When the parade originally debuted in 1995, it was vastly different, with all the units arranged in a different order then they are today. The original float ordering was the Opening, Santa's Mail Room, Santa's Toy Factory, A Recipe for Gingerbread Treats, Greetings from a Winter Wonderland, The Candlelight Christmas Ball, and Christmas Homecoming. Many of the floats in the original version were reused from the Very Merry Christmas Parade and the characters on the floats would vary.
The current version of the parade used since 2013 described here has seven units, each consisting of at least one float. The following are descriptions of each of the seven units:
Opening Unit:
A music box float, with a dancing ballerina on top of a revolving platform, and a stuffed Teddy Bear sits beside her.
Toy soldiers from Babes in Toyland march along the parade route playing their trumpets, snare drums, bass drums and cymbals.
Santa's Mail Room Unit:
Mailroom float, with Mickey and Minnie greeting park guests, accompanied by Chip and Dale.
Donald sits on the roof of the mailroom, trying to place the star on top of the Christmas tree.
4 Female Mailroom Elves and 2 Male Mailroom Elves perform with mail bags along and on top of the float.
Welcome to A Winter Wonderland Unit:
8 snowpeople scurry along, 4 male, 4 female. Four skiers swing around them.
A snowy Christmas Tree rolls down the parade route.
6 female skaters skate down the parade route on roller skates.
Elsa and Anna stand on top of an ice-themed float with an Olaf figure.
A Recipe for Gingerbread Treats Unit:
Clarabelle Cow and 6 Gingerbread Cookies dance down the street.
6 Candy Bakers help Goofy and Pluto, who are on the Gingerbread float, wreak some havoc.
Beauty and the Beast in the Christmas Ball unit of "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade at Disneyland.
Candlelight Christmas Ball Unit:
Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia are not invited and therefore walk in front of the unit while playing with guests.
4 Ball Dancers dance beautifully in front of the Candlelight Ball float accompanied by Snow White and her prince.
4 Ball Dancers dance beautifully behind the Candlelight Ball float accompanied by Ariel and Prince Eric.
Santa's Toyland Unit:
Jessie and a Green Army Man ride in a hum-dinger. Chip and Dale used to drive the hum-dinger, but they moved to the mailroom float.
Sheriff Woody rides on a rocking horse that is on top of a Toy Block float.
The Green Army Men ride on top of the giant Toy Factory float making toys.
6 Toy Factory Elves dance alongside the float.
Buzz Lightyear rides in a spaceship that is on top of a Toy Block float.
Santa's Finale Unit:
8 Finale Dancers dance and sing to Christmas carols in front of a moving Christmas Tree adorned with jewels.
Santa Claus sits in his sleigh on the Finale float led by his 8 Reindeer.
Two Finale Elves dance on the back of the Finale float.
Two or Three Elf Rope Carriers end the parade.
Trivia
For the 2015 and 2016 holiday seasons, this parade ran during the day and in the early-evening as opposed to nighttime because Disney opted to run Paint the Night with no holiday overlay unlike Tokyo's DreamLights (which has a holiday overlay) during the holiday season.
Clarabelle Cow is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As an anthropomorphic cow, Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends. She was once depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although now she is often paired with Goofy.
Horace Horsecollar is a cartoon character created in 1929 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Horace is a tall anthropomorphic black horse and is one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Characterized as a boastful show-off, Horace served as Mickey’s sidekick in Disney's early black-and-white shorts.
It’s a Small World is an Old Mill boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks around the world, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The inaugural version of the ride premiered at the 1964 New York World's Fair before permanently moving to Disneyland in 1966.
The Main Street Electrical Parade is a nighttime parade, created by Robert Jani and project director Ron Miziker. It features floats and live performers covered in over 600,000 electronically controlled LED lights, and uses a synchronized soundtrack triggered by radio control along key areas of the parade route.
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is a 2004 American Direct-to-video animated Christmas anthology fantasy film produced by Disneytoon Studios and directed by Matthew O'Callaghan. The film includes stories directed by Peggy Holmes, O'Callaghan, Theresa Cullen, and Carole Holliday. It is the sequel to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999). It features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Max, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Scrooge McDuck, in five different segments rather than three like its predecessor. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
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America on Parade ("AOP") was a parade created for Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom for the United States Bicentennial and for Disneyland's 20th and The Magic Kingdom's 5th anniversaries.
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Disney Stars on Parade is the current parade in Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris. The parade premiered on 26 March 2017, as part of the park's 25th anniversary celebration. The parade celebrates the discovery of the lands of imagination, represented by various Disney and Pixar films, such as Toy Story, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, SleepingBeauty, and Frozen.
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