A popular Disney parade recently had to come to a stop after a child leaped onto a float and was corralled by a Disney Cast Member.
When visiting Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Park Guests are completely immersed in the magic. They have the opportunity to ride iconic attractions at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as well as plenty of other offerings, including many forms of entertainment.
One of the most popular offerings are two beloved Disney parades, Festival of Fantasy, which makes its way around Magic Kingdom at both 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. each day, and Mickey’s Celebration Cavalcade.
Recently, a scary incident unfolded while Guests were viewing Mickey’s Celebration Cavalcade in Magic Kingdom.
A child ran in front of a parade float and jumped onto it in an attempt to meet Pluto. A Disney Cast Member chased after them and corralled him before he made it to the Disney character.
As you can see, when the Disney Cast Member jumps onto the float to catch the child, they nearly trip. When the child gets onto the float, you can also see the float come to a stop until he could be removed.
Mickey’s Celebration Cavalcade is a new cavalcade floating through Magic Kingdom Park as part of The World’s Most Magical Celebration.
You can find your favorite spot along the parade route—from Frontierland through Liberty Square down Main Street, U.S.A.—and party with the EARidescent 8 as they rock out in their snazzy new 50th anniversary looks.
Disney announced that they would be retheming the Splash Mountain theme park attraction, (located in both Disney World and Disneyland) from the controversial film, Song of the South to the 2009 film, The Princess and the Frog.
Ever since, Disney Parks have been removing references to Song of the South and Splash Mountain. In August 2020, Disneyland Resort quietly removed the famous song, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, which is also played throughout Splash Mountain, from the Disneyland Resort esplanade music loop — the courtyard area in between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Now, Disney World has removed “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from the Festival of Fantasy parade soundtrack.
Splash Mountain is currently located at both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. The attraction is based off of the film, Song of the South, which is extremely controversial as many deem it racist.
In fact, the movie considered by many as the most controversial and notorious film in Disney’s history. Because of this, it was never made available on home video in the U.S. and is currently missing from Disney’s streaming service, Disney+.
Song of the South is a mix of live-action and animation and features an older African-American plantation laborer named Uncle Remus who tells stories to a young white boy. Groups including the NAACP protested the film’s initial release.
Within Splash Mountain, you can spot many of the characters from Song of the South, including Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear, as well as hear the iconic song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. However, as Disney strives towards diversity and inclusion, the Parks have been removing references to Song of the South.
The first was Disneyland Resort, whom decided to remove “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from the esplanade loop. When this occurred, a Disneyland official explained “The removal of the song from Downtown Disney’s background music is part of a continuous process to deliver an environment that features stories that are relevant and inclusive.”
Now, it seems those efforts are continuing on the East Coast as the song, which originated from Song of the South and is played during the Disney Parks attraction, Splash Mountain, has been removed from the Festival of the Fantasy parade.
The fan-favorite Festival of Fantasy parade returned to Magic Kingdom today, March 9, but the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” reference did not.
In a live stream video from EarsomEmporium with Genevieve, you can watch the return of Festival of Fantasy parade, which has removed the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” song, which was heard towards the end of the parade as the Mickey Mouse float approached.
Right as Donald Duck approaches on his float, you can hear the “Mickey Mouse March”, which used to turn into “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, but that no longer occurs and instead, it is replaced with music. Take a listen in the video below:
For comparison, you can watch our video of Festival of Fantasy from prior to the ongoing pandemic, which included the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. You can hear it in the final unit, which includes “Mickey Mouse March”, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, “I’ve Got No Strings”, Whistle While You Work”, “When I See an Elephant Fly”.
This section begins at approximately the 13:00 mark in our video below when the Mickey Mouse float approaches our team.
Disneyland Paris also recently removed the song from its Disney Stars on Parade.
As of right now, Disney has not yet made an announcement on when Splash Mountain would be rethemed to The Princess and the Frog, and the attraction remains open to the public at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.
Exciting news coming out of Disney! After the long-anticipated wait, we have finally learned the return date for the beloved “Festival of Fantasy” Parade at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park!
We previously shared the big news that Disney would be returning the fan-favorite parade to Magic Kingdom Park once again. Along with the news of the Festival of Fantasy Parade returning in 2022, Disney also shared that other experiences such as Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios would be making a comeback, along with a reimagined Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Don’t wait to grab those Magic Kingdom Park Passes as Disney has announced, “As you may know, that’s not the only much-anticipated offering coming to the parade route. I’m so excited to share that the beloved Disney “Festival of Fantasy” Parade returns to Magic Kingdom Park beginning March 9 – the anniversary of the debut of the parade in 2014!”
We love that the parade is returning on its anniversary! Disney continues to share the excitement of Festival of Fantasy’s return with:
“Dazzling guests since its debut, the Disney “Festival of Fantasy” Parade features beloved characters from “The Princess and the Frog,” “Tangled,” “Peter Pan” and more bringing their individual stories to life on enchanting floats that look as though the characters themselves had a hand in crafting them. Looming 26 feet above the parade route and 35 feet in length, the fire-breathing Maleficent Dragon float returns just as menacing as ever. We’re delighted to have this show-stopping beauty be a part of our glittering assemblage.“
YES! You read that right! The stunning Maleficent Dragm float WILL return despite previous rumors that it was gone for good.
It was one exciting announcement after another from the Destination D23 celebration taking place at the Walt Disney World Resort last weekend!
We don’t know which announcement to be most excited about: the return of Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or the reimagining of the Nemo-themed stage show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, called Finding Nemo: The Big Blue . . . and Beyond!
Or maybe we’re more excited about the new MagicBand+ technology headed to Disneyland in California next year. And then again, we also learned that a brand-new quick-service restaurant is opening at EPCOT in the World Discovery neighborhood in 2022. There’s so much going on next year in the parks!
AND NOW, it has also been announced that Magic Kingdom’s beloved Festival of Fantasy parade will return to the park in early 2022! The parade was shelved when the parks closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it did not return when Magic Kingdom reopened in July 2020, especially since social distancing is an impossibility at a Disney Parks parade.
It debuted in 2014 as part of the excitement surrounding the New Fantasyland expansion at Magic Kingdom.
So while we understood the need to hold off on the Festival of Fantasy parade, we were worried that it might not return, but now we know for a fact from Disney Parks that the parade will indeed make its comeback in only a few short months!
