsy turvy day

Only this isn’t really a parade, in the traditional sense.

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Chris Bales, 1997

Phoebus on horseback

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession is a procession. Procession means people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly fashion, often as part of a ceremony.

In a slightly earlier incarnation, it was The Hunchback of Notre Dame Topsy-Turvy Cavalcade. Cavalcade means a formal procession.

You could just call it a micro-parade, because it’s so short. Or a traveling street show, because it periodically stops for a dance performance.

By the way, do you know what strumpets (in the song) are? They’re not something you expect in an animated Disney feature. (Look it up in a dictionary.) But the word rhymes nicely with trumpets.

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Chris Bales, 1997

Clopin and Esmeralda on the first float

This procession has exactly two floats and three horses. Phoebus is riding one horse. The other two horses are pulling one of the floats.

In addition to Phoebus, the procession includes Clopin, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Claude Frollo, along with at least two of Quasimodo’s three gargoyles—Victor, Hugo, and Laverne.

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Chris Bales, 1997

Quasimodo’s bell tower float

It’s all over. Nobody promised you a long parade.

Do you want to see it again? It starts again just 75 minutes after its previous start, but from “it’s a small world” instead of Town Square.

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Werner Weiss, 1998

Phoebus riding south on Yester Main Street, U.S.A.

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Werner Weiss, 1998

A performance stop, with dancing villagers and Quasimodo on the first float

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Photo by Werner Weiss, 1998

Quasimodo back on his bell tower float

That was it. You’ve now seen the procession twice—once in each direction.


The Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession was one of several parades, processions, and street shows along the Disney parade route during 1997:

Character Cavalcade
Cruisin’ the Kingdom Cavalcade
Lion King Celebration
Light Magic
Hunchback of Notre Dame Topsy Turvy Cavalcade
“Once Upon a Dream” Disney Princesses Cavalcade
Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession
Hercules Victory Parade
A Christmas Fantasy Parade

The procession returned in 1998, along with longer parades:

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession
Hercules Victory Parade
Mulan Parade
A Christmas Fantasy Parade

Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession, Disneyland

Disneyland Today brochure cover © Disney

Limited live entertainment, January 19–23, 1998

Compared to traditional Disneyland parades, The Hunchback of Notre Dame Procession required few Cast Members. It would run on particularly slow days—such as Monday through Friday in late January 1998. On weekends and other busier days, Hercules Victory Parade would be on the parade route, and Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools would perform in a medieval setting in Frontierland. This allowed Disneyland management to control costs, while still giving guests something to watch on the parade route.

So, if you visited Disneyland on a slow day, you could “join the bums and thieves and strumpets.”


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Updated November 3, 2023